Attracting talent is a hot topic! We often hear from clients about their pain in finding the best people, or vacancies going unfilled for months.

The “Talent Shortages” splashed across the media are real, and the bad news, it’s only going to get worse. According to projections by the Mckinsey Global Institute, there will be a global deficit of 85 million high and middle skilled workers by 2020. It’s time to take action and get your business sorted before you fall further behind the curve.

The good news, help is at hand, we’ve created 4 key actions you can take in your business to ensure you really stand out from the crowd and fix your attraction pain.

Action 1: Tell your story

Your business is unique, and you’ll likely have a fantastic story to tell about your history, journey and goals, but what about your team?

  • What are their stories?
  • Why do they love working in your business?
  • What makes them stay?

Telling stories about why your business is the best place to work is a great method of attracting top talent. A fantastic and low-cost way to do this is by filming short videos (most people have a phone capable of this). Ask your team questions and create short videos to tell their stories. You can use these on social media channels, your website and in email marketing campaigns.

Action 2: Evolve the best culture

Consider your business, what’s it like to work in, and how do people interact? A great task is to get your team together and ask:

‘What 3 words describe our culture?’

Review this together and consider, does this help or hinder us attracting top talent? How can we all be involved in attracting the best people to work for us? What do we need to change about our culture? Now create a plan of action!

Action 3: Talk about money

Let’s be honest, money talks! But it’s not the be all and end all of what’s important. Sure, there needs to be a competitive salary, but today’s workforce wants more.

People want employer benefits that match their values and the flexibility to adapt their benefits to their needs. This is key, not only for attracting top talent, but also retaining it. A Capital Group survey found that 30% of millennials have held three jobs or more over the past five years, that’s a real problem for business!

Take time out to review how you reward your teams, even better ask them for their views. Ensure you stand out from your competitors with a great benefits programme.

Action 4: Get your team to be raving fans

If you write a job advert and post it on a couple of job boards, you’re only really reaching the ‘active’ people, those people who are on the job boards looking for a new role. By doing this you’re missing a huge pool of people.

Consider your business network, how many people do you know? Now think about your teams and their networks, you have a potentially huge reach! Much wider than just posting to a job board. Think about how your teams are sharing content and vacancies.

A fun way to do this would be to set up a social media challenge for your teams, think about content and a regular consistent appearance on key social channels. Don’t forget a prize for the winner!

Feeling inspired? Schedule 1 of the above actions each week and in just 30 days you’ll be more visible in the market, attracting more top talent and filling your vacancies faster!

Last Updated on 4 years by Gary Parsons



Author: Gary Parsons
Gary is CEO at Talk Staff, passionate about the role that people play in helping build long-term and sustainable businesses. He sits on local business advisory boards and has been key in leading the growth of Talk Staff from inception in 2009.