Most of the organizations recognize the diversity within their workforce, not only in terms of gender, religion or ethnicity, but also their geographical location. Additionally, firms know if they cast their net wider, their chances of attracting the best talent also get a boost.
Luckily, technological advances have made it easier for job posts to reach a widespread audience beyond your local area. However, you still need to consider a few things before attracting out of town talent. This is because it is not easy for out of town talent to move to a certain destination as there are relocation costs involved and other logistics issues of relocating with family.
Why do organizations need to overcome such barriers? For one, it’s an employee-driven job market. This simply means that employees and job seekers can be picky when it comes to choosing their employer. Since, relocating to a new city is a lot to ask, organizations need to make their positions more appealing to entice out of town talent. The trick here is to understand what is attractive and required by your target audience, and then showing the same to them through your job offers.
How can you attract them?
Without a doubt, a good compensation package and a bonus offer can attract candidates to you. However, there is one aspect that appeals the most to job seekers is often overlooked – company culture. Whether the job seeker lives within the same city or across geographical boundaries, they will always factor in the company culture before applying to you.
Company culture comprises layout, dress code, mission, vision, values, etc. of the company. One of the best ways to make such aspects clear to job seekers is through your website as well as social media accounts. If you regularly post pictures of your office, employees, office events, etc., if indicates that you have an engaging work culture and provides an insight into what’s it like to work with you.
Job seekers also browse through company review sites before applying. Websites such as Glassdoor provide valuable insights into company culture to job seekers. These sites allow employees to write about their current experiences of working for your business and, therefore, offer you a chance to showcase the company’s culture, perks, etc.
One of the most notable factors associated with company culture is a sense of inclusiveness to new hires. Employees who move to a new city for a job often don’t know people in their company or even the company culture. When you present your firm as a place that welcomes new employees are preferred by job seekers.
The City Factor
Another factor that you can use to attract out of town job seekers is by selling the attractive points about your city. Every city has its perks, and as a firm, you should use it to your advantage. If your city has a low cost of living, better ease of access to quality education, well-connected public transportation, great nightlife, etc. – then you should use the same to entice job seekers. You can mention the same in your job posting as well.
While these factors are interesting but still not be appealing enough. To attract the best talent to your city, you can also provide a relocation package to them. These packages may include the cost of logistics expenses, temporary housing expense, etc.
Attracting the best talent to your firm will add great value to your firm and offering financial aid in such a situation is not a great price to pay. It can also be construed as a way to let them know that you value them. Thus, the key is to make the transition as easy for them as possible. Therefore, if you have decided to spread your net wide to look for the best talent, make sure you list all the factors to the placement consultants as well.