As a business leader, you need great people to carry out the processes that run your business. But attracting, finding, and retaining the best talent can be difficult for SMBs — unless you approach your talent acquisition like a recruiter.

Meet Adam Posner, founder and president of NHP Talent Group and host of “The Pozcast” podcast. Adam specializes in recruiting senior-level startup talent, and he recently joined us on the “Organize Chaos” podcast to share his unique background and deep expertise.

In this episode, Adam breaks down what he sees in the talent marketplace while sharing three simple tips for SMBs that want to strengthen their recruiting and talent acquisition programs:

1. Understand your candidates’ motivation to come work for you.

Adam got into recruiting after being let go from his dream job at VaynerMedia. But it was a big win in his book because it led him to a new and better career in recruiting. And once he got enough experience under his belt, he learned the science and art behind talent acquisition. 

“There’s a finesse that comes with recruiting, and the first thing a recruiter must understand is the candidate’s motivation,” Adam explained. For SMBs, you need to know what makes candidates unhappy at their current job and why they should come work for you.

For example, candidates might feel undervalued or looking for a career change. Or they could be seeking a new challenge or more money. Regardless of the reason, your company can leverage that motivation to entice strong talent to work with you.

Adam says one of the core motivators right now is a clear career path, which gives employees a laid-out plan for moving up. “A career path is not always defined in an organization,” he shared. “Or there may be someone ahead of [the candidate at their current job] who’s not leaving.”

Either way, your SMB can attract top talent — that’s looking for a long-term opportunity — just by taking the time to outline and cement a solid career path.

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“Once you have [a candidate’s] motivator, that's your leverage as a recruiter.” – Adam Posner, founder and president at NHP Talent Group 

2. Give employees trust, options, and choices.

Adam has a different name for The Great Resignation, and he’s calling it “The Great Recalibration” because so many companies are hiring incorrectly for their roles. And eventually, he says, they’ll have to “recalibrate” their talent when things don’t work out. 

“Companies are so desperate [for talent] that they're hiring people at a higher title than they’re experienced for,” he explained. But money isn’t the only way to entice candidates your way. “[Because what a] company really needs to provide is trust, options, and choice.”

1. Trust the employee you hired to get their work done from anywhere. 
2. Offer the option to come into a physical office or work remotely.
3. Give them a choice to do whatever works for them.

Obviously, this might not work for every industry (i.e., factory employees must be in the factory). But there are other ways to implement these three factors into any workplace. 

“If you don't listen to [employees] and give them a choice, you're going to lose them.”

3. Empower employees to be talent acquisition advocates. 

According to Adam, you can also instill trust in candidates by empowering your current employees to be talent acquisition advocates. “Give your employees free range to say whatever the heck they want on LinkedIn about your company,” he told us. 

Adam says that the best type of reviews come from transparency, or when candidates see that you trust your employees to share their experiences. He also suggests taking it further by showcasing employees as thought leaders on your company podcast. 

“An underutilized way [to reach talent] is a company podcast,” Adam told us. “And it can just be a weekly 15-minute quick snippet.” The point is to feature your junior-level employees and their take on recent trends and events. That way, they can share their clips online and attract more talent like them.

“[Having employees share their work experience online] is the easiest and best technique for talent acquisition.”

Hiring and retaining your best people doesn’t have to be a constant battle. Because with these three expert tips, you can attract the quality candidates you need for today and tomorrow.