Why an EVP is more important than a CEO
Companies that want to attract talent on a consistent basis must create an Employee Value Proposition that appeals to top talent. Doing so will noticeably improve the quality of hires across an organization.
Today it’s shortsighted for companies to rely on “titles” and “compensation” as the primary levers to attract talent. In this age of corporate free agency, real talent looks well beyond these factors. They’re looking for positions that address broader needs and interests.
Understanding the factors that are important to star talent allows savvy companies to create powerful Employee Value Propositions that consistently draw quality candidates. It may be surprising, but many components of a solid EVP don’t cost companies a dime. They revolve around issues of position scope, autonomy, control over resources, developmental opportunities, clarity of purpose, commitment to the role, etc.
What are star candidates looking for?
The first step to developing a powerful EVP is understanding what star candidates are looking for.
From my experience, most are looking for:
- A strong, clear, unambiguous, understanding of the role and its purpose.
- Responsibility and accountability with sufficient authority.
- Interesting and difficult challenges with the necessary autonomy and control over resources to meet those challenges and achieve targets.
- A dynamic, quality minded work environment.
- An environment where most of the time is spent battling the competition and not figuring out how to overcome internal barriers and road blocks. (Nothing frustrates talent more.)
- Talented superiors and peers from whom they can learn, grow, and develop.
- A superior and colleagues whose styles mesh well with their own.
- Organizations with a quality reputation.
- Organizations with a strong, clear understanding of the role they are seeking to fill, along with aggressive, yet realistic expectations.
- A title commensurate to scope and responsibility which shows progression.
- Financial rewards that match the “value” they provide the organization.
- Personal growth and advancement. Not just bigger titles, but mentoring and experience gathering that strengthens their competencies and improves their overall marketability.
The degree to which a company can provide and concisely communicate each of these components, will, in large part, determine the likelihood of landing a star candidate.
Build your EVP.
First, determine what you have to offer in terms of the areas mentioned above and ensure that you incorporate them in all relevant communications throughout the search. These issues resonate with top talent.
You must also realize when you don’t have a sufficient value proposition to land the quality candidate you envision. This will permit you to find ways to either enhance your Employee Value Proposition or decide you need to compromise in terms of the quality of your candidates.
Remember, it’s not that top talent can’t be recruited into less desirable positions; it’s just statistically less likely and more time consuming and costly.
Overcome weaknesses in your EVP.
You can overcome some weaknesses in your EVP by making changes. For instance, you can add additional responsibilities to the role. You can authorize additional resources to the position. If the superior for a particular role is not a sufficiently strong mentor or leader, you might consider restructuring the position to report elsewhere.
As a last resort, you can throw money at the problem, but this will require a compensation sufficient to offset any perceived shortcomings in the EVP. And that can be costly. It might also require an employer to mitigate unacceptable risks by offering an employment contract and/or other financial incentives and guarantees to entice a star.
To truly reap the benefits, an EVP should be in place at the start of a search. It’s not something that should wait until the end of the recruiting process.
Often companies without a compelling Employee Value Proposition find it necessary to rework the entire position, that may include adding responsibilities, providing a bigger compensation package, etc in order to land a strong candidate. Now imagine how many more star candidates they might have drawn into the process had the EVP been well established prior to the start of the search.
The “let’s worry about what we have to do to land a great candidate once we’ve found one” approach, relies on luck to attract talent. Every now and then this approach might land a star, but tragically, companies with such an approach would have drawn many more talented candidates, had they only put the work in up front.
If you are serious about recruiting talent, the factors cited above should be established at the very beginning of any search. Few talented executives are willing to go through the process without focusing on some of these important issues early on.
Legendary UCLA basketball coach John Wooden use to say, “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail.” When it comes to recruiting top talent nothing is truer.
