Telling Your Story to Attract Better Employees
You have job openings. You need to hire. You can’t find quality applicants.
You’re not alone.
Many organizations I talk to say that finding quality applicants is harder than ever – and getting worse.
These days it takes more than a job opening and a “Help Wanted” sign to find the quality or quantity of applicants you need; it takes a commitment to tell your story in meaningful ways.
Why Telling Your Story Is Important For Hiring
Focusing year-round on sharing your story can help you better connect with quality applicants when the need arises. The way you tell and share your story is through content: the words, photos, graphics, videos, and experiences you use.
The way to court quality applicants in the modern work environment has changed. Here are a few reasons why:
The best way to tell your story is simply by sharing who you are and the sincere nuggets that make up your normal day. Don’t stress about having to make something up that doesn’t feel comfortable or real to you and your business. Don’t pretend to be something or someone you’re not.
The goal is for applicants to get a genuine understanding of the company they are considering.
Themes For Your Storytelling Approach
Each of the following topics play a key role in telling the story of your company. These topics are designed to help you plan out ideas for what to share in your storytelling plan.
Keep in mind that your next employee may very well be gainfully employed.
Studies show that intangibles such as respect, teamwork, and purpose play larger roles in an applicant’s decision to apply for certain positions. Make sure you are finding ways to show the character and culture of your company. Doing so will help quality candidates see why you’re a company that should be on their radar.
Your story plan should include creating ways in which those working in a similar industry – or even a competitor – can see why your company is the better option for their needs.
Technology is making it easier to do more with less effort. It’s also making us lazier. We no longer have to walk into a storefront to learn about a business. With websites, video platforms, and social media, full experiences can come to us instead of us going to them.
We now have access to information at any time without getting out of a chair – or couch.
So what does that mean for you?
- Your information about your company must be easily available at all times, not just during business hours.
- The information you create about your company’s position must be easy to find and easy to use.
- The information must consider the various ways people consume content, including video, skimming, and reading details.
- Having all this content on your website may not be enough. You’ll have to spread it out to more places to draw the attention of those will the skills you seek. This includes a variety of social media and online platforms.
Keep in mind that not everyone knows what you do.
Even your best customers often don’t know all you do. So you’ll want to create some content that is very straightforward to help applicants understand exactly what you do and who you do it for. Think of what you’d want an applicant to know about you.
Literal topics include what do you make, sell, or do? How do you do it? What makes you different? What’s a normal day like? Be clear and obvious and use words and terms everyone can understand.
This is the feeling side of your content. You want to demonstrate how do you treat people. How do you recognize and respect your employees? How you care for and help the needs of your clients. Focus on ways to demonstrate the culture you’ve created and how you execute it daily.
Flexibility in the workplace consistently ranks high on employee surveys as a top desire for potential employees. If you can speak to flexibility, specifically, this will help.
Think about how a potential applicant may be dissatisfied with their current position and speak to how your company could help fill that void.
This type of content relates to what you believe and how do you execute those beliefs. This includes your company mission, vision, and values – along with causes you support and community activities you give to. Having a defined set of mission, vision, and values not only allows applicants to align their expectations with yours, but it provides you a foundation to measure your hiring decisions against.
Share how you created your values. Speak to how do you choose what causes to get involved in?
Explain how your company is more than just a set of individual jobs.
Closing Thoughts
Remember that not all people value or want the same things. Your company has characteristics that will appeal to a variety of people. But they have to know about it before they can care about it.