Innovate to find the 'purple squirrels'

As a global relocation management company (RMC), we work as an extension of our clients' HR and talent management groups to support and manage their global mobility programs. We inevitably have the opportunity to work with the recruiters who emphatically tell us that finding quality talent is really, really difficult even though the ratio of unemployed people to recruiters is 202 to 1!  

The article I have linked ("When It Comes to Talent, Innovate, Don't Inundate") primarily explains to recruiters that they really need to rethink their approach...get a little more creative...innovate. So many recruiters bombard the candidate with emails, inMails via LinkedIn and texts that candidates get numbed, bored or completely turned off.

Besides approaching the candidate a bit differently, another mind shift for the recruiter is to focus on the quality of messages, rather than the quantity. Candidates need to understand the value of the position, and while salary is important to most, there are still so many other areas of value that recruiters can point out to candidates. One of those areas is possibly relocation benefits and how they are delivered.

To support recruiters, we frequently develop and deliver training programs to educate them on the various relocation programs and benefits that are offered to new hires at different levels so that they can clearly communicate, articulate and translate the value of those benefits to the candidates.  

While there are many candidates out there, finding that elusive "purple squirrel"—what recruiters consider the flawless job candidate—remains difficult to find and very hard to hire. Everyone wants "the one." Understanding and being able to convincingly explain the value of the relocation package just might make the difference for that "purple squirrel!"