Blog / Leadership
Mel Barker, Attracting the greatest talent to your business
One of the sure fire ways to make your business thrive is to employ the best people. Melissa Barker, a talent specialist and HR consultant, believes that you have to make your business like a honey pot, to attract the best bees.
She says, “You need to keep in mind that the best candidates who are searching for a job have multiple options.”
Mel believes that you have to understand your employment brand and be able to identify and communicate your employee value proposition, if you are going to attract the calibre of candidate you seek. Mel says, “You have to be very clear in communication, and make it clear how gun prospects could profit from what you can offer and how you can both benefit from working together.”
Apple is a standout company, according to Mel in their ability to communicate their employment value proposition. She notes, “They have a strong employment brand which they communicate clearly in their employee value proposition. Just by going on their website, on the career section within Apple, candidates can clearly see that creativity is a key component that Apple expects from all team members across the organisation, whether you’re in their corporate team or retail team. For example, it says, 'We expect creative thinking and solutions from everyone here, no matter what their responsibilities are. Innovation takes many forms and our people seem to find new ones everyday '."
She also thinks that Apple communicates very honestly. “They say on their website 'At Apple we expect a lot of you, but in return you’ll be recognised fairly'. So they’re saying up front that it is a hard working culture and that you will be expected to produce a high quality, consistent level of performance, but in return you’ll be recognised.”
Mel says that recognition is one of the biggest things that team members or employees need from their managers. “A lot of research has proven that. In Gallop’s 12 elements of great managing, one of the points is that teams need to be recognised. It’s actually a human instinct. As humans, we need to be recognised for what we do.”
This in turn means that top candidates are not necessarily attracted to offers of high salaries. Mel says, “Great people are not just attracted by the possibility of making millions. Many people seek and value direction. There’s been so much research out there that says the number one thing people are looking for in a job is career development opportunities. So, whether that's in the form of leaders and mentors or external conferences or on-the-job learning, career development is definitely the number one thing that people are looking for. And it’s really interesting to note pay and are is actually quite a fair way down the list. It is not the number one that people are looking for.”
So then, how do you attract the best bees?
Mel believes that it all starts with your corporate branding and how you communicate what kind of employer you are. If the first point of contact that gun candidates have to your business is a website, Mel recommends thinking about what your website says about your company. She says, “On your careers website you need to have a point of difference – ask yourself, why would a candidate want to join your company ahead of a competitor? What you need to communicate to attract this best talent is your employment brand and your employee value proposition.”
Mel explains, “It’s not so much what your site looks like; I think it’s what it communicates. It needs to communicate your employment brand and a lot of people don’t actually know what their employment brand is.”
What is your employment brand?
Your employment brand is similar to a product brand. “For a product to be successful it has to have a strong brand behind it,” explains Mel. “It’s the same with a company; to be successful you have to have a strong brand that people want to work for. It’s what stands behind the company in terms of its values, its products, its services.”
“Your brand is your values, the way you conduct business, the way you treat your employees, and it’s also the personality of your company. It should represent the reasons why your existing employees want to stay working for you and why candidates who are looking for a new job would join your company over a competitor.”
Identify your employee value proposition
Mel believes that identifying your employment brand is a long-term process. She suggests asking your team what drives them and why do they like working for you? “It might be career development, mentors, a flexible work environment. Once you know your employee value proposition, then communicate that to the external market.
“An employee value proposition is essentially an employment promise and it reflects the measurement of the balance between what an employee receives in return for what they offer,” says Mel. “For example, a company might promote they have strong leaders and mentors and career development opportunities. 'If this sounds like something that you want, great, come on board, but from you we expect creative thinking, we expect you to go above and beyond.' It’s that balance between what an employee receives in return for what the company offers.”
Communicate what you are offering
Mel says, “If you’re communicating your employee value proposition, video interviews with existing employees saying how they’ve grown and developed within the company because of leader or development opportunities offered; on your website works well.” Showing rather than telling is a very powerful way to sell your business.
Once you’ve attracted the best talent to your website and you’ve clearly communicated your employment brand in the form of your employee value proposition, you then need to make it easy for prospective employees to apply. Don’t make them jump through ten hoops and keep it simple. Have an easy to use layout and navigation system where they can easily punch in their details, upload their resume, add any additional comments, and they’ve applied.
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