Why purpose is good for recruitment

We know that purpose can motivate employees, but what about using it to inspire those who don’t yet work for your business? Not only can purpose be used for retention, but it’s also a powerful tool for recruitment. As we’ve talked about, a strong purpose makes people feel connected to your business operation and make them want to buy into your company. When hiring — especially when hiring millennials, now a large portion of our country’s skilled workers — it’s important to leverage that sentiment.

First, though, let’s take a step back and answer a question you may have been thinking about: Why the focus on millennials? We’ve discussed the millennial generation quite a bit recently on our blog, but the answer is simple: they are the future of today’s companies. They’re the ones leading cutting-edge companies, and they’re also the ones who smart businesses are trying to hire. From Kickstarter and Charity Water to Airbnb’s community service weekends, millennial-led businesses are taking innovative approaches to solving consumer needs in a sustainable, socially-conscious way. The rest of the world needs to keep up and integrate both technology and purpose into their operations. The best way to do that is to start hiring members of the millennial generation.

Keeping your business attractive to purpose-minded jobseekers

In order to stay competitive with millennial-run businesses and prove that your company is forward-thinking and innovative, keep purpose front and center in your hiring efforts. Take your cues from Twitter’s career page. This millennial-led business entices potential employees by framing the jobs that their employees do — regardless of function — through their purpose: helping “millions of people connect, express and discover the world on the Twitter platform.”

It’s easy to see how this company is using their purpose to engage potential employees. Working at Twitter is described as working on important problems in a fast-paced environment. They express multiple times how employees work together, whether through team projects or toward the larger purpose of building the company “across the world.”

What lessons can you learn from this example of purpose-driven recruitment?

• Emphasize connectivity. Show that by joining your business, employees become a part of something much bigger than themselves — your purpose. They should feel they play an integral part in ensuring its success.
• Create urgency. By joining your team, workers should feel that they’re doing something important. Whether that’s connecting people around the world or providing expert customer service, employees need to feel that they are needed.
• Demonstrate a commitment to innovation and growth. Millennials won’t be content sitting around and pushing paper all day — they want to see that your company is going somewhere new, and that they can grow in their career along with the business. By showing that your business is committed to always evolving, you will keep them interested and excited to enter the future with you.

Let us know: how are you using your business purpose to drive recruitment?