Talent Attraction 101 is a guide for founders and hiring managers of startups and small and medium sized businesses (SMBs / SMEs). It covers the foundations of how to build a magnetic employer brand and in order to attract great talent to your company. A great recruiting strategy is formed around an obsession over the hiring process and a great candidate experience. Only when unsuccessful candidates still recommend their friends to your company's job openings have you truly created a great hiring strategy.

1. TALENT ATTRACTION 101.
A guide for founders & hiring managers.
By

2. The market for talent is
COMPETITIVE
So you, as an employer, have to be
REMARKABLE
But then you already knew that, right?

3. So, how do you find talent?

4. So, how do you find talent?
How does talent find you?
Or, more importantly
How do you attract talent?
and

5. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
Your Recruitment Channels.

6. But
You’re not Google (yet)
So what makes you an attractive company
to work for?

7. How are you perceived as an employer?

8. How are you perceived as an employer?
+
What do candidates see when they find you?

9. How are you perceived as an employer?
+
What do candidates see when they find you?
+
Do you offer an attractive proposition to candidates?

10. How are you perceived as an employer?
+
What do candidates see when they find you?
+
Do you offer an attractive proposition to candidates?
=
This is your
EMPLOYER BRAND

11. Image + Reputation = Employer
Brand
Source: Brandon Hall Group, 2014
Why should you care about your
employer brand?

12. 50% reduction in
cost-per-hireA few FACTS
Learn more: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/employers/popular-topics/hr-stats.htm

13. 68%Of job seekers would not
take a job with a company
with a bad reputation
(even if they were unemployed)
A few FACTS
Learn more: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/employers/popular-topics/hr-stats.htm
50% reduction in
cost-per-hire

14. 68%
Of candidates would consider
leaving their current role for a
company with an excellent EB.
89%
Of job seekers would not
take a job with a company
with a bad reputation
(even if they were unemployed)
A few FACTS
Learn more: https://www.glassdoor.co.uk/employers/popular-topics/hr-stats.htm
50% reduction in
cost-per-hire

15. A strong employer brand is your
competitive advantage for
attracting talent.

16. “But we’re just a startup with a
messy office, few perks and we
all work long hours.”

17. The best employer brands are
polarising.
They attract the right talent and repel
the wrong talent.
Be proud of your culture: it’s a feature, not a bug and you need
people who ‘get it’.

18. So be open, honest and
transparent.
Always be looking for a cultural fit. The right talent will
join you for your mission or myriad other reasons. Those
put off by your so called ‘weaknesses’ are probably not
the right fit anyway.

19. Recruitment is marketing led.

20. Recruitment is marketing led.
You need to treat candidates the same way you
treat your customers.
Attract è Convert è Close è Delight
(this is a virtuous cycle)
Here’s how…

21. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
1. Careers Pages.

22. - Communicate your Employee Value Proposition &
Mission
- Showcase your team
- Make it visual and engaging (but please, please no stock
photography!)
- Be transparent and authentic
- Illustrate your culture and values
- Provide details about your benefits & perks
Careers Page – Your hiring hub.

23. Let’s take a look at a good
example.
airbnb.co.uk/careers

24. Careers Page – AirBnB Example.
airbnb.co.uk/careers
Compelling Employee Value Proposition

25. Careers Page – AirBnB Example.
airbnb.co.uk/careers
Showcasing their team

26. Careers Page – AirBnB Example.
airbnb.co.uk/careers
It’s visual and engaging! (no stock photos here!)

27. Careers Page – AirBnB Example.
airbnb.co.uk/careers
And in case you’re interested, here are their perks.

28. Other Examples.
mailchimp.com/about/careers hubspot.com/jobs

29. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
2. Social Media.

30. - Distribute your vacancies to your profiles.
- Involve employees in creating content and sharing on
their personal channels to increase referrals.
- Include calls-to-action on your profile descriptions
linking to your careers page.
- Prepare and share native content about what life is like
working at your company.
Social Media – engage your audience.

31. The Zappos example.

32. Social Media– Zappos Example.
Twitter.com/insidezappos
Distribution of their open positions

33. Social Media– Zappos Example.
Twitter.com/insidezappos
Driving awareness of their culture and career opportunities

34. Social Media– Zappos Example.
Huge employee advocacy

35. Social Media– Zappos Example.
Sharing what life is like inside the company

36. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
3. Blog & Content.

