By far the simplest and most effective way to improve staff retention in your business is to start out right by recruiting an ideal candidate.Dr Cath Cosgrave.
What is an ideal candidate?
Dr Cosgrave’s research has identified that ‘ideal’ candidates for skilled professional positions in rural or regional communities will have:
- appropriate professional skills and experience.
- be interested in practising rurally/regionally; and
- have interests that match well with the assets of the local community and the geographical place.
To attract a strong pool of ‘ideal’ candidates you need to:
1. Ensure your business has an employer branding strategy
2. Create a tailored attract/recruit campaign for each vacant position
The Community Connector Program (CCP) can assist people considering relocating who need the extra reassurance and support at the decision-making end. Contact us to provide you with CCP careers and lifestyle brochures, templates and video links to help you promote working and living in the Greater Shepparton and the CCP service in your job advertisements and to use at any events you run.
Invest in impactful marketing materials
To get appropriately skilled people interested in working for you, it is important that your social media, website and promotional materials offer a great user experience.
Your branding needs to be consistent and visually beautiful, your pages well laid out and easy to navigate and your website and pages full of recent, relevant and appealing content and images.
Recruitment videos are increasingly being used on social media and business websites to show potential candidates what it is like to work for a business such as virtual tours
To drive traffic to your website it will also needs to be search engine optimised. Developing engaging marketing materials is increasingly specialist work— and needing the skills of graphic designers, website designers, digital marketers and SEO services.
Contact the Community Connector Program for a comprehensive list of local businesses that provide these types of services.
The Attract Checklist
Do you have the systems and policies in place to attract ideal candidates?
Sharon Hensgen-Smith
Area Executive Director, Goulburn, Department of Education and Training
“From a Department of Education and Training perspective, we have been pleased to partner with the Community Connector Program at a recent trade show and to take advantage of their services as we seek to build our teaching workforce.”
Sharon Hensgen-Smith
Area Executive Director, Goulburn, Department of Education and Training
Attracting professionals to live and work in Greater Shepparton benefits us all. The city is experiencing rapid growth, development and significant investment and requires a surge in skilled employees for the foreseeable future. This demand is coming from across public and private sectors, in particular health, education, agribusiness and transport.
While government, business and industry have the jobs, there is more to moving to a regional city than employment opportunities. The Community Connector Program provides potential professionals with friendly and practical assistance to ensure they and their families successfully link with the social, school, lifestyle and recreation options Greater Shepparton has to offer.
From a Department of Education and Training perspective, we have been pleased to partner with the Community Connector Program at a recent trade show and to take advantage of their services as we seek to build our teaching workforce. Every professional family attracted to our community has the potential to bring more – building Greater Shepparton’s reputation as a “go-to” regional city of lifestyle and opportunity.
