Attracting High Quality Talent
Businesses in Northern Ireland are facing continued challenges when it comes to hiring top candidates and retaining this top talent.
Hiring top tier talent has many benefits to a company:
- Filling skills gaps; having this top tier talent allows companies to address skills gaps and ensure teams are well equipped to face future challenges
- Driving innovation: this top talent doesn’t just show up and get the job done. They are creative thinkers and solve specific problems.
- Gain a competitive advantage: having top talent helps the organisation stay ahead of the curve and leverage best practices to stay ahead of competition.
What should companies be doing to attract these quality candidates to their vacancies?
Build a stronger employer brand
Reputation is vital to attracting potential employees. A strong employer brand helps catch the attention of top candidates and helps associate your company with a positive employee culture. But how do you build a strong employee brand?
- Social media: Social media influences people’s perceptions. There are endless opportunities to use the internet to share your organisations values, cultures and employee experiences.
- Take part in industry events: Having a visible presence at industry events helps you become front of the mind when potential applicants are thinking about their next move. These events can include in-person conferences, employment fairs and online events.
- Use your website: Most candidates will look at an organisation website during the application process. Use your website to showcase success, awards and culture.
Publishing job descriptions
- Consider: outlining key responsibilities and requirements along with the job title.
- Highlight opportunities for training, development and professional growth.
- Being transparent about salary and benefits
- Use inclusive language to appeal to a diverse range of candidates.
- Avoid vague language (be specific) as this will help attract candidates with the correct skills and experience you need.
Provide competitive benefits and compensation
Salary is one of the main things candidates look for when considering a job move. To ensure you are competitive in the market;
- Benchmark what you offer against industry standards
- Try to differentiate what you offer compared to your competitors e.g. attractive bonus structure or additional benefits such as flexible working
Encourage employee referrals
To encourage current employees to refer high quality candidates, you may need to implement an employee referral scheme. If current team members recommend your workplace to people in their network, and they are hired successfully, they will be rewarded for the recommendation.
Build strategic talent pipelines
- Partner with educational institutions such as universities and colleges where top talent graduate from.
- Work closely with industry organisations when talent might come from
- Create internship programmes so future hires can gain company experiences early on
- Participate in career fairs and networking events to allow you to engage and connect with a wider pool of talent.
Invest in Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
With a genuine culture and respect for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, you can attract a broader range of quality candidates while ensuring current employees feel welcomed and valued.
Create a positive candidate experience.
Top candidates are going to expect professionalism, good communication and transparency from the start of the recruitment process. To help create this, employers can:
- Streamline the application process by reducing the number of interview rounds and communicating quickly and effectively.
- Be clear about what each stage of the process involves and is assessing
- Provide feedback, even if the candidate is unsuccessful.
Make training and development part of the offer
It is becoming more common for candidates to be looking for training and development opportunities as the introduction of new technologies, upskilling and lifelong learning are becoming a vital part of a successful career.
Examples of training include:
- On-boarding training: comprehensive on-boarding training helps to bring new hires up to speed on company systems and processes
- Technical training: offering training on emerging technologies such as AI, can plug skills gaps and demonstrate a commitment to employee growth.
- Leadership Training: providing opportunities for leadership training and development can attract high-performing ambitious employees.
References:
https://www.nijobs.com/recruiters/recruiters-news/8-strategies-to-attract-high-quality-candidates/
Employers: What do you do to attract high quality candidates? (Results from our Linkedin Poll)
- Short recruitment process 30%
- Sign on bonus 19%
- Flexible/hybrid working 48%
- Other 4%