37. - The best candidates do deep research. Sharing your
thought process is the best way for them to gain a
deeper insight.
- Interview your team.
- Share your thoughts and insights. Write about life
inside your company.
- Document your growth and challenges.
- Include your best content on your careers page.
- Repurpose content or publish native content on
slideshare, medium etc.
Blog & Content – tell your story.

38. Example: no one does this
better than Buffer.

39. Blog & Content – Buffer Example.
Open.bufferapp.com
Sharing their challenges and learnings

40. Blog & Content – Buffer Example.
Open.bufferapp.com
Writing about their team and culture

41. Blog & Content – Buffer Example.
Open.bufferapp.com
Discussing their hiring plans

42. Blog & Content – Buffer Example.
The Buffer Culture deck on Slideshare
Learn more: http://www.slideshare.net/Bufferapp/buffer-culture-06-with-a-change-to-be-a-no-ego-doer

43. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
4. Referrals.

44. - Make your existing team and wider networks work
for you.
- Do everything you can to spread the word. It’s about
being as visible as possible.
Referrals – your most reliable source!

45. Referrals – Tactics & Hacks.
Email Signatures - Add ‘we’re hiring’ with a link to your careers page
Fun maths: If you’re a team of 15 and each person sends 15 external emails a day, for
250 business days, that could be 56,250 of your recruitment ads seen each year.
John Doe
Full Stack Employee at Awesome Startup
johndoe@awesomestartup.com
Awesomestartup.com
@awesomestartup
>>We’re hiring! Check out our open positions.<<

46. Referrals – Tactics & Hacks.
LinkedIn Profile – Optimise your profiles for maximum exposure
Pro tip: Use the summary section of your profile as a call-to-action to drive the most
important action from visitors to your profile.
(Make your team do this too!)

47. Referrals – Tactics & Hacks.
Onsite– Make it visible on your site that you are hiring
Your visitors / customers are a potential source of referrals.

48. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
5. Word of Mouth.

49. - A good reputation starts with founders and
management.
- Be so good (and nice) that people can’t help but want
to help you.
- Look after your team and they will look after you. A
high employee net promoter score (eNPS) is the
backbone of a strong employer brand.
Word of Mouth – be nice!

50. Word of Mouth – be nice!
Learn more: http://info.zealify.com/employers-blog/employer-branding-starts-at-the-top

51. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
6. Email.

52. - Rule 1: ALWAYS respond.
- If you have a jobs@ email alias, make it clear that the
account is monitored and who will respond.
- Create canned responses to make your life easier.
- You could use a mailing list to announce new jobs to
interested candidates. (if you have built a talent
pipeline).
- Make candidates feel valued. (treat them like
customers).
Email – be accessible to candidates.

53. Email – Fog Creek Software Example.
Hurrah!
We
have
received
your
job
applica4on.
At
least,
we
think
it's
yours.
It
is
possible
that
someone
who
thinks
very
highly
of
you
is
forwarding
around
your
resume
while
pretending
to
be
you.
That's
not
a
bad
thing,
is
it?
In
any
case,
this
is
an
automa4c
email,
sent
by
a
mindless
robot,
to
let
you
know
that
we're
absolutely
thrilled
that
you
would
be
interested
in
working
for
Fog
Creek
SoGware.
We're
very
honored.
Even
though
this
is
an
automa4c
email,
it's
not
the
usual
blah
blah,
so
please
read
on!
They respond to every application with this autoresponder. Read the full
email here. (It’s very good.)
Learn more: http://www.careercloud.com/news/2015/5/9/this-auto-response-email-from-an-employer-will-make-you-laugh

54. Careers Page
Email
Blog & Content
Word of Mouth
Paid Ads
Events / IRL
Referrals
Social Media
7. Paid Ads.

55. Sometimes you need additional distribution that you just
can’t achieve organically.
- Paid job board placements. (make sure you’re producing killer
job descriptions – more on this later)
- Retargeting ads for visitors to your careers pages.
- Twitter cards, Facebook dark posts, LinkedIn ads. (all
can be highly targeted to relevant candidates)
Paid Ads– distribution, distribution, distribution

