Renewables talent crunch: Get ready to fire up your employer brand

Let's look at the dynamics first.

We're straight out of covid, the single most transformative event for workplaces in a century. The shift was so profound it got an official name: the great resignation. We're now very much in the throws of a candidate's market. That fun thing where you beg and they choose. The good news? You play in one of the most attractive industries in the market. What's that? You're going to leverage that with everything you've got? Smart move my friend.

As an employer brand strategist and someone who advised engineering, manufacturing, finance, logistics and mining companies through the 2006-2007 talent crunch, I can confidently say the impending skills shortage facing the renewables industry will catapult the HR function to become nearly equal in importance to your core competency. Winning will depend as much on your product as your ability to scale your team. In fact, it's time to start looking at your employer value proposition as a product in its own right.

Recent reports state that renewables needs around 12,000 workers in the next two years, and the broader electricity sector needs 37,000 leading up to 2049. Those are some numbers! This means we need to get our head in the game of candidate attraction. So here are some tips on finding, attracting and retaining your future A team.

1. Hold up a mirror. I know, not easy. But so, so necessary. If you're about to go to market with a bunch of new roles, you simply have to take a look at your product first. We are not selling a packet of chips here, we are selling a major life decision. If your employer brand is what people say about you when you leave the room, let's find out what they really think hey? The best way is to survey your team and give them anonymity. You want to know their perception prior to starting, as well as their experience of onboarding and their current day perceptions. Conduct exit interviews as well. Ask them what they love about the role and company, and what could have been better. You will learn so much, and this will put you in a better position to improve and also to market employment opportunities accurately to avoid a mismatch in candidate expectations V reality.
2. Support your team to cultivate their natural culture. It doesn't matter how busy you are, your team has a culture. Hopefully it's a good one, if not address it with 100% commitment and don't stop until it's resolved. In fact, never stop working on culture because it does require maintenance. What I find is that often, a positive culture exists but it's not well supported to flourish. We get busy and forget how important it is to pump good energy back into the team. Remember though, a stellar company culture delivers tangible and enduring value - not to mention having a fun and happy team who love what they do! The best companies I've worked for/with share similar traits. Their workforce is diverse. They know each other well, they know their family members by name. They feel comfortable to share their challenges and to help each other out. People feel heard. And likewise, they know the ins and outs of the company, its current challenges. Sure, maybe not the entire P&L but they are made aware if there's an underperforming product or market segment, they know if there's a need for prudent spending for a period, and they approach these challenges together as a team. There's also a good dose of healthy banter, a spirit of fun and enjoyment balanced with respect. They normalise asking for help and input from the top down, and lead by example in every respect. And they celebrate wins as they happen, not on a forced schedule (dump employee of the month if you want it to feel real). Consider enshrining your culture with a culture memo. Netflix has one which goes into detail about how they prioritise people over process. Just having a culture memo at all shows how much you value your people.
3. Define your Employee Value Proposition. Once you're happy with what you're selling, put it on paper. Use the insights from your research (conduct new research if you've made changes), and write 300 words or so. Your EVP should answer the following questions:

• Your purpose, vision, brand position and standing in the industry.
• Where the industry is headed and how this stacks up against other revolutions in history.
• The company culture and what it's like working there.
• What will working for you enable the candidate to do or achieve for themselves and for the company/industry? And for climate change?
• How will they be supported?
• Compensation, benefits, perks, relocation package, childcare, wellness etc, where applicable
• Learning/training opportunities
• Things we celebrate as a team and how (days off, end of year party etc)
• Travel

4. Define your employer brand. This is the part you need an agency for. Like I said - not a packet of chips, a major life decision. Your employer brand and creative platform need to work hard. An agency will take your employee value proposition and distil it down to a single, compelling idea that captures the big, purpose-centred opportunity for the candidate. Some great examples: In the past, Nike has used "Move the World." Hubspot - "Your best work starts here." This is then built out into a creative platform to provide you with all the imagery you'll need to make a strong impact across all your external careers communications such as your careers page, LinkedIn page, job board ads, print and digital ads - wherever you plan to promote available roles. Agencies worth their salt will use a copywriter who specialises in recruitment copy, and the difference is very noticeable. Give us a shout at [email protected] if you need help.

