After reading How to Make Cold Brew Coffee on the The First Pull, I got to thinking not only about my budding addiction to the delicious nectar (we have cold brew on tap at our coworking space, Holy City Collective), but also how one of my favorite things to do at Catch to inspire others to build a bold crew in their office! Bold crews, cold brews…

OK, maybe that’s the caffeine talking, but stay with me…

People are at the heart of every business, and the most important asset in the organization. Once you have that killer team, that killer crew, they not only love working with each other, they begin to attract others just like them.

You need a bold, confident, proud team willing to go tell the world about what it’s like to work at your company. After all, once you have a great brew right in your own home, that’s your standard. That’s what you seek out. That’s the ONLY thing that will do.

Attracting talent in today’s world isn’t simply sourcing and recruiting, it’s marketing. And just like in the consumer world, the best marketing centers around stories – in this case, employee stories. If you build a team that truly understands how it feels to work at your company, you your pot will always run over with amazing talent.

Here are five ways you can improve your employer brand, attract great talent, and build a bold crew to attract the next batch!

Know Your Company’s Core Values

Understanding what each employee believes in is hard, and distilling that down into a few core values is even harder – but absolutely worth it. Core values become a guide for behavior, culture, style, and yes, candidates. Each candidate needs to be vetted against the core values of the existing team, so be sure to to know what you believe in first, and you’ll be able to find others that feel the same way.

Discover Your Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

At the root of every great employer brand you’ll find the EVP, or Employer Value Proposition. The EVP is a collection of formal and informal, tangible and intangible, benefits offered by an employer in exchange for employment. Once you understand the types of people these benefits appeal to, you’ll be able to attract candidates that will get the most value out of working at your company – and you’ll get the most out of them.

Conduct Team Interviews

When it comes to hiring the right people, it truly takes a village – and that’s a good thing! You want to protect your tribe and from anyone and anything that can negatively affect its success. Hiring managers may ultimately make the decision on who to hire, but the team, if not the whole company, should help them get there. Team interviews are a great way get a broad perspective, and ensure the right people are getting in the door.

Focus on Onboarding Success

Sometimes you get a second chance to make a first impression, and for you and your candidates that comes during onboarding. The onboarding process is more than the first day agenda, paperwork, and a PPT about company culture – it starts with the communication leading up to the first day, the walk into the lobby that first morning, and how each person treats the new hire on that first day. Assign them a buddy and take them out to lunch, have them get to know other newbies, and be sure to follow up later in the week, month, and year about the recruiting and hiring process… this will give them the confidence to know they are part of the family, and ready to spread the word to others.

Turn Your Team Into Talent Evangelists

Hire bold people, and let them tell the world about working at your company. 66% of candidates feel the best way to gain insights into working at a company is by hearing from employees, so use their faces on your website, words in your job descriptions, and stories on your social media channels. Candidates don’t buy things off of Amazon without reading the reviews, and they won’t apply for a job without doing the same – so make sure your evangelists can be seen and heard!

Talent attraction is an art AND a science… just like a perfect cold brew. When you infuse employer brand, marketing savvy, and progressive recruiting tactics into every part of the talent attraction lifecycle, you will build that bold crew you need to power your way to business success.

How do YOU build a bold crew?

This post was originally published on The First Pull blog >>>