How to sell your organisation to interviewees

An interview is a two-way process; it’s an opportunity for both the organisation and the candidate to find out whether they are suitable for each other.

It looks like the job market is starting to recover, meaning that there will be more roles out there and jobseekers can start to be more selective.  And as we mentioned before, the very best candidates are always in high demand, and there are some roles that will always prove difficult to recruit for.

Particularly for smaller charities, who may not be able to compete on salary, or those in less attractive locations, it is important to sell the benefits of working for your organisation, both functional (location, salary, benefits) and intangible (passion for our work, workplace culture), so that candidates will choose to work for you.  In this month’s blog, we look at some of the most effective ways to sell your organisation during the interview process; giving you the best chance of attracting and appointing the best candidates.

Start with what your candidate wants

‘Know your customer’ is a basic rule of successful sales – in this case your customer is your candidate.  To make your organisation as attractive as possible to them, it’s important to know exactly what they’re looking for and how you can meet their expectations.

Although it’s important to keep competency-based interview questions standard to all interviewees, the section where you talk about your organisation should ideally be tailored to each individual.  Bear this in mind when you are reading through their CV or doing online research prior to an interview.  For example, if they have children (and voluntarily mention this) they are much more likely to be interested in family-friendly policies and benefits.

It’s also a good idea to find out if your candidate is interviewing elsewhere, and if so, where and when.  This gives you an idea of the timescale in which you’ll have to act to get them on board, but also gives you an idea of what they are looking for.

Of course, the easiest way to find out what is important to a candidate is simply to ask them in the interview.  You can then immediately tell them how strong your organisation is in these areas.

Do your research

You can find out a lot about how attractive your organisation is as an employer by simply asking your candidates and existing employees a few questions.  For example, speak to employees who have recently joined and ask them how they found the interview process and what particularly attracted them to the organisation or role.

After a round of recruitment, it’s best practice to follow up with candidates (particularly those who went to other organisations instead of yours) about the interview process and their decisions.  This can help you find out what’s missing from your offering and either correct it or stress other areas in which you are strong.

There’s also a lot of information out there to help you benchmark your organisation.  Use salary surveys and monitor charity job  advertising to find out if the salaries and benefits you offer are competitive and to discover which areas you’ll need to compensate for.  A good recruitment consultancy like TPP will include this in their recruitment service.

Sell the mission

People who work for charities almost always do so because they are passionate about their cause and want to make a difference.  Your organisation’s mission is one of the most valuable recruitment sales tools you have and it’s important to be able to effectively communicate the values and vision of the organisation.

In the same way as you’d attract potential donors, you can use stories to illustrate exactly how important the services you offer are and the impact that they have on the community.  Make sure you cover both what your organisation is and does, and what you hope to achieve in the future.

Wherever possible, relate what you do to the interviewee’s background and previous experience.  One of the easiest ways to do this is to ask interviewees why they want to work for you and use their reply to tell them why they should work for you.

Talk about the future

When you’re talking about your organisation, and the role in general, it’s important to cover any plans for the future, as these could have a dramatic effect on both the organisation and job.  Is the organisation planning to expand or take on new responsibilities?  Do you have an ambitious strategy or a 5-year plan?  How will this affect their department or team?

Exciting plans for the future are generally attractive to potential employees as they suggest that the organisation is ambitious and forward-thinking and that their role could develop as the organisation does.

Benefits

Benefits are one of the key ways for charities to distinguish themselves as employers without increasing salaries and jobseekers in the third sector generally expect better benefits.  Some things to consider mentioning include:

• Paid benefits like medical or dental cover or travel insurance
• Salary sacrifice schemes for computers or mobile purchases, travel loans, childcare vouchers or cycle to work schemes
• Do you offer more than 20 days annual leave?  Are there extended breaks around holidays?
• Extra payments to cover relocation or travel
• Parental leave cover
• Pension contributions
• ·         Flexible or home working options
   

TPP has done a great deal of research into charity employees’ motivations for moving roles and we have found that two areas score consistently highly: pension contributions and flexible working.  Make sure you are familiar with your organisation’s policy on flexible working and pension plan, as these are the areas that are most likely to affect a candidate’s decision to join you.

