The A to Z of Awards... Attracting New Talent

The reason why people choose to enter (and win!) awards varies considerably.?For many it is about the growth of their business but the strategy that sits behind awards is nothing if not eminently flexible.

For instance, we have a number of clients whose sole purpose is to enter (and win!) awards in order to attract new talent into their business.?Few of us can have missed reading / hearing about the huge challenges that many businesses are facing when it comes to recruitment.?Candidates are now considering far more that purely the salary on offer.?They’re also carefully looking at whether they can work flexibly including home working, the ethos / ethics of the potential employer, its culture as well as what other opportunities and benefits are being offered to them for both personal and professional growth and wealth creation.

What could be stronger than said potential employer winning an Employer of the Year award or a Team of the Year award??What if that company had also won a few awards for Customer Service as well as a Contribution to Community (or similar) award which clearly laid out their approach to supporting and integrating with their community??Believe us when we say that this works… powerfully!

One of our clients spent a fortune every time they needed to recruit (and as a very busy, rapidly growing company that was often).?They advertised and used the services of a very good recruitment consultancy.?Not only did the process cost them a lot of money it also took up a lot of time – usually when they could least afford it.?Now, as multi-award winners of a range of different awards including awards for innovation, for their customer service, for their team as well as winning several prestigious Employer of the Year awards they no longer have to pay to advertise their vacancies or use the services of a Recruitment Agency.?Instead they have a steady flow of high quality, motivated candidates who choose to contact them directly asking them to keep their CVs on file and when an appropriate vacancy opens to, please, consider them.?Each covering letter notes specifically the fact that my client’s company is multi-award winning and many name the most recent win or the award wins that particularly resonate with them giving a further valuable insight into what’s important to that particular potential candidate.

The cynical amongst you may be saying to yourself, “That’s fine but I bet when your client makes contact with them they’ve already gone and got themselves another job and are no longer interested”.?Yes, there are a very small proportion who do say that.?However, the vast majority of, remember, high quality, motivated candidates are still looking because they’re only interested in working for companies who align with their values and beliefs and winning the types of awards that our client has demonstrates that in spades.?They’re not looking to move anywhere, instantly.?They’re looking to make a quality decision about their next employer and are in no rush so their CVs are very much still in play.

This particular client has spent the last three years recruiting at will from his banked candidates and reports that not only is the cost considerably lower but the stress too. ?Regarding time there is still, clearly, an investment to be made there, however, it is more on his terms rather than reacting to ad responses or Recruitment Agency deadlines which makes it far easier and more manageable too.

…And if that wasn’t enough our client also reports that his staff retention figures have tripled due to the pride his team have in working for a multi-award winning company (see more on this ‘Team Retention Strategy’).

Food for thought for sure!