Almost without exception if you speak to any savvy manager or boss and ask them what their greatest resource is, they’ll pretty much always reply it’s their staff. However, finding the right people to work in your organization can often seem like an endless challenge.
In today’s internet age, it’s easier than ever for prospective employees (and even existing workers) to get an idea of their worth and hunt out opportunities that may exist elsewhere. The web has made it easy to source, check and compare vacancies – everything from salary to contracted hours, benefits and overall working conditions.
Consequently, if you’re to stand any chance of finding the right people for your company’s positions, you’ll need to start taking a more proactive approach – and below are just a few ways how.
Offer a competitive salary
A job, for most people, is about way more than just money – but make no mistake, that doesn’t mean a wage doesn’t matter. Just as you probably Googled average wages for the position you’re advertising, most applicants for that vacancy will have likely done the same.
If you don’t offer the right wage for a position, you’ll stand zero chance of finding the right people. As the old saying goes, “if you pay peanuts, expect monkeys”.
Build a firm that values its staff
Finding the right applicant will be considerably easier if you’re considered a firm worth working for – and that means, first and foremost, valuing the staff you already have. The world is a much smaller place these days and we’ve all become broadcasters in our own right to a degree. If you have workers that are badmouthing your firm – whether just to their friends or on a much larger scale – it will only serve to work against you, plus will probably promote a toxic atmosphere in the workplace and send all the wrong signals to all the right people.
It’s quite amazing just how quickly a firm (or even just an individual boss or manager) can become tarnished these days. If you want to attract (and, ultimately, retain) the right staff, you need to ensure your firm can demonstrate and prove positive and supportive employee engagement – click here for additional ideas.
Advertise in the right places
Most job vacancies have a basic skill set and there’s no point looking for those abilities where they don’t exist. Depending on your vacancy, you should think about finding a specialist agency or HR practitioner that can help you identify the correct places to advertise your role.
Of course, the local press can seem like a very easy and very quick option but you’ll only be limiting your potential by thinking on such a small scale. Utilizing the services of specialist websites, recruitment companies and even social media, you’ll be way more likely to find the perfect match for your vacancy. And on that subject . . .
Use social media and existing employees to find contacts
The average Facebook user has 338 friends – and we all know, we tend to spend time with and know people who have interests similar to our own. If you want a cheap – yet massively effective – way of attracting applicants to your vacancy, think about reaching out to your existing staff and asking them to post details onto their timeline. You may end up very, very surprised by just how effective this can prove.
As a side note – don’t just expect your staff to put this kind of thing onto their social pages. You will need to actively encourage them.
Show a demonstrable, actionable career ladder
It’s human nature to want to progress and you’ll be hard-pushed to attract quality potential team members to your firm if you can’t show them a way forward for career development. Again, yes, a job is inextricably linked to earning a wage, but money is not enough for most people – most people want to think forward five years, ten years, etc. This becomes particularly important if you want to attract skilled workers to your firm.
Be flexible – and allow staff to lay out their own flexibility
The old day of fixed-wage, fixed-hours, Monday to Friday, 9-5 are long gone. For many years, there’s been a drive among employees to demand more flexible working arrangements – a push that was only emboldened by the recent Coronavirus and the enforced practices of home working.
While the worst of the virus may well be behind us, most employment experts agree that the idea of working remotely or from home will remain long after the memory of COVID has faded.
If you want to attract the very best, most dependable and skilled staff, you’ll need to offer them a certain level of autonomy – the choice to work from home, at hours that suit them – and, often, in more flexible roles than those that you initially advertise.