A spiel job description, pointers to pointers indicating ambiguous job responsibilities is a common sight. But what thoughts do such job descriptions arouse in a candidate’s mind? It could be a grim picture of an office where you slog day in and day out or an inconsiderate or indolent company that doesn’t bother to share a clear job description. Why will anyone want to work with such a company?
A candidate will only go for a company that has clarity and vision. So in this era of information overload, a recruiter has to be clear and precise to wade through the clutter and reach out to the right candidate. But how is it possible?
Well, stop being boring and get creative – be a STORYTELLER. Understand The Neuroscience of Storytelling
You heard me right! Stories have the power to grab one’s attention instantly and help process important information rapidly. They can arouse one’s curiosity accelerating engagement and motivating people to take action.
“Storytelling can help you be memorable, cut through the noise and get people to focus their attention on what really matters.” - Amanda Marko
Stories in Recruitment
Stories exist everywhere around us. You just need to be receptive enough to feel and see them. As a recruiter, you can present candidates a perfect story about the company you want them to join. For instance, instead of describing the working environment of a company in words, highlight an incident where an employee received support and assistance from his team in a project, which was completely new to him.
In other words, bring in true stories with real people - real names and infuse dialogues in your stories. Further, include success stories of employees, the company’s achievements, its future plans, its mission, its leadership style and finally the demands of the job at hand. Your work is to create an image that tempts the candidate to work for the company.
Another way round, you can present stories to give the company an accurate and clear idea of the candidate.
You can even share your own failure stories to show your learning from them, which in fact, strengthens your position.
Story Essentials- Why Storytelling is a Powerful Tool for Recruiters
If you think recruiting is all about black and white resumes and unending phone calls, you are stuck in a rut. Since we are still working with human beings and not robots, as recruiters you need to add a human touch to your work. Connect with people. Listen to them and feel their pulse to unleash the storyteller in you. A great story should be at the core of your business, Are you narrating it at every opportunity/chance you get.?
Communicating a Sense of Purpose - Once you start sharing stories and interacting with the candidates, they will automatically open up letting you a window into their actual selves. So half your work is done! Further, focus on the right tone and right stories, keeping in mind the target audience. Skip insignificant information. Keep it crisp and simple.
Print, videos and animation are the key measures of the day to build everlasting stories. Get in clips of employees sharing their experience; take a tour of the office surroundings; get a sneak peek into any social cause the company might support and the like. Visual impacts compel people to think, react and even share them, thereby enabling the information to reach a much wider audience. Even anecdotes are an interesting way of sharing information.
A few of Tata Tea’s ads are powerful examples of such storytelling. They provide a reflection of the company’s ideologies and beliefs in a creative and remarkable way. See and Learn from.
There are various incredible stories of few reputed brands that have set examples to learn and follow .
Storytelling-3-amazing-examples-of-successful-campaigns
7 INCREDIBLE EXAMPLES OF BRAND STORYTELLING ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Support the storyteller with informative details to represent your brand.
A world where information is at your finger tips, where everything comes with an abundance of choices, decision making can be a difficult task. Here is where storytelling comes in handy. Even when deciding which companies are good to do business with stories can do wonders. In fact, in recruitment too stories have a great impact. They can influence candidates to choose one company over another.
A large number of companies have moved on to storytelling to create their brand image. Through storytelling you can easily convert your own employees into brand ambassadors.
For a recruitment consultant to act like the perfect storyteller, a company’s utmost support is a must.
You've got a story somewhere in your business. It's time you tell it to the world , share it with your service partners who represent your brand . Smart organizations are leveraging the power of storytelling in their employer branding. Storytelling is a great tool to turn employees into brand advocates. The company has to make an effort to relate stories associated with their brand, share examples of various inspiring events and provide evidence of positive incidents with the recruiters. Only then the recruiters can represent the company in the best possible light and grab the attention of the target audience.
Storytelling is an art that has to be honed over time. So let’s share, create, improvise and narrate amazing stories to motivate and inspire people around us. In business, stories often get lost in favour of the facts. “Instead of pushing facts at people we should be pulling at their heartstrings.” Amanda Marko
Sarla Sharma
Pioneer Management Consultant Pvt Ltd
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