Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership
As the fierce competition for talent continues, it’s essential that both recruiters and hiring managers possess the most effective candidate convincing tools. And while recruiters tend to be pretty good at selling candidates, hiring managers often struggle.
They struggle because they are frequently out of touch with the job market because they only hire once or twice a year. In other cases because of their technical background, he manager’s sales skills are simply not strong enough to successfully convince a top candidate that has multiple opportunities.
What they need to dramatically improve their sales effectiveness is what is known as a “comparison sell sheet”. You have invariably seen them in such publications as Consumer Reports and on many online product comparison websites. The main purpose of this sheet or chart is to show which product has the most superior features.
Here is an example… demonstrating the different features of three hotels
Use The Same Approach To Compare Company And Job Features
This approach was developed at Cisco years ago but it is still valid. It starts by realizing that making a decision on a job is a life-changing decision. So you must sell it using the same level of information that you would provide if you were selling a high-end car.
I recommend that you provide your hiring managers, your recruiters and employees that want to make referrals with a “side-by-side comparison sheet”. This sheet shows in which important areas that your company and job are superior to your talent competitors. Then in conversations with top candidates, for each of their “job acceptance criteria”, you can then quickly highlight for each factor when the offering by your firm is actually superior.
Action Steps For Building A Side-By-Side Comparison Sell Sheet For Recruiting
The process for building and populating your recruiting comparison sell sheet is relatively straightforward. Here are some tips to consider:
- Identify the top job acceptance factors – survey a sample of top candidates and new-hires in order to identify the top attraction and job acceptance factors that prospects care the most about. Use that information to determine what factors should appear on your sell sheet. If necessary, limit the factor so that the sheet is only one page and so it can be quickly scanned.
- Identify the firms that are strong/weak on each factor – start by surveying a sample of your own employees and new-hires in order to identify the job and company factors that your firm excels at. Next survey your recruiters, employees that have recently worked at your competitors, former employees that have gone to your competitors and all new-hires. Then use the information that you gather on the strengths and weaknesses of the various firms to populate the comparison columns on your sell sheet.
- Test the sell sheet and refine – have your recruiters and hiring managers utilize the sell sheet for a month. Note whenever a candidate disagrees on the how a company performs on a factor. And then refine and improve the sheet. Obviously it must be continually updated in order to be effective.
- Develop a supporting story inventory – because interviewees will ask questions and want information to support your contention. It makes sense to develop examples and stories to support each listed factor. It also makes sense to revise your corporate sites, recruitment advertising and your job postings so that they better reflect your firm’s strengths.
Here’s A Sample Of A Side-By-Side Comparison Sheet For Recruiting
Final Thoughts
If you’re not aware of it, there are four Teutonic shifts that are currently occurring in recruiting. The first is a shift to a data-driven decision-making approach, the second is a technology shift, the third is the ability to find anyone on the Internet or social media and the final shift is towards a marketing focus. And when you adopt this marketing approach, you need to know what factors attract and convince top applicants to accept. And for each of these factors, you must have supporting data, examples, testimonials and stories that convince candidates that your firm is superior. I unfortunately find that most firms haven’t even made a formal attempt to continually document the job and company related factors that make your firm superior.
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Originally published on ERE.net on 8/28/17.
