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Quiz: Is Your Organization Accommodating Enough to Attract Today’s Talent?
Roy Cohen, formerly the CHRO of TruGreen and now a partner with the consultancy ResultsThroughPeople.com, has astutely observed that the current talent pool “depends on two things: the strength of your brand and the market.”
Clearly today the latter of the two things, the market, is weak. The MRINetwork 2017 Recruiter Sentiment Study finds that a whopping 90 percent of recruiters believe it is a candidate-driven job market. And according to PwC’s 2017 Global CEO Survey, 77 percent of CEOs see the availability of key skills as the biggest threat to their business.
As a result, you need your employer brand to be strong. It’s a must for having a quality talent pool. What makes a strong employer brand? Some characteristics include:
- They’re easy to describe in a few sentences.
- They reflect your vision, mission, and values.
- They represent your culture.
- They match and complement your consumer brand.
- They are validated by your leaders, tenured employees, and new hires.
- They are promoted both internally and externally.
- They stay fresh and are updated regularly.
In addition to those characteristics, however, employers with strong employer brands are flexible and receptive to candidates’ needs. It’s part of “living the brand,” but also no reasonable sought-after candidate would be interested in an employer that doesn’t consider their needs.
A good example of a popular candidate need, or at least “strong want,” is remote work. According to the Recruiter Sentiment Study, more than half of candidates say having a work from home option is somewhat to extremely important as they consider a new job. Plus, 68 percent of recruiters and 53 percent of employers state candidates expect to work remotely somewhat often to very often.
One recruiter surveyed said that companies that don’t offer remote work are “definitely missing out on key talent.”
“In-demand candidates have choices,” the recruiter said. “The more specific or rare their skill set is, their options increase, especially if they work in a field where competition for candidates is fierce. If they don't want to relocate or work five-day weeks in an office environment, they may turn down a solid offer if they can't work remotely."
Of course, offering remote work is just one way an employer can be receptive to candidates’ needs (and it’s possible, although more difficult, to have a strong employer brand without offering remote work). Take the following quiz to get valuable insights about how well you’re accommodating today’s in-demand talent.
- Have you ever delayed a start date to accommodate a new hire?
- Do you regularly review and update your relocation policy?
- Do you allow for exceptions to the relocation policy based on a particular situation?
- Do you have resources available to make these exceptions?
- Does your organization have precedents for employers or leaders working remotely?
- Do you have technology that would support working remotely?
- Have you determined which jobs need to be on-site and which ones could be remote?
- Are you getting regular feedback from candidates?
- Are you integrating this feedback into your policies and practices?
- Are you measuring trending feedback to make decisions about your talent strategy?
If you answered “no” to any of the questions, you might want to consider if you’re organization should work harder to be aware of and flexible to candidates’ needs. It might make a big difference in your talent acquisition results.
“You need to be accommodating,” Cohen said. “For example, giving people more transition time to relocate and allowing them time for a child to graduate or for a spouse to find a job in the new city can really make a difference. You open up your options as an employer if you don’t insist on being ‘eyeball to eyeball’ with people until you really need to be.”
Recognize that each new hire’s situation is unique. Help people—especially key hires—transition into your company successfully by being as flexible as you can while being fiscally responsible. They’ll appreciate it. Many employers allow up to 12 months for employees to fully transition, and if it isn’t already, your organization should at least consider doing so, too.
To learn more about this topic and other key recruiting and onboarding topics, read “The Talent Selection and Onboarding Tool Kit,” written by Connect the Dots Managing Director Erika Lamont and coauthor Anne Bruce.