Executive coach reveals HR's secret weapon in the Great Resignation

Since the industrial revolution, there has never been a more difficult time to attract top talent – even employers of choice are struggling to fill roles as the war on talent takes a grip on Australia’s workforce. One executive recruitment coach believes that attracting top talent is as easy as more comprehensively marketing your business values to candidates.

During the pandemic, there was a huge shift in worker mindset. People have emerged from lockdowns with a much greater value for the ethics and purpose of an organisation and that attribute is one that can be leveraged and used for talent attraction says Sue Parker.

Sue Parker’s business Dare Group Australia specialises in coaching executive-level jobseekers through the recruitment process. She says her candidates are researching businesses for months before applying for jobs.

“Top professional candidates are absolutely sourcing the market, they’re not jumping with urgency, they are taking their time to research and get to know an organisation,” Parker told HRD. “Candidates are checking out google and looking at LinkedIn and social media to get a clear picture of what you as a company stand for.”

Parker said candidates don’t stop at researching the company, they are also researching the personal social media channels of executive teams within companies. “The values of managers are what candidates are going to be particularly interested in knowing how to manage their own risk,” said Parker.

Parker believes that businesses who want to attract top talent must ensure their employer brand is telling the meaningful story of their values. “Storytelling is the absolute foundation of values branding. Statements do not bring things to life. Stories and examples and context bring things to life and build trust. So, you’ve got to start building that branding and leveraging it over time,” said Parker.”

Parker said candidates have grown weary of rhetoric. You can no longer just say ‘people are our greatest asset’, you must demonstrate it. “There’s a lot of rhetoric out there and people don’t believe the rhetoric anymore without examples and a lot more depth,” she said.

“So, an organisation must, as part of their candidate marketing build up awareness around what they value and the best place to start that is by telling your story on social media.”

Sue Parkers top suggestions for amplifying your values and ethics branding

• Develop a clear PR campaign of values and issues communications and ensure you’re demonstrating putting the rhetoric to reality, that you have values and you’re caring about your employees in a way that’s meaningful.
• Partner with charities and value safe organisations that align with your own business values. Look at where an organisation gives values to their employees and can demonstrate that by partnerships with those organisations.
• Leaders must use their own personal branding to highlight their values on social media. Encourage your leaders to share what matters to them through LinkedIn.
• Lead with your company values when writing job advertisements.
• Forget the cliché marketing. Don’t just say ‘we care about our people’, demonstrate it through storytelling.