Here’s how you can attract top talent for your organisation

We take a look at how you can sell the meaningful parts of your work to get the best person for the job

In the past five years, the number of workers who are prioritising meaningful work has grown exponentially.

But with the pandemic closing Australia’s borders to immigration indefinitely, and workers less likely to move jobs for fear of becoming unemployed, even for-purpose employers are struggling to attract top talent to their organisations.

According to Nina Mapson Bone, the managing director of Beaumont People, it’s all about how you (as the recruiter or employer) sell the meaningful parts of the roles you’re hiring for.

We sat down with her to get her top tips. 

Hey Nina, so why is selling the meaningful parts of the job so important? 

So our research shows that for 71 per cent of people, meaningful work is more important now than it was five years ago. We’re at an unemployment rate of 4.6 per cent, the lowest it’s been for a long time. There’s no immigration, there’s no backpacking, and there’s no international students. So there’s a real shortage in terms of quality and talent. There’s also the fact that people are a little bit nervous to look for roles because of the unstable nature of the world. So if you’re not honing in on the ways in which you’re going to connect with those top candidates, they’re not going to be attracted to you, and they will go elsewhere. 

And what are the factors that make work meaningful for candidates? 

Of course, everyone is different but the number one factor for meaningful work is having the trust of your manager. So that relationship with your manager and how much they trust you to do work was number one. Number two is workplace culture, and number three is work that makes a difference and has a purpose behind it.

So if you look at those three, you should think about the one that is most applicable to your organisation, so that when you’re trying to talk to candidates, you can talk about how great your leadership is, or your excellent workplace culture, or how you’re giving back. It’s really about picking the thing that is most aligned with your organisation, and then talking to the audience that is most attracted by that, and focusing on that throughout the hiring process.

How do you find those candidates in the first place? 

Many people don’t put enough time and effort into either the advertising process, the selection process, or the interview process, so that when it comes to decision time, the best candidate is not necessarily clear. And often the best candidate will take a different role, not realising that potentially the things they were looking for were in your organisation, but they were never discussed.

I think it’s also about talking through all those different meaningful work factors and then tailoring them to the person you are speaking to to try and attract excellent candidates to the role.