Top Ten Ways to Attract Top Talent in 2018

We are in an increasingly competitive environment when it comes to attracting top talent.

Fortune 500 article indicates there are 5 million jobs that companies are looking to fill in 2018.

The days of a recruiter requiring numerous interviews to hire someone are gone for now.

A lot of companies are looking at unorthodox and progressive ways to find talent for jobs that need to be filled right now.

For all the talk about robots and AI taking jobs – there are current jobs that are open for warm blooded humans.

As competition increases for talent the ways to attract talent and think about talent are rapidly changing here are ten ways to attract top talent in 2018:

1. Social media is THE place where people are searching for jobs – researching companies and looking for ‘banter’ about companies – with a race for talent job seekers have the upper hand because they have multiple job options available.
2. Video is the medium that helps job seekers determine the culture of a company, the brand reputation and more. Is your company maximizing video to communicate your companies ‘attractiveness’ for potential employees?
3. Look in places that may not be so obvious to find cultural fits for your companies. For example an HVAC company I worked with put up a recruiting booth at a hunting and fishing conference and successfully recruited new employees that were a great fit for the company culture.
4. While seeing new talent – stay focused on engaging your current top talent – poachers are standing by! “Right now the job market for professional, leadership, and new technology jobs is white hot,” says Josh Bersin, a principal at Deloitte Consulting and a longtime HR thought leader.
5. Relook at your policies and see what can be relaxed. SHRM (Society of Human Resources)states that companies are relaxing their drug testing as some drugs are being legalized.
6. Diversity is the biggest opportunity in looking for talent – industries are looking at hiring, reskilling and training women, military and other abled persons to fill jobs.
7. Relook at your educational standards. Companies are relaxing educational requirements in favour of skills such as adaptability, resiliency and ability to handle multiple disruptions in the workplace. “The reality for many positions, across most organizations, is that education has no influence on actual performance,” says Tim Sackett, head of the HRU Technical Resources Staffing Firm.
8. Hire for human skills and digital skills second. Every industry is now digital and the biggest skills needed are the ability to collaborate, create and communicate successfully with teams.
9. Start looking for talent when they are young. Educating young workers early about your industry and the opportunities is critical. Waiting until students are looking at career options is too late – post information about your company on instagram, share opportunities and ideas for young workers on You Tube, visit and speak to students in elementary schools about your company.
10. Sell potential talent on your ‘story’ – mainstream media today is all about the opportunity for workers to self actualize through being a hero – create stories about your company and share stories of workers in a ‘you can change the world by working with us’ – story is the emotional hook to engage new talent in the work that your company does.
11. Bonus tip! Your biggest competition for talent isn’t another company its people who are choosing to freelance or to be an entrepreneur – look to freelance sites and solopreneurs to pitch projects and work opportunities.

The race for talent is going to increase in the next few years along with the speed of automation, robotics and AI – for every job replaced by technology a new one will be created BY the technology. Finding top talent now is a future ready imperative for all businesses.