Start Your Employment Messages with “Why”

We talk a lot about the many ways social media can benefit recruiting. In addition to finding talented people who are not active on the job boards, social media is great at personalizing your company and selling passive job seekers on why they should work with you. Videos, podcasts, blog posts, Facebook discussion forums, etc. can effectively deliver your employment brand messages but do they really convey why your company does what it does?

I came across this powerful video (below) on the Forrester blog from Simon Sinek. Simon is the author of the book “Start With Why” and this is an excerpt of a speech he delivered at a recent TED Conference. His message is that those with the greatest influence in the world all think, act and communicate in the exact same way… and it is exactly the opposite to everyone else.   Everyone knows what they do and many know how they do it.  But very few know why they do it – their purpose, cause, or belief.  Simon states that the inspired leaders and organizations are the ones that start with the why.

People don’t buy from you because you have what they want – they buy from you because they believe what you believe.  If you can clearly communicate what your company believes to a potential candidate, you’ll attract those who believe the same things you do.

Here is the video. At 18 minutes in length, you may not think you have the time for this.  I’d argue that this may be the most productive part of your day.