Why you are not attracting the talent you want

You can no longer read any business journal, leadership book, newspaper or company website without seeing the words "employee experience". I'll soon open my fridge and, instead of old cheese and half-eaten Activia, I'll see EX slogans... And you know what? I won't be the tiniest bit surprised.

So if we are so crazy about employee engagement, does it mean we all live it? Yeah, sure... (if only I could swear on LinkedIn). Research after research shows that somewhere between 80% and 90% of employees are 'actively' disengaged. I say 'actively' disengaged to highlight I don't mean an employee who is grumpy for a week because their line manager didn't let them take 4 weeks' holiday (where from do they have the money to go on a month-long holiday, anyway?), but an employee who is disengaged day in and day out and who no longer cares about the system he or she works for – in other words, an employee who is "just there".

This is some sad picture I painted there, but what does it have to do with attracting talent*? Everything, my friend... Absolutely everything. If we take employee experience to mean the result of every interaction people have with your company – from the moment they land on your website and read through your current career roles to the moment you off-board them – employee experience is the main factor influencing your talent acquisition activities, i. e., the experience you are creating is either helping you or it is screwing you (Hey! I can swear on LinkedIn!). And today I am going to focus on the "screwing" part...

So how come you are not attracting the talent you want? You do offer the highest salary, the newest MacBook and you play Foosball on Fridays. Why are the best talents not knocking at your door day and night? Your mind is boggled... Well, my mind is pretty chilled, so let me propose three main reasons why you are not attracting the people you want. Tic-Tic-Toc.

1. Your employer brand sucks

I'm sure you are familiar with content marketing. It's all about creating brand awareness, putting your brand in front of the eyes of your potential clients (entering their minds, if you will), and building trust and relationships, so that when they decide it's time to buy a product or service, they will immediately think of you and not your competition. Guess what. Talent attraction is in no way different!

What you put out there in the form of blogs, guides, ebooks, infographics and whitepapers should be constructed around your recruitment goals, slowly placing your brand in the mind of talent, so that when they decide it's time to look for a new job, they will come to you. Heart-warming success stories of your current employees on your LinkedIn, images from team building activities on Instagram, or thought leadership advice on your blog will position you as a great place to work for and will get the talent to seek you out when the time comes. And it's no secret that inbound attraction (them coming to you) is much more powerful than outbound attraction (you trying to head hunt). It breeds more loyalty and it actually makes employees believe they would perform better in a role they found themselves. So there!

2. You have built a well-deserved reputation... as a bad company

If you think the screening process is reserved for employers only, think again. The majority of candidates, before they even think of applying for a role with you, will look at your social media reviews, your Google reviews, your glassdoor reviews and any other source of information about your reputation they can lay their hands on. This is true especially about those talented candidates who know their worth and whom you want to work for you so badly.

Talent won't waste months or years of their precious time on working for a company that doesn't have an A-class reputation. Bad reputation always, but always, means bad employee experience. There is no single company on this planet that would treat their employees beautifully and their customers badly – I guess they say that great customer experience starts with great employee experience for a reason.

3. Your job posting is a talent-repellent

This is by far my favourite one, because it shows how little we know about attracting talent and how much we think we know. Imagine the scenario. You are a young talent looking for a meaningful job in a great company that cares about you (which is by the way what every talent cares about and wants). You come across a job posting that reads the following: what skills you need, how many years of experience you need, how flexible you need to be to work weekends and travel, when you need to be available for a job interview (immediately, obvs!) and what salary you will get... Your initial thoughts? "Thank you. Next!". The job posting doesn't tell you anything about the company, why it is a great place to work for, and what's in it for you. It's a classic "me" narrative, i.e., we (employer) demand and you (employee) provide. Can someone please tell me how this can be attractive in any way?

Job market and recruitment is a two-way street. It's not only about who is best for your company and what value they can bring, but also about what you can offer as an employer, how you can develop your employees and why they should be working for you. Only then can the relationship develop trust and loyalty (employees care for the system that cares for them). And that's why your job posting should be all about this – what you need and how the candidate can contribute AND what you can give in return (not talking about salary!) and how you can further their career. And yet, the majority of job postings nowadays has poor-quality copy that doesn't persuade anyone to take the job. They are rather internal job descriptions that document the role for HR purposes that have been copied and pasted and posted as external adverts. As such they repel the talent rather than attract. And you call yourselves recruitment specialists?

To sum up...

Let me repeat myself – job market is a two-way street. It's not only about what you can get, but also what you can give. It's about creating an engaged, fulfilling, successful and productive relationship between the employer and the employee. And talent attraction is about nothing else but boasting about it publicly. Are you a great company to work for (according to your employees, not you)? Then talk about it. Show it on your blog, show it on your social media, show it in your job ads. And if you are a great place to work for, offering great employee experience, I bet you are also a great company to buy from and work with. Now, who wouldn't want to work for you...? :)

* talent = self-motivated and mission-driven people with a spirit of curiosity, who possess the skills, experience, attitude and potential to help companies grow and evolve