One of the conversations at Talent Table last week focused on the struggle to attract candidates back to industries heavily impacted by the pandemic: tourism, hospitality, retail, travel, education.
The issue?
Candidates saying they don’t want to return because they fear the insecurity.
Can you blame them? They were burned.
The reality is, no one in those industries can promise there’ll never be a repeat (not even tech can promise security right now!). Especially when WHO’s bursting our bubbles saying global pandemics like covid will only become more common as more mouth breathers consume more Earth.
So, how can you attract people back to these roles?
Unfortunately, there’s a chunk of this audience you’re gonna have to let go. Release them. If they have big mortgages and young families and they need a sturdy reliable income, you’re gonna bust balls trying to convince them you’re a good bet.
So, my thoughts are, let them go (for now) and focus on the people you can satisfy. [This is in no way tailored advice as there’s no such thing as one-size-fits-all in marketing, it’s more a general provocation of thoughts outside the box you find yourself trapped in. Please reach out for custom advice!]
I’m putting my marketer’s hat on here.
In sales, it doesn’t matter how much money you throw on advertising, a shit product doesn’t sell. Same as, you might have a great product but your messaging is wrong or you’re pitching it to the wrong people (like marketing nappies to high schoolers).
Which brings us to, nail your messaging; nail your sell.
Photo by Ricardo Arce on Unsplash
Understand your ideal candidates
Serious question: are you still pitching your same pre-covid offer to candidates? Because the world has changed. Cynicism saunters amongst us. Candidates see life and their relationship to work differently. They want and value different things.
Job security is off the table for the time being. But what else do your ideal people want? Also consider, perhaps, that your ‘ideal person’ has shifted. And if your ideal person has shifted, you need to do some grunt work figuring them out again (pain points, motivators, desires) and how you’re able to meet them. And if you can’t meet them using your pre-covid offer?
Time to change your offer. Some would call this your EVP but I’d start simply with your benefits and perks if you’re time and budget poor 😉
So… you can’t offer them job security, pfffft.
Maybe you can:
establish an awesome, bureaucratic red-tape-free internal mobility program. Maybe you can promise that within two years, they’ll have had opportunities to work in different roles or on different projects.
promise them a financial coaching package to help them secure their future to ride out any future shitstorms.
promise them flexible job descriptions or WFA with a travel voucher bonus to encourage them to embrace the travel that was so viciously snatched from their sweaty infectious palms (in my opinion, solo travel is the BEST self-development anyone will ever do).
Ramp up what you can offer and build up your employer brand. But that starts by understanding who you are *really* trying to attract and what they want and fear.
And consider that, not *everyone* wants a full-time job.
Nail your messaging
Once you understand the candidates you’re *really* trying to attract and how your offer can please them, you can nail your messaging.
And I don’t mean reach out to Susie the HR Grad who ‘enjoys writing,’ I mean get serious about your messaging. If this is a tough audience to crack, you’re gonna need candidate-centric sales copy.
Yes. I said, sales copy.
In a market like this, it’s on you to impress the candidates. So, corporate jargon-garbled, Fantastic Opportunity! spewing, “ASX-listed ACME CORP are looking for exceptional self-starting candidates,” emotionally detaching, dull and unconvincing blurgh words strung together won’t cut it.
Candidates do not give a single shit about you.
They only care about how your opportunity can improve their life. That is it.
It’s the same for anything. Which is why good copywriting focuses on the benefits, not features.
Feature: Work From Anywhere (WFA)
Benefit: Living your best life on your terms [not your crusty overbearing manager’s].
Nail your sell
Once you know what it is you’re offering that candidates most want, you can apply some sensational sales copywriting to nail the sell. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here; you can find copywriting formulas everywhere on the internet.
A very rough example of PAS could be:
Feeding your travel bug doesn’t mean sacrificing your career.
While covid kept us locked up and starved of adventure, your career probably took a ginormous leap forward. And now that the world lovingly opens its arms to you, you’re afraid to hit pause on a flourishing career and stumble back down the ladder because recruiters don’t like #CareerBreaks.
But what if you could work from anywhere, anytime?
If you’ve got mountains to climb, you can live your best life with us. Our WFA policy means you can work on your terms. Anytime. Anywhere.
You are not for everyone
Not every employer is the right fit for every human seeking employment. And that is OK. Just like we aren’t a love match for everyone on the planet (what chaos!), we can’t expect everyone to find us so desirable they want to dedicate a third of their waking hours to our employ.
Let go of ego and entitlement.
Focus on the candidates who will think your offer is top shelf. The candidates who will thrive in your working environment and make the most of your benefits and perks.
When you do that, you will find it much easier to nail your messaging to nail your sell.
Need help attracting the right talent?
Watch my free on-demand Masterclass, How to create a talent-catching employer brand.
[Disclaimer: these are five second copy examples. Copy looks much better when I’m being paid for it 😊 ]