6 Innovative Ways to Attract Top Talent During the Great Resignation

The Great Resignation is here, affecting every industry in the global economy. Some experts believe the Information Technology sector faced the brunt of this event as it saw mass resignation across the globe.

The term was coined by a University College London’s School of Management professor, Anthony Klotz, when he predicted a mass exodus of workers leaving their current employers. Companies in the tech industry are looking for innovative ways to attract top talent.

In an interview with CNBC, Klotz said,

It’s not just about getting another job, or leaving the workforce, it’s about taking control of your work and personal life, and making a big decision – resigning – to accomplish that. This is a moment of empowerment for workers, one that will continue well into the new year.

Industry experts are citing various reasons for this mass resignation that we see across the globe, and many studies have been conducted on the same. Low compensation, lack of job satisfaction and fulfillment, burnout, and stagnant career growth are the most common reasons for workers leaving their jobs.

A survey by Mercer pointed out that 47% of employees are quitting their jobs due to low pay and benefits. The below figure shows the top reasons why workers between the ages of 55 and 64 quit their jobs.

innovative ways to attract top talent

Source: Mercer

Innovative Ways To Attract Top Talent

The Great Resignation is in full effect, and companies are struggling to keep a hold of their current employees, let alone hire new ones. Organizations must do everything possible to attract and retain top talent in data science, healthcare, engineering, IT, and Finance categories. A study by LinkedIn points out that 59% of candidates joined an organization for better career paths and opportunities.

Other corporations should follow suit and adopt similar practices to attract and retain the most talented individuals for the coming years. Here are the most innovative ways to attract top talent in different departments.

1. Focus on Employer Branding

Employer branding is the process of controlling and influencing how potential candidates, employees, and other key stakeholders perceive your business as an employer. It includes everything you do to promote your business as a top employer.

The role of employer branding is greater in technical roles like data scientist, healthcare analyst, or machine learning engineer. These candidates look for companies with the renowned work culture and a focus on research and development. Today’s tech talent wants to be at the forefront of the ongoing technological revolution, and the best way to do that is by joining an advanced organization that rewards innovation.

Hence, it would be best if you focused on building a solid employer brand for your company to attract the best talent across the board. Tech firms should present themselves as pioneers of creativity and innovation while promising rewarding and enjoyable careers. Candidates should feel they’ll make a difference in the organization they’ll join and work for an extended period.

Social media is a great tool for building a strong employer brand. Platforms like Linkedin and Reddit are excellent ways to advertise your brand and attract the most talented people in the industry.

2. Leverage Technology Innovations

According to a Forbes article, companies spend more than $140 billion on recruitment-related activities. Still, employees leave their current jobs, making it nearly impossible to achieve the desired return on investment goals. That is why many large-scale corporations have automated the entire recruitment process to make it smoother and cheaper.

A survey by Gartner reports that 56% of companies are trying to automate repetitive or manual tasks in the recruitment process. The same study said that HR operations, talent acquisition, and employee engagement monitoring are the three most common applications of automated methods in recruitment.

Application Tracking Software (ATS) is the leading technology that has rejuvenated the recruitment process for large organizations. These applications streamline the entire hiring process and automate menial tasks like sorting through hundreds of resumes for specific keywords.

In the long run, Application Tracking Systems are cheaper than hiring a team of HR professionals. Hence, you should consider investing in high-quality ATS or other HR Automation tools as one of the most innovative ways to attract top talent.

3. Provide a Clear Career Path to Potential Recruits

Most organizations successfully hire talented individuals but fail to retain them, sometimes because the employee isn’t satisfied with their career trajectory. A 2015 survey conducted by SHRM pointed out that nearly half (47%) feel that career advancement opportunities in their current organization were ‘very important’ to their job satisfaction levels. Hence, big or small corporations should communicate with the candidates about their projected career trajectories and how a particular role would help them achieve their goals.

Hiring managers should note this and ensure that the job description entails a candidate’s growth prospects if selected. In addition to compensation and benefits, the job descriptions should include information about potential promotions and the like. The interviewer can also briefly talk about the same.

4. Create An Environment of Learning

Creating a learning environment where employees can get better at their current roles while acquiring new skills goes a long way in attracting top talent. This works exceptionally well for technical fields like data scientists, machine learning engineers, data architects, IT professionals, and similar roles. Establishing a work culture that fosters learning and provides ample learning opportunities to employees is among the most innovative ways to attract top talent.

Highly skilled individuals want to work for firms that prioritize research and reward the creativity of their employees. At the same time, these employees look forward to learning new skills along the way. Linkedin reports that 23% of employees leave their current organization due to a lack of development and training opportunities. The below infographic shows the significance of training and development for existing employees.

attract top talent

Source: SHRM

5. Use A Fair and Robust Recruitment Policy

The hiring procedure for many organizations is archaic and relies on inconsistent methods. This problem is aggravated when recruiting for technical roles in sectors like Information Technology, Bioinformatics, and Data Science. Many companies still use a generalist strategy when hiring for technical positions, which usually backfires and encourages candidates to look for better options.

These recruiters frequently overlook excellent data science applicants due to a lack of subject matter experience. Companies that want to hire top IT talent should adapt their hiring processes to satisfy the needs of potential employees better.

This requires choosing hiring managers with a solid understanding of technical information, medical and scientific concepts and being able to communicate successfully with the applicants. Using structured interviews is another best practice used by companies with noteworthy hiring methods.

Furthermore, candidates who weren’t selected for the role should also be intimated through an email or phone call so they can look for other jobs. Such policies go a long way in establishing a good rapport with applicants and is often considered one of the most innovative ways to attract top talent.

6. Consider Using A Referral Program

Some companies use referral programs when hiring for specific roles in administrative or managerial positions. Many use it for technical roles as well. It is not the most popular technique in the book, as it can cause favoritism or nepotism within the organization. However, when done correctly, an employee referral program can be an excellent way to hire a talented person.

The best way to implement it is via introducing some kind of incentive scheme along with the referral program. For instance, employees who refer to a colleague that stays in the organization for a stipulated period should be rewarded. These rewards could be a monetary incentive or other perks like a paid holiday.

Contact BenchPoint, a healthtech IT recruitment company, to find out more about innovative ways to attract top talent in industries like healthcare, IT, and data science.

We’ll be happy to help you with even the most basic issues and work with you to build employee-focused and result-driven workplaces over time.