How To Attract Talent To Your Business
On May 17, I had the pleasure of attending the North Coast Fastener Association’s annual Distributor Social in Independence, Ohio. Prior to the social, our CEO, Kirk, was asked to present on how to attract talent to the Fastener Industry, and the points he made aligned with my reasoning to join Earnest.
To start, looks matter. We may not want to admit it, but the look of an office matters. Kirk likened it to a first date: you wouldn’t show up with un-brushed hair and sweatpants, would you? I also think of all those house flipping shows. Even though you will likely re-paint and have to buy your own furniture, everyone has an opinion on how a stage house looks, and if it’s staged wrong, you can’t see yourself living there, and you move on.
Work is no different. Earnest wasn’t always in downtown Rocky River, but the location was chosen on purpose. It’s close to a lot of restaurants and local businesses. The inside is bright and colorful, which you wouldn’t maybe expect from a Fastener business. Kirk even asked me in my interview if it was what I expected and I said no! I was expecting it to be in an industrial park, which it was initially, but when you want to attract the best talent to your business, you have to think about where they could see themselves working. Maybe some people prefer to work in the heart of a city, but I like that Earnest is the next suburb over from mine. The commute is 10 minutes and I don’t have to get on the highway.
Where we sit matters too. Kirk showed different office chairs and when you put them together like that, you clearly have a preference. Office layout is similar; if you had to pick you’d have a favorite, too. I had an interview at another company where they walked me through a beautiful office, but when they showed me where the marketing department sat, everyone was lumped in a cramped office in the corner of a warehouse. I understand there may not have been any more room in the main office, but in that moment, it felt like I would be part of a department that's considered an afterthought. It didn't feel right.
Basically, if you want to attract talent to your business, regardless of the industry, you have to make your business attractive. If it’s where we spend 8+ hours every day 5 days a week, we should be able to see ourselves there. For me, no, I didn’t know anything about fasteners and didn’t even know there was a whole industry for them. But I came in for several interviews and could see myself being happy in this office and felt like I could learn the industry. I like my commute and I like the updated feel of the office. It also doesn’t hurt that the leadership team is invested in making changes in order to attract others to the business as well.
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