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Hiring is easy when you’re a Destination Firm. The place everyone knows about. And wants to work there.
But how do you become one? The short, unhelpful version:
Step 1: Be good
Step 2: Let everyone know it.
Duh. Let’s take a deeper look.
Step 1: There are no shortcuts. You can’t fake it. Commit to being a legitimately great place for employees.
Anytime spent on branding yourself to candidates if you don’t have this down is an absolute waste of time.
This is a massive topic that can’t be covered in a single blog post. But it starts with leadership. They’re the only ones who can make it happen.
If they don’t care, quit. You’re wasting your time there.
If they do care but retention is a problem, take action. Something’s broken and you have to find out what before doing anything else.
Step 2:
👉 Let your employees talk. Brand Ambassador programs (formal or informal) are the most effective way to generate interest.
Job seekers don’t trust recruiters. Or your corporate marketing. Or the Best Place To Work list you bought your way onto.
But they DO trust happy employees. Especially when it’s a LOT of them..
The catch? It’s a lot of work. Few companies have done it. But fewer have even tried…
👉 Online reviews. Social proof is ubiquitous. We check online reviews for everything we buy. And picking a company is no different.
I used to hate Glassdoor because I thought it was crap. Who are these people? How do we know these reviews are real?
But the truth is: awful companies can’t fake it. Everyone is smart enough to know that 1 star 5 star 1 star 5 star is some joker trying to game the system.
If your employees are genuinely happy: ask them to write one. If you’re full up on glowing 4-5 star reviews, you’ll pass the eye test.
Pro tip: ask, don’t tell. Once. Don’t make it weird…
👉 Visible leadership. Everyone wants to work for someone who knows their sh*t. And isn’t a dbag.
Nate Guggia and I did a ton of job seekers surveys last summer. Across every skill set, this was the consistent theme. Who am I working for?
Feature your leaders in content (podcast, videos). Encourage them to engage on social (Twitter, LinkedIn). Or have them run step 1 of the interview process.
If your top people are invisible, it’s a huge miss for hiring.
👉 Conversational content humanizes. Scripted, produced, “professional” content is a waste of time and money.
People get to know you when they hear you talk to other people.
Podcasts and video series are a home run. I’m excited about LinkedIn’s upcoming Clubhouse knockoff. Or Twitter’s. Just not actual Clubhouse cuz I said it was gonna die and I like being right.
And remember: don’t suck.
You can follow me on LinkedIn here and Twitter here. Join the discussion on this LinkedIn post (or give it a 👍) here.