How Do I Out-Compete My Rivals for the Best Talent?
Rob Reeves, CEO, Tech Recruiter
Recruiting Outside the Box
By Rob Reeves, CEO, President Redfish Technology, Nationwide High Tech Recruiters
Companies compete to give customers what they want.
By now the strategy of giving your customers what they want is ubiquitous, the days of getting any color car as long as it is black are long gone. Those companies that can give customers the best widget at the best price the most quickly via the delivery method of their choice wins the day. Many a company has dwindled and died for lack of ability to tune into the customers’ desires. Many an underdog identified a niche opportunity to meet an unmet need in the marketplace and running with it secured a leadership role in the industry.
What does this have to do with hiring?
Your employees are your human capital. The talent in an organization, especially early stage companies and those in highly competitive sectors, is often the make or break factor. Would Google be in its current place if not for initial employee Craig Silverstein? Would Subway have become what it is today if Dick Pilchen hadn’t been the first hire? So if your company needs to produce the good or service that the marketplace wants, and your company is made up of talent, i.e. people that you are competing for, umm… duh.
You’ve got to understand what your employees want too.
Your employees too have desires and needs, of course. And these aren’t all the same. Your key hires and top management and team leaders have got to be getting what drives them out of the employment contract. Especially in sectors like technology, where there is low unemployment and an improving economy, the competition for top talent is acute.
How do you out-compete for talent?
Hiring managers need to understand that in this market to be competitive in acquiring top talent it might take some personalized creativity in the offer. All the competitive technology companies are offering the gamut of cool bennies: free lunches, complimentary gym memberships, flexible/virtual work opportunities, etc. And of course competitive compensation is always at the forefront of landing candidates. But these days some creative extras go a LONG way.
Tailor your employment offer.
Once the right candidate is identified and vetted, how creative can you be and how can you tailor the offer to win the talent? It often is as simple as really listening to the candidate, or recruiter you’ve partnered with, to learn the candidates true desires. A candidate may be particularly interested in continuing graduate work or professional certification, others are looking to relocate down the road. Some candidates desire to work remotely, and some are yearning for a green card. Others may be dying to work directly underneath a particular manager, while others dream of personalizing the technology stack used. For many of these in-demand candidates, securing their loyalty and commitment is more about personalizing the package then about general benefits.
It’s not that hard to think outside of the box.
Just because you’ve never tailored your employment offer in a new way, doesn’t mean it can’t be done. Not only is it pretty easy to offer partial or full educational reimbursement for the rock star talent you want to hire, it may well cost the company less than trying to win them over with a bonus or salary bump. And in all probability a creative solution will secure you a longer, more deeply committed relationship. Need a little more assurance that this creativity will secure the desired results? Listen and have a discussion with your candidate. Design an incentive program that ties the reimbursements to the results you expect from this hire.
Are you hiring on the East Coast but your candidate tells you that in all honestly his goal is to prove himself and then move to your West Coast office? If this is the person the company wants, design high level goals and let him prove himself and achieve his location goals. The company gets the best out of the talent from the get go, and then gets to keep the talent in the West Coast office, with deeper ties down the road between coasts.
Creating a long term win for all.
Designing personal incentives that are tied to company objectives over time is a way for everyone to win. If it turns out that the goals weren’t achieved, you’ve still secured the candidate you wanted and you haven’t had to provide the creative incentives. Not only can creativity land you the candidate you want, you can build in incentives to perform and to stay. It’s a win all around!
About the Author:
Rob Reeves, Recruiter and CEO of Redfish Technology, Inc.
Rob has enjoyed recruiting for nearly since 1995. He founded Redfish Technology in 1996, and has taken it from a predominantly West Coast Technical recruiting firm to a nationwide, full service staffing firm specializing in High Tech sectors. – See more at www.redfishtech.com