When trying to attract candidates, traditional job specs just don't cut the mustard.
From work we've recently concluded with a Personal Care client, we saw a marked increase in engagement and higher attraction rates by using a bespoke candidate pack.
But what, I hear you cry, should a candidate pack include.
Well, allow us to show you what we've learned...
A well-presented candidate pack will make your company more desirable to the talent pool. It will make the recruitment process faster and will highglight you and your company as open and authentic, ensuring better cut through with a more engaged candidate audience. In turn, your shortlist to hire from will be of a substantially higher calibre.
Who are you?
Talk about you, your team, why you guys are doing what you're doing.
If your company has a history worth highlighting then show it off: candidates like seeing the evolution of companies and brands.
Much like consumers like to understand a product's provenance, candidates find it easier to engage with companies that can demonstrate their pedigree.
A description of your company’s values.
Be honest.
On Huel's wall, it simply states 'Don't be a Dick'.
South Western Airways mission is to 'Connect people to what's important in their lives through friendly, reliable, and low-cost air travel'.
It's not War & Peace.
There's a lot of discussion about how every company is striving for their B Corp status just now, how staff can break out and play pingpong at lunchtime, how fruit is available daily and, frankly, how that's all potentially masking their real self. Just read anything by Ritson on the topic.
Most candidates we speak to at POET want a company that's doing the right thing but they also want a company that's growing its revenues and is investing back into its people, its training and its budgets for marketing and insights.
Being in a nice business with a bold mission but no money isn't all it's cracked up to be any more. Being an honest business that's trying to win in a 360° fashion is more authentic.
Tell prospective candidates about your values therefore, tell them about how those values underpin your ambitions and, in turn, how the culture of your business continues to blossom and evolve through bringing people like them on board.
Your company’s brands and products, the market you guys operate in and the type of collaborators you work with.
If possible, give a little bit of background about your brand portfolio - its heritage and the stories behind the brand(s). This is quite a useful test in interviews too... ask candidates about a certain brand and what's its been doing ;)
Outline partners you collaborate with - it might be an agency, a luxury hotel chain or a grocery retailer. It might be your first ever customer who still stocks your product and is proud of how you've grown together. If you can include testimonials, do.
Involve your current employees
They'll be peers for those that you bring in and will likely have similar ambitions, goals and views on life.
Their input into this could be beyond valuable given they'll be seen to have a more 'objective' view than those in the C-Suite.
You can also use these guys to illustrate how they've grown their careers, how they've maybe had the opportunity to move cross-functionally or internationally. They could mention your company's hybrid working policy and how they balance a busy family life with work.
These are all hot topics and things that candidates ask POET about. If they can see this information first hand from your company, if nothing else, it'll save time in the process because they've alreday got the answers they need.
The job description, because they're useful... if a little boring in isolation!
Finally, add the job description.
If it's as 'standardised' as job specs are these days, maybe consider rewording it too match and tone of the candidate pack: every piece of literature that you make available to the candidate pool should be true to you and your company's brand(s), persona and tone of voice - innocent's tone of voice wouldn't work for a candidate pack for Reckitt and vice-versa but that doesn't mean they can't be as effective as each other in attracting high calibre candidates.
Make the whole document 3-4 pages long and save into a PDF format.
Link it all together and monitor your new candidate pack's impact
Don’t forget to add your company’s website, a map of where your office is based (add some photos of that pingpong table and the breakout area if you're proud of your HQ) including nearest transport links and social media links too.
Think about adding URL contact links through to recruitment partners or your HR team who can then monitor feedback and uptake throughout the recruitment process - a unique URL on this document can help to monitor this process and improve future ones as you tinker with elements of the attraction/engagement process.
If you need a hand supercharging the attraction and engagement pieces of your recruitment puzzle, get in touch with POET here, we'd love to share what we've learned and help you out.
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