Talent Acquisition is out. Talent Attraction is in.

How much money are you losing each month while your critical position(s) remains unfilled? The answer is more than you may think. A person who performs a job well and hits their goals produces 3-5x their annual salary in productivity or operational efficiency. If the position is at a senior level, that number increases to 10x their annual salary. ?

Corporate America loses billions of dollars every year due to poor talent acquisition practices. We are engaged with company leaders in various industries nationally, and all of them cite the same frustration — getting skilled talent. Today’s talent pool is more sophisticated and connected than ever before, and the traditional methods of acquiring talent have become less effective. ?

The new practice is TALENT ATTRACTION. ?

In the past, companies could advertise jobs online through various job platforms and wait for applicants. While that method still produces applicants today, it rarely produces the best fit. In today’s market, the talent pool should be viewed as CONSUMERS OF WORK (https://www.dhirubhai.net/pulse/consumers-work-jim-maxwell/) rather than applicants, candidates, or job seekers. Post-pandemic, talent has more career options than ever before. Even geography is less critical than it was in the past, meaning you could be competing for an individual in your town who is considering work-from-home options from your industry competitor located in another state. ?

To attract talent today and moving forward, companies must make a paradigm shift to talent engagement and adopt a streamlined hiring process that produces offers that will be accepted. ?

TALENT ENGAGEMENT begins with developing a company brand that inspires and engages the top professionals in your market. You should take your overall company branding as seriously as your product or service branding with consistent messaging across your career page and social media outlets. ?

Your HIRING PROCESS is a candidate’s first impression of your company. Too many companies have processes that are cumbersome, non-communicative, disconnected, and in many cases, loaded with unnecessary steps. All this leads to no engagement from top-tier candidates and a significant dropout rate for all candidates. Two of the biggest complaints from job seekers are (1) a lengthy application process and (2) no communication throughout the entire process. ?

Every step of the interviewing process should be set up to evaluate the fit, but also inspire the candidate. Many leaders approach the interview as an “interrogation” of the candidate without considering why the candidate should consider working for them and the company. Also, if multiple interviews are required, ensure that each interviewer is relevant to the open role so they can intelligently address candidate questions or concerns. Too often, the process begins with a “screening” step with someone who has little to no knowledge of the job, responsibilities, or opportunities; this is another common complaint among job seekers. ?

When developing OFFERS, too many companies have the mindset that they need to obtain talent as cheaply as possible. In today’s market, this will lead to a plethora of turndowns, ghosting, and no-shows as your chosen candidates (the ones you have invested time and resources into attracting and evaluating) accept counteroffers or competing offers. The key to increasing your offer acceptance rate is to fully understand what the market bears in salary for your role and to discover what motivates the candidate. It is undeniable that people consider salary when evaluating a job offer, but they do not always accept the highest salary when faced with multiple offers; they accept the best offer from the company that best meets their personal and career goals. ?

Finally, if an application is necessary, we suggest having candidates fill it out toward the end of the process rather than at the beginning. While it may seem counterintuitive, you will experience a lower dropout rate because candidates will be more invested in the process and thus motivated to deliver the information after being inspired by the prospects of the opportunity.?