We’ll wrap up our series on Managing Your Talent Pipeline (1,2,3,4) today by covering the important concept of vision.  Here is an important universal truth that you can apply to your recruiting efforts: 
 
Every human being wants to be part of something that’s going somewhere. 

This is a basic human reality that can be tapped for the mutual benefit of both an organization and an individual. 

Sure, many companies have vision statements that hang on a wall somewhere.  But no one could tell you what they say, and it doesn’t answer the candidate’s question… “Are you really going anywhere?” 

One of the biggest mistakes that we see hiring managers make is trying to convince someone to leave their existing organization, with little emotion or excitement over the possibilities in the new position.  If I don’t feel inspired when I talk with you about your company, my emotions will tell me to stay in my existing job, no matter how many facts the hiring manager can produce to show me I’m misguided.

How do you stir up this emotion in a conversation?  Here are some ideas:

1.  Develop a concise statement (vision) of what your organization is trying to accomplish.  Boil this down into something that is easy to say and remember.  Practice it with people in close network.  Do they feel inspired when they hear it?  If not, rework it and try again.  For an example of this, look at what Gore Technologies (makers of Gore-Tex) has done. 

2.  Formulate two or three stories of people who are flourishing in your organization.  Stories inspire people and they tap the emotions much better than facts and figures.  You can start a conversation by saying something like, “Let me tell you a quick story about someone who joined our group about six months ago…” 

3.  Help the candidate envision themselves working in your environment.  Once you start to understand a person’s strengths, help the candidate make the connection of how those strengths could be both optimized and valued in your environment.  Candidates not only want to know they’re part of something going somewhere, but they also need to see that their talents are an important and necessary component to reaching the destination.

A well-established vision, coupled with some specific examples of people who are thriving under that vision will, in itself, help your candidates to feel excited about your organization.  Build on that with a clear statement of how your candidate’s strengths compliment your company’s vision, and you have a great chance of generating an positive emotional response from your candidate. 

Until the candidate says, “I want to go where you’re going!” in their mind, you have no chance of getting them to move thier feet.