Own your company’s narrative to land the best talent

If you’re recruiting candidates for an important role, it’s easy to get lost in the administrative work of reviewing résumés, scheduling interviews and debriefing with your team. But to land the best talent possible, you must remember to sell your opportunity at every step of the process. Candidates interview you just as much as you interview them.

At Charles Aris, we coach clients to present their open roles through the lens of “the four reasons A-Players change jobs.” These include the company, the people, the job and the opportunity. We even structure our own recruiting pitches around these four core categories to ensure we discuss the factors that are most important to candidates.

One important but often overlooked category: the company.

If your company is well-established or operates in a highly desired industry like tech or private equity, it may sell itself to potential candidates. But if your company is up and coming, has a unique story or is facing challenges, you must craft a compelling narrative that shows candidates why they should turn down other offers and come work for you.

For hiring authorities who are eager to land a transformative candidate that will put their best foot forward in your business, consider adopting these strategies as you map your company’s story during the recruiting process:

Lay out the 10-year vision

Top candidates want to join companies that are unified and have a clear plan. Even if your business is struggling, meeting with senior executives and crafting high-level bullet points of what you want to accomplish gives candidates the chance to picture how they’d fit into your company’s ongoing narrative.

Figure out what makes your business unique

As a recruiter, it’s tempting to pitch candidates on the basics: compensation, exposure to senior leadership, strong culture, etc. But that’s likely what every recruiter is pitching them on. Stand out by explaining what candidates can get from your company that they can’t get anywhere else.

Are you changing business models? Expanding product offerings? Restructuring the team? Acquiring, or being acquired by, new businesses?

Any meaningful inflection point offers a new way to shape your narrative. After all, the best candidates will be paid well no matter where they go. True A-Players want to do something interesting.

Customize, customize, customize

Think about your company’s narrative in two parts: the stable part and the fluid part. The stable part is your overall narrative, or what’s happening in the company at the time of hiring new talent. The fluid part is how your narrative could evolve based on who you hire.

Strong recruiters ask probing questions to learn more about each candidate. Then, they customize the narrative to fit that individual, sharing how their unique skillset, qualities and personality could shape the company’s future.

Some do this in the second-round interview, but highly skilled recruiters can tailor their story live and in person, either during the first interview or even on the pitch call.

Candidates want to know they’re being recruited for their own unique attributes. Give them the courtesy of active listening and explain how their personal narrative can influence yours.

The takeaway:

Owning your company’s narrative is one of the most powerful tools in attracting top talent. The story you tell about where you’ve been, where you’re going and how a candidate fits into that journey can be the difference between hiring someone good and landing someone great.

Shape your message with clarity and purpose, and you’ll stand out to the A-Players who can transform your business.

To learn more, contact Ryan Krumroy at (336) 217-9129 or ryan.krumroy@charlesaris.com.