Be the Magnet, Not the Net

Your ability to sell more, produce more, or be more profitable can be the result of having more “A” players on your team. One area where I see businesses really stand out is in how they approach recruiting. The great ones treat talent recruitment with more of a sales and marketing mindset than as a human resources activity. 

Consider these seven factors as you develop your recruitment strategies:

 

1) Mindset: You and your managers should treat recruitment with the same urgency as you do lead generation. You need to balance old ways of thinking with new facts and figures, such as the dollar value of a team member, the amount of profit they can produce, the cost of mistakes, or the value of delighted clients. When you change that paradigm, the ideas will begin flowing. After you get buy-in from others on your team, you’ll begin to see great results.

 

2) Top priority: Many businesses have too many priorities. But if you understand that having great talent can reduce stress, create delighted clients, increase profits, and position your company for growth, then you’ll be motivated to make talent acquisition a top goal. Until it is, you won’t be successful—or if you are, then you’ll simply be lucky, but not great.

 

3) Hunter vs. farmer: Farmers plant seeds and patiently wait for something to grow, but great talent recruiters are hunters. Large, great organizations have a full-time person devoted to actively hunting, and small, great organizations at least have a hunter mindset. They realize they need to attract talent intelligently, not desperately.

 

4) Sales and marketing tactics: As with prospective clients, great employees are out there, and you need to intelligently market and sell your company to them. Some great companies regularly do “discovery day” seminars to identify candidates, then roll that into individual interviews. Other companies use their PR efforts as a magnet to draw attention to their company and attract top talent for specific positions (see #7). 

 

5) High tech vs. high touch: Leveraging digital marketing activities and managing the talent pipeline is important, as is finding the balance between high tech and high touch. Great companies use technology and social media, especially LinkedIn, to create dialogue with great talent. But they temper that with a personal approach to building rapport and establishing a relationship. 

 

6) Networks: You don’t have to go it alone. Leverage your alliances to find great talent. Call your top-five lumberyard contacts or reps and ask them each to give you one name of a salesperson or carpenter. If three out of five come through with names, you’re ahead. Trades are another good source, and you can also put some simple incentives in place and deputize your own team to get involved too. First, make sure your employees understand the importance of recruiting. If they see recruitment leading to growth for all, then they’ll buy in; if they see it as competition for their job, they won’t.

 

7) Public relations: PR may be one of the best recruiting magnets. Enter contests such as “the best place to work.” Post blogs describing cool things your team and business are doing. Join networking groups and talk about your desire to meet great people. Use home shows to find talent, not just projects. Be vocal about your goals and objectives.

 

One misconception is that the talent just isn’t there. It is, but you need to work hard and smart to find it and begin the dialogue. Then, as they say, “the real work happens after the sale.” Happy hunting. CB