Recruitment Tips to Succeed in the Competition for Talent

BY Tim Londergan
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The competition for talent and the voluntary quit rate stubbornly continue. Increasingly, workers are leaving traditional roles for part-​time or temporary jobs or starting their own businesses. Remarkably, these are only a few of the trends that cause employers to rethink their hiring strategies. Yet, many companies tend to approach the problem the same way they have for years. Consequently, frustration grows, and organizations are eager to find new recruitment tips or any ideas that help to fill their open jobs. Wisely, partners at McKinsey & Company, urge employers to look beyond their established hiring practices with a renewed appreciation for the pool of available talent.

Recruitment tips to evaluate the depths of new talent pools

Just as two workers may leave the same job for different reasons, they will return only for motives that satisfy their individual needs. This is part of what McKinsey found in their global study to better understand who may fill all the vacancies. Interestingly, they found that compensation and job advancement opportunities did not hold sway among these disparate groups of available workers. In fact, no single solution will attract enough people to fill all the job openings. This requires employers to launch a multi-​pronged approach to attract workers who express different priorities. Consequently, the recruitment tips are tailored for each distinct pool of workers.

Employers must be creative in customized recruitment efforts

The challenge for hiring is like marketing a brand. Employers must showcase their offerings in a way that is most appealing to their target. Likewise, they must segment the various groups that make up the pool of available workers. Through research, McKinsey identified five “personas,” as they call them. Below are examples along with descriptors and how companies may best approach them based on the candidates’ related value propositions.

Traditionalists”

According to McKinsey, these career-​oriented people have been the typical respondents to common hiring strategies. Unfortunately, there are not enough of them to fill the void. What’s more, these workers tend to be risk-​averse and make up a large part of the full-​time work force that have not quit their jobs.

Do-​it-​yourselfers”

Members of this group value flexibility above all. They left their job feeling unappreciated and seeking autonomy. Part-​time or gig work allows them to set their own hours and the freedom to decide the type of work they would do. Recruitment tips to attract would center around modularized work, independent activities and decoupling goal setting from others on the team. Additionally, the authors suggest flexibility from the outset by asking the candidate how many interviews they prefer and whether they should be remote or in-person.

Caregivers”

This group consists of people who have priorities that extend well beyond the workplace. They may be active or passive job seekers hoping to find an opportunity that would justify coming back to the paid labor force. These cohorts need flexibility and support to care for children, parents or themselves and consider a return to work as a sacrifice to other urgencies. Recruitment tips include normalizing and widening the use of parental leave and giving more flexibility around school holidays. Innovative employers may subsidize personal services, physical therapy or on-​site childcare.

Idealists”

These potential hires are younger and less likely to be encumbered by mortgages, dependents or other responsibilities. Career development, advancement potential and meaningful work are attractive qualities. Likewise, promoting diversity in an organizational culture that emphasizes purpose and community is appealing. Recruitment tips may be anchored in tuition subsidies, flexible work schedules and paths to advancement.

Check out the article for a complete list of McKinsey’s “personas” and learn more about their findings. They provide detailed characteristics of the groups and a complete list of incentives ranked for each cluster.

Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash


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