The War for Talent is back - and the winners will lead with an EVP
There’s no mistaking it - the hiring landscape has changed. Closed borders, remote work, and changing priorities have reignited a 20 year old concept. Yep, the War for Talent is back and with it, a new surge of talent attraction campaigns.
Attracting the right talent matters. And your attraction campaign needs to be more than just empty promises or a new package on an old product.
To stay competitive, your campaign needs a strong Employer Brand that is built on your Employee Value Proposition (or EVP). This is absolutely crucial to connecting what you say you do with the felt employee experience and your desired business outcomes.
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Let’s take a look at the landscape in Australia. According to LinkedIn, 1 in 3 employees are looking for a new job. If our math is correct, that’s 4.3 million potential jobseekers. It’s also 4.3 million people leaving their employers.
We’re hearing clients struggling to hire, and retain talent against promises of thriving culture and unmatchable wages. Often, challenges to both are present.
A look at the tech industry in Australia for example, where talent is usually sourced from global pools shows the impact more fully: recent analysis by RMIT Online revealed that the country needs an additional 156,000 technology workers by 2025. Meanwhile the disability sector is calling now for an additional 120,000 workers.
And this is far from just an Australian problem. In the US, a whopping three-quarters of employers are struggling to attract talent, and 61 percent are having a hard time with retention.
Your EVP needs to work in an active and passive candidate market. Not only do you want to connect with the 1 in 3 who are looking, but how can it connect with those other high performers who are reluctant to move during lockdown/pandemic uncertainty? In high shortage areas, your value proposition needs to do the heavy lifting in enticing top talent to consider your unsolicited approach.
Regardless of industry, the top things LinkedIn reports that candidates are looking for are good work balance, quality management and leadership, and meaningful work. This is where your Employer Brand and EVP are crucial to connecting with the market, and telling the story of your unique offering.
What do we mean?
An Employee value proposition is the unique, compelling story of your organisation – founded in tangible data and communicated to your people.
Your Employer Brand is the creative execution of your EVP – how you bring it to life so people can experience it in the real world.
We recently worked with tech company, Interactive to develop a new attraction campaign, EVP and Employer Brand that honoured their purpose: keep technology human.
Working closely with the leadership team and focus groups, as well as through behavioural research across the organisation allowed our team to identify the ideal qualities of future candidates, and the key employee experience factors that contributed to retention of hires, and developed the employer brand: Bring your +.
The EVP provided the foundation for a strong employer brand and attraction campaign that celebrated diversity and the human strengths of individuals across the organisation.
A lot of organisations are under significant pressure to reinvent themselves right now. But the business problem is to remain relevant and competitive in a changing world. If you don’t have the right talent to self-disrupt and innovate, a future-proofed solution is practically impossible.
Three critical ingredients
To design an attraction campaign that connects with the right people, three key considerations must be taken into account:
Be authentic – You won't win people over by simply telling them what they want to hear. Be true to your culture and what you stand for, and the right people will see themselves reflected in your organisation.
Wear your difference on your sleeve – Your purpose tells your unique story, so use it to set you apart from your competitors. Keep in mind what your ideal candidates want (work/life balance, respect, quality leaders to name a few) and show them how you do better than anyone else.
Your people are your proof – An EVP is more than just a fancy tagline, it's a promise between employer and employees. And an EVP activated and lived through your people is powerful, (not to mention authentic).
In 2021 an EVP is the critical core for doing business, and how you bring that to life through your Employer Brand and attraction campaigns will set the tone for the future you build - with your people at the centre.
Interested in learning more about our EVP work? Read on here, or contact our team to set up a time to discuss the opportunities according to your business goals.
