Candidate-Centric in the Disruptive Economy

As discussed in my earlier posts it’s getting increasingly harder to find skilled workers in the disruptive economy.

Many freelancers are happy with their position, opting to work with clients independently instead of going to work for a company. Some are even choosing to launch their own businesses on the back of their freelancing success.

If the gig economy wasn’t a big enough hurdle to overcome, competition is also fierce. Everybody is looking for great talent, and apparently there simply isn’t enough to go around. According to a recent ManpowerGroup report – “organizations are facing one of the largest talent shortages since 2007.”

But that’s not the end of it. Many companies are concentrating on tactics instead of strategy and that has effectively left them with marginal talent or no qualified applicants at all.

This is because most companies don’t necessarily understand what it means to be candidate-centric. Seeing things from the perspective of potential applicants can help you appeal to the right people and suddenly you might not find yourself with a shortage of talent.

Google & disruption

Dr John Sullivan says, “Google, through its branding, PR, and recruiting efforts, has made itself so well known and attractive to professionals from every industry and university that they have essentially changed the game of recruiting forever.”

Facebook & innovation 

How is it that Facebook – a company with circa 25,000 employees and around 49 global offices – can consistently recruit top talent?

Meghan M. Biro is CEO of TalentCulture Consulting Group. In an article on HuffPost, she notes: “Fit comes first at Facebook; if you don’t share common values that drive the rest of the team, it probably won’t work out.”

How to start implementing a talent-centric strategy in the disruptive economy

Though you may not be able to follow the example of major players in the disruptive economy, you can still learn from them to optimise your own candidate-centric talent strategy.

Here are a four key takeaways:

• Know what you’re about. What do you stand for? What kind of people are you looking for? What types of workers fit in best at your organisation? Determine your core values and leverage them to attract the best fit.

• Offer benefits and perks. There may be limits to what you can do now based on your budget. So, think innovatively about the types of special benefits and perks you could be offering your employees for better recruiting and retention.

• Market to your candidates like you would to your customers. Much has been said about understanding your target audience and their challenges. Recruiting is no different. Market a product your candidates would love to buy.

• Spend time and effort developing your people. Hire for cultural fit, of course, but if you can’t find your rockstar straight away help them become what your business needs.

In summary, don’t shy away from being candidate-centric, but don’t oversell yourself either. Remember to always remain sincere in your brand offering, consistent with your candidate experience, don’t underestimate the attraction of developing people and, finally, be transparent with career expectations.