Zach Lear, Business Development at JH, recently spoke at DISRUPT Fort Wayne.
Before joining JH in January of 2023, Zach co-owned a fitness studio with his wife. His presentation marries the fitness world with the world of hiring.
What I have found is that there is a strong correlation between fitness and business. Your success comes from focusing on the right areas, including those often overlooked "muscles". Working those hidden muscles that connect the body to its fullest potential. This applies directly to recruitment and retention. The ways of recruiting employees have changed. And if you're not marketing to those prospective new employees like you market your company's products and services, you may be missing out.
Have you ever done an expected workout that left you sore for days? For example, yard work, raking leaves or shoveling mulch or dirt. Do you notice when you get done with that unusual workout that you're all a sudden sore in areas of your body you didn't even know you had muscles? Think about those small side ab muscles or perhaps that odd muscle under your elbow.
Traditional workouts don't always correlate with the everyday muscles used in day-to-day activities.
I propose that the same concept applies to recruiting. We often focus on big, obvious strategies like billboards, radio, TV and the occasional social post. But just like those hidden muscles, there's a vital muscle in recruitment that gets overlooked ...
Sharing your culture through the lens of your employees who value it most.
It's no hidden secret we are a review-based economy today. If your friend recommends a product or service, that holds value. Likewise, if your friend shares how much they like their job, you want to know more.
But what is culture? Culture can mean different things to different people. Single mom values flexibility in the culture. A recent college graduate is seeking something else, like connection or mentorship in their workplace culture.
The problems with traditional recruitment methods today are three-fold:
- ROI is difficult to measure.
- According to the TA McCarthy Group, 84% of millennials do not trust traditional marketing.
- Job boards seem to attract the same candidates - we're all fishing in the same static pond.
The goal isn't just to target people actively seeking jobs. You should be marketing your culture to those who aren't even looking yet. That way, when the perfect candidate is ready for a change, your company is top of mind. At JH, we call this "fishing upstream". It's about positioning your business as THE EMPLOYER OF CHOICE before someone even starts their job search.
The hidden muscle in employee recruitment is through the individual hidden stories of your employees today. These stories provide authentic, real-world insights into your company's culture. Potential hires can see what it's like to be a part of your team - in a sense, receiving a helpful review. The bonus of sharing these stories is retention. By seeing their peer's videos on their favorite social feeds, they feel more engaged, proud and connected to the business. They often learn of hidden reasons their peers value their job and make it their own. These authentic videos not only make your company relatable but also keep you top of mind for future talent.
But where do you start? Here are three tips that you can take and implement:
- Engage in video: turn over every rock in your organization, and draw out and highlight these incredible stories.
- Develop a career-centric website: create a dedicated site that focuses on the hiring process, company culture and essential information for potential new hires. This is also a great place to house many of those videos you made in Step 1.
- Build internal advocacy: build advocates every day through thoughtful onboarding, employee gifts, and continuous feedback improvements.
In fitness, hidden muscles often go unnoticed until they start to ache or there's a reason to make a change. Perhaps you should add this unknown muscle to your weekly routine. In recruitment, the small, overlooked details - like employee stories told through a recruitment marketing focus - are what strengthen your applicants and your team's retention over the long run. By giving HR the tools and marketing budget to promote your company's culture, you're working out that hidden muscle - setting your business up for longer-term success.
Sound like something you want to do, but can't handle it on your own? That's why we made Culturecruit. Reach out to see if Culturecruit can help you with your hiring workout.
