Tips to attracting top talent

While cash incentives remain popular, candidates increasingly want to work in an environment that offers career progression and they feel comfortable working in.

  1. Company culture

A good company culture in a workplace can make all the difference when it comes to making a position more marketable for potential employees.  This could include fostering an inclusive and diverse environment, providing opportunities for flexible working, giving a suitable level of autonomy to employees, or hosting regular social events.

Creating a culture where individuals are welcomed, included, and celebrated for their differences is an important element to the modern workforce when considering where to work. In addition, introducing smaller, softer perks is a great way to change a company culture.

  1. Company reputation

It is essential companies create a reputation as a place that prospective candidates want to work. Companies with well-known brands and excellent working practices will be able to attract the strongest candidates based on their reputation.

Additionally operating an efficient and engaging recruitment process will enhance your brand and it is well worth investing time and effort to create this. Everything from a well-crafted job description to well run and concise interviews and how the successful candidate is offered the position should reflect the company in a positive light.

  1. Personal relationships

Line managers should not view interviews as a series of questions and instead an opportunity to develop good interpersonal relationships with candidates.  Relationships formed through the interview process will make the candidates relax and divulge more information and can often make the difference as to whether a candidate accepts an offer or not.

It is therefore important that line managers are trained before interviewing to ensure they can successfully present both themselves and the company to candidates.

  1. Personal fulfilment

Normally employees want to be more than just a cog in a large machine and want to play a bigger role and make an impact in an organisation.  Providing the vision that candidates can visualise being personally fulfilled is important when it comes to attracting the best talent. These candidates will want to make a tangible difference and be able to see how their work can affect their department, their company, and even wider society.

It is therefore important for the interviewer to explain how the candidate will fit into the wider department or company and interact with managers and decision makers.  It is also important that the candidate feels that they have a voice and can contribute.

  1. Career progression

Career progression is a normally a key requirement in a candidate’s decision to accept a job offer, so its essential companies look to signpost all available opportunities for professional development. Therefore, having a clear career path that shows the opportunities available to progressive candidates and the skill requirements needed to move into those roles will attract a lot more candidates.