Want more workers? Tell your company story
In a tight labor market, when your company is competing for a limited number of job applicants, you want to let potential employees know why your company is worth working for! Your “company story” is not just a history of how your company came to be or even what it does to make money. Your company story needs to be a statement paragraph that tells potential employees, including the public, everything of value your company offers its employees.
Your company story should communicate the difference between working for your company from your competitors. Consider it your new elevator pitch — a mini-story in paragraph form that can be used as a response to the often-asked question, “Why do you like working for your company?” Here are five steps to developing and communicating a compelling company story:
Step 1: Review your company’s benefits and perks in detail. List all the benefits currently being offered to employees that could be perceived as valuable. Include traditional compensation and benefits. Next, list other perks that convey your company’s culture — such as a casual dress code, volunteer opportunities, holiday bonuses, company retreats, no weekend work, or robust employee resource groups.
Step 2: Ask your employees why they like working for you. Collect data from employee surveys that evaluate your employee’s satisfaction and engagement. While compensation and benefits will always be mentioned, you may be surprised to learn what else is helping to retain your workers — or causing them to leave. Conversely, get ready to hear the negative by asking, “what don’t you like about working for the company?” Surveys must be confidential and anonymous to obtain honest answers from your employees.
Step 3: Communicate the story to your staff. Once you’ve collected your information and crafted your company’s story, every staff member must know about it — from top-level management to every part-time worker.
Step 4: Communicate your story to the public: Once the internal staff is fully informed, invite them to help share the message outside the company. Using testimonials from current employees is a powerful recruitment tool. Job seekers are more likely to listen to what current employees have to say. Use Facebook, social media, job boards and other communication platforms to distribute your story.
Step 5: Check your story — does it answer a job seeker’s question, “Why do I want to work for your company?” Your company story should be a clear and concise paragraph that can be posted on your company’s website under the “About” or “Work for Us” career page. Written well and accurately, it can be used to market your company, enhance its reputation, and solidify your company brand! Sharing your company story publicly — and frequently, is a powerful recruiting tool. You never know where your next employee might come from — customers, clients, and competitors can all be potential employees or referral sources in finding that next great hire.