Hiring is difficult, expensive, and time-consuming. Not only are you running short staffed, but you also have to take the time and energy to list the position, review resumes, take interviews and perhaps even write a new job description all while keeping up with your usual tasks. To make sure your business is running optimally, you want to hire someone who is competent at the job, fitting in the culture, likely to stay long term and driven to succeed in the individual way your company defines it.
One of the easiest ways to convey all of these things to a potential hire is through a cohesive brand. Your brand should be a catalyst for a symbiotic relationship between your staff, their managers, and the clientele. A good brand plan takes all of these perspectives into account to communicate in one voice that will serve as a road map to success. By hiring with your brand, you will be hiring someone who believes what you believe and will still find fulfillment on the hardest days.
Start with Why
From the first page of your website, to every social media post, to your job description to the first time you meet with a potential new hire, you should be leading with why your business is great at what it does. A good brand isn’t just a values and mission statement but a standard by which you strive to hold every action your business takes. Knowing your why will give potential new hires a realistic expectation of how they should be interacting with customers, what kind of work they will be producing, and what your culture will look like when they get there.
What Drives You?
Is it pushing the boundaries of what technology can achieve to make others’ lives better? Or maybe you started a new business because you really loved the work but didn’t think your firm was treating their employees fairly. Some might say their biggest goal is to become more profitable so they can have their dream retirement. This is all worthy of disclosure! Being vulnerable about your bigger picture will create an opportunity for potential employees to evaluate their own motivations more effectively and determine if this is the right job for them rather than a paycheck they move on from.
Ask Deeper Questions
What makes them proud? How have they grown in the last year? What was a defining moment for them in their career? How do they make tough choices? By first opening up yourself honestly, you can get more thoughtful answers to these questions than the cliché “I care too much.” It invites them to be more transparent about their personal brand, which can help you to choose someone who will feel satisfaction in their work.
Hiring is such a slog that oftentimes we push through as quickly as possible. But a brand analysis of how your company is perceived internally and externally and a plan for what next steps are conceivable can be a road map to help hire for life. For more information on how you can make your brand bold, reach out to our team.