Is “Talent Acquisition” a dirty word?
We all know of the aggressive policies and
practices of many businesses nowadays who poach candidates, employees and often
leaders with an enthusiasm that alarms for its implications as much as for its
practice!
Lets take a current buzzword “Talent
Acquisition” as this one sends a clear signal into the marketplace in my view.
“Acquiring” talent can place it in the same category as office stationary,
which is nothing more then a cost consideration in the execution of the sale
transaction at a profit. It seems silly right? I would wager that many
businesses strategically position people in this category (e.g. market culture
companies), when deciding on what to recruit, how to recruit and how recruitment
pre and post hire should handle the candidate to employee journey.
I therefore submit that when augmenting
one’s recruiting strategy and tactics, one must consider the following to
effectively embrace employees as higher functioning assets adding more value
then any ‘cost centre’:
Tactical | Do to others as has being done to you. We all know the smooth talking recruiter who snatched your star
employee and is now looking at your other star performers. If you don’t like
the practice of poaching, then don’t do it! High functioning employees with a
giver rather then taker mentality will not respond well to being poached or to
companies that consider it acceptable behaviour! Remember, just because employees
don’t respond, that doesn’t mean they don’t have a problem with it. Timing
maybe the only exit trigger remaining for them from your organisation to a
company they feel more comfortable at, which by definition is a company that
shares more of their values in that regard.
Strategic
| Back up your brand with words. If you decide that
you are company who is committed to people, a people company of high worth,
then great!! Ensure your hiring practices reflect this by never feigning or
faking aspects of your company to paint a false picture for the candidate
and/or newly minted employee! If candidates and/or employees find out they have
being deceived, the likely response is to find another job, especially if their
core values are offended. Be genuine to who you are as a company making sure
you deliver full understanding of the company as much as you fully understand
your candidate.
Strategic
| It’s not a war, really, it’s not! The
industrialist mentality of “command ‘n control” often escalates into “control
‘n conquer” so being mindful of how aggressively competitive you get. The
branding statement of your company and how you want your new hires to interact
with it should control the level of aggressiveness in your tactical approach. Remember,
the right people will respond to the right message so distribution needs to
deliver a strategic message and not become augmented by how it is delivered. Be
wary of sub cultures in recruitment using a taker mentality when the company needs high functioning ‘giver’ employees.
Strategic
| The Digital Age. One of the key hallmarks of the
digital era is social media ensuring that your “digital brand” as a company
recruiting is in sync with the company’s digital branding policies, its overall
brand statement and the cultural idioms of your company. Millennials have shown
a propensity to trust companies who share the full story of who they are, not
water down the story to best parts only, or feign aspects of their story to
appear more attractive.
Its an age old story of trust and betrayal,
which in current terms sees the company who is not afraid of exposure gaining a
competitive edge in marketing their products AND their company with a full
story for the digital platform, which will attract talent! Talent search more these days for where they belong; rather then who
pays the most. If you rely on your employees to be profitable in business,
find the right way to connect with them, engage with them and build
relationships that are grounded in common values, interests and trust. Build
with consistency of action and deliver on promises, which define the
employer-employee relationship. If this is done right, then talent will come to
you, you wont have to “acquire” it.
Tactical
| Develop Your Digital Brand. Online user groups
(Facebook/LinkedIn) are a good idea along with meetup.com groups where you can
share your company’s story. Topic areas like company culture, company
practices, company strategies (i.e. where to for the future) along with relevant educational topics will
attract top talent that will add value to your company, once you deliver
your meetup.com talks and online events in a genuine and full hearted manner;
offering a full story and building relationships with participants as you go!
Get to know them and they won’t forget you!
One a final note, if Steve Jobs, Arianna
Huffington, Bill Gates and Walt Disney could get rejected from jobs, then its
reasonable that top talent has applied to your company and didn’t get the time
of day due to being outside of the screening markers implemented to identify
suitable candidates. Be mindful of your brand, your culture, your business
practices and your role description ensuring that you use markers good enough
to capture information that tells you what the candidate is like as a person as
much as a professional.
You never know where you next ‘rock star’
will come from! He or she may have the same CV as the career administrator who
won’t miss a day of work in the next thirty years for you!! People before
Process allows you to use Technology to define a sustainable future that brings
your work family with you on the journey!! If done right, success will always
overshadow failures when joining the dots in retrospect! A comforting thought
indeed!
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