What is Talent Attraction?
Talent attraction is the ability of a business to attract the right talent to the business. There are a number of methods that companies use to achieve this. Below are some examples of the tools you can use to improve your ability to attract the best talent.
EVP
Employee Value Proposition (EVP) is the sum of everything you offer to your employees. It includes more than just the typical benefits of a job; salary, bonus, holiday, perks etc. Things like the work environment, company culture, career progression opportunities, work arrangements etc. are just as important as the benefits. Companies with flexible work arrangements (remote, hybrid, office-based) are giving employees something above and beyond others. This can help them attract the talent they want. Our blog post explains the benefits of EVP and the steps you need to take to create a great one. EVPs are an extremely useful tool in recruitment – it’s what you’re offering to candidates, so can directly influence their decision.
Employer Brand
Another tool which helps companies attract the best talent is your employer brand. This requires more work to achieve, as it relies on others opinions of you as a business. If your team is happy, well looked after and there are opportunities to progress, they’re more likely to speak highly of you. Things like this contribute to a great employer brand and should result in top talent wanting to work for you. Job security, regular pay reviews and a supportive management team are other elements of an employer brand that help attract talent. To achieve these, you as an employer must ensure there’s a process in place for these things.
Recruitment Marketing
Arguably one of the most important parts of recruitment and attracting talent, is marketing. To attract anyone, let alone the best talent, you need to make sure you’re getting out there. This may be via paid adverts, social media posts and job adverts placed on your own website or jobs boards. Advertising is just one small part of recruitment marketing though. Less than a third of recruitment leaders say internal hires are an important source of hires.
One of the main aims of recruitment marketing is to get your company in front of people who’ve never heard of you and persuade them to want to apply for your vacancy. Another aim is to raise awareness of your business – this can be done via many methods. Some businesses encourage staff to review the business as it can help improve their employer brand. Businesses regularly enter awards programmes to gain recognition – if they win or place well, there’s often assets such as email footers, social media assets etc. that can be shared online. Winning awards and/or sharing content showing your successes helps market the company as a great place to work.
Talent attraction vs. Talent acquisition
Another term frequently used in HR and recruitment is talent acquisition. Talent attraction and talent acquisition are linked, but they do have key differences.
Talent attraction aims to find talent, whether they’re passively or actively looking for opportunities. The goal is just to get in front of them and attract them to take an action, e.g. click on an advert, fill in a form or complete an application. Talent acquisition however, is more of a strategic operation. Its focus is more planned – building relationships, anticipating future hiring needs and creating pools of talent. Talent attraction, however, is just one component of talent acquisition.
Is talent attraction the same for all generations?
There’s a number of different generations currently in the workforce. UN data shows that there are four generations making up the majority of the workforce; Baby Boomers (1946-1964), Generation X (1965-1980), Generation Y (1980-1996) and Generation Z (1997-2017). There are some things that companies can do which will appeal to all generations, however, each group has their own priorities when it comes to benefits, work life etc. and will be attracted to slightly different things.
Due to them being in different positions in life, the generations have different benefits and challenges in the workplace. Baby Boomers for example, are known to be hardworking and motivated by position. Their job may well be their livelihood. To contrast that, Generation Y might view their job as a way of progressing to something better. Gen Y also believes in working smarter, not harder. There’s also quite a difference in how they communicate – younger generations prefer email and instant messaging, whereas older generations prefer phone calls and face-to-face meetings.
Where should I start to improve our talent attraction?
You could start by identifying what kind of candidates you want to attract. Are you looking for people to fill more entry-level positions or more senior roles? Typically, entry-level positions are for younger generations, while the opposite is true with more senior roles. Figure out who your audience is, and this will help you make an informed decision about how to market the role.
Following that you need to consider what’s important to the candidates you’re trying to attract. Is it salary, benefits & perks? Perhaps they want some professional development or opportunities to further their career with you? Whatever it is, you need to identify this prior to marketing your business or any opportunities, as it will help focus your marketing and advertising efforts on the right people.
Choosing the right channels to use for your marketing is also vital. As previously mentioned, the different generations have their own preferences regarding communication. You’re unlikely to reach as many people from older generations by advertising solely on digital channels. However, if you use more traditional advertising methods (TV, radio, print media etc.) you’re much more likely to get in front of your desired audience. Conversely, younger generations almost exclusively use digital platforms like social media, websites and jobs boards in their search for employment.
Diversity, equity and inclusion can be another useful tool to help you identify what people you need to hire. You can begin by looking at your existing team to see if you are being as inclusive and diverse as you can. By making sure you consider how diverse your team is early on, you have an opportunity to improve your talent attraction. More diverse teams are better at communicating and can improve business performance.
