Attracting Top Talent to Your Business
Everyone is showering candidates with cash and perks these days. There are hundreds of start-ups out there, not to mention all the more established and deep-pocketed companies. So, what will make someone want to work for you? It takes true differentiation to compete. Take the time to articulate what sets you apart, and make sure you capitalize on it during the recruitment process.
Candidate experience is key to attracting top talent
Candidates seriously care about their recruitment experience. In fact, nine out of 10 professionals say a good interview experience can change their mind about a company they had doubts about. Every step of the way, from the moment you interact via email, candidates are evaluating your business. Everything from how fast you respond, to how they’re greeted onsite and how excited you are in general, can make a massive difference to the candidate’s impression of your company. Try to keep people informed of where they are in the process and send updates as soon as you can to minimise any anxiety the candidate might have. All this adds up to a better candidate experience which will serve you in attracting top talent.
Sell your vision
A large attraction of working at a start-up is the opportunity to have a real impact on building a product you believe in. Candidates at start-ups aren’t just buying into your job, they’re buying into your vision. One way of attracting top talent is to get people excited. There’s so much room for creativity and exciting new areas to be explored. If people aren’t walking away thinking about how much they want to be a part of your team then you haven’t done well enough. Sell a candidate on your vision and get them to connect with it.
For engineers: focus on the tech
Some techies are way more concerned with your company’s tech – and how they’ll get to work with it – than they are by mission and vision. So, before you capitalize on what you think is a huge selling point, find out what makes your candidate tick. Some companies have an almost 100% proprietary tech stack, and they know it’s a big selling point for many of their technical candidates. Don’t let any candidate go without feeling out how important your unique tech stack can be to them, and capitalising on it when their ears perk up – which is usually always.
Hire from your customer base
If you’re lucky enough to have a product with a loyal customer base, hire from it! When customers reach out to you, they’re already fans of the product and vision. It usually checks off the culture fit question right away. Not every company has this luxury, but if you do, keep an eye out for applicants who already love what you do. You’ll find dedicated employees, all without any differentiation needed. As long as they fit the other necessary experience related criteria of course.
Focus on transparency
A surefire way to make your employees feel disillusioned and wary is to shut them out of important company discussions. We swear by transparency and are definitely not the only ones. Make sure during the interview process that candidates understand what transparency means. Make sure to let everyone in on the important details related to building the company. That includes transparency about how much money is in the bank, progress towards critical milestones. Which VCs bite and which don’t, and even making sure employees get a chance to meet the investors. When candidates are considering dedicating so much of their lives to your start-up, it helps many to know they’ll be treated with respect.
Now, your company’s differentiators are something that everybody involved in the recruiting process should be able to talk about. From the initial phone screen to the interview process and final offer, you should always be selling your unique culture.
We’ve been in the Sales and Marketing Strategy game for longer than we care to remember, but we pride ourselves on the combined exposure our team has had to different B2B markets globally, and the strategic services we offer your business as a result.
If you are looking for Salesforce / Pardot Support with an existing Org or want to know if Salesforce or Pardot is right for you, get in touch with us for a free consultation or simply a chat. We work alongside Start-ups and Enterprises alike, we’re certain we will find you a path to growth, whatever your plans.
We are open Monday-Friday 9-6pm and have open channels for communication either on our LinkedIn, Twitter or you can simply give us a call on 020 8106 8500.