When was the last time you found yourself talking with your talent acquisition team about how to source and recruit passive candidates? I’m not talking about the ones on LinkedIn and I’m not talking about the person’s name you got from so-and-so who may or may not have any actual interest in what you’re offering. I’m talking about the passive candidates that are impossible to find and even more difficult to reach. The ones that, when you do find them, are happy with what they’re doing and don’t have an interest in entertaining a new opportunity at that time. If you’re like most employers I speak with, then you’re having these conversations each and every time you have the need to bring more talent on board.
If this is happening in your world, then I’ve got a concept I’d like to share with you that, when done properly, can help bridge the gap between your growing talent needs and the pool of truly passive candidates sitting out there in uncharted territory. It’s the concept of a talent community. Maybe you’ve heard of the concept, but you’re not really sure how it works or how to put it into practice. I’d like to share an example to help illustrate how to effectively build a talent community.
We started working with a new customer mid-2016, when they shared with us their plans to build a new facility in the US. A true Greenfield operation, built from the ground up. You can imagine the immense undertaking of building out an organizational structure and a timeline for execution. But where do you find the people? HOW do you find the people? You know, all of the people that you need to get this facility standing on its own, and eventually, cranking out thousands of products? The engineers, accountants, buyers, supervisors, operators, technicians, managers, the list goes on. Maybe some will transfer from other company facilities. My guess was that the lion’s share will have to be recruited. Locally, regionally, nationally, they will have to be recruited. That was the case with this customer.
One of the first tools we put to use was that of the Talent Community. This was the perfect tool to augment this particular customer’s branding efforts, as well as strategically drive traffic toward the recruiting machine. Working with the MAU marketing team, we created a stand-alone web page with an optional subscription to be notified when new information was shared. From there, we began sharing strategic company and industry articles, as well as press releases that perked the interest of those already in the business, or had an interest in what was developing within it. As the announcements and press releases kept rolling, the voluntary subscription audience continued to grow.
When it came time to hire, guess what? We had the opportunity to share announcements of new and upcoming positions with the same audience. People that were already in the industry and people that already had an interest in knowing what’s coming. But guess what – we did not have to go out and find them – they had already found us at an earlier time, even though they may not have been interested in a new opportunity at that time. This is exciting stuff. Think about how much time your talent acquisition team spends going out and sourcing leads, then reaching out only to be shot down. Compare that to utilizing a Talent Community as one of your recruiting tools, where you essentially centralize information that you’re already sharing, but now it’s different. Now, you are using that same information to drive passive talent to you. It’s a good feeling. While it’s only one avenue, and you have to employ many to ensure you reach as much talent as possible to ensure that your efforts are impactful, you want this ingredient as part of your cookbook. It is with a Talent Community that you create an avenue leading passive talent straight to you.
Looking for more ways to optimize your recruiting efforts? Click below to download an article on ways to enhance your hiring process.
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Do you have a need where MAU can assist in identifying talent? Maybe your need isn’t quite as big as what’s described above – that’s perfect, too. Maybe a talent community isn’t the right tool for you. We have a number of other ideas and tools that apply in a variety of scalable applications. Give us a call and let’s get started!
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