Article: How to attract the best talent in the market?

A Brand Reachout InitiativeTalent Acquisition

How to attract the best talent in the market?

Hire Better Hire Faster Read similar articles

New methods used to aid recruitment and selection strategies
How to attract the best talent in the market?

Hiring and retaining the best talent is as tough as it has ever been.  Despite this workforce trend, it is still possible to attract more talent than your company ever needs. Consider Southwest Airlines, which, according to one company insider, recently received more than 50,000 applications for 500 available positions! Cultivating a company culture that attracts the best talent is very important.  And it is a practice that is worth adapting.

Try the following tips for creating a desirable company culture.

Put your employees first

Researchers agree that the best way to hire and keep top talent is to create a company culture where the best employees want to work, a culture in which people are treated with respect and consideration at all times.

A classic example of someone who used the power of respect is David Packard, co-founder of Hewlett-Packard. Packard always showed unfailing respect for everyone who worked for him. He defined the HP culture and positioned his company as an enduring preferred employer. One of the core values of HP has always been respect for individuals, which has stood the test of time.

Maximize your best employees 

Although you may not be able to fill up every position in your company even if you have a strong corporate culture, experts say that one sure way to maximize your best employees is to place them in positions of great influence.

For example, when unemployment in the Washington DC Area dropped below 2%, David Grissen, Marriott International's Eastern Region, Executive Vice President met with his managers and decided to focus the company's hiring efforts on front desk employees because of the enormous impact they have on hotel guests. The resulting "Front and Center" hiring initiative brought together managers of every Marriott hotel in the region to improve the company's recruiting, selection and orientation programs for front desk positions. Potential employees for these positions must now undergo a minimum of four interviews and achieve a high score on a standardized evaluation metric.

Stay involved and use emotional intelligence 

Research indicates that one of the worst employment moves management can make is disengaging from the hiring process. After all, it is your culture, your company and your leadership - why allow someone else to make your hiring choices?

And when you are in the process of hiring a new employee, remember to carefully assess your applicants' emotional intelligence (EI) along with their intellectual capability. Research shows that an IQ assessment doesn't predict job success nearly as accurately when used alone, as it does when combined with assessments of the cognitive and social abilities that comprise Emotional Intelligence. 

Staying flexible is also important. If an employee you hire proves to be a good fit for your company but not for the specific position filled, try moving them to another position that capitalizes on their strengths and experience. Employees who are a good fit organizationally can be hard to find.

While there is no guarantee that putting your employees first, maximizing your best workers, staying involved and assessing emotional intelligence during the hiring process will attract the best talent for your company, solid research clearly indicates that it is the most successful way to go.

Read full story

Topics: Talent Acquisition, #Hire Better Hire Faster

Did you find this story helpful?

Author