How to Attract Talent (Besides Increasing Wages)

Wouldn’t it be great if you could afford to offer every candidate a six-figure salary?

Recruiting would certainly be easier, right?

But that’s not the real world. The reality is that you have limited budgets, tight hiring timeframes, and are dealing with an extremely tight candidate market.

In today’s environment, how can you attract talent – without offering higher pay?

In recent months, we’ve written several posts to address the very real recruiting challenges employers are facing. If you missed them, here are two you should read:

4 Cost-Effective Ways Your Business Can Attract Top Talent

The Top 6 Strategies for Recruiting Millennial and Gen Z Candidates

Below, our national employment agency shares two more ideas for your company to consider.

How to Attract Great Talent – Besides Increasing Wages

Think like a passive job seeker.

Your best candidate may already have a good job and be quite content; they won’t view your opportunities the same way an unemployed job seeker would. If your recruitment process is geared primarily toward active candidates, cast a wider net to attract those who aren’t actively looking for a job:

  • Streamline every aspect of your candidate intake process.
  • Promote the “opportunity gap”: the difference between a potential applicant’s current job and your available role (passive candidates aren’t simply looking for any job; they’re looking for a better job). This may include:
    • Reasons they should leave their current position to work for you.
    • Additional responsibilities, growth opportunities, or exciting challenges to be met.
    • Why your company, your culture, and the available opportunity are exceptional.

Promote your employment brand.

Building and promoting a strong employment brand does require an investment of time and resources – but the recruiting benefits can be huge. Naturally, great people want to work for great employers.

Here’s how to polish your company’s image and attract better talent:

  • Clarify what makes your company a great place to work. Make sure everyone on your team understands your employment brand and how to communicate it consistently and responsibly – especially on social platforms.
  • Be honest. In this post, we share tips for building an authentic brand that reflects what your company is all about.
  • Use social media. Depending on where your ideal candidates spend time online, use platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat to build your branding efforts:
    • Make sure company profiles are complete and accurate.
    • Share stories about your employees’ and teams’ successes.
    • Share content that’s consistent with your company vision and branding goals.
    • Be creative. Do more than just share jobs; otherwise, you’ll quickly turn followers off. Photos, videos, and branded graphics can all be used to keep potential candidates interested in your brand and opportunities.
    • If it’s consistent with your organization’s social media policy, encourage everyone on your team to share your company’s content on their personal social media accounts.

Need help attracting great talent to your organization?

PrideStaff’s local recruiting experts can help. We combine a robust talent network with proven recruitment strategies to attract the best candidates, especially in industries or locations where they’re the hardest to find.

Ready to hire? Learn more about PrideStaff’s On Target fulfillment process today.