According to a recent survey, 78% of employees say it’s important to receive development training in the workplace, making this training a massive bonus for potential candidates. Serious candidates do their research before joining a new company, and a big part of this research is checking out company benefits, current employees, and leadership. Luckily there are some quick ways to make your company stand out among the rest! Top talent is often highly valued and sought after, and they are likelier to stay with a company that invests in their development and growth. Recruiting top talent requires a comprehensive and strategic approach considering the company’s goals, values, and culture.
4 Ways Development Training and Recruitment Support Each Other
Strategically highlighting your team’s development training in the workplace can help demonstrate your commitment to employee development, attract ambitious and driven candidates, enhance your reputation as an employer, and differentiate your company from the competition, making recruiting top talent easier. Here are the ways they can help:
- Demonstrates commitment to employee development: By highlighting your team’s development training, you show that your organization is committed to investing in the growth and development of its employees. This can be a strong selling point for top talent looking for a company that values their professional development.
- Attracts ambitious and driven candidates: Top talent is often ambitious and driven and is looking for a company that can help them grow their careers. By highlighting your team’s development training, you can attract these candidates looking for a company that can help them achieve their goals.
- Enhances your reputation as an employer: Highlighting your team’s development training can also help strengthen your reputation as an employer, making your company more attractive to top talent. This is because it shows that you are committed to the well-being and success of your employees.
- Differentiates your company from the competition: Finally, highlighting your team’s development training can help differentiate your company from the competition. This is because many organizations do not invest as much in employee development. By highlighting this aspect of your company, you can stand out from the competition and attract top talent.
4 Strategies for Recruiting Top Talent Through L&D Training
There are several ways to make your company stand out to top talent:
1. Update Your Company Page
Ensure your company career page and job postings list benefits in great detail. And don’t forget to include your training programs and development opportunities! Of course, healthcare and PTO tend to be obvious benefits. Still, many employees say it’s important to receive power skills training in the workplace, making this training a massive bonus for potential candidates. In addition, 87% of millennials rank ‘professional growth and development opportunities’ as a top priority when job hunting! Not sure how to talk about L&D training on your career page or in your job postings? Here are some examples!
Job Posting Example (would prefer these be nice images, I think, but not sure what is best)
“Why You’ll Love Working at [company name]:
- Great benefits: we offer competitive health, dental and vision benefits, flex-time off, a stipend toward shared office space or home offices, and live learning for career development.
- Exceptional people: make an impact on something that genuinely helps people alongside an incredible, hard-working team. We care about your success and offer continuous power skills training on your schedule.
- We care deeply about diversity and inclusion. Diversity allows us to build an even better and more inclusive learner experience. Therefore, every new hire participates in a DEIB program led by expert coaches.
Website example:
Website example:
2. Emphasize the Value of Development at Your Company
Offering opportunities for professional development, including training and conferences, can help attract top talent looking for a company that values their personal and professional growth. During the early interview stages, mention how important skill development is to your organization and the support provided to employees. Discuss power skills, including DEIB, conflict resolution, and wellness, to ensure the interviewee understands your organization’s training. Here are some quick talking points:
- We provide our managers with power skills training to help you build high-trust relationships, resolve conflict quickly, and lead powerful 1:1’s with your team through our career development partner Hone.
- At our company, DEIB is extremely important, and we walk the walk by including all new hires in our live, interactive DEIB training program led by expert coaches.
- We look for candidates who want to grow with our company and to help; we provide continuous learning opportunities where you can take classes led by expert coaches on your schedule. The courses range from developing leadership skills and practicing mindfulness to improving org-wide DEIB.
Ask candidates what type of training they are interested in for career development and let them know Hone Membership is a great way to learn new skills while building relationships among the team and networking.
- If the candidate says they want to learn to be a better manager: “We partner with Hone to provide management and leadership training that I think you’d like! From building trust within your team to motivating individual talents, they have a variety of interactive courses meant to improve management soft skills.”
- If the candidate isn’t sure about specific training: “Don’t worry; through our partnership with Hone, you can explore a variety of unique courses and see what piques your interest. In addition, the courses aren’t mandatory, so you can take as many as you’d like on your own time. For example, I enjoyed the Meetings Mastery class because we all know how painful a messy meeting can be!”
- If the candidate mentions presenting or public speaking: “Those are excellent skills to improve! We partner with a learning and development company called Hone, which offers live, interactive classes where you can practice those skills in real time. You can take the lessons whenever you’d like and as often as you need.”
3. Build a strong reputation
Building a solid reputation as a great workplace can help attract top talent. Encourage your employees to share their positive experiences, and leverage social media and other channels to showcase your company’s strengths. For example, encourage your team to share company posts on LinkedIn. When candidates look through LinkedIn to see who they will be working with, they must see team members who are excited to work for your company! In addition, sharing posts around team outings, virtual hangouts, and group training sessions can be very appealing. Curious how you can boost sharing?
- Offer a raffle each week or month! Every employee gets one entry per social media post they share and is entered to win a gift card.
- Remind team managers to ask employees to share on social when they feel compelled.
- Send out a survey to see why team members might not want to share company posts on social media and address that.
4. Get Your Leadership Team to Share their Culture Values
Ask leadership to reinforce what you’re selling through their social media accounts. Leadership can make or break a candidate’s interest, and having leaders openly support career development, share their training experience, and publicly support the company goals is inspiring!
- After members of your leadership team participate in a Hone program, ask them to share insights on social media. Especially if the program centers around DEIB or management training, top talent will be interested to see how seriously your leaders take these initiatives.
- If your company has public goals around learning and development or DEIB, ask leaders to discuss these topics on social media and share the company milestones. Showing your company success as you grow is a great way to show transparency and inspire potential candidates.
- Set a calendar reminder to have leadership team members post something on LinkedIn 1-2x per month. Activity, in general, could give candidates a sense of who they would be working for if they accepted the position.
Although many companies claim to offer career development, few show real progress publicly. Talented employees know the value of continuous learning, but it cannot be easy to access on their own time and with their own money. By demonstrating how your company takes L&D training seriously, you’ll stand out to these candidates. In addition, 75% of managers are dissatisfied with their companies’ learning and development offerings, and you could win these managers over by showing them what your company already offers!
Hone’s course catalog focuses on these skills, and the training employees need to develop their careers in a more profound, more meaningful way which should be highlighted while recruiting top talent.
In conclusion, recruiting top talent can significantly impact a business. Therefore, it is essential to understand how you can maximize the benefits of attracting top talent. By investing in the recruitment of top talent; businesses can improve their overall performance, increase employee retention, enhance company culture, and lay the foundation for long-term success.