“We are not Google, but they are coming to us” How small and medium-sized businesses can win competition from corporations for talented employees

Bruegel best depicted the situation about competition in the labor market in one of the fragments of his painting “Flemish proverbs” The approximate meaning of the proverb on it is “Fishing past the net” or “Catching fish without a net.” Or “Fishing in someone else’s net”

Imagine yourself as the owner of a small company and look at the job seeker market through his eyes. What do we see? The most powerful people were taken away either by competitors or corporations. We still see the remaining people, but we understand that attracting them to the team is not the limit of our dreams, but rather a compromise. And the applicants themselves are not particularly drawn to our company. It turns out that we don’t really have anyone to choose from. But is this situation really hopeless?

Now let’s look at a fragment of the picture and at job advertisements that replicate the cliché. The connection is not obvious, but we are already bringing it to you on a platter.

We will not attract talent while we are trying to catch them in someone else's net. Companies that focus on tired patterns and repeat what thousands of other faceless players are doing will not create a high density of talent within.

Let's fast forward to Headhunter and look at the vacancies. It seems that many companies are looking for the same person: responsible, proactive, goal-oriented, productive, disciplined… More like a wanted bulletin than a job ad.

In marketing, this is called making a product/service “for everyone.” And it never leads to anything good. The same applies to hiring employees. The job seeker market is the same as the client market. And you can attract people to you only if you stand out from other market participants. And catch fish with your own nets.

What helps founders create networks to attract talent?

Three key aspects:

The first is vision. Strong professionals want to work on strong problems.

Meeting or exceeding your sales target is not the same as a “strong challenge.” People are interested in working not only for money. We repeat: “for money – yes,” but not only. If people's motivation were as simple as the design of a wheel, then competition for an applicant could only be won in one case – by offering more money than the rest. But that's not true.

The second is investing personal time in talent management.

You won’t be able to entrust the hiring to a recruiter with whom you yourself find it boring to be with for more than two minutes, and get stars from the market. Don't fantasize, friends. Finding the people who will move your company toward greatness requires investment. And it’s worth figuring out for yourself how to find such people, attract them, and how to manage the work of these teams.

Third – EVP or employer value proposition. And not from tea, cookies, a stable schedule, salaries, voluntary health insurance, words about a friendly team. But as? Let's take a closer look at this aspect of creating a network to attract talent. The rest will require a separate article.

How to create an attractive company image for job seekers

We will resort to comparison with marketing, because through it it is easier to understand many things about EVP. Your job is to beat the competition by offering something that differentiates you from other employers, just as a unique selling proposition (USP) differentiates a product in the marketplace.

First – the audience

The first step to creating a quality EVP is to determine exactly who you want to attract. This stage is similar to defining the target audience in marketing. Here we are only making a sketch of the portrait, without trying to describe the candidate in detail.

We indicate the necessary experience, knowledge, personal qualities, and career ambitions. You will focus on them when developing your EVP. For more texture, turn your eyes inward – talk to your best employees and understand what attracts them to your business.

It is important to understand that EVP will have different resonance for different groups of applicants. College graduates are interested in different benefits than experienced professionals at the peak of their careers. Approaches to attracting technical and creative talent will also vary. Some people are ready for chaotic processes in a young company, while others won’t last a day in it.

Next, we explore the market.

We turn our pupils from the inside out and look at what is happening outside our company. It’s worth looking in two directions at once: what the applicants you need are looking for, and what your competitors are offering them.

Many have gone so far as to research their customers and roll out products and marketing specifically to their needs. However, almost no one is currently doing research on job seekers. This strategic mistake deprives companies of the opportunity to understand the needs and expectations of candidates and make their business an attractive employer.

There is nothing hidden in labor market research: you study competitors' vacancies and note the things that resonate with you. Find resumes of potential candidates, call them and find out what is important to them when choosing an employer. The secrecy is in doing this. Therefore, most people ignore this step and rivet clone vacancies. But if you want to be different from the majority, your actions must be different.

And only then we create EVP

After thorough internal and external research, you are closer to putting together a solid EVP. And at the same time, create a queue of candidates knocking on the doors of your office.

Combine the benefits that your company has with what is in demand in the market. Some applicants will seek to avoid bureaucracy, consider companies with the potential for non-linear growth, or look for the opportunity to work “at arm's length with the owner” in order to adopt his experience and competencies. The applicant can find all this in a small company that has not yet acquired departments, regulations, grades, and in order to have lunch with the owner, you do not need to compete for the title of best employee of the month with a thousand other people. And vice versa – the corporation will not be able to offer this. But its strengths are high stability and a clear grading system.

And don't forget that consistency is extremely important. Your EVP is not just a marketing gimmick to catch up with more candidates. This is a reflection of the real inner side of the company. New employees will quickly become disillusioned if their expectations are not met in practice. Therefore, a cardboard EVP will not help you. It needs not only to be communicated, but also to be implemented. Everything is the same in marketing and product.

More on how SMEs can network to attract talent we sort it out in the Telegram channel during March and April.