Why should people want to work for you?

It’s an important question that every employer should ask himself. If nothing else, it’s a practice in humility. But it should also be a motivator, leading you to build a better working environment that will attract the right talent and keep them excited to contribute to your project for years to come.

But why should people want to work for you? What traits or qualities should your company foster to register as an attractive place to work? Getting this right is key to being competitive in the job market, attracting the best candidates to yourself and denying them to your competition. The stakes are high, so let’s take a look at some of the best ways to build a good foundation for your recruiters.

Offer opportunity

Different people respond to different things – differently. But one thing that everyone shares is a desire for an opportunity in the workplace, and it’s worth your while to build up a reputation accordingly. What does it mean to offer opportunity? Well, every company has its own unique ways of offering opportunities according to its managerial structure. One way to ensure you’re offering opportunity is to promote internally whenever you can. When you make a point of promoting internally, you send the message that you value your employees and let them know that even if advancement is sometimes slow and sometimes fast, they have something to gain personally by sticking around and putting in good work.

A persona of values

But talent in the 21st Century isn’t only interested in making a paycheck. That’s just the bare minimum that anyone will work for. You also want employees to be excited about being a part of your project and that means building up a brand identity with clear values. What should those values be? That depends largely on your product and who you are as a person. What values do you hold dear? What ideas do you want to put out into the world and work toward? Why did you create your business in the first place? Your values are likely shared by many others who would experience a sense of belonging and accomplishment by being a part of your business. Rather than fabricating a persona, think of it as an organic being that you want to understand and know more about.

Let the talent get creative

Some entrepreneurs have a hard time letting go of a certain image they have of what their company will look like and do. That image may be great and it may come to pass – but it probably won’t, and that’s ok. Generally speaking, businesses are much stronger and attract better talent when they encourage creativity among their employees and remain open-minded to new ideas from motivated workers.

The bottom line is that your employees come for the paycheck but they stay for the work experience – and everyone wants to create. Foster a work culture where ideas can come from the ground up. Letting employees exercise their creative muscles will not only make them better employees, in the long run, it’ll help attract better talent in the future that’s looking for an engaging, educational place to work.

Find the balance

Despite recent leaps and bounds in technology meant to make our lives and work easier and more efficient, too many people are too overworked. You can make your company stand out by making sure you maintain a work-life balance for your employees. A proper weekend spent completely detached from work can go a long way in letting workers know that they are valued as much as the work they produce.

The outcome isn’t only happier employees and attracting more candidates, but a more efficient workplace during proper work hours Countless studies have shown that proper breaks from work actually increase productivity, so why wouldn’t you enforce this? And from the perspective of an employee, why work for a good paycheck if you never get the chance to enjoy it?
Figuring out why people should want to work for you is all about asking yourself what kind of work environment candidates are looking for. This will vary from individual to individual and from industry to industry, but the most important principle to keep in mind is to give employees a stake in the future of your business. These good practices, and building a public persona around them, will help attract the best talent to your efforts.

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