Being a Talent Magnet company literally means that your brand is able to appeal, attract and pull in your ideal talent audiences just like a magnet does.
As the war for the talents capable to thrive in the digital age is heavily on, more and more growth companies are struggling to hire the talents they really need.
Mark Miller conducted a study and wrote a book by the name of Talent Magnet based on his findings. In this book, he introduces what sets apart the so called top talents from the rest of the talents. He found out top talents are looking for specific attributes that the more “regular” talents did not even mention important.
I first heard about his findings in some other podcast (I’ve now forgotten about) when the book was first published. I was instantly fascinated, because his findings supported what I had intuitively thought and developed into the Modern Employer Branding Method.
What is a Talent Magnet company?
Talent Magnet is an organization that is able to attract and hire their top talents, without any pain and anxiety. When they need to hire, they succeed. These employers do not have to settle for less they look for. They don’t have to make compromises in hiring.
The Modern Eminent Employer Brand Method I developed, gives an organization the means and the plan to amplify what makes them a Talent Magnet.
The Three Core Elements of a Talent Magnet Company
Based on Mark Miller’s study, top talents choose employers where they can trust to get:
- A Better Boss (they have now or had in their last place of work)
- (Access to) A Brighter Future
- (Inspiration and motivation from) A Bigger Vision
While all talents look for a safe workplace, trustworthy employer, good working atmosphere and a fun culture, top talents look beyond. It matters to them what they deposit during the employment delivers them also value later in their career.
How does a company become a Talent Magnet Employer?
According to Miller, there are two actions to consistently focus on:
- Developing and maintaining the three core elements that make up the Talent Magnet.
- Communicating, marketing and clarifying these elements consistently.
I like how Mark Miller puts it: If you only focus on developing, but not sharing the message (marketing), no one is going to know. For the magnet to become powerful in pulling, the surface of the magnet must be large. The larger the magnet, the more pulling power it will have.
The Modern Eminent Employer Branding Method gives you the plan how to systematically communicate and market your three core elements to your ideal talent audiences.
Core element #1: “Better Boss”
This element is about leadership culture. It is commonly known in HR that companies hire for skills and experience but fire for attitude and mismatch in the values and company culture -department.
It is also commonly known in HR that talents resign very often because of their boss. A poor leadership culture is probably the most common reason why top talents leave companies. Even when there are career opportunities ahead.
Great leadership culture is also probably the single most important reason why top talents stay. Even if they occasionally feel like they are no longer progressing. It makes 100% sense that a top talent – also your ideal talent – will choose a workplace that can consistently prove they have an exceptional leadership culture. And how do you prove it? You share examples – as in evidence – through content marketing.
Core element #2: “Brighter Future”
If you are a top talent, you have ambitions and plans for your career. That’s totally normal. That what is likely to make you a top talent. You have the talent and you want to utilize your talent in the ways that deliver you satisfaction and value.
According to Miller, a top talent wants to make sure every job they choose helps them to build a brighter future for themselves. They want to be able to learn skills and develop professionally in ways they see as a deposit to the bank of their future.
Right now, there is a huge market for online learning. People are hungry for learning about all sorts of things. In the previous episode of the Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast I spoke about what sets apart a digital talent from a regular talent.
It’s this. A top talent of the digital era, what I call the Digital Talent, invests a lot of their personal time into learning and developing skills as well as comprehending more deeply topics and subjects and themes that can help them to pump up their professional market value.
If your company is able to include this into their work, as in, give your employees means to develop their skills during working hours – well, consider this element ticked on your How to Become a Talent Magnet -list.
Core element #3: “Bigger vision”
It really is no surprise how relevant the meaning of work is today. It has been relevant for quite sometime now. Many top employers have clarified their purpose, their mission, their vision. We talk about purpose-led companies. This is what it means.
Top talents have strong set of values. They also look for self fulfillment. If the Needs Hierarchy of Maslow is familiar to you, look at the top. In my opinion, talents in most of the developed countries are at the top of this hierarchy- Looking for a place where they can contribute into something “bigger”, something more meaningful.
And while this does not mean every company should have a life saving or globe saving mission, it means you must have a clear purpose or mission, and you must consistently clarify that through your marketing and communications. Your ideal talents have the same mission. Let them know you are their counter part!
In this episode of Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast I talk about how a company can become a talent magnet. This podcast was inspired and covers the key findings from the book Talent Magnet by Mark Miller.
The episode content:
? What is a Talent Magnet company?
? How to become a Talent Magnet company?
? The three core elements making a company a Talent Magnet
Episode-length: 31:24 min
Mark Miller interviewed about his book (Youtube) >>
Mark Miller >>
Where can I listen to this podcast?
Find this episode on Soundcloud >>
Find this podcast on Spotify >>
Find this podcast on Apple / iTunes >>
About Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast
Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast is a weekly podcast bringing you a modern breath of air into HR marketing and employer branding.
This podcast is dedicated to all modern growth companies and modern employer branding practitioners who want to really influence their talent audiences and add measurable value to growing and scaling modern businesses with HR marketing and employer branding.
The Building a Modern Employer Brand -podcast is sponsored by Employee Experience Agency Emine and scripted & hosted by Susanna Rantanen.
Find this podcast currently on Soundcloud, Spotify and Apple/iTunes.
If you like this podcast, please rate it on your preferred platform. It would greatly help putting this new podcast out there. I would very much appreciate it!