Reaching the right talent

Organizations would be wise to spend time and energy to synchronize their recruiting and human resources efforts with the tools job seekers say they are using to find potential employment and the resources they consider most effective in their searches. That might be easier said than done though. Let's take a look at a few questions or concerns that organizations might have when trying to reach the right balance with their recruiting resources.

How can organizations successfully use different types of personal connections and customer interactions to find the best talent for their open positions?

It might sound simple enough, but companies should constantly encourage their employees to refer their friends, family members, and customers for employment opportunities. To get the most out of referrals, organizations should make an effort to create a great employment experience, consciously brand the employment experience, and design an efficient employee and customer referral system.

Creating a great employment experience is not an easy task. It takes ongoing effort from all levels of management and leadership within the organization as well as asking key questions such as What more can we do to engage our people and show them how valuable of an asset they are? If a company is truly a great place to work, it only makes sense that its employees will champion their employer to others. When someone talks about how great it is to work for his or her organization, it lends tremendous credibility to the employment brand message.

That's right, the employment brand. Communication via employees is crucial to the word-of-mouth style of recruitment that respondents say they use and find effective during the job search. Employees can communicate using the organization's employment brand -- the key characteristics and attributes that define the organization's employment experience. By making a conscious decision to develop a compelling brand, companies can effectively position and convey their positive qualities and showcase their company as a great place to work.

By communicating an employment brand through internal channels, employees will have a common language with which to talk about the organization and why it is a great place to work. This language is an important aspect of employees' ability to accurately describe the mission, beliefs, values, and culture of their employer. In essence, employers should market their employment experience to their internal customer, the employee.

Once the organization has developed a great place to work and created language that brands their employment experience, it should design an efficient employee referral system. The system should make it fun and easy for employees to refer their friends, family, and customers. Organizations can institute continuous campaigns that teach employees how to refer potential employees, ask them to keep an eye out for talented individuals, and reward successful referrals through contests and incentives.

Additionally, employees should feel comfortable looking for and referring talented and engaged customers who might align with the organization's mission, values, and culture. Employees are often the most visible example of the company's employment brand as it relates to customers. By creating an employment brand and establishing this brand among customers through engaged employees, an organization can effectively "sell the company" to customers as a place to work -- either for themselves or for someone they could recommend.

A critical caveat to the referral process: One of the most important aspects of actively seeking and considering employee referrals is helping associates communicate with the friends, family members, and customers they've referred in the most professional and sympathetic manner when these folks are not hired. The employees and the referrals must feel good about the organization and the process, regardless of whether the prospective employee is hired.

Copyright Ó 2008 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ.  All rights reserved.  Reprinted with permission.  Visit The Gallup Management Journal at http://gmj.gallup.com/

Article from The Gallup Management Journal