We make talent acquisition much harder than it needs to be. We focus on things like employment branding, candidate experience, recruitment analytics, etc. All important stuff, but a lot of this focus takes away from what’s really basic and critical to being great at acquiring talent.
At its core, the most powerful talent attractor is simply just being desired.
This might seem ultra-simplified to you, but it’s not. Think about yourself for just a moment.
When you get a call from a recruiter, yourself, about going to work someone place else, doesn’t that feel really good? No, I mean, REALLY, good! “Oh my gosh, you guys, I got this call today, from ABC Company, and they tried to recruit me! I was like, heck no, I’m great here, but I thought it was funny, they wanted me!”
We Love to be wanted! It’s a basic natural feeling and emotion.
The key to great talent acquisition is getting your team and your organization to understand this. If TA would act more like the nerdy guy trying to get a date, and less like the super pretty girl acting like being interested is the farthest thing from her desire, we would be so much more successful!
But, we don’t. We act like candidates should want us. Not we should want them.
Now, imagine that same recruiting call to yourself. This time instead of the company wanting to recruit you, they actually say, “well, we’re not interested in you, but wanted to see if you could refer someone else at your company.”
How would that fell!? It would feel awful and you would be pissed!
We want to be wanted. We wanted to be desired.
If you can get your recruiters to have that mindset, you’ll be amazed at how much easier it is to pick up the phone and talk to candidates. If we all just truly understood that the candidate on the other end of the phone was just like us, they just want to be wanted, recruiting them seems like a breeze.
“So, you mean I don’t treat them like I’m doing them a favor by talking to them?”
Now you’re getting it! Treat them like you really hope they’ll go on a date with you! Just don’t actually ask them for a date! Just think about your own personality in these terms of how you’re communicating to the candidate.
“If TA would act more like the nerdy guy trying to get a date, and less like the super pretty girl acting like being interested is the farthest thing from her desire, we would be so much more successful!” Good illustration, Tim. I really enjoyed this article!
Recruiters are taught to hunt & then back off when the candidate expresses interest to make them want you. A lot of the InMails we see show this to be true. We don’t want to try to close the deal right away but keep the interest growing. Agree with everything in the post. Nice one.
Great post, Tim! The reality is that this is true in any sales setting. To me, TA is sales at its core. Generating excitement about a position, softly persuading where you have an opening, making Candidates feel wanted, etc. My team and I sell an indirect commodity today, and the same rules still apply. In a commoditized market, the “sales experience” is the only true differentiator …