5. Compelling, relevant content. Map out the candidate journey from the first touchpoint to onboarding and even their exit, and identify what content pieces you'll need to provide in order to give them the information they need at any point in the journey. Your most powerful medium will of course be video. Select a diverse range of team members across different business functions and interview them on camera. They don't need to be a TV presenter, in fact it's much more genuine if they are natural and imperfect. Craft the questions carefully to draw out their personality, what makes them tick, why the role fulfils them, what they love about the company and the team, what excites them about the future of the company and the industry, and how it feels to be on the front line of the energy transition. How they talk to their kids about their job. This is the stuff. Dig riiight into it. Again I recommend using an agency to really hit the mark with video - it's important not only for production quality, but the interviewer (who will be out of frame) MUST be experienced in drawing out the right information from a range of different personalities, and knowing to keep the interview running until they've got it in the bag. A good interviewer will know on the fly if gold hasn't been struck yet, and will drop their notes and switch tack to a real conversation, asking questions off the cuff. Don't mess this part up, it's so important and would end up an expensive time-waster if you get it wrong.

6. Know your target. What makes your candidate tick? Engineers for example, are a nuanced bunch. Intelligent, detail oriented and always looking for ways to improve things. They're driven by their craft - their ultimate fulfilment comes from their ability to solve problems, which they're born to do. Give them this opportunity and they'll be happy, devoted workers. Sit them in a room full of creative marketers and things might not go so well! :)

7. Know your talent competitors. Quite distinct from your commercial competitive set, your talent competitors are companies who are in the market for people with the same skillset that you seek, and they may be from entirely different industries. As employers, we need to be aware of who we're competing for talent with, and how our employee value proposition stacks up against theirs. Those in the energy tech space have a tough gig competing with big tech for example, known for its high salaries, flexible arrangements and serious perks. Get creative on how to add value to make the proposition as attractive as you can afford. And be sure to make the onboarding experience a good one, because your candidate will continue receiving job offers for weeks or months after they start working for you.

8. Build your talent pool. A talent pool is essentially just warm leads of potential candidates. So it's about having a healthy flow of candidates going in, and keeping them engaged once they connect with you.

In-flow/sourcing channels >> LinkedIn, job boards, careers fairs, referral programs, etc. These are all great, but don't forget your passive channels to massively broaden your reach. Just because someone isn't actively looking doesn't mean they wouldn't make the move. Use your networks and offer a compelling referral fee. Use LinkedIn's powerful search capabilities and approach people directly. Discuss open roles in non-careers comms such as bylined articles, podcast interviews, industry presentations etc. Get the word out at every opportunity. If you want to get really crafty, you can actively target talent from your competitors with strategically placed advertising outside their office (e.g. bike billboards). Did I say that out loud? Just be careful to project a playful and positive tone in your ad copy, rather than an aggressive one.

The pool >> LinkedIn community, e-newsletter, careers webpage, personalised calls/emails touching base... keep in touch without bombarding them. Share content that illustrates your culture and values coming to life, as well as major company milestones to demonstrate market momentum.

9. Launch, monitor, evolve. You've put the hard work in, now give your recruitment drive the launch campaign it deserves. This will put you ahead of your competition and make you stand out to candidates. Launch your campaign with a coordinated push of PR and advertising to announce your strategic direction, operational expansion (if relevant) and available roles. Book a higher saturation of ads for greater visual impact for at least the first 2-4 weeks of your campaign (think homepage takeovers), before stepping back to a more affordable ongoing cadence. Now the key is to keep up with regular research to keep the cycle going.

10. Think you've nailed it? Go for an employer of choice award and make it official!

This was a super brief download but I hope it helps as you embark on your employer branding journey! As the talent crunch worsens, the need to step up your recruitment game cannot be understated. Get in early, invest in your employer brand and stand out from the competition.

Good luck and feel free to get in touch if you need support.