Dr John Sullivan Talent Management Thought Leadership
Job posts have an astonishing 90% failure rate because only 10% of those who view them apply. Fortunately, you can cut that failure rate for your most valuable recruiting targets (top performers) by up to one third. By merely shifting the content of your job posts away from listing job duties and qualifications and instead focusing on “the work.” Work-related features are the primary motivators of top performers and all exceptional talent. And if you’re unfamiliar with the elements of exciting/compelling work that you should be highlighting. Those elements include:
| The impacts of their job Their amount of freedom Their leader’s management approach Illustrations of exceptional company success | New opportunities/challenges Breakthrough technology Compelling teammates An opportunity to be first |
So if you’re receiving insufficient applications from top performers and exceptional talent, realize that it’s likely occurring because you’re not providing top candidates with enough up-front information covering the aspects of “the work” that really excite exceptional talent.
This article focuses on the “excitement-triggering phrases” that will instantly gain the attention of top performers when they review your job posting. That “the work” of this job is likely to be compelling and exciting, so it deserves further exploration by the candidate.
Because the primary motivators of exceptional talent are top performers and innovators, not traditional pay, benefits, and time off. If you want to attract exceptional candidates who are not actively looking for a job. You have to make it easy for them to find out about “the work” and the components of their job that will allow them to “do the best work of their life” at your company.
“Excitement-Triggering Phrases” That Will Instantly Get The Attention Of Top Performers
When you conduct candidate research on exceptional recent hires, ask them to reveal the specific words/phrases in a job posting that would have instantly gotten their attention (and made them want to investigate further). You can put together a list of compelling “excitement-triggering phrases” that my research has found that top performers instantly respond to.
The most powerful attention-getting words/phrases appear early in the list. Note: Feel free to use any of the following 18 phrases.
- Your “dream job” – because extremely successful talent expect someday to land “their dream job.” Even mentioning that this is one of your goals will get the attention of most exceptional talent. It infers that for a key job opening, you strive to be flexible enough to adjust the elements of the job to get the top candidate as close as possible to their dream job.
- Best work of your life – exceptional talent is constantly striving to do what they almost universally describe as “the best work of their life. Indicating that “best work” is one of your goals will definitely gain their attention, provided you also mention a few other key elements of compelling work in your job post.
- You can’t put it down – top performers are constantly looking forward to work that is so compelling that “it’s hard to put it down.” This phrase also implies that work is so compelling that the employee will voluntarily keep thinking about it during their off hours.
- You will see your impact – most top performers demand that their work “make a difference.” So, this phrase suggests that the new hire will be able to clearly see the impact of their work on their community and the environment, customers, coworkers, and the company.
- Maximum freedom – letting an innovator know that one of your goals will be to provide them with a great deal of freedom will certainly get their attention. True innovation requires the freedom to try and fail at multiple risky approaches without fear.
- Game-changing technology – because working with the latest technology is critical for all exceptional candidates. Letting them know upfront that they will be working with breakthrough technology will certainly excite them. When it applies, you should also let them know that part of their job focus will be on developing breakthrough technologies.
- You’ll be first – just like in sports, star performers in business are drawn towards opportunities where they have the highest probability of winning and being the first. So make it clear to your top-performing candidates that being first is one of their team’s goals.
- Lightspeed learning – top performers realize that in order to remain the best. They need to be continuously on the leading edge of learning. So the expectation for lightspeed learning is a primary motivator for exceptional talent.
- Collaborative innovation – unfortunately, in many jobs. New hires are assigned to just fix old stuff. The phrase collaborative innovation provides the expectation that the new hire will be involved in creating and inventing new stuff. The focus won’t be on individuality, but instead on more desirable sharing and collaboration.
- Exceptional coworkers – in business and in sports, all top performers want to work alongside other exceptional coworkers. So it is inferred that a candidate will be joining a team of exceptional coworkers. It will not only improve the candidate’s own probability of success. But at the same time, they also have an exceptional opportunity to learn from all of their exceptional coworkers.
