On the employer of choice

Some HR practitioners think that skilled people are sitting on the sofas in their homes, sipping coffee, watching soccer games, and waiting for a call from these practitioners for an interview. Skilled and talented people are mostly:

1)    In a healthy environment, paid well, applying the faculty of their intellects and the experience they have accumulated over the years, they are not eagerly searching for another job, yet they do not mind the growth in both financial and intellectual terms. Or

2)    In an environment less than optimal, they are paid and established well and eagerly look for opportunities that fulfill their needs and aspirations.

In both cases, if you want them, you must search for them and attract them. You have to sell them the job. And if you want them to stay hiring them, you should design and implement your “employee value proposition.”

No firm can aim to be the employer of choice if it does not have an employer’s brand or a value proposition. The value proposition is not only for the new hires; it should be applied to the existing talents to prevent their migration.

HR practitioners in charge of recruitment should have something akin to a marketing pitch- that is right, you must sell the skilled people the job. This pitch should include answers to the implicit questions the capable, talented candidate will ask:

1)    Why should I join your firm?

2)    How would your firm’s name add, as a brand, to my resume?

3)    How would I grow intellectually and financially when I join?

4)    Do respect and diversity characterize the corporate culture?

5)    How would my individual needs be met?

6)    How much training will I get that suits my caliber?

7)    How would I be appraised?