Are You a Talent Magnet? – The 5 Essentials to Attract Top Talent

Who a company hires has a massive impact on that company’s success. Investing resources to attract top talent could be the key that makes all the difference.

All things equal what is it that makes a talented individual choose one company over an other?

This article explores the concept of how to attract top talent. Breaking it into 5 essential factors. These elements can all be either nurtured or ignored within your business.

As you read through the article, be honest and ask yourself at your company are you nurturing or ignoring any of these 5 components to attract top talent.

The 5 Essentials to Attract Top Talent

1. Provide the Basics and the Perks

This doesn’t give you a competitive edge. But if you haven’t got them, you are at a real deficit.

Examples of basics could be the following:

• Official employment status
• Life assurance
• Health insurance
• Dental
• Pension
• Overtime
• Sick leave
• Holiday leave
• Competitive pay
• A safe place to work

Nothing extraordinary about these items, but pretty essential and kind of expected for any top tier potential employee. Issuing many of the above have become industry standard across the globe.

The list is not exhaustive, but it gives you an idea of what is meant by the term “provide the basics”.

Like I said this will not give you an edge. But it allows you to join the game of hiring top talent.

How do perks work?

Many companies these days go above and beyond the basics with lots of employee incentives (Commonly referred to as perks).

This could include anything from a games room, massage, onsite gym, social clubs, a points scheme for awards, free education, team building activities, company car, bonuses, discounts on the company service or goods, and so on.

There is no end to creativity when it comes to companies generating perks for their employees to make them feel lucky to work there.

This is something we see more and more of with big industry influencers. The idea is to move away from the feeling of choosing a job and more towards having the feeling of choosing a lifestyle.

Great examples of this are Google, Airbnb and Hubspot.

I have visited the individual headquarters of Google, Airbnb, and Hubspot in Dublin, Ireland. It really is an eye-opener to see just how much these companies are willing to invest in the perks of the employee environment.

It truly is exceptional.

While most businesses can’t compete with these giants, we can all still learn a thing or two and take inspiration from them. There are so many opportunities to provide perks to employees.

It’s really no surprise these companies do routinely attract the best of the best when it comes to hiring.

2. Leadership

I would imagine many managers think they are excellent examples of leaders within the work place.

Unfortunately this just isn’t true and here’s why:

The keyword in leadership is “lead”. This implies that one is being led somewhere.

Most managers (or those in a position of leadership) have absolutely no idea where they are leading their staff other than getting the task done.

Beyond the initial task, leadership is often scarce and forgotten about.

Then, on the other hand, you may have a manager that does know where they are leading, but the staff is completely disconnected from that destination.

Effective leadership goes hand in hand with a final destination, a bigger goal, a mission, or a purpose.

If it is clear a business embodies a clear sense of leadership, the destination will also be clear.

Effective leadership inspires, excites, provides clarity, and gives people purpose within their work.

More than anything, people have a need for a sense of purpose.

Purpose connects us to life and fuels our actions with intention.

3. Personal Growth

We’ve all heard of the expression “dead end job”.

Often this means there is no pathway to success for the employee.

When this happens stagnation occurs, boredom sets in, and like mold grows naturally in the right conditions so do bad habits.

Eventually, enough is enough and the employee reclaims their dignity by leaving.

If there is no path for promotion or career development, this makes joining a company a less attractive prospect than joining a company that does offer such a clear cut path.

We want our hard work to take us somewhere. We want to know we are building a great future for ourselves. Otherwise the hard work becomes meaningless and self defeating.

4. Mission, Values and Impact on Society

Mission, values and impact on society is often overlooked by companies.

Why?

Well simply put there is no direct money to be made from it. It’s therefore a waste of time to people who struggle to see the bigger picture.

I’m a bigger picture type of guy so mission values and impact on society mean so much to me and I get frustrated when others don’t see the importance of it.

You can see my purpose outlined here in my vision statement.

If a company can project to potential top talent that if they work for them then what they will do in work will matter, that is a very attractive prospect.

I get it, we have a tendency to love money, and money gives us a lot, but it doesn’t give us a deep sense of fulfillment.

If a company can create a picture that demonstrates if you work with them, you will have an impact on the world and be part of something that goes far beyond your tasks, people will emotionally connect with that and that will motivate them to join that particular company.

It’s something you can’t put a price on.

When I ran on an online content website for landscape architecture, I couldn’t hire anyone. The business model was ineffective, however, I constantly had a dedicated group of talented and highly skilled and educated people working for me.

I managed a group of about 60+ volunteers and gave them all specific roles within the business with job descriptions and titles.

It was our mission to be a loudspeaker for landscape architecture. Our purpose was to show the world how important landscape architecture was.

Highly skilled, professionally recognized, and experienced people from all over the world wanted to be part of that and contribute their time and energy to the cause.

I couldn’t pay these people, but I could offer them a sense of fulfillment and that was much more important to them.

5.Culture

More and more companies across the globe are not just creating jobs, but they are focused on creating a lifestyle choice for their employees.

This is facilitated by the nurturing of a culture within the team and work setting.

Building a sense of spirit. A vibe that permeates how the atmosphere feels and influences decision making, such as hiring and firing.

This culture is often sought after as it appeals to people’s wellbeing in terms of their mental health.

Being part of a culture is like being in your own tribe. This taps into our primitive sense of identity so that we feel connected and that we are part of something greater then ourselves.

A culture demonstrates values and stands for a set of beliefs.

Top talent will often seek out their tribe, which is often signified by a culture that appeals to them.

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Most businesses won’t attract top talent. Simply because most businesses won’t invest in what they need to do in order to attract it.

After reviewing the 5 essentials to attract top talent, how many of them do you see in businesses that you have worked with?

Would reading this article affect how you run your business, if not, why not?