Brett Zingler, VP of Operations for Velocity Resource Group, recently spoke with Dr. Jaime Kulaga about tips for successful talent acquisition processes. On the Dr. Jaime Show, Brett shared the top four ways for attracting the best talent possible. Dr. Jaime, responsible for hiring employees for her own business, understands that hiring strong candidates is “tough and rough” for businesses across the board. Brett doesn’t deny that recruiting is difficult and expensive—especially so with unemployment at a 17 year low. “The recruiting industry is confusing,” he noted.
With over a decade of experience in the industry, Brett has the expertise to help.
Talent Acquisition Tip One
Brett underscores the importance of starting at the beginning: It’s key to “have an employment brand just like you have a consumer brand.” He believes companies must uncover why people go to work for them. Brett suggests, “Find out why longstanding employees stay and survey people that you just hired to find out why they came on board.” Once there is understanding about why current employees love the company, it’s important to sit down, articulate that, and put graphics to it.” Creating a page on the company’s website articulating the employment brand and why people want to work there is a must in our tech savvy culture. “The employment brand should be the template for job descriptions, including recruitment advertising,” explained Brett. There should be consistency in colors and wording, too. Brett asserts, “We expect resumes to be on point, but job descriptions are often lacking.” Attracting top talent calls for job descriptions that stick with candidates and compel them to apply.
Talent Acquisition Tip Two
While job descriptions are important, Brett punctuates the importance of going out and finding people: “It’s key to passively recruit candidates.” He advises surfing LinkedIn, focusing the search on people in roles similar to the open one. Then, call potential candidates: “There’s no silver bullet in all of this. You have to go out and find it,” explained Brett. Velocity Resource Group helps because they work as a complement to clients’ recruiting team. “The nuts and bolts of passive recruiting is difficult, time intensive, and expensive,” Brett acknowledged. VRG is complementary because they track down candidates’ cell phone numbers and other personal contact information. The largest companies have sophisticated systems to do all of this, but VRG gives companies of all sizes a competitive edge in all facets of talent acquisition.
Talent Acquisition Tip Three
Brett believes companies must create pipelines and means of communication with candidates: “The same way you would sell to customers is the same way you should be selling your company to candidates,” he expressed. There are systems to streamline communication with candidates, which are similar to the Customer Relationship Management systems used for customer communication.
Brett stresses continuing conversations with candidates via email and sending them both newsletters and job opportunities: “Leverage money you’ve already spent on recruiting and create communication for the future,” shared Brett. Ongoing communication with the candidate database is a key practice.
Talent Acquisition Tip Four
Brett supports treating talent acquisition teams like sales people: “We give them incentives and put people who smile all day on the phones.” Those tasked with communicating a company’s message and brand into the marketplace must be happy to do so. Brett explained that when companies hire VRG to facilitate talent acquisition, the VRG team doesn’t just sell the opportunity but also sells the company. Talent acquisition teams must help candidates come to see why a particular company is a place where they should envision themselves transitioning and eventually ending their career. Since the best employees are likely already employed, having a strong talent acquisition team to source and build relationships with talent is a non-negotiable.
Connect
Those interested in learning more about improving their talent acquisition process can reach out to Brett. His email is [email protected], and his phone number is (813) 586-1702. Find Velocity Resource Group on the web, too.
Be sure to follow Dr. Jaime’s show on her YouTube channel.