When it comes to employing people, everyone wants the crème de la crème. But no one tells you how best to go about it. And, there are no specific methods to trap these folks. So, what are you supposed to do?
The best shot you have to get people from all over the world looking at your product or service is to have it pop up in a big budget Hollywood movie, certainly not the most viable means for a small/medium sized company. The next best thing would be to leverage a medium that has even more exposure than an average movie, provided you know what you’re doing.
I’m talking about social media.
Guilty pleasures are the best pleasures.
Oh come on, you know what I’m talking about!
Whether we like it or not, people access social media at work despite it being highly detrimental to workflow. Why am I digging up all these facts via hyperlinks? Because it shows you just exactly how addictive social media is as a platform.
Another offshoot of this exposure is that people (let’s call them your next potential employees) also expect the brands they are going to work for to be social media savvy. Companies come up with trendsetting ideas to upgrade brands in social media so that more people will be interested in what they do.
I may or may not have updated my status between paragraphs.
The study goes on to say that employees are okay with fewer perks provided you allow them a reasonable amount of ‘me-time’ on social media. As much as 45% of people were willing to work for lower pay if they have social media freedom at their workplace.
In fact, several people have expressed disappointment after they were not allowed to catch up on their social media stream. This has led to lower morale and higher attrition numbers in companies that refused employees social media time.
1. Salary is important, but communication is important-er
People today want the freedom to express themselves. They are even willing to take a cut in pay to do so. In a survey conducted among college students, as much as 30% of the students considered freedom and reputation much more important for a potential job offer as opposed to just the salary on offer.
This means that the list of things that affect a brand’s ability to hire top talent just multiplied exponentially. Glassdoor is one such medium where you can find a lot of feedback about brands and companies.
2. Blurred lines between personal and work time
56% of job applicants said that they would either turn down a job offer if social media were banned at their workplace or find ‘methods’ around it. Pretty strong statement, considering people are openly admitting they are willing to sabotage restrictions. They go on to add that, during interviews many companies have highlighted the fact that they have a flexible social media policy.
3. Work mobile not just for work
I carry two mobile devices to work like most of my colleagues do. More than 77% of employees have multiple devices and 33% use at least three mobile devices while they’re working. Like in the last rule, people generally feel that there are too many restrictions on company owned devices. A majority of job applicants feel that companies should approve company devices for personal use as well.
4. Let employees choose their own devices
“If you are giving us something that we have to lug around everywhere, might as well let me choose.” Individuals have become expressive over the past few decades and their identity extends to the devices that they carry with them. They want to be allowed to choose for themselves what goes with their persona when offered a company device.
5. Establish guidelines around remote work
There was a time when highly paid executives had the privilege to work from home. These days every person thinks that they have a right to work remotely and would only want to come in during meetings. This, of course, can bring a whole host of problems to the table like security issues all over the organization.
6. The work-life ‘blend’
I hear what you’re thinking – these guys have severe entitlement issues. You’d be surprised at the lengths companies go to make sure that they are able to retain the top performers. To these companies, they are only supporting what their personnel are missing out on when they are working in the office. The lines between work and life have almost vanished.
Some of us are still used to a (slightly) earlier era of recruitment. It is important that as a person responsible for bringing talent in to your company, you are prepared to answer all the demands of today’s professionals.
Author
Michael Overell
Michael Overell is a seasoned entrepreneur and business leader with a proven track record in building companies, products, and teams in both startup and hyper-growth environments. Currently, he serves as a key executive at ClassDojo, where he is responsible for driving revenue growth and helping children around the world access quality education. Michael is also actively involved in investing and providing support to promising foreign founders looking to break into the US market through his work with Antipodes.
