First impressions unlock recruitment relationship

Most people understand the first time you meet someone that there is instant judgement, and the recruitment business is no different.

While the candidates themselves must portray their cases as best they can, there is also huge responsibility on the employer to set their business out from the rest.

This is the message in a recent LinkedIn article from recruitment firm Hays' CEO, Alistair Cox. In the article published earlier this month, Mr Cox stated that employers must put more thought into marketing themselves in order to attract the right people for a role.

"With the market for talent picking up, employers need to revisit the impression they make on potential new recruits in order to compete for the very best future employees," he said.

"It's interesting how different organisations seek to do this and undoubtedly some are doing it much better than others. Unfortunately too often we see bland statements such as 'our people are our greatest assets' or 'we value our people'."

According to Hays, one of the main reasons the employer-employee relationship fails is a poor cultural fit. However, if the organisation can outline its uniqueness or values during the marketing and recruitment stages, the candidate will be able to make a better judgement on whether the role is right for them.

Hays describes this tactic as Employee Value Proposition (EVP) and offered some advice for business looking to appeal to the type of people who will thrive in environment.

• Work out why people can succeed in the business and nowhere else
• Ask existing employees why they chose to accept an offer
• Ensure that you are truthful to potential candidates
• Promote your unique selling points and highlight during the recruitment process

Mr Cox believes it could take some time for businesses to work out their EVP, but states once it is right that candidates will be lining up to join.

"After all, we spend a huge amount of time and effort getting the messages right for our customers so why shouldn't we do the same to the people who we want to join us?" he concluded.