In our first tip (Lose Calimero) we have explained that to attract talent and leaders you should position yourself as a smaller, growing and entrepreneurial company toward potential candidates in all your communication toward the market (publications, website, social media).
Once you’ve done this you need to communicate to the potential candidates that you are searching for those that will further help develop your company. This helps in attracting attention to your company which will make interesting candidates apply.
When the resumes are coming in it is key to understand what triggers candidates, and make sure that you can offer them what they want. No, I’m not talking just about the financial perks, actually rather about the following differentiators that you as a company can offer:
- Flexibility => not being part of a major corporation makes you leaner and more flexible. Decisions can be made more rapidly (as long as that they make sense) and you are more agile in the market. Use it to your advantage by offering candidates more flexibility. This includes home working options and flexible hours, but also a broader range of tasks, the ability to adapt the role to the employee…. In my experience this is highly appreciated and it helps convince candidates to join your company. Interesting content equals interested candidates.
- Ownership => think about your own career. Wasn’t it fun to be thrown into the deep without too many rules when you started out? And isn’t that still the case for you today? If so, you should get why people want to join a company where they get the right amount of responsibilities. Of course be careful to keep the right balance between giving employees enough and overwhelming them. Make sure to give them autonomy and ownership while staying available to give sufficient support along the way. Also, feel when it’s the right time for them to move to the next level!
- Fun work environment => when visiting companies I personally quickly sense the atmosphere. I sense the vibe through the looks of the office (such as art, plants, couches,…), the way that I’m received (enthusiast 1st contact person) and how a briefing is conducted. The formal approach makes way for a warm welcome….
- Agility => you can recruit faster because a candidate does not have to go through many interview rounds. But you’ll still need to make sure to keep a solid recruitment process, you are just in a position to move quicker because of your dependence on fewer decision makers.
Competitive package => due to your smaller size you can be more flexible in determining the different benefits that you can offer, and you can implement these more rapidly. - Perspective => once you hire the right candidates, make sure that your new recruits are recognized and rewarded for the results that they bring to the company, and give them enough insight into their contribution. This creates happy employees that can in turn be your ambassador for your next recruitment.
All this will not only help you attract the right persons for your company, it will help you keep them too!
