In a people intensive business environment, attracting and retaining talent is the single biggest driver for delivery success. I have seen one great developer single handedly pull a complex project out of the dumps in three weeks flat. Unfortunately, he was too good to stick on and left, I am sure any manager would have had similar experiences. Well, let me start with the fundamental issue of attracting talent. After all you can’t retain talent that you can’t attract in the first place.
Create a unique, niche brand identity:
The services world, people tend to gravitate towards attractive brand names. Now, many of the attractive brands are also the bigger brands. No cause for despair though. The key here is that you don’t need to be a big brand to be an attractive one. But you need to generate the buzz, the excitement. Define a niche for yourself, dream up an innovative promotion campaign and go to town with it and watch the resumes roll in. Say you are a product outsourcing company; craft your campaign around the unique words, feelings and emotions that your employees get to experience each day. Use words unique to your context (say a code word for a successful product release, or the nick name for the client’s CTO). Better still, get your employees to dream up the content for your ads. Nobody can communicate raw emotion than the people who are experiencing it every day, day after day. Let the excitement, fun and learning come out in a way only your employees can put it!
Create a unique, niche brand identity:
The services world, people tend to gravitate towards attractive brand names. Now, many of the attractive brands are also the bigger brands. No cause for despair though. The key here is that you don’t need to be a big brand to be an attractive one. But you need to generate the buzz, the excitement. Define a niche for yourself, dream up an innovative promotion campaign and go to town with it and watch the resumes roll in. Say you are a product outsourcing company; craft your campaign around the unique words, feelings and emotions that your employees get to experience each day. Use words unique to your context (say a code word for a successful product release, or the nick name for the client’s CTO). Better still, get your employees to dream up the content for your ads. Nobody can communicate raw emotion than the people who are experiencing it every day, day after day. Let the excitement, fun and learning come out in a way only your employees can put it!
Consciously build informal networks:
The best prospects are those that never apply! How does one target this segment? Brute force head hunting comes full of risks. Well, actively create informal networks. If you have a need for great architects, create a corporate “Architecture blog” and encourage your star architects to start writing about their work and their ideas. This is not going to directly bring in dozens of resumes overnight, but will create mindshare in the niche segments that you want to target. When your competitor’s star awakens, his first instinct will be to tap into your informal network. Why? Because, thanks to the value he has gained from your company’s blog and the semi personal/semi professional relationships he has built with your employees, the company and it’s work are already sold. He already believes that people like him are successful in your company. You just need to discuss numbers now before you bring him in!
Publicize your success with people:
Next time you put out your recruitment ad, let your stars sing their success stories. Let them speak about how the company has helped them reach their goals. Give out the contact details of your star and let the candidates write to/speak to him. This will serve the cause of retention and also make your recruitment pitch more credible.
Impress the common man: The common man knows Microsoft as Bill Gates’s company and not without good reason. People are attracted to big charismatic names. But why bother about impressing the common man when you are looking for great techies? In the changing work of work where social pressure and image are important drivers for choosing a company, especially at junior levels. If you have a big name in your company, get an MediaCorp or a CNA to interview him/her. Let the people *outside* the arena world know about what he/she and your company are doing.
Impress the common man: The common man knows Microsoft as Bill Gates’s company and not without good reason. People are attracted to big charismatic names. But why bother about impressing the common man when you are looking for great techies? In the changing work of work where social pressure and image are important drivers for choosing a company, especially at junior levels. If you have a big name in your company, get an MediaCorp or a CNA to interview him/her. Let the people *outside* the arena world know about what he/she and your company are doing.
Make recruitment ads more meaningful:
Most recruitment ads do two things well .a). Spell out a great job description. b). Trumpet the company. What most don’t do well is to spell out the benefits. If your company sponsors an expensive and coveted certification, have a great pension scheme or a tie up with an IIM to do an MBA; make it part of your ad. You never know what appeals to an individual. Put your best step forward!
