Want the best of the best to flood your department with their resumes as they do at Yahoo! and Southwest Airlines? Develop your talent brand, says Libby Sartain, who was CHRO at both companies.
Brand for Talent, Sartain's book co-written with consultant Mark Schumann, offers seven "essentials" for building your talent brand. (See yesterday's issue for the first five essentials.)
Essential 6: Sustain
The talent brand must be sustained, say Sartain and Schumann, and to a large degree, that is accomplished as a result of the culture.
Culture is an amalgam of what workers experience, the words and actions of leaders, the face-to-face interactions, the products and services delivered by HR, and the messages and content of employee communications.
Essential 7: Survive
It used to be that branding was primarily controlled by the company and its marketing. Consumers had only limited opportunity to criticize the brand. And this was true for talent as well.
Sure, there were a few disgruntled workers—and some complained, and a few sued—but for the most part, dissatisfaction with employers' brands was contained and of little concern.
Enter social media. Immediate access to limitless networks for people to instantly share any idea with millions of others. Companies will have to work hard to preserve their brands against faceless rumors and complaints.
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The End Result of Branding for Talent Sartain and Schumann offer the following outcomes for those employers that carefully and diligently develop their talent brands:
How To Recruit, Interview, Hire, Retain, and Engage Top Talent
Talent management involves several moving parts—from recruiting and hiring to performance management, coaching and mentoring, succession planning, and using social media to communicate with and engage the workforce.
It’s a constantly evolving process and one that requires a focused strategy to recruit, hire, engage, and retain a knowledgeable, productive, and successful workforce. On the recruiting and hiring front, there is an “art to hiring smart.” An employee who does not fit the technical or behavioral requirements of the position can cost the company up to 150 percent of his or her annual salary as well as significant customer dissatisfaction.
Most resumes have some distortion in them, and reference checks do not always give you the full story of the candidates past performance. Candidates are being trained on how to handle themselves in an interview and present a polished version. Who can afford to take a chance when there is a good alternative?
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It seems like these suggestions focus on management and skilled positions. I think it's important not to overlook your rank-and-file and/or unskilled workers. They're often integral to a business' success, and believe me--they notice when they're overlooked.