- Implement your ideas – most top performers and innovators are continually coming up with new ideas. But unfortunately, they often get frustrated when they don’t get the opportunity to implement those ideas. So, making the implementation of employee ideas a primary goal will excite most top candidates. Because this phrase infers that employees will be provided with the required free time, resources, and management support that are necessary for successful implementation
- Constantly challenged – unlike the average worker. Exceptional talent often enjoys having multiple opportunities to attack the most challenging problems. Those challenges allow them to test their capabilities and build their confidence.
- Great management – because having a great manager makes it much easier for top performers and innovators to succeed. Candidates would love to know when they will be working under a highly rated manager who uses the most modern management style.
- Full transparency – forward-looking employees don’t like to be kept in the dark on important matters. So declaring that your company’s standard is “full transparency” will get the attention of top performers.
- Mastery in your field – even top performers working in lower-level jobs want to master their functional area. And being recognized as an expert both inside and outside of the company provides them with a sense of pride, even when they are still in mundane jobs.
- Make decisions – although not every top performer wants to make major decisions, they do want some degree of control over their work. So this decision phrase makes it clear that they won’t be micromanaged. And that they will be expected to make most of their own decisions. Including their work schedule and location.
- Ample resources – declaring upfront that you intend to supply each new-hire with the necessary budget, tools, staff, technology, and equipment makes it clear that “providing ample resources” is one of your company’s goals.
- Performance is rewarded – all champions and top performers demand that someone “keep score.” So they expect that their performance will be measured and that exceptional performance will receive exceptional rewards.
“It’s the work (stupid)”
Implementation Steps – For Compiling A List Of Excitement-Triggering Phrases
For those who are interested in using “excitement-triggering phrases” in their job postings. Here are some action steps to consider.
- Develop the business case for focusing on exceptional talent – realize that you won’t get a great deal of support from HR and hiring managers for focusing on the hiring of top performers and exceptional talent. Until you develop a compelling business case that clearly reveals the dollar value differential between the value added by average hires versus the exceptional value that is added when you hire top performers for key jobs.
- Make a list of the attraction factors for exceptional talent – it’s important that you survey all of your exceptional new-hires during their onboarding to first identify the phrases that initially triggered their attention. As well as those attraction factors that most influenced their final decision to accept. You should then use that information to improve your use of excitement-triggering words.
- Realize that listing average candidate motivators may turn off exceptional prospects – realize that the attraction factors that draw in average candidates (i.e., employee benefits, job security, employee well-being, retirement, work-life balance, time off, and career development) are not the key attraction factors for exceptional talent, top performers, and innovators. Their focus on compelling work makes them less interested in economic issues. In fact, too much focus on these average attraction factors in your job materials may actually cause exceptional talent to realize that you don’t really understand or care about them.
- Develop a process to ensure that these excitement-triggering phrases are actually used – you will need a foolproof process that ensures that after you develop your list of excitement-triggering factors. These triggering phrases will actually appear in your job postings, job descriptions, your recruiting materials, and your careers website.
- While you’re at it, improve the other selling aspects of your job postings – there have been volumes written about how most job postings have little impact, and how they can be improved. They underperform because most look like they’ve been written by a lawyer, and their content is not data-driven. So cut back on your description of the duties, because most applicants already know what they are. Also, closely edit the qualifications that you have listed. And remove the ones that don’t have data supporting them. Finally, set the goal of the job posting to excite (and not just inform) the reader.
- Continually improve with performance metrics – it’s essential that you develop a process for determining which of these key phrases actually end up getting top performers to apply for your jobs. And then edit and reprioritize the list.
Final Thoughts
Once you realize that top performers are not just a little different from the average candidate, but instead, they are in fact miles apart. Not only are they completely different in how they search for a job (most rely on referrals), but they also have completely different attraction areas that can be triggered with the right phrases in your job posting.
After you gain their attention, they will need to know more details about the elements of “the work” before they actually apply for one of your open jobs. Fortunately, it only takes the use of a handful of “excitement-triggering phrases” to dramatically improve the attention that you get from the top-performing prospects that read your job postings.
Thanks for reading and posting this article on your social media.
Notes for the reader
This is the latest article from Dr. Sullivan, who was called “the Michael Jordan of Hiring” by Fast Company.
You can subscribe to Dr. Sullivan’s weekly Talent Management articles here or by following him on LinkedIn.