While some organisations have a fixed benefits package, others are willing to negotiate with key employees to get them on board.  Make sure you know if this is an option prior to interview, as offering them better benefits can head off rejections based on salary from the outset.

Employer Brand

While all good interviewees should have done their research into your organisation’s performance as a charity, they may not be aware of your track record as an employer.  Look for opportunities during the interview to talk about your organisation’s reputation as an employer and show them why you have this reputation.

If you have a particularly low turnover of staff, this is a good sign that they are happy working there.  You can also mention employee satisfaction surveys, if you conduct them, or any employer certifications or awards you have received.  You need to discover the things that make your organisation a good place to work and distinguishes you from other potential employers.

Office culture

We’ve talked before about the importance of recruiting to fit your organisation’s culture.  The day-to-day working atmosphere can have a big impact on how happy your employees are and it’s important to cover this in interviews so candidates know whether it will suit them.

Obviously, different candidates want different types of environment, so consider how your organisation could appeal to people at different stages of life.  Are you a ‘fun’ employer with lots of social activities, do you offer stability and family-friendly benefits, or are you a diverse organisation with a wide range of characters?

Don’t duck any issues

No organisation can be perfect for every employee and there are always going to be areas in which you score lower than others.  However, there might be some obvious things that could put candidates off.  In this case, they are best addressed in the interview, when you can put a positive spin on the problem, rather than it being swept under the carpet.

For example, if you are a smaller charity in an out-of-town location which might put some candidates off, you could stress the benefits of a rural location such as less noise and pollution, an easier commute with plenty of parking, support for the local community etc.

In this period, job stability is one of the most important motivators for jobseekers, so if your organisation has just had a reorganisation or round of redundancies, make sure you talk about the reasons why this occurred and the benefits it has brought to the organisation, as well as stressing that this period is now over.

Or get someone else to do it for you…

A significant advantage of using recruitment consultancies like TPP to fill your vacancies is that jobseekers will often trust third party endorsements more than those from the horse’s mouth.  We are experts in recruiting for the third sector, and we know exactly what best motivates our candidates.  We take the time, wherever possible, to get to know your organisation and its culture, so all the candidates we send to interview will already have a positive (but honest) impression of your organisation.

The perils of purple squirrels

On average, employers take 5 weeks and 6 days to recruit a new employee, and even longer for senior or specialist roles.  This is nearly twice as long as the average time taken to recruit in 2008.

High unemployment has led to a candidate-heavy job market.  With so many jobseekers out there eager for work, why are organisations taking such a long time to fill their vacancies?  

Even seeing lots of excellent candidates doesn't help employers to make a decision, as it encourages them to believe there’s someone even better out there.

So why are there delays?

Recruiting can be an expensive business, and the costs of hiring the wrong person are extremely high.  Although the economy appears to be picking up, not for profit organisations still fear that there may be further turmoil ahead and remain cautious about hiring.

With the glut of candidates to choose from, employers feel they can wait to find their perfect candidate; one who has all of the ‘desired’ points on the job description, as well as those ‘required’.  Even interviewing lots of excellent candidates can encourage employers to wait, as they believe there must be someone even better out there.

Red tape and overly complicated processes can also delay an organisation’s hiring process and the saving on overheads made by not recruiting can feel like an incentive to keep a vacancy unfilled.

But keeping a job open for months on end or spending extra effort recruiting doesn't actually address the core reasons why it is so hard to find the perfect candidate.  One of those reasons is that perfect candidates are too rare to bank on – they are ‘purple squirrels’.

What is a purple squirrel?

A purple squirrel is a term recruiters and hiring managers use to define an ultra-rare candidate who is perfect for the role, down to the last detail.  A purple squirrel will have all the skills and experience required, fit perfectly into your organisation’s culture, live in the right area and, crucially, will work for the salary offered.

These candidates do come along occasionally, but too rarely to build a recruitment strategy on.  Purple squirrels are not a product of successful recruiting, but more often simply due to luck.

