Five Ways to Attract Top Talent to Your Business

With unemployment at a 44-year low, recruitment is fast becoming a candidate’s market, with many having more than one job offer to choose from. This means that employers must work harder to attract top talent to their business, in order to fill roles and drive performance.

1. Understand your candidates

With four generations currently in the workforce, all with different needs and expectations, it is important to understand what applicants want in order to deliver. Millennials famously favour flexible and remote working, while Gen Z, the youngest generation, reportedly want a stable job with access to the latest technology. According to a recent survey by LinkedIn, new employees are 30x more likely to leave their current employer if they don’t believe they can achieve their career goals with them. Understanding what those goals are is key.

2. Diversity

A focus on diversity encourages talent from multiple backgrounds, age groups, work history and cultures, improving creativity, performance and engagement. In addition, a diverse company culture promotes your brand as being relatable to varying customers, investors and staff members, fostering understanding and support.

3. Engagement

Ensuring that staff are engaged is key in all top performing companies, and engagement levels will be evident to any candidate throughout the recruitment process as they liaise with interviewers and HR departments. Staff need to feel that they relate to their colleagues and are supported by their leaders. They need to fully understand what they are required to do, and have their contributions measured to ensure they fulfill their own, as well as company, expectations. Employees who feel like their contribution is worthwhile, and that they are developing both personally and within their career are engaged employees.

4. Be authentic

Providing a consistent brand image is more important than ever before. Candidates will not take job offers at face value; they will conduct their own due diligence by researching the company on review sites such as Glassdoor and will check out social media channels to get an idea of what it might be like to be an employee. Put your best foot forward in all areas and be outspoken about the benefits. However, being upfront about potential pitfalls so that candidates arrive for the first day on the job well prepared can improve staff retention and show willing for change. If you can’t say why working for you is better than another company, it’s unlikely that candidates will be able to either.

5. Excellent candidate experience

Focusing on how candidates feel about your company throughout the hiring process is one of the best ways to attract and retain top talent. Writing clear job descriptions, making it easy for candidates to apply for jobs – through apps and websites, as well as keeping candidates fully informed of where they are in the process through clear and frequent communication can go a long way to ensuring that candidates feel more appreciated, as well as demonstrating an organised and forward thinking employer.