56. Paid Ads – Promoted Tweets.
HootSuite used promoted tweets to get distribution of
their open job opportunities

57. Last but not least, underpinning
your entire talent attraction
strategy…

58. Last but not least, underpinning
your entire talent attraction
strategy…
The JOB DESCRIPTION

59. Last but not least, underpinning
your entire talent attraction
strategy…
The JOB DESCRIPTION
(Never to be underestimated or overlooked)

60. - Very often the first time a candidate will come into
contact with your brand!
- Candidates will most likely form their opinion of your
company, and make their decision about whether to
apply based on this document.
- When you spend so long crafting landing page copy
to attract customers, shouldn’t you be doing the same
to attract talent? (think of a job description as a landing page for
potential hires. After all, your team comes first, right?)
Job descriptions.

61. - Don’t just copy and paste a template!
- Job descriptions should be crafted (not just thrown together).
- Tell a story. (it should never just be a checklist)
- Explain WHY you are hiring.
- Be careful of the language you use. (no ninjas here please)
- Be open, transparent and authentic.
- Be specific and explicit.
- Get feedback from other people in similar roles.
- If you can, be open about remuneration.
- Don’t forget to include your location.
Job descriptions.

62. Here’s Some Examples.
Wanted: Cowpoke/Intern
at Lowercase Capital
Read >>
Editorial Intern
at Medium
Read >>
Learn more: http://lowercasecapital.com/2010/10/10/ranchhands/
https://medium.com/@lotto/we-re-hiring-an-editorial-intern-d27ec446cafe

63. Some last tips…
(To hopefully help you close those hires.)

64. Always communicate the WHY.
Candidates will buy into the WHY much more than the
what.
Why are you building what you’re building?
Why are you hiring for the role?
Why is it important and why does it fit with the big
picture?

65. Explain the role in the form of a
‘tour of duty’.
How does this role fit with the candidate’s wider career aims?
How does it help them progress?
What does success look like for the candidate and for the
company?
Why is it a great joint venture for both you and the candidate?
What is your commitment to helping the candidate achieve
their long term goals?
Learn more: https://hbr.org/2013/06/tours-of-duty-the-new-employer-employee-compact

66. Even if you don’t hire them,
make such a great impression
they recommend their friends.

67. Be obsessive about creating a
GREAT hiring process &
candidate experience.

68. - Hiring is a two-way process. Make candidates feel
valued and try to ‘win’ them. They’re evaluating you
too.
- Ask for feedback on your process and experience. Be
constantly iterating and improving.
Final Thoughts.

69. - ‘50 ideas to improve your recruiting with marketing tactics’
by Zealify
- ‘On Recruiting Part 1’ by Jesse Hertzberg (our favourite blog post
on the subject we’ve ever read)
Further Reading.
Learn more: http://info.zealify.com/employers-blog/50-ideas-to-improve-your-recruitment-with-marketing-tactics
https://medium.com/@huss/on-recruiting-part-one-74c94a5e3e22

70. Questions?
hello@zealify.com | @Zealify
Thanks for reading
By
…Read on to see how Zealify can help your hiring

71. How can help?

72. Your Zealify Careers Page
Independently wri-en content around
company culture & employer brand.
Professional videography including
interviews with some of the team and
video tour of the office.
Professional photography of the office
and team.
The opportunity for candidates to
gain a true insight into your
company culture
Remodeled, op@mized job adverts to
increase candidate engagement
We help startups build an employer
brand, & talent pipeline, by leveraging
their unique culture through online
profiles.

73. Improved candidate
percep@on through a
more transparent
recruitment process.
Access to candidates
who are 100% degree
educated & engaged
with the company.
Audience reach of
10,000+ who are
looking for ‘stretch
jobs’.
Significant increase in
specula@ve
applica@ons & referrals
Zealify Benefits
4x candidate
engagement on any
hiring materials,
including job adverts.
Reduced cost per hire
and opportunity for
significant ROI through
employer brand.
Brand Pipeline Cost
Advocacy Engage Reach
Zealifyisgreatbecauseitverifiesthatthecompany’sculture
andlifestylematchesuptowhattheysay.
– Daniel, Python Developer“
“

74. …and more

75. Boost your hiring with Zealify.
Get started today
hello@zealify.com | zealify.com/employers
…and more