The impact of delays on recruitment

Maintaining the momentum of your recruitment process is important to keep candidates motivated about the role, and delaying could be a crucial factor if they are deciding between two jobs.  Even though the market is candidate-heavy, the best candidates are still in high demand, and they won’t hang around while you wait to see if someone even better turns up.  They will go to more decisive organisations, and their negative recruitment experience could reflect badly on your employer brand.

A recruitment campaign only lasts so long.  If your possible candidates have found jobs elsewhere, you may have to start the process again from scratch - using up your valuable time and wasting money.  As the economy starts to recover and hiring increases, the demand for good candidates is just going to increase even more.

Positions left unfilled for a long time also become less attractive to potential candidates, like houses that remain unsold – everyone thinks there must be something wrong with the role.  In fact, Britons believe that job vacancies that remain unfilled for more than 72 days are roles that nobody wants.  This means that the longer you wait, the less likely you are to find a really good employee to fill the role.

And the impact on your organisation

Obviously, organisations cannot function without employees.  Unless you reorganise to absorb duties elsewhere, you are eventually going to have to fill a vacancy.  While a job is not being done, productivity in that department drops, and the longer you leave it, the harder it is to build up momentum again.

Taking a long time to recruit also puts unfair amounts of pressure on your other employees, who will have to cover the essential duties of that role.  This may affect productivity and ultimately retention, as overworked and disgruntled employees are less likely to remain loyal and motivated.

Remember the perfect candidate may not be the best one

In the long term, it is more important to find a candidate who fits the culture of your organisation.  When recruiting, you should prioritise ‘hard to learn’ requirements like people skills over specific skills that can be learnt on the job.  Employees who are trained up to do a role have more incentive to succeed and tend to stay longer in a role.  Rather than waiting to find the perfect candidate, why not invest that time in training up a good one to become perfect in the role.

Another area to consider is the opportunities for flexible working.  Again, this can lead to a more loyal and motivated employee.  Being flexible in one area may also mean that you can negotiate with the salary offered.

The ‘perfect’ candidate that an organisation is looking for can often be one that is exactly like the hiring manager or the departed employee.  While they may be able to pick up the ropes quickly, a candidate like this will not bring in new ideas or fresh viewpoints to your organisation.  It is generally accepted that a more diverse workforce is a more effective and resilient workforce.

The view from TPP

At TPP, we’ve represented our share of purple squirrel candidates, and we know how very rare and in demand these employees are.  When we work with you to fill a vacancy, we use a combination of job advertising, social media, our own database of contacts and search and selection to find both active and passive candidates we might be suitable.  We then interview them, face-to-face wherever possible, before sending over their details, to go through their CV and to check how well their personality will mesh with your organisation’s culture.  We will only put a candidate forward for a role if we are confident that they can develop into your perfect employee.

If you're not sure...

If you are undecided about whether to hire a candidate you've interviewed right now, or to wait and see if there is a better candidate out there, why not consider offering the position as a temporary or contract assignment?  This allows you to save on overheads, gives you some coverage for the role until you hire permanently, and lets you try out candidates in a real working environment.  Based on their performance, you can then offer them the role on a permanent basis, or keep recruiting.  But bear in mind that your temporary employee may also continue to look elsewhere!

Ultimately, if you are adamant you need a candidate that fulfils every requirement, you are going to have to wait for them to appear and it is highly likely that you will have to increase your offered salary to secure them.  We believe that it is more cost-effective to concentrate on the best person you find for the job, rather than the best person out there.

Manage your employer brand with LinkedIn

With over 11 million users in the UK, LinkedIn is the country’s most popular employment site.  It is the most widely-used online tool for investigating career opportunities and has far more visits than any job board.  Any good candidate will do their research prior to applying for a role, and these days that includes looking up your organisation on LinkedIn.  Your company page should be set up to ensure these potential employees are attracted by your organisation, not turned off.

