To Hire The Best — Show Your Best: You’ve Got to Work it!
Typically, my blogs focus on the job hunter. Today, I’d like to switch gears and shoot a little friendly advice over to my hiring manager friends.
Media reports late last week showed that the economy actually grew and 200K+ new jobs were secured to start off the year. As a recruiter in digital media, this doesn’t surprise me so much. In fact, if you looked at digital media alone as an index of the strength of our economy, you’d be hard pressed to think America was suffering financially!
My firm is pretty darn busy helping clients staff up for these first few months of 2012. And, because driving revenue is the #1 priority for companies in the digital media business, sales jobs are hot right now. On fire. It’s February, which means year-end bonuses have been handed out and there’s a flurry of activity and movement. Account Executives, Sales Managers and the likes are getting calls left and right regarding job openings. Some are good and some are, or could seem, kind of sucky. The question is, how do you break through the clutter and convince the best in the business to choose you over the other guy?
Here are my top five suggestions on how you can do just that…
#1 – Develop a Positioning Strategy
I’m sure your marketing team has done a bang up job creating presentations and other collateral that clearly spell out the advantages of investing in your company for your customers. Why not share this with any internal and external recruiters you are working with so they can properly “sell” your company to potential employers?
#2 — Evangelize Your Company
Tell candidates how much you have grown. Use numbers that show revenue and employee growth. Tell candidates that this is a place that people WANT to work and prove it thru data. If you’ve got a staff longevity story, share it. If people are apt to get promoted, show statistics or give examples. If the positions you are filling are all add-to-staff, sing that story out loud.
#3 — Share Unique Benefits
Do you offer a dry cleaning stipend? Three weeks vacation at the very start? Casual Fridays, half-day Fridays in the summer? Think about the various perks that your company offers and make sure to use it as part of your pitch. As our society grows, our employees want a better work/life balance. Promote the fact that you take care of your employees, beyond the expected paycheck.
#4 – Show Respect
Even if you interview someone and you know they are not right for the job, show some respect. Remember, that person has a life and a place on this planet, just like you. Plus, he or she may be very well connected in the industry and could spread some pretty nasty things about your company. If they feel really snubbed, they might even Tweet or turn to Facebook, where they could lambast you in front of hundreds of people in the business. Be nice. Even if it hurts.
#5 — Show some Empathy
When you’re hiring, you’re also busy with your own every day job responsibilities. It can be really difficult to stop and just focus on the interviewee when you sit down. Try not to make the candidate wait too long after your scheduled meeting time. Remember, he’s taking time out of his regular job as well to meet with you. Close your door, turn off your cell phone and don’t take any interruptions. Better yet, meet the candidate outside the office so you KNOW you won’t be distracted. Show the candidate that he or she has your complete attention. I can’t TELL you what a difference this will make in having someone great WANT to come and help you be successful.
Carpe diem
Jane Ashen Turkewitz is Client Development Director for TalentFoot Executive Search.