Like Bears to Honey: 4 Points Designed to Attract Top Talent

It’s an age-old adage for a reason, what they say about a chain only being as strong as its weakest link. It applies just as well when you consider today’s modern businesses. Building a successful business certainly does rely on having a great product or service to offer and ensuring your plan for remaining successful in the future is both solid and viable. An equally important component to the success of your business is the pedigree of employees you hire to help you achieve your objectives.  It is imperative that you know how to attract the best candidates for your open positions and succeed in keeping them happy once they come on board.

It’s a trend that has increased in recent years within the hiring and recruitment communities, this idea that companies need to begin viewing potential candidates for their roles like customers instead of fish in a barrel.  The best employees – those who carry premium skillsets and sterling track records – will have a veritable menu of companies to work for, similar to the way your customers likely have more than one option when it comes to the products and services you offer.  Hiring is just another sales process, but it’s no longer candidates selling managers; instead it’s hiring managers selling candidates.  Be it on the culture, on the benefits, on the company’s reputation, or on working with you as the hiring manager.  No longer is the conversation solely based on who can cut the biggest check.

Here is the list of what top-tier candidates are looking for in today’s hiring market:

1. A Realistic Approach to Work-Life Balance

The times when people were willing and able to fully immerse themselves in their careers at the expense of their personal lives have left the building. Modern professionals have seen proof of success in individuals who lead lives well rounded and whole, and now most will seek the same. Your company can do a lot to attract the best employees by providing the tools needed to achieve the balance.

Consider offering employees alternatives to the average work schedule to accommodate pursuits outside of the office.  Four day work weeks, flex scheduling options, and telecommuting options are all gaining traction in a world with the technology to support it. When thinking about the best approach, allow the employee some say in which options fit their needs.  Ask why.  The answer to this question will aid you in designing the new metrics necessary to measure their performance in a modified scheduling scheme.

Options like these and others will empower your employees to feel more in control of their professional lives along with providing a sense of authority over their own destiny.

2. A Plan that Prioritizes Health Care and other Benefits

Insurance and health care in particular are major concerns for today’s workforce.  A potential employer that offers stellar health benefits for employees and their families reaps two benefits: the edge gained in the sales process with new hires is both noticeable and expected, but hiring managers are also likely to see an increase in performance from employees covered by the company’s insurance program as those employees focus more on the task at hand and less worrying about renewing prescriptions and an impending doctor’s visit and its accompanying bills.  401k plans and stock options serve well to mitigate similar financial concerns.

A portfolio of benefits is limited only by a company’s imagination and not necessarily by budget. Many companies will spend big money installing state of the art gyms, full service spas, or on-site daycare services for the convenience of and benefit to the employees (Google, anyone?).  Many smaller companies will offer a credit to dinner delivery when working late or day-long “field trips” to a local park to unwind or to take part in team-building exercises.

3. A Strategy to Provide Plenty of Positive Reinforcement

Increased employee praise is by the far the cheapest benefit that a company can offer new hires and current employees alike, and because of its simplicity this strategy is often the most overlooked by managers.  The process is simple: tell your employees when they do a good job.  And if you think you’re doing it enough already, do it more anyways.

Employees want to know that they are valued and that their hard work is noticed and appreciated.  This is doubly important when the employee in question knows his or her own value.

Praise can be given through a number of different methods and which one serves your purpose best in a given situation will depend on the employee in question. Offering praise and recognition discreetly whether in your office privately or otherwise is likely the best approach when managing introverts. More extroverted employees will instead prefer the public stage – a team meeting, for example – when being acknowledged for their hard work.  Company e-mails and newsletters serve as excellent outlets in making sure everyone knows an employee is doing a good job and can be viewed as a subtle method of reaching a larger audience. In addition to the direct value praise delivers, it also acts as a motivational tool signaling other employees to step up their game so they can be singled out in the next go-round.

4. A Solid Reputation

As you spend more focus on treating employees like valued individuals through creating a flexible structure replete with varied benefits and competitive pay, word will naturally get around.  Soon you will find that your company has developed a reputation as an employer worth its weight in gold.  Your time previously spent developing sales techniques to use during hiring will instead be spent raking in more candidates than you can count, all while retaining the employees already within your ranks.  No small feat in a time when good help is hard to find!