In this blog post, we look at how not for profit organisations can make the most of their LinkedIn company page to help make sure the best talent in the sector wants to work for them.  LinkedIn rolled out a new look for company pages to everyone last year, making it even easier to boost your employer brand.  And the great part is, with a small amount of effort, smaller organisations can look just as impressive as a larger employer, helping to level the playing field when it comes to candidate attraction.

If you haven’t set up a page yet

Although setting up a company page correctly may take a while, it is worth investing the time to have it done right from the start, as your organisation will appear professional and credible.

Before you create a new company page, check whether a page has already been started by one of your employees, ex-employees or supporters.  If so, you can ‘claim’ it and save confusion later on, as it’s very difficult to get a company page deleted once it has been set up and employees have linked to it.  Make sure you also check for alternative or misspelled versions of your organisation’s name.

Make sure you add a few employees as designated admins for your company page, so that there is always someone who can access it.  You’ll need to be connected directly to someone to add them as an admin.

Complete your profile

If you haven’t started filling in your organisation’s basic profile, click on the 'edit' button in the top right corner on your company page.

Filling out as much company information as you can will make your organisation appear professional and attractive.  If your company page is missing a postal or web address for your organisation, or doesn’t have a logo or any pictures, jobseekers are less likely to take you seriously as a potential employer.

Your company description should be a couple of paragraphs long and give a basic outline of what your organisation does, who it benefits and where you work.  You can use the specialties boxes underneath to list the different services your organisation provides.

Logos and images

• Cover image (646 x 200 pixels)

The new cover image option gives you an opportunity to add an eye-catching and attractive picture that visually summarises your organisation’s brand.  You could use it to show pictures of your employees, or to display changing messages supporting campaigns you are running.

Some good examples of cover images on non-profit organisation profiles include:
Sue Ryder
Breast Cancer Care
Mencap
Save the Children
Scope

• Standard logo (60 x 60 pixels)

This appears at the top of your company page.  The logo appears over a white rectangle, so logos with a white background will generally look better than those with a coloured background.

• Square logo (50 x 50 pixels)

This logo appears next to your status updates on the news feed of someone following your page.  It’s best to keep this consistent with the standard logo.

Products and services

Although LinkedIn calls these pages 'Products and Services', there is really no limit on what you can use them for.  As well as talking about the services you provide, you could include ways to show support, locations of charity shops, events you are running, or PR you have received.  It’s a good idea to include a ‘why work for us’ section, showcasing what makes you an attractive employer.

The top product or service in your list will also be featured on your company homepage, so make sure this is the one you want to emphasise.

Here are a few examples of charities using the products or services listings:
Mencap
Oxfam
Parkinsons-UK
British Red Cross
The Brain Tumour Charity

Status Updates

Posting regular status updates will make your company page much more engaging, as it gives a good idea of what your organisation does.  Status updates also appear in the news feeds of all the people following your organisation, so they can keep jobseekers and passive candidates in the loop.

You could post updates about your organisation’s campaigns, upcoming events, news, press releases or PR, blog posts or information relevant to your supporters.  And of course, you can post all your jobs as status updates.  LinkedIn charges for jobs posted on their job board, so this is a great way to get them on LinkedIn for free.

When you add a link to a status update, a picture may be automatically added.  If the picture isn’t relevant or looks rubbish, you can uncheck ‘include photo’ to get rid of it.  LinkedIn now allows you to share your own images or files, so you could post your organisation’s brochures or pictures from events.

Check your employee list

Under 'Careers' / 'View all employees', you’ll be able to see a list of everyone on LinkedIn who has listed your organisation as their current employer.  It’s worth having a look through here, as it may include ex-employees who have not yet updated their LinkedIn profile, as well as people who are not employees but claim to work for you, whether by accident or design.

Removing these people is a good idea as it prevents potential employees or supporters from contacting the wrong person.  The only way you can currently remove people from this listing is to use LinkedIn’s Remove Member Form.  You’ll need to include full name of the person and the URL for their LinkedIn profile, plus an explanation of why you’d like them removed.

Rolling it out

Once your LinkedIn company page is set up, it’s time to start collecting followers.  Whenever someone follows your page, they will see your status updates in their news feed, as well as notifications on jobs, joiners and movers within your organisation.  Make sure you include ‘Follow us on LinkedIn’ links or a button on your website, emails, newsletters etc.

