Employer Brand: Address Skills Shortages by Looking Beyond Your Industry

The ongoing skills shortage has brought new challenges to employers, and companies that fail to acknowledge this reality and create a new plan to find the talent they need are already behind the curve. Adding to this complexity is the fact that the candidate journey is full of distractions, forks in the road and plenty of places where the candidate can run off, say no or simply disappear. As employers across all industries struggle to find and retain talent, the ability to keep them interested in working for your company is key to a successful strategy.

So, what can be done to protect your organization and ensure it gains access to qualified individuals who can drive continued success in the face of global talent shortages? The answer is to be more creative with your employer brand, looking beyond the traditional confines of your industry to find people of any background with the skills to be successful and ensure they are excited about what your company can offer them.

But with demand for top talent far outweighing supply, the competition for a limited pool of talent has never been greater or more complex. And your main competitor for talent might not even be in your industry; it may be a completely unrelated organization that happens to need the same type of talent.

Perhaps nowhere is this predicament more apparent than in the growing demand for IT developers. With the growth of the Internet of Things leading to an explosion in connected devices, global technology companies like GE must now compete with manufacturers for people with programming skills. To counteract this, GE has revamped its employer brand image with Owen, a fictitious brand ambassador introduced through a series of lighthearted TV commercials. The goal? To help the company attract IT developers who are being courted by a growing number of employers outside the traditional IT realm.

Consider the example from the other side of the equation. A leading retailer may think its consumer brand will be enough to attract the IT talent it needs;however, this can be difficult if the company is located near big tech companies like Apple or Google. In this case, the consumer brand isn’t enough to set them apart in the eyes of the candidates they seek. Instead, they must find other ways to showcase what they can offer – whether flexible hours, virtual work arrangements, challenging projects, a strong social responsibility mission – to set the company apart.

Still, this isn’t just happening in the tech space; employers across more and more sectors are now competing for similar talent – especially for roles calling on STEM skills. It’s not uncommon for life sciences companies, financial services, engineering and chemical organizations to be sourcing from the same talent pools.

What does this mean for employers? The same old approach to talent acquisition will no longer work. To attract in-demand talent, and keep them interested throughout the recruiting process, companies must not only educate candidates about their organizations, but also about the opportunities their industries offer. Consider the following tips to stand out from the crowd and be seen as an employer of choice:

• Develop a universal employee value proposition (EVP): To attract the widest pool of talent, the employer brand should be relevant to candidates outside your sector. Develop an EVP that appeals to the skills and ambitions of your targeted talent, instead of their familiarity with the industry.
• Emphasize excitement of change: Just as important to attracting outside talent is appealing to their sense of adventure – highlight the prospect of furthering their career with something different to help attract the best candidates.
• Don’t forget the big picture: Talent acquisition success today means connecting with talent beyond individuals in your sector. Separate yourself from your direct and indirect competitors with messaging that resonates with a bigger talent pool.
• Consider new ways to engage: To further broaden your search, it is important to identify new channels that reach different candidates. Develop a recruitment marketing strategy to target new talent networks directly related to the skills and expertise you need.
• Seek input from converted talent: Asking current employees who came from other sectors what attracted them to your company and industry is key to understanding how to shape the EVP to continue winning over talent from any professional background.

In the end, talent scarcity shouldn’t paralyze your business. By looking beyond the immediate industry to develop an effective cross-sector EVP and recruitment strategy, and paying close attention to the candidate’s journey, you’ll be able to find a significant, untapped source of talent, giving your company new skills and fresh perspectives.