“I know how hard people work when they get up every morning and provide for a wife and kids...they don’t have the option to do what they love, because they have to put food on the table.”
Quote from a "well grounded" Superstar Pro Athlete
This is the typical view of most American workers about foregoing their dreams for the responsibilities of life, but does it have to be this way? If you review the history of how work evolved, you’ll discover that although society has changed, our system of how one attains work has not.
Overall, the workforce has evolved dramatically since a computer was placed in every workshop, factory or office. Our economy is dominated by networks of interactions and engagements enabled by Internet video conferencing, email, IM, texting, Social Media, etc. Workers with “specialized” skills (STEM) are in short supply, the workforce is extremely mobile, there are more contingent workers than ever before and those with permanent jobs average less than two years per employer.
Yet with all these differences, companies still hire the same way as if nothing has changed. How can we provide opportunities for workers “to do what they love," so that a “regular job” isn’t a career prison sentence? I am sure we all would want workers like this on our payrolls, but the methods we use to hire workers has very little to do with desire or motivation. In essence, we’re having a very hard time connecting with the workforce of today
Now more than ever companies need to cultivate workers and build business relationships with ones in their industry that have an affinity with the company’s culture and get a real kick out of doing the work. A one day interview session and a few resume pages of background information is not a relationship – it’s just a small sample of a career event.
The most important step that a company can make is to differentiate themselves by how they are described in the marketplace. Regardless of the size, a company is a "community" of workers that create a business culture based on the elements of its members and how they collectively meet goals. Whether its baking bread or building jet engines, the style, motivation and efforts put forth by the workers are what makes the company's identity.
To begin cultivating top talents they need to shine a bright a light on their corporate identity so the their industry's "rumor mill" won't define it for them. The very best way to do this is to let "Company Voices" (employees) be heard in a way that demonstrates the uniquely terrific identity in an emphatic way. Top performers, according to recent studies, spend 63% of their time researching future employers. They'll appreciate the integrity of Company Voices and not the typical proganda most companies provide. Those that find the identity appealing will want to learn more and consider either a job opening or other options that could be provided by the company (Talent Club or Community for example...).
It may seem like extra work, but the current inefficient recruiting activity can be seamlessly replaced with new worker cultivation - so there is no net increase in recruitment time spent. In fact, there are time sensitive tools available today for companies to cultivate industry workers and build relationships with ones that will advance their business - in less time than is currently being used to lure workers with advertisements alone.
The employment industry needs to consider reallocating some of the billions of dollars spent on tactical hiring to building relationships and cultivating prospective workers that love their job. The result would be hiring workers we “know,” drastically lowering hiring costs and helping put to rest the term “dream job” - since most workers would be in a job they’ve always craved.
(This new Company Voices and Engagement Hiring concept is not a “dream!” Reach out to Upwardly Me and find out how you can easily implement a program and cut your hiring costs in half… GO HERE for better hiring!)