Encouraging your staff to set up and use their own LinkedIn profiles can further extend your reach.  If you post a status update and your employees ‘like’ it, it will also appear in the news feeds of people connected to them.

Linkedin Board Member Connect

LinkedIn are currently trialling a new service that helps leaders of nonprofits find and connect to potential board members.  It includes free upgraded access to LinkedIn, webcasts and group membership.  Unfortunately, this service is only available to organisations based in the US at the moment, but hopefully LinkedIn will roll this service out to the UK soon.

TPP on LinkedIn

To keep up to date with what’s happening at TPP, follow our company page on LinkedIn, or connect directly with the consultants you deal with.

How to recruit staff outside of London

London has the highest density of charities in the UK and other not for profit organisations, and the headquarters for most national and international organisations are based there.  However, according to the UK Voluntary Sector Workforce Almanac, 81% of third sector employees live outside of the capital, with the highest rates of growth in employment in the North East, South West and Yorkshire & Humberside.

In recent years there has been a growing trend within the third sector towards the decentralisation of charity operations.  It makes sense to situate fundraising, communications and administration in the same location as service delivery, encouraging local people to support their own communities.

This has created a huge demand for skilled charity staff outside of London, which has prompted TPP to open a second office in the North of England. If you’re a charity based outside of the capital, or one with regional branches, how can you find local staff of the calibre you need?

The benefits of recruiting locally

Probably the main reason charities choose to recruit locally is to ensure that their employees come from the same background as their beneficiaries and can relate to them and the challenges they face.  Providing employment in the local area is also very important to regionally-based not for profits, and often helps support their charitable objectives.

Additional benefits include possible savings in travel or relocation expenses, overheads and even wages.  Plus, employees who live where they work can be more loyal, reducing your turnover and boosting productivity.

And the downside…

Obviously, the main downside to recruiting locally is that there is usually a much smaller pool of qualified candidates to choose from, making it a struggle not to settle for a less than ideal employee.  Some candidates may also actually prefer to work in London, and will treat your role as a stopgap until they can make the move.

Recruiting regionally, especially if you need to recruit for multiple locations, is also much more time consuming that recruiting in London, as the smaller pool of candidates mean you need to devote more resources towards finding them.  It can also work out more expensive, as you may need to advertise on both local job boards, as well as specialist sector boards.

So what methods can you use to find the candidates you need, while avoiding those who are not really committed to working locally?

Use local job boards / papers

Although it might be considered passé by some, local media is still the first point of call for the majority of the UK population when job hunting; according to the Newspaper Society, 72% of people would search using their local newspaper or website.  With over 1,100 local newspapers in the UK, this can be a great way to target jobseekers specifically looking for local jobs, and cut down on irrelevant applications.  Most print ads will also be run on the local newspaper’s website, so you won’t miss out on online jobseekers.

However, before you start running a classified ad campaign, make sure you check out the readership figures and application ratios for your local publications, as some publications are much more popular than others and represent better value for money.  If you are searching for candidates with a very specific skill set, local media may not be the right solution and a sector-specific national job board may work better.

Find local communities

Charity staff in regional areas often form groups to share ideas and information and to network with peers based in the same location.  Tapping into these networks can give you opportunities to advertise jobs and hunt for potential candidates.

Many third sector associations have special interest groups for regional charity staff, such as the Institute of Fundraising, Small Charities Coalition and CharityComms.  There are also membership groups specifically for charities based in a certain region, like Involve Yorkshire & Humber or the South East Charity Forum.

You can also search for regional groups of charity specialists on LinkedIn – these usually allow job advertising – or for online forums, such as those at Fundraising.co.uk.  Spend some time using a search engine to find organisations and forums in your target area.

Ask for referrals

When asked how they had found their current job by the Newspaper Society, the most common method was word of mouth.  Referrals have definite advantages as a method of recruitment, as existing employees are likely to know people in similar roles and locations to them and jobseekers are likely to place more value on a role recommended to them personally.

