Talent are customers. It’s time to treat them that way.
It’s time to move past old fashioned notions of ‘talent acquisition’. Recruitment is not a ‘buying’ activity. It’s a selling activity. When it comes to hiring, a leaders’ job is to sell the opportunity and employment offer to the talent.
Best-selling author on business, work and the science of motivation, Daniel Pink, encourages us to think of sales as the process of moving others. He writes about sales as a process of moving people to part with resources to get mutually beneficial outcomes. Whether those resources are tangible (cash) or intangible (effort, attention), the aim is the same.
Recruitment is marketing. You need to persuade people, to move them towards taking action (to apply, attend an interview, accept a job offer) and part with resources (their time, effort, attention, skills).
The job is the product you need to sell. Your job is to convince the right people to choose your job - and keep it. To move the right talent to choose you.
The talent you’re trying to move? They’re the consumer. How can you move them to want what you’re selling? Authentic, compelling storytelling. An irresistible offer and positive experience which evokes emotion. Just like selling a consumer product, you need to tell the story of how this job, working with your organisation, will make their life better.
Yes, that’s right, emotion. 70% of human decision making is based on emotion. You can write a great job description, create your shopping list of key criteria, post an ad that describes your company and why it’s so great but guess what? If you don’t create an emotional connection that moves people to act, you lose.
Effective talent attraction is about connecting people to experiences and creating positive sentiment. To engage, retain and attract talent, you need a marketing-led approach. You need to know your audience, know your product and know how to connect your product to your audience.
As talent specialists, employers and leaders (and marketers), we are:
selling an opportunity
showing others how their life can be enhanced through a job
proving how great an organisation is to work for by shaping a positive employer brand
proving how happy and fulfilled someone could be with a great employee experience.
The customer experience (CX) is the employee experience (EX)
If we’re thinking about recruitment as marketing, we must think of talent as customers. To retain and attract great talent, you need to offer an employee experience people can shout about.
‘CX is not some marketing buzzword that is the responsibility of the marketing team and no one else. It takes 12 positive experiences to make up for one negative experience, and no one is going to give your brand 12 chances.’ – Mia Fileman
Treat your employees right by giving them a positive experience, and they will serve as brand ambassadors who are living proof of what a fantastic workplace you offer. Everyone talks about work; you need to make sure your people are validating your organisation as the place to be.
The starring role of the employer brand
Your employer brand (EB) plays a significant role in your mission to engage, retain and attract the right people. It is the core of your business and reflects everything you stand for as an employer. A great employer brand is your organisation’s reputation. It serves as a testimony to what you can offer as an employer, what makes your organisation a workplace people want to join and stay with.
What now?
It’s time to shift your mindset and take a more modern approach to recruitment. In the era of talent where employers no longer hold the power, you must use new methods to bring in the right people who can add value to your organisation.
For help with your talent challenges, contact the team at Heart Talent today.