Despite the June open jobs report dropping just below 11 million, companies and their HR departments continue to struggle to retain as well as to attract talent. The “Great Resignation,” which began in 2020, has resulted in companies dramatically altering their value propositions and how they market themselves. They have begun creating new leadership positions, such as “Head of Team Anywhere,” while other companies are rebranding the employee experience through candidate “sell decks” that demonstrate the authenticity, transparency and creativity of the organization.

Recently, The New York Times published a very intriguing story about how companies are trying to adjust to the disruption and rise in prominence of the remote workforce. That story, titled ‘Head of Team Anywhere,’ and Other Job Titles for an Uncertain Time, can be read here. The article references companies (mostly in the tech or media space) that have created titles such as “Chief Heart Officer,” “Head of Dynamic Work,” or simply “Head of Remote.” It’s too soon to tell how these titles will attract talent, but it least they send a clear message that these companies are recognizing the shift in the workplace and have embraced it.

“How do we change the way work shows up in our lives?”

Another example shared in the same story is about Meghan Reibstein of Zillow, whose title is “Vice president of Flexible Work.” Her position is responsible for leading product management and flexible work initiatives. She believes that more companies should be embracing similar roles, addressing today’s employment and work life balance question of “How do we change the way work shows up in our lives?”—which is probably something that every company should be asking.

Rebranding the Employee Experience

“One suggested approach is to develop a recruitment pitch deck that can be used to excite and engage prospects about the company, their role in it, and to address the top questions prospects use to make their decision.”

Companies can greatly benefit by incorporating a candidate sell deck as a way to first engage with a prospect and to accelerate the hiring process. It’s also a great way for companies to rethink their mission statement based on today’s employment marketplace, demonstrating how the company’s employment guidelines have evolved over the past several years, providing insight into the company’s culture, financial health and roadmap for growth, its commitment to its employees’ work/life balance, and how it has embedded diversity, equity and inclusion into the fabric of the culture, as well as shedding light on the company’s stance on sustainability. Lastly, this document is a great way to engage current employees and reduce churn by having them take ownership of the creation of this document. The same article shares the following guidelines for building out your own candidate sell deck:

• Understand your why. Ask yourself, why are we here? Why are we excited to come to work every day? You should be able to communicate your why clearly and concisely.
• Make it look great. The content is important, but the design matters, too. It should reflect your branding and be exciting to look at. Use color, visuals and infographics whenever possible.
• Keep it short. This shouldn’t be a long document that your candidate has to work through. It should be a handful of slides, at most.
• Use videos, if available. It’s probably not worth producing original content just for this asset, but if you have a video of your founder or leadership team talking passionately about the business, consider including it.
• Talk to current employees. You can really get authentic answers by just reaching out to people who work at your company and asking them why they like working there. It doesn’t need to be fancy or complicated to be powerful. Keep it simple and authentic.

Demonstrate The Organization’s Authenticity, Transparency and Creativity

To address employee attrition and attraction challenges, companies will need to continuously explore new methods that demonstrate the authenticity, transparency and creativity of the organization, and that presents the company’s values in a way that is personalized to the prospective employee. As shared in this McKinsey article, “The sheer volume of churn in the labor market and at organizations means that a massive portion of the workforce is and will remain new. For companies, this means that the culture passed on through traditions and behavioral norms will mean much less unless organizations make the relevance of that culture clear to new joiners from the start.” Furthermore, “organizations can make jobs ‘sticky’ by investing in more meaning, more belonging, and stronger team and other relational ties. Building these organizational attributes will also make it harder for traditionalists to go elsewhere for a bit more pay.”

“Organizations can make jobs ‘sticky’ by investing in more meaning, more belonging, and stronger team and other relational ties. Building these organizational attributes will also make it harder for traditionalists to go elsewhere for a bit more pay.”

The article also points to the importance of looking for talent outside of the traditional workforce specific to the role. “They also need to look beyond them to the workers who want flexible, supportive work arrangements. These people are out there, in greater numbers than before, and they can be courted with the right strategies.”

Questions about building out your own “candidate sell deck,” or not sure where you should start? Email us here, and we’d be happy to help. As always, thank you for reading!

Photo by Alice Yamamura on Unsplash