The easiest way of generating referrals is simply to keep your staff informed of any upcoming job vacancies, and ask them to distribute via word of mouth, email and social networks.  Offering a referral fee will help incentivise your employees.

Sell the benefits

When advertising a role in a regional area, make sure you emphasise the benefits of working in that particular location, especially if you are likely to be competing with jobs based in London.

One of the aspects of working that people in the UK dislike most is commuting, and just over a quarter (26%) would most like to work somewhere closer to where they live.  Capitalise on this by stressing the benefits of a significantly shorter (and cheaper) commute in your job description.  Working in regional areas can also give employees a more pleasant working environment and the benefits of living in a less urban environment.  Offering the possibility of a better work-life balance can be an extremely attractive draw, particularly for candidates with families.

Jobseekers often worry that taking a job outside of London will give them fewer opportunities for career progression, but this is a concern that can often be tackled in the job description.  Working in a smaller office can give them opportunities to take on more responsibility at an earlier stage, and having fewer processes and stakeholders involved in decisions means they can make an impact more quickly.  A smaller structure means that employees usually work more closely with senior management, and this can give them a better insight into the organisation’s processes which can stand them in good stead later on in their career.

Finally, if you are still having difficulties finding the perfect candidate, offering flexible working opportunities can make your role more competitive with those based in the capital.  The results of TPP’s Flexible Working Survey shows that flexible working options are highly valued by employees, but there is a real gap in what they want and what most third sector employers offer.  Capitalise on this by offering part time work, home working or flexible hours and your vacancy will be much more attractive.

Screen candidates thoroughly

Once your job advertisement has generated a suitable pool of applicants, you’ll need to screen them carefully, to make sure they are going to be committed employees.  The scarcity of job opportunities in the current economic climate means that some jobseekers will apply for regionally-based roles, even if they really want to work in London.  These employees are likely to be less loyal and leave as soon as a vacancy comes up in their preferred location.

Obviously, check where your potential employee currently lives and what their commute will be like.  Discuss any concerns with them at the first interview stage, to make sure they have a realistic idea of how long their journey will take.  As in any job interview, check that the candidate has good reasons for wanting to work in your organisation, and find out their plans for their future career.  Probe their reasons for leaving their previous employers, particularly if they show evidence of ‘job-hopping’.  Evidence of volunteering in the local community could be a good indication that the candidate is rooted in that region and likely to be committed to helping the local population.

If you find a particular candidate who seems ideal for the role, but you are in doubt about their commitment, consider offering the role to them on a temporary or contract basis.  This will give both of you time to assess how things work out.

Use a specialist

However many of these suggestions you follow, recruiting is always going to be harder outside the capital, and if your organisation has multiple locations with a regular turnover of staff it can be extremely difficult to build a pipeline of potential candidates for all of these areas.

Using a specialist recruiter can save you a great deal of time and hassle, and can ultimately save you money as advertising costs are included in the fee, which is only payable when a candidate is successfully placed.  TPP use a variety of methods to advertise our roles, including our own website and social media, specialist and national job boards, plus local advertising when required.  We also interview candidates prior to shortlisting, so you’ll only see CVs for people who can do the role.  All this is included in our fee.

Established in 1996, TPP Not for Profit has a wealth of experience in recruiting specialist charity employees.  Our second office has now made it easier for us to meet and interview both clients (to establish their requirements and assess their organisation’s culture and work environment) and candidates (all TPP candidates are interviewed in depth by us prior to shortlisting).  We already have a network of candidates actively looking for locally-based jobs, and can make the recruitment process much faster and smoother for you.

We cover all types of charity jobs, from fundraisers, social workers, healthcare professionals to communications and admin staff, in all locations across the UK.  We recruit on a permanent, contract or temporary basis for roles at all levels from Assistant to Director.

You can find out more about our regional recruitment services or our office locations on our website.  If you have a regional role coming up, please contact Ellen Drummond, our Regional Recruitment Manager on 0191 406 7121 or ellen.drummond@tpp.co.uk.