When it comes to drawing candidates in a talent shortage, there is nothing more critical than a company’s story. With the competition for top talent only increasing, companies are wasting no time by buffing up their recruiting efforts. Their arsenal of tools may be a nice brochure or a detailed About Us page, but many companies are missing one vital piece of the puzzle; the company story.
Nowadays, employees want to know everything about a company to see where and if they fit into the mix. Therefore, the story creates the first impression and many times it’s the reason candidates continue reading at all. With the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showing that 6.7 million jobs need to be filled and only 6.4 million people available to fill these jobs, it becomes painfully obvious how difficult finding the right employees might be. Which means, you’ve guessed it, now is the time to tell your company story and grab the attention of those qualified applicants before they move on to other opportunities.
THE PROCESS
When creating a company story, don’t complicate the process. Use these simple guidelines to expand your candidate pool so people can’t help but hit the Apply button.
1. Show, Don’t Tell:
Never underestimate the power of visuals when it comes to storytelling. Whether it’s through pictures or videos you should choose your visuals wisely to project your personality to your potential hires. However, that is only one side of the coin.
In order to cohesively project a fluid personality, you must integrate it throughout your job postings, known as your Job-Post Voice. This includes wording your postings in a manner that will attract the kind of person you are looking for. It could be straight-to-the-point, light and humorous, or even use language that attracts a certain gender. This could also include anything similar to the language you use while on the job.
2. Focus on Where You’ve Been and Where You’re Going
More often than not businesses have a tendency to short sell their company goals and plans. Now, you may be thinking profit and growth are enough of a goal in this area, but I can assure you that will only get you so far, and may even rub applicants the wrong way. By focusing only on the bottom line, you will neglect what applicants might care about the most, their own future.
Most applicants want to understand the 5 year plan to see if that is a plan they want to be a part of. So, don’t beat around the bush when it comes to showing them. Better yet, specify exactly what your company’s goals are. This could be a part of your mission statement, but should ultimately tie into the tasks at hand, and more importantly what the employee journey is.
When it comes to painting a clear picture for your candidates be transparent and tell them exactly what the promotion ladder may look like as well as the company’s potential plans of expansion or where you want to be in the near future.
3. Go Beyond The About Page
Forget about that little header on your webpage and take your company view offline. Showcase any inter-office or companywide events and campaigns that involve employees showing their pride in their company. I would suggest integrating these events and campaigns throughout your company’s social media platforms to not only tell your story but bridge your employees and work culture together.
Some examples of this could include company-sponsored walkathons, the commuter biking group, volunteer events, or work and travel opportunities outside the borders of the office walls.
To Sum It Up…
Your company story should align with your goals and ambitions as a top priority in your Talent Acquisition strategy. Recruiting is hard enough in times of a talent shortage and investing in a well-thought-out company story will only strengthen your recruiting efforts. Through visuals and expanding your story beyond the about page, you may just find candidates hitting that apply button more than ever.