How to source and retain top talent

Any businesses looking to recruit for their company should be looking to hire the best person for the job. Hiring top talent for your business is vital for a number of reasons. Often, the best in their field or at their level, can be looked to for leadership in the future. They are expected to have higher productivity and bring fresh ideas and new ways of thinking to the organisation. 

Top talent can not only provide quality work, but they also become role models to other employees, they can act as brand ambassadors through internal and external markets, and can also create a healthy, competitive culture by leading from the front. 
Management guru Jim Collins summed up top talent’s importance within a business with this quote: “… the single biggest constraint on the success of my organisation is the ability to get and to hang on to enough of the right people.”

The main barriers when sourcing top talent

When recruiting, businesses face all kinds of barriers until they hire the perfect candidate. However, there are a number of significant barriers that can be avoided when looking to get the best through your recruitment processes.

1. Identification or definition of top talent

It’s one thing making it clear that you want the best candidate, but finding that person can be harder than it seems, or take longer than you’d first hoped. Be persistent, the correct candidate will come along. Top talent means something different to every business, get together with the heads of department and HR to make a decision on what person would be perfect for the role, that way everyone is working towards the same goal.

2. Competition from other employers

There’s nothing more frustrating than finding the perfect candidate, then losing them to a competitor. Keeping your recruitment process swift is a great way to avoid losing the top talent who are highly sought after.

3. Brand perception

The way you present yourself as a business can attract the best talent in your field. Marketing your brand as diverse, inclusive and understanding, can make you a favourite of the top candidates looking for a new role.

4. Candidate experience

Making sure your candidates feel important, nurtured and included throughout the recruitment process, will ensure they feel like you believe they will add value to your business. Feeling appreciated at the start is a great indication of how the business will treat you, should you be successful.

5. Money/budget

Often, the best candidates are after the most money, and the saying is true that you get what you pay for. However, if you can’t afford to hire the candidates with the biggest skillset, rethink your company needs and the role itself to get the most out of the position for your money. 

Employee value proposition (EVP)

Employers should focus on their employee value proposition as this is becoming increasingly important internally and externally in the current market. Attracting top talent has always been a challenge, and even more so in recent years with the instability of the economic markets making the market risk averse. Therefore, the employers’ value proposition is becoming increasingly more important. 
A strong EVP is essential for two reasons:
  • It offers a comprehensive look into every opportunity to make sure it is attractive to top talent and allows the candidate to decide if they are the perfect fit, or not.
  • It will enhance the employer brand, making it a more desirable destination for top candidates. A clear vision and strategic plan is something top talent look for in an organisation and this will ultimately influence their decision whether they join the business or not.

Using technology to recruit the best talent

As the world continues to develop, so does technology. The question now is not can technology be used, but how it will be used moving forward, to make your business the forefront in technological recruitments, you have to be implementing these developments in your business as they occur. 
We’ve already seen the influence of social media, such as LinkedIn, when attracting top talent. However, it’s becoming increasingly used as the main source of attraction. Beyond LinkedIn, when attracting top talent, being available at candidates’ finger tips is essential in being on top talent’s radar and setting yourself apart from the competition. 

Will top talent be harder to source than retain?

It is a fact that it is more expensive to any business to recruit than retain, and this will always be the case. Therefore the more organisations invest in retention, the harder it will become to source top talent.
Our management and advice centre has a wealth of attraction and retention advice, why not have a look at our article on five practical approaches to boosting staff retention. Or, if you are looking for help with recruiting for Human Resources, get in touch with one of our specialist recruitment consultants here. 
Amy Procter & Vicki Stanworth
Michael Page Human Resources
0113 388 9026