Market Your Company and Positions to Attract Top Talent

This post is Part 2 in a Salesjournal Series on “Making Your Business Attractive to Top Talent.”  Part 1 asked, “Is Your Business Attractive to Top Talent?“

Attracting top talent is a struggle for almost every company. An essential element to combating this problem is being able to market your company and your positions effectively. Appealing job descriptions, marketing your open positions broadly and making your website current and accessible are critical to your success in attracting top talent.

1. Make Your Job Description Appealing & Sexy

Although the job description has been around for years and there have been many advancements in hiring in that time, it is still important in the talent attraction puzzle. At a minimum, it helps the hiring manager and the rest of the team get on the same page with the basic requirements and skills needed, and will lay out some of the selection criteria that will be used to assess the candidate.

At its best, the job description can paint a picture of the type of person that will thrive in your environment and be written in a way to attract top talent. Your biggest priority in creating the job description should be describing the vision, the challenges and the opportunities that the ideal candidate will face in joining the company. Top talent thrives on the chance to shine, to be a part of a growth environment, and to work in a culture whose vision aligns with their own.

2. Market Your Positions Broadly

It’s not enough to post on a job board these days. There are many ways to market your positions, including your employees, business partners, website, job boards, and recruiting firms. Utilizing many different methods to market your position will increase your exposure to top candidates.

Current employees are a great way to gain exposure because they can give candidates a first-hand account of what the culture and environment are like at the company. Employees are also invested in the company so they will most likely want to encourage other skilled and like-minded professionals to work there.

Niche job boards are another under-utilized source of top talent. There are thousands of these job boards that cater to either specific regions or job sectors. For example, Indeed, ZipRecruiter and LinkedIn have a number of specialized categories that will appeal to the type of person you are targeting.  

Using a Professional Recruiter is another great channel to market open positions. When you retain a recruiter, they work with you to tailor a specific recruitment strategy to find the talent you need. They often have access to many other sources of active and passive job seekers that you may not have access to on your own.

3. Make Your Website Accessible and Attractive

Sometimes it feels like trying to navigate a minefield when searching for jobs on a company website. A good place to typically list a job opening is in a Careers section or About Us section along with the top header. Having a highly visible and easy-to-find career section will help convey growth. The easier it is to find the job openings, the more likely candidates will apply. Once you have captured their attention, there also needs to be a way for candidates to easily submit their resume for consideration.

Also, make sure your website is continually updated. All job openings and blog posts should be current. Don’t let already filled positions linger on the website and be sure blog posts and social media sites are active and recent.  An up-to-date website gives candidates the impression that the company is reliable.

Another function of your website is to highlight positive things about your company that will appeal to top talent. Use the career section of your site to elaborate on company culture and vision statements. Be sure that it is clear to the candidate what your company is trying to accomplish and what sets you apart from other employers – in your industry and in your geographical area. Top performers are also generally active in their community, so share your company’s service activities and outline how they will be able to “give back” as part of your organization.

Top talent can be more selective about their future employment in today’s job market. By creating awareness for your company and your brand, your chances of being seen and sought out by top talent dramatically increases.

How do you market your business to make it attractive to top talent?

In Part 3 of this series, we explore how to better Cultivate Your Network. Part 4 details “Lack Luster Employee Culture?  Address It Now to Impact Retention” and Part 5 asks “Want Top Talent? Rethink Benefits“. Find out how networking the right way can attract top talent.