5 Tips for Building an Authentic Employee Persona

by
July 17, 2017

by Stephanie Fay

Most business people understand the value of creating a buyer persona. Targeting the right group of people and communicating the value of your product or service in relevant ways is key to success. But, have you ever considered the value of creating an employee persona? Understanding exactly who you need to hire to take your company to the next level and who will thrive in your organization’s culture can be just as critical.

1. Most importantly – be authentic with your persona.

This is about taking the time to discover what the true culture of your company is, and what it isn’t. If you can be authentic about the culture of your company, you won’t attract the wrong people. And hiring the wrong people is a costly mistake – both in terms of money and brand reputation. Folks who don’t align well with your organization will likely have a bad experience working for you. This can lead to increased turnover and send disenchanted people out into the market with only negative things to say about their experience at your organization. By figuring out your strengths as well as admitting your weaknesses, companies can identify candidates who will best align with the culture they really have, rather than a shined-up marketing message about a unicorn company that doesn’t really exist. It’s important to have tough conversations about what things you are willing to change to attract that high-level talent – and what your organization is not willing to change. Put a stake in the ground – this is who we are, and this is what we stand for.

2. Hone in on mindset over skillset.

The currency of today’s workforce really lives in mindset over skillset. There are countless articles and TEDTalks about this topic, as well as statistics demonstrating the impact to the bottom line. Technology is changing at such a rapid pace that employees must constantly learn new things. Not to mention the generational impact of baby boomers retiring and millennials comprising more than 75% of the workforce by 2025. These facts make it more important to find people who will be excited about what you are doing, the challenges you face as a company, and want to continue to learn and grow on the job.

3. What changes can you make to align your target persona audience with your culture?

During the discovery of your authentic culture and mindset, you’ll uncover some opportunities to make changes or adjustments in order to better align your organization with the talent you are trying to target. For example, if you are targeting millennials, they often place a high value on career advancement and growth opportunities. Often perceived as having a sense of entitlement, millennials often just want to learn, grow and advance—not necessarily in a title, but in terms of learning new things and gaining experience. Thus, implementing a mentoring program or better defining the career paths available within your organization might be important attractors. Other changes might not be as simple or clear-cut, but they may help shift culture in ways that make a profound impact on employees.

4. Share information with recruiters, candidates, employees and on your website.

By helping everyone understand the exact characteristics of “right fit” talent for your organization, the better your chances will be to attract and retain those people. When you clearly communicate what type of person will thrive at your company, you give job seekers the power to opt-in or opt-out from pursuing a career with you. Current employee referrals can go up, as well as referrals from candidates who had a good experience interacting with your company but did not have the skill set to be hired. Unfortunately, some recruiters have the mindset that the more people they get in the hiring funnel, the better. Not only can recruiters and hiring managers save time wading through resumes by having a more qualified funnel, but you avoid the pitfalls of hiring “wrong fit” people who don’t stay long term because of false expectations, or become a toxic personality. Consider employee videos, social channels, blogs and other ways for job seekers to get a glimpse of what a day in the life at your company might be like.   

5. Improve your hiring by mapping the process back to the persona.

When you have a handle on who you are looking for, you can better design the hiring process to find top talent. From structuring interview questions, to designing hiring and recruiting events or screening application homework, each of these touch points can be—and should be—mapped back to the persona in a way that helps identify whether candidates truly possess the attributes you seek. Many companies use a standard set of skills-based hiring questions, which are often not designed to help identify personality attributes or competencies. Though it may seem daunting, testing and refinement is crucial and should not be overlooked.

In closing, finding the right people who fit and align with your culture impacts more than just your bottom line (though you will discover huge savings in recruiting and onboarding). It impacts your turnover, and ultimately employee engagement. It will avoid degradation of your staff by preventing the wrong people from getting in. The truth is having the wrong person in a role is worse than not having anyone at all.

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