Building and maintaining successful relationships is all about trust. Especially in today’s business world, cultivating trust when you begin a relationship with a candidate can result in someone who is eager to work for and will become a valuable employee of your company.
Trust is also an important part of talent engagement. Engaging candidates through every step of their journey is one of the top competitive advantages that businesses can invest in. When you combine trust and talent engagement, you’ve got an excellent formula for business success.
Why are trust and talent engagement so closely aligned now? The 2018 Edelman Trust Barometer Report found that 42% of respondents feel they aren’t sure which brands or companies they can trust. This makes it even more important that businesses demonstrate transparency and authenticity in order to gain a competitive edge.
This carries over into recruitment, as well. The internet has drastically changed how people search and apply for jobs. Candidates now have more access to companies, and in their job search process they’re asking themselves “Why would I want to work for this company? Why would I want to invest and commit my time to it?”
Companies need to clearly show there is a shared vision there, and that both businesses and candidates can benefit from a valuable relationship. Job seekers have a wide range of choices in employers these days, so to stand out and capture their attention, the trust component is crucial. The first step in cultivating that trust comes when you engage with talent. Building a brand where people feel connected to your business, your vision and your leadership helps you reap a variety of business benefits.
But creating trust through talent engagement isn’t a quick process. It’s one that requires forward-thinking and strategic planning. Here’s how you can combine trust and talent engagement to further fuel your recruitment efforts.
Note: Megan was the keynote speaker at our RallyFwd™ Virtual Conference on May 1. You can now watch her recorded presentation on demand to learn about the new language of talent engagement!
What Happens When There’s No Trust
First, let’s look at what happens when trust is not a part of your talent engagement – and overall recruitment – strategy.
- You don’t attract the right candidates: Without trust, your interactions with candidates and the entire recruitment journey become entirely transactional instead of relationship based. When this happens, you can’t actively recruit and hire the right candidates as they’ll likely look to apply with other companies where that trust is apparent.
- You don’t build loyalty with them: By leaving trust out of your efforts, you’re not able to build credibility or loyalty with candidates. Even if they do ultimately join your company, a relationship not based on trust leads to higher turnover and lower productivity among employees, which can damage your overall business.
Focus on Building Trust Through Content
How great would it be if businesses could build trust just by saying “We’re trustworthy! Believe us!” But trust is earned, and it takes time to cultivate it.
One the best ways to create trust at the beginning of a relationship with candidates — and to engage with them — is by developing content. The right content — of course, delivered on the right channels at the right time — is a surefire way to capture candidates’ attention and show them that your brand is a valuable and trustworthy resource.
To engage talent and establish trust, consider including the following elements in your content:
- Addresses candidate pain points
- Answers a question or need
- Introduces a new thought or question
- Provides a human and personable voice
Through consistent content, candidates’ receptivity to messaging from you about potential job opportunities will be exponentially higher. This approach to content allows you to demonstrate that you have more than your company’s interests at heart — you’re also focused on what matters to candidates, and that any relationship they build with you will continue down that same path.
Maintaining Trust is Just as Important as Building It
Once that trust is built, your work isn’t done. Maintaining trust is what turns interested and engaged candidates into eager and motivated employees for your business.
Your plan to maintain trust needs to focus on your internal culture. After all, what you build on the inside is reflected on the outside. The best way to do this is by ensuring your HR, Talent Acquisition and Recruitment teams have a cornerstone role in helping you continue to cultivate trust through an internal approach.
Employee advocacy programs and finding ways to get employees connected, engaged and active within your corporate community are great ways to foster a better internal culture. External and internal influencers, your executives, your partners and your customers are all valuable groups that can help you build out the experiences and perspectives that make your brand and culture rich.
Tapping into these resources — the people, teams and ecosystems — of advocacy and influence allows you to attract and continue to build and maintain a pipeline of candidates who will stay with you all the way through employment.
Note: Megan was the keynote speaker at our RallyFwd™ Virtual Conference on May 1, where she spoke about the new language of talent engagement. You can watch her recorded presentation on demand to learn more!