Top tips to attract top talent

 Jordan Forbes

By Jordan Forbes, Talent Executive, Singular Talent 

So, you’ve decided to recruit.

A brave choice! Recruitment can be challenging. Here’s some pointers to help you refresh your approach or if you’re new to recruiting.

To be an effective recruiter, you need to speak to people and convince them to apply to a job you are working on. It sounds simple in principle, but the reality is that this can be a struggle for even the most seasoned recruiters – let alone newcomers!

The guide below will give you an overview of how we attract candidates, engage them, and ultimately convince them to share their CVs with us – enjoy!

The message

This is the very first step in attracting candidates. A well-crafted message will make the world of difference when it comes to securing great talent - here are a few ways to help get your demographic to speak with you:

Are you talking to me?

Nobody wants to open and read messages that, firstly, aren’t relevant to them. An eye-catching subject that sounds exciting will certainly attract more candidates than the basic, ‘New Opportunity’ subject line that many recruiters use! But that alone won’t necessarily mean candidates will want to talk to you, the content of the message also has to be engaging and to the point, highlighting what the candidate will get out of the role – rather than what the role requires of the candidate.

You’re FAB!

The best way to highlight what the candidate can get from the role is to use the FAB method – that’s Feature, Advantage, Benefit. For example, let’s say you are working with a company that can offer employees remote working (the feature), this means that the candidate can work anywhere in the country and not worry about commuting (the advantage), which will give them more time to focus on things outside of work and not have to relocate for the position (the benefit).

This just got personal

People, generally, like to feel special and understood. If you can add even just a little personalisation in your messages, you will see the difference it makes! It doesn’t have to be much, even just mentioning the candidates’ past experiences can be enough – that alone shows you’ve taken the time to look through their profile at the very least!

Action!

When wrapping up your message, it’s important to include a call to action. Again, this helps engage the candidate and guides them towards the aim i.e., speaking to you! No need for anything drastic here, a simple ‘when is best to call?’ will usually suffice.

The call

So, you’ve managed to get a candidate’s attention – good work! Step two is having a great screen call with them. This allows you to qualify the candidate and, if they are a good fit, get them really excited about the opportunity!

It’s not me, it’s you

A common mistake to make at this stage is to try and get the candidate to fit the role you are working on. Whilst their experiences might look a good fit on paper, it’s vital to understand what makes the candidate tick, what they are looking for, and why this is important to them. It’s often better to ask yourself, ‘is the role a good fit for the candidate?’, rather than, ‘is the candidate a good fit for the role?’. Always remember, the screen call is about the candidate first and foremost.

Mr Motivator

Candidate motivations are, without a doubt, the most important part of the call and the process in general. Getting a good in-depth knowledge of why the candidate is considering a new role and what that means to them will help you in a number of ways. Firstly, it allows you to understand if the role is a good fit for them.

Secondly, it helps you sell the role much more effectively and, thirdly, it helps with any objection handling you might encounter over the course of the hiring process. Obtaining and understanding motivations is an article in itself and we’ll cover this soon!

Closing time

OK, you’ve qualified the candidate, understood what they are looking for and why this is the case. If things are aligned well, it’s time to give the pitch. Use those motivations to guide this, focussing on the top two or three things that are important to the candidate and how the role you are working on can help the candidate to achieve these.

It’s usually quite obvious if a candidate is interested in the role at this point – if they are, be assumptive in your close! Let them know what the next steps are and ask them, ‘when can you send your CV to me?’. This method is win-win in most cases – either you will get a CV or flush out any concerns or objections that you can then address!

That’s all folks

And there you have it, a (very brief) overview on how to attract great talent to your business! A lot of the points above can be fleshed out in more detail and there’ll be articles on them in future. I’ll also be covering what happens after you’ve got a CV – i.e., interviews, offers, objections, placements, etc. – and how to stay sane throughout those processes in my next article– it’s not one you want to miss!