Hiring A+ Players: How to Engage Talent

The selection process is a two-way street. While you are finding and evaluating for the right fit, it is important to understand that an A+ player is also scouting for meaningful opportunities. Communication (verbal and written) is a key element in managing the entire experience, from the first impression to the advocacy of the future employer.

How to engage an A+ player?

A “One Size Fits All” approach rarely works. If your opportunity provides fast career growth, competitive pay, the best culture, benefits, and perks, then you are competing with hundreds of organizations with similar claims. These are absolutely necessary but not sufficient conditions to engage high-caliber Talent. So what else should be conveyed?

Imagine a well-thought purchase decision you have made recently. The first step is to be aware that a product or service exists, then self-educate with primary and secondary research, followed by thorough validation and verification. If all the steps add up as per your expectations, you may arrive at a decision.

A career opportunity search is a very similar process, and often A+ players choose the highest bidder by balancing many variables of career interest.

So what is the approach that actually works? Let us draw a similar comparison to our purchase decision.

Stage 1: Generating awareness: Never assume that the potential candidate is looking out for opportunities. Being open to opportunities and interviewing for an opportunity are two different lanes. They may converge, but not before we create the right awareness.

One of the easiest ways to start a conversation is to keep it a ‘No strings attached’ approach. This sets the bar of qualification low and potential candidates will find it convenient to engage or disengage easily. The classic opening lines can be as simple as “Can I walk you through an opportunity that may interest you?” In this way, you are generating awareness and curiosity by keeping the option open to ‘opt-in’ or ‘opt-out’, but not pushing or commanding the prospect.

Stage 2: Influencing early: The next phase is one of the most critical phases because it allows you to position the opportunity the way you like it. However, the message is often bombarded with ‘We, Us, Ourselves’ statements throughout the Role Brief, Job Description, and eventually Screening Call. Avoid this at all costs. To position the opportunity right, you need to understand the persona at the industry, job, and family level, and that’s where the experience of stakeholders like Hiring Managers or Recruiters comes in handy. These are some guiding questions that can be helpful:

1. What could be exciting career opportunities or moves for our target candidate? Working with a CEO, having more ownership, or bringing revenue impact could be few among many career opportunities.
2. What details can create transparency? These could be some facts about the opportunity or some basic frequently asked questions by candidates.
3. Have we defined ‘What is in for me (for the candidate)?’ Remember, positioning the opportunity is a quasi-‘why you?’ note, so the pitch has to be centered around the candidate.
4. Do we have a common connection or acquaintance? Getting introduced by common acquaintances creates a high trust environment and shortens the ‘validation & verification’ phase.
5. Do we have evidence to back our claims? — It is important to highlight an aspect that catches attention e.g. ‘We are a high growth company’ and substantiating it can up the game easily.

Stage 3: Reassurance: This phase is where necessary conditions play a defining role. Aspects like Culture, Team, Benefits & Perks, and Growth opportunities can supplement ‘Stage 2’ and create a strong impact on a candidate to be highly engaged. However, the candidate is constantly trying to assess the validity of the highlighted conditions, so it is important to demonstrate these conditions through the interactions.

Stage 4: Touchpoint Management: The selection process has many touchpoints that communicate actively or passively with prospective candidates. Initially, it is complex to understand individual preferences that impact a prospective candidate. For example, some professionals are particular about written information while others are interested in the conversation. It becomes critical to firm up all sources of information irrespective of the medium. One of the ways to do this is to identify all sources of information and classify them as Passive/Active and tag them as manageable or out of scope. Focusing on Active and Passive manageable information can impact stages 1,2,3 greatly.

Broad level classification can be:

1. Active & Manageable: Interfacing with Recruiter, Interview Panel, Peers via any channel.
2. Active & Out of Scope: Candidate engaging current or ex. Employees independently get any information.
3. Passive & Manageable: Career Page, LinkedIn, and Social media pages.
4. Passive & Out of Scope: Employer Review sites & News sources.

Conclusion

At a macro level, the selection process is a combination of activities with the defined goal of onboarding top talent. If we study it minutely, we can figure out why some organizations are able to build winning teams and why some lose top talent.

The engagement of top talent will keep evolving as the demographics of the workforce change. Sources and channels relevant today may not give the same results in the next decade, but what remains static is the value that an A+ talent adds to the organization. It is imperative that decision-makers in the hiring process truly understand the talent landscape, and constantly evolve their messaging that showcases value to talent.

Communication in all forms via any medium will play a key role as more and more people look for meaningful professional journeys rather than just career stints.