Are you ready to transform your recruiting from short-term and transactional to long-term and relationship-based? For strategic organizations, talent communities have become an increasingly prevalent way to make it happen.
Begin promoting your company image and branding and attracting more qualified candidates using a methodical six-step approach.
1. Define purpose and objectives.
Start with why you need a talent community, how it will help your organization and what results it can provide. Once those objectives are clear, determine the metrics that will measure success. Limit it to three or four key performance indicators that capture the essence of what you want to achieve.
2. Get started quickly, but plan for the long term.
Although it’s beneficial to have an overall strategy to create a talent community engine and support talent community members, your immediate goal is to get your system up and running. The system doesn’t have to be perfect. However, you will need to ensure that potential members are enticed by your brand and what you have to offer them.
3. Refine your target and plan offerings.
Next, you need to determine the specific skills, traits and geography of ideal members. These decisions will inform your marketing approach and the offerings you will provide. The key is sharing ideas and information beyond company and job updates, focusing on member-relevant topics such as industry news, career progression and skill development.
4. Market your community.
Now that your startup talent community is ready to go, it’s time to get the word out. The easiest place to start is on your website. Place a link to your talent community in a prominent location on your careers page and consider a link from your home page. Also think about LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, and consider advertising on job posting sites or within very targeted vehicles.
5. Engage.
The cardinal rule of a talent community is to engage with members once you have them. If you aren’t prepared to engage and interact with a combination of automated fashion and personal connections, it’s not time for liftoff. Think about relevant corporate news, press releases, department and function updates. Match connections with member interests, and always remember that personal touch.
6. Track, evaluate and adjust.
As part of upfront purpose and objective setting, you created KPIs. Now is the time to measure. Whether it’s about maximizing the pool size for the long term or immediate conversions to jobs, are you hitting your goals? If not, what can you do differently? Continue to improve and enhance your infrastructure and your offerings to hone in on what you really need to accomplish.
Because talent communities are a long-term play that require ongoing momentum build, there is no better time to start than the present. Remember to clearly set your purpose and objectives, and to build the community step by step. The result will be very rewarding for you and your company.
Mike McClaine is the president of Aspirant, an innovative, client-focused, values-driven, global management consulting firm. The firm utilizes integrated expertise to drive business strategy and transformation across organizational effectiveness, marketing and sales, operations, technology, digital, and program and project leadership. Aspirant is differentiated by lean teams of experienced consultants, an innovative model fueled by leading-edge technology, close partnerships with clients and its commitment to client capability and sustained success. In addition, the firm is dedicated to raising awareness of and helping prevent domestic abuse through the Connection of Hope campaign.
