The Most Valuable Thing You Can Offer An Employee.

There are a lot of employers with more money to give, more vacation, a few extra holidays and a perk or two your company might not have thought of.

In an ever changing workplace, business culture and war for quality talent there’s a need for deep inspection on a few critical questions. Why would a candidate want to work for you? What makes you the right employer at this moment? Why is this the right time for this candidate to be a part of your team?

To be clear, we’re not talking about your company, we’re talking about YOU. Why YOU?

I’ll say it again, there’s always an employer with more to give. You think you have the best salary? Fantastic. There’s an employer with a better and more flexible time off for quality of life. There is always an employer with more “something” to give. But, there is something that no other company has.

YOU.

That’s right, YOU. This is your time to shine. Because when you show up as the best version of yourself, that’s a lot to offer both prospective and current employees.

Let’s dive into a few different scenarios.

Scenario One: You have a prospective employee you’re considering for the position. Heck, let’s go crazy here. You have five candidates of various skill sets and interests for you to consider. How do you approach them? It usually depends on what your goal is. Is your goal to hire a quality individual to fill a role at your company? Fine. Keep doing what you’re doing.

Before we move on let’s discuss the second scenario, because the way you handle both is the same. It all boils down to awareness.

Scenario Two: You have five direct reports, you’re pretty happy with the team you’ve built. Everyone seems to work well together and projects are moving forward fluidly and quickly. Things are really clicking!

Now, for the reality check.

As a third reminder, because I REALLY want to drive this point home, there’s always an employer lurking around, looking for quality talent they can give more money to. That talent could be your candidate or current employee.

There’s no magic wand that will keep someone at your company or cause potential candidates to beat your door down looking to get in.

However, you can create the magic that will cause people to stick around. That’s YOU. Now, hear me out.

There are the current and future needs that should be considered.

Let’s go back to the scenarios presented, both should have the same approach for you. Instead of looking at the individual as an employee, start looking at them as an ally. Someone you’re looking at aligning with throughout their career and yours. When interviewing and asking the above questions of, Why us? Why now? Why this?, it will help you start to look beyond the role and focus more on the individual.

Yes, you want to fill a role you have open, that’s the genesis of the interview process. But, not everyone is a fit for your company or you for their needs. The same is true for a current employee, the need you serve today may not be the need they have tomorrow.

But YOU, you have the chance to impact them now and in the future. You can transcend the moment you have at your company and see into the future. What does that future look like?

There’s a question often asked, if you could go back to your seventeen year old self what would you say to them? There’s a better question. If the future you could come back to today and tell you something now, what would they tell you?

They might come back and say something like this:

Life is about the people we meet and the people we impact, it’s also about the people that impact our lives. You’re going to interview and manage a lot of people. Instead of seeing them as employees see them for where they are, what their needs are and how you can impact them beyond the moment. How can you mentor, coach and befriend a candidate you might normally only see once? How can you do that with those that are currently working for you? How can you give them something that no other employer and company can give them? People stick around longer because of YOU. Because of the impact and impression YOU make upon their lives. You have built an army of friends first, and colleagues second. It’s what you’ve done to foster the individual's success beyond that moment in time that has led you to all your success.

What you wanted to accomplish for yourself, you did so by helping others accomplish what they needed to for themselves.

There you have it! YOU are the difference you and your employer needs when hiring. Start to think beyond the moment, beyond the role and even beyond your current employer and company and look at impacting the individual before you.

At 3P&T Security Recruiting we take a step to bridge that gap by using tools that help you analyze an individual's characteristics before you hire them. We help you understand whether a candidate is a match for your culture. Once that’s determined, it’s up to YOU to shine.