Talent Attraction: How to win candidates in 2024

Talent Attraction has taken the world by storm. The pandemic has accelerated the long-overdue transition of an employer-centric workforce to a talent-centric marketplace: Working from home and remote-first jobs have become the new normal.

In this article, we will show you why the paradigm has shifted from Talent Acquisition towards Talent Attraction – and how you can stay relevant for today’s top talent.

Let’s first look at the key movements that drive today’s workforce.

The 4 key trending drivers for today’s workforce

Remote work and work from home (WFH)

We could already see this trend growing in popularity before the pandemic, with market leaders like GitHub, Slack, and Twitter adopting a remote-first working culture.

With most companies being forced to embrace working from home, Pandora’s box has opened – and it won’t close again.

Employers and employees alike have become aware of the fact that WFH is indeed an option, and that it has many benefits. More flexibility and a better work-life balance for the employee, and fewer expenses for office space for the employer.

We will see more remote first models and mixed models in the future, and this change is here to stay.

Purpose and social Impact

Studies have shown that feeling meaningful in your job leads to a sense of belonging and can become a competitive advantage.

Employees who feel like they contribute to a bigger picture feel more dedicated – and it shows.

Today’s talent expects more than just an employee-employer relationship: With their daily work, they want to contribute to a bigger picture, and, in the long run, a better world.

Digital first

The generational shift is accelerating – and Zoom calls are the new normal. Traditional media outlets play less and less of a role in media consumption, and this reflects in the candidate’s journey, too.

War on talent

Have you tried hiring in 2023? It’s hard! Filling specialised roles has become even more difficult in a world where everyone can work from anywhere. Just posting a job and praying that the right person will see it will lead straight to failure.

The war on talent is relentless, and the average cost of not filling a position is estimated to be €13.000 – per week!

Not finding the right talent for the right position is the single biggest risk in maintaining and scaling an organisation – and impossible to solve without a strong Talent Attraction strategy.

The 4 steps to embracing Talent Attraction

Talent Attraction is the solution to master these dramatic shifts in today’s workforce. And there are 6 steps to follow in order to establish a talent-centric organization.

Embrace new media consumption patterns

No future employee wants to fill out a long-form CV, when all the necessary information is available on LinkedIn and social media. The first step for an application has to be fast and seamless, and never leave the candidate in the dark.

It’s vital to set up a recruitment funnel that works like a modern marketing engine – from collecting the lead, to converting her.

Transparency and inclusion are now table stakes

While being a transparent and inclusive company used to be a differentiating factor, it’s a given today. Glassdoor, LinkedIn, and other social media channels will create transparency, if you want it or not.

‍Diverse teams perform better – and your potential employees know that.

Remote work = new normal

Working From Home is not an option? It’s unlikely you’ll succeed with that in the future.

While mixed models will be common place, WFH is a key ingredient to enabling a mixed demographic to participate – talented mothers, fathers, as well as talents from anywhere around the globe.

Purpose matters

Your company has to have a clear employer brand and a mission statement that calls to action. If your potential future employees don’t know what they’re in for, why would they join in the first place?

How Talent Attraction puts the talent first

Talent Attraction puts the talent first. They get valued for who they are and want to be – not for their pitch-perfect CV.

But it’s also a chance for employers and recruiters: It’s a chance to get the right person for the job, and not just the person that happens to be available.

The Talent Acquisition playbook isn’t equipped for this challenge.

The role of technology for Talent Attraction

While the shift towards Talent Attraction is a big chance for recruiters in any industry, it is also a big challenge.

Embracing talent-centricity means to re-think old ways of working. To generate more and better candidates faster, intelligent technology like Wonderkind’s Talent Attraction Technology is needed.

It takes care of targeting the right candidates in the channels they actually use – digital-first and always on, it optimizes the campaigns automatically.

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