Becoming an Employer of Choice

Becoming an employer of choice.

We often hear buzzwords around recruitment and retention, and sometimes they can be banded about without the people using them really knowing what they mean, and how we might achieve them. I’ve found that being an ‘employer of choice’ is one of these recent buzzwords. Let’s have a go at looking at this and see if we can find any answers:

Firstly what does it mean – Being an employer of choice is often meant that you are attracting and retaining the best talent, giving your business a competitive advantage, improving productivity and dramatically reducing the costs of staff turnover.

The first step is to define what being employed by the company looks like:

Internally discovered values need to be translated by the HR team (external consultant) into a clear message and ‘employment brand’ positioning. Creating clearly defined communications around these messages will create a business that people seek to work for.

Is the work meaningful?

People want to have more than just a job, they want to make a difference, whether that’s externally or internally, and they need to understand the difference their role makes.

 What opportunities do you have for growth?

Individual growth is not the same from person to person or business to business, but giving people the opportunity to improve themselves is a strong motivator for many people – particularly the best candidates.

 What are the standards and value of the business?

High standards and values are attractive in businesses. People want to work for businesses they buy into and feel aligned with.

 What kind of people are already in the business?

This includes the leadership- Leaders at the top of the organisation have the opportunity to be inspirational and forward looking, staff want to see themselves working in a high performance team and one that is moving forward.

 Does the business value staff?

Flexible working, good working conditions and giving people some space to perform and do thing is all important. Top performers don’t mind working hard, but they appreciate when that brings flexibility.

Step 2 is to Refine the recruitment process:

One of the key elements of being an employer of choice is the people you employ. Sounds obvious, but good people attract more good people. Employing people who are not up to standard creates issues with successful teams.

1. The present Leaders of the business need to be involved, however if there is a HR person (outsourced or internal)  sourcing and screening potential candidates

If they are following the guide created by the ‘employment brand’ we have previously mentioned, the chances of employing the right candidate is greatly increased compared with dept. heads or managers working to fill a need. 

1. Creation of honest position descriptions

A position description doesn’t just describe the job that needs doing, but is specific about the kind of person required and the attributes they need to be successful in the role and within the business. Be honest also about the job they are taking on, as dishonesty here causes very high staff turnover. 

1. Sourcing strategy

Where you recruit from is a huge factor in attracting the right candidates. Using the person specification element of your job description, where are these people looking for jobs? Are they looking for jobs or do you need to headhunt? 

1. Recruit on Character first

Utilise the company culture we talked about earlier and the person specification. We need to evaluate whether their personality fits in with the team. Consider involving other members of the team in the recruitment process to help with this.

There is no doubt that being more aware of attraction and retention in the recruitment sector will lead to smarter hiring policy that translates to your business being a more attractive to others and also a have good feel factor for existing staff. That’s an investment in itself – a true win/win.

Best Wishes

Safaraz

p.s Connect with me and share your comments on: @SafarazAli

p.p.s  the photo chosen is deliberate- love the old PC’s!