5 Effective Strategies to Attract Top Talent

The war for talent is on and has been for a while. If you’re not actively taking the proper measures within your recruitment process to stand out from competitors, there is a good chance you are missing out on A-Player talent.

Our team of experienced recruiters developed five powerful strategies that will help you successfully showcase your company, create a stronger employer brand, and remove the barriers keeping A-Players away from your organization.

1. Post a Job Advertisement, Not Just a Job Description:

While a job description provides a general overview of the position, a job advertisement goes a step further by promoting your company and what you have to offer employees. If you want to attract top talent, writing and posting a strong job advertisement is crucial.

Your job advertisement should be no more than one-page in length and must include a summary of the role, as well as the position's objective, responsibilities, qualifications, and benefits/perks (including compensation information). Job details must be accurate and concise, with the more mundane tasks saved for the job description. Most importantly, your job advertisement needs to convey why one should leave their current position to work for your company. What’s in it for them? It is this additional information that transforms your job description into a job advertisement that delivers results!

Too many job advertisements are structured like a demanding checklist and fail to promote what their company has to offer employees. If you want to stand out in a sea of painfully long and boring job descriptions, run through the following list of questions to help determine what makes your company great:

• What career growth opportunities are available for employees?
• What is our company culture like?
• What is the working environment like?
• What kind of health benefits do we offer?
• Do we offer flexible working schedules?
• What other perks do we offer (e.g., car allowance, company truck, company events, etc.)?
• What is the compensation range for this role?
• Do we offer bonuses?
• What do we have to offer that our competitors do not?

Remember, when you simply copy and paste your job description and post it online, the majority of responses received will be from active candidates—individuals that are unemployed and looking for a job. A job advertisement will go beyond to help get the attention of passive candidates—individuals that are gainfully employed, working for your competitors.

To see an example of a strong job advertisement, visit the Job Opportunities page on our website or our LinkedIn page where we regularly advertise job positions on behalf of our clients.

2. Create Employer Brand Videos:

Employer brand videos are a highly effective means of showcasing your company's mission, values, culture, and work environment. These videos serve as powerful tools for talent attraction and branding, as they provide prospective candidates with a transparent understanding of what it's like to work within your organization. Brand videos are more likely to capture the attention of passive candidates as they require less effort than reading a lengthy job description. Furthermore, social media algorithms favour video content, which allows your brand videos to reach a larger audience.

3. Express Values & Culture:

Employees are looking for more than just a paycheck, they want to work for a company whose values align with theirs and be part of a culture they can thrive in. That's why expressing your company's values and culture is essential when attracting the talent you need. Convey your company culture—not only on job advertisements—but throughout all recruitment materials as well as on your company website and social media platforms. Better yet, give candidates an immersive look at your organization's culture with an employer brand video and/or a workplace tour, as mentioned earlier.

4. Share Employee Success Stories:

Sharing employee success stories is another effective way of showing potential hires what it's like to work for your company. These testimonials give prospective candidates valuable insight into your company's unique team culture and satisfaction levels, inspiring them to apply for your organization. Success stories can be written or recorded on video and shared on your company website, social media accounts, etc. As simple as this strategy may be, it is not one to take lightly. Research shows that candidates trust an organization’s employees 3x more than the organization itself to provide accurate information on what it's like to work there.

5. Promote Work Perks:

Although we touched on work perks above, they are worth further elaborating on, as your ability to promote them is key when it comes to attracting the talent you need to succeed.

Work perks refer to any non-wage benefits beyond salary and health benefits. Some examples are remote or work from home options, paid maternity/paternity leave, company retreats, tuition reimbursement, office lunches, etc. There are also smaller perks that some businesses offer—such as fully equipped espresso bars, 3PM Summer Fridays, or staff room snacks—that should not be exempt from this list.

Whether big or small, by highlighting all work perks, you will show potential hires how your company can help them meet both their personal and family needs and achieve a healthy work-life balance.

Promote work perks in job postings, social media platforms, your company website, office bulletin boards, etc. You can even encourage employees to share these perks online! This is a sure way to inspire and attract top talent.

Implementing these hiring strategies can drastically increase your recruitment success rate and improve your employer brand. When you have a strong employer brand, companies report a 50% reduction in cost per hire and a 50% increase in the amount of qualified applicants applying to work for their organizations. Contact us today to learn more about how we can help your business attract A-Players.