Despite the challenges that COVID-19 has brought, high potential talented professionals remain in demand. While this fluctuates from market to market, and sector to sector, these individuals require significant incentive to move from their existing companies with ongoing concerns around job security. Many organizations are choosing to consolidate while protecting the shape of their business in the short term, yet many are also focused on attracting talented people to allow for future growth.

While many businesses focus on sales and marketing strategies that generate immediate revenue, many fail to consider candidate attraction strategies as a key component that undoubtedly impacts the growth and health of the company in the long term. Job seekers are becoming savvier at navigating the complex world of hiring. Their improved access to knowledge of available job openings makes it easier than ever to make the switch to greener pastures when the opportunity arises. As such, companies need to work even harder to attract proven and upcoming high potential talent. After all, you can’t exceed any ambitious business goals without having the right people in place.

A few ways to ensure retention of talent are: offering standout benefits, ensuring employees have growth opportunities, and establishing a well-defined company brand. With information becoming increasingly available online, job seekers no longer focus solely on compensation packages. Flexibility on work arrangements, alternative benefits like birthday leave can indicate to candidates that your company cares about employee welfare as much as you do benefits. And this can be the deciding factor in convincing a potential hire to accept the offer. 

Constantly investing in your employees can be a key incentive for highly skilled talent. Offering progression and development opportunities, such as training courses, is the second most important consideration for professionals in many industries when contemplating a job offer. These opportunities will not only be beneficial to your employees’ personal and professional growth but also your business when they apply the new skills learned, which in turn improves their morale and motivation. Allocate budget annually for these courses and be sure to include this perk in your job adverts.

Millennials are set to make up 75 percent of the global workforce by 2025, so attracting and retaining candidates from this discerning and savvy talent pool will require a very strong company identity. Using employer branding techniques like improving your onboarding process and defining your company culture can make a positive and lasting impact on candidates in the job market today while ensuring that the talent you hire have values aligned with those of your company. 

Companies often underestimate the cost of turnover. The more information-driven the job is, the greater the threat to productivity when your top performers leave, and more resources will have to be channeled into searching for and onboarding new hires. Competitors who poach your talent will also have inside information on your business and operation strategies, as well as your company culture. For current and potential hires, your talent retention rate is also a factor in determining whether your company is worth working for in the long run.

Employing the right talent attraction strategies will have a ripple effect on talent retention and your business’s employee productivity, as well as their overall happiness.