Don't Let a Tightening Job Market Keep You from Attracting Top Talent

Recruiting top talent is always tough, but things are particularly challenging right now. The post-pandemic world is seeing employees adopt a whole new attitude towards work: They're looking for far more than a paycheck, and are prioritizing flexibility, quality of life, meaning, and social issues when making their decisions about where and for whom they want to apply their talents. 

While this definitely represents a significant shift, it doesn't necessarily mean trouble for your startup's hiring potential. It does, however, mean that you'll need to make some adjustments in how you present yourself, both in terms of compensation for an individual position as well as in terms of your overall brand. Here are our top tips for attracting the talent you need in today's competitive job market:

• Remember that compensation means more than just a paycheck.  If the primary incentive you're offering for accepting your job is the salary you're paying and the health benefits you're proving, you're putting yourself at a disadvantage. No matter how generous those numbers may be, today's candidates are looking for qualitative perks in addition to quantitative ones.  
  
  When putting together your compensation package, give thought to benefits that make it easier for them to achieve a comfortable work-life balance; to work remotely or flexibly, and to take time to engage in activities that are meaningful to them.

• Startups need to emphasize their equity value. There are unique advantages to accepting a job for a startup, and fully explaining what those are and offering the ability to participate will help you attract forward-thinking candidates. Entrepreneurial endeavors are all about potential, so when you're trying to draw top talent, offering the ability to tap into that potential is a powerful incentive. As you're recruiting and finding people who you want to have onboard, discuss where you see your company going and discuss how their role in the company's growth will be rewarded through equity stakes and shares in the future.

• Make sure that your company is one that people want to work for. Branding is about more than attracting consumers. There's a lot to be said for working for a company that has a positive, forward-thinking image, and you'll find your recruitment efforts are significantly improved by a positive public image. Everybody wants to work for a company that has generated buzz or that has a reputation for doing good work or for being a great employer.

• Make your company's mission part of its overall culture.  Job candidates want to feel like when they sign on, they're becoming a part of a team that's working towards something meaningful. To make sure that's what happens, your company's mission statement needs to go beyond the “About” page on your website and color every aspect of your corporate culture. You can do that in a variety of ways, from holding regular “town hall” meetings to ensure that your message is consistent across all departments to holding events, retreats, and one-on-one sessions that invite both feedback and greater engagement and involvement. 

• Assess your success. The recruiting division of your organization is just as important – and possibly more important – as marketing, customer service, and sales. Just as those departments measure and quantify their efforts, so too should you create a method of gauging your success at attracting and retaining top talent. By comparing the number of vacancies that are available during a specific period of time to the number of candidates that were successfully hired and then assessing the different strategies that were used, you can discard what doesn't work and refine and expand the strategies that did.

The advice above gives you a leg up in attracting and hiring talents in today's hiring realities. Talent is out there. But you need to be persistent to find your next great hire. 

Get tax and accounting tips in your inbox

Subscribe

All Articles by Martinez & Shanken, PLLC