Making Them Love the Workplace
Remember Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? The third tier was “belonging” or “love”. When you are posting a job, the candidate needs to feel wanted and loved. But, we prefer staying safe and conventional and talking about the role and outputs needed and do not mention the social and fuzzy dimensions of the job.
Humans are social beings and seek each other. Who really wants to spend eight hours a day walking the same corridors as people they dislike? On the other hand, don’t we just wish to go back to work for an ex-colleague or a boss who was a caring leader?
People are also seeking to work with renowned experts in their field.
The time has come to stop leaving job adverts generic and impersonal e.g. “You will work with our team of developers”. Sell the team better! Talk about their pedigree, their DNA, anything exciting the team has achieved so far.
Maybe, you can talk about how the team works — any fresh, new ways of creative brainstorming or recognition you are proud of, as an organisation. A job may be more attractive for candidates if it explicitly states that the team encourages spontaneity, avoids lengthy meetings, or gets to meet several other business facets. Why not use a video like this one on Spotify Engineering Culture.
It can be so enticing! Moreover, it sends across a strong vibe of warmth and genuineness.
A captivating video explaining your organisation’s philosophy can work wonders to lure the best of candidates. Look at how Ikea has done this in this video:
Organisations are much more than the sum of the jobs they offer. Who better to share about than prolific tech leader, Jessica McKellar. She, along with some buddies from MIT started stealthy chat startup Zulip. In a couple of years, it was acquired by Dropbox. And this wasn’t a one-off. They had another one under their belt: selling Ksplice to Oracle just as fast. This kind of exposure has given McKellar a more diverse set of management opportunities than the average engineer ever sees. She has been a team lead, a founder and a technical leader at a massive corporation. Today, she is the manager of dozens at a rapidly growing global startup. (Oh, and before we forget, she’s a major figure in the Python community.)
Her mantra is: Focus on the Big Three
Support your people
Manage execution and coordination
Step back to observe the company.
So, celebrate that stuff and showcase it in your job adverts. Get the candidates excited not only about the job at hand but also the organisation on offer!
