Written by

Frank Aneke

Today’s hiring process is becoming more challenging for employers given prevalent limited information on candidates and imperfect screening methods. As the global competition for talent heats up, your business must do more to attract, engage, and retain the top talent it needs to succeed.

In this blog edition, we will examine three categories of talent in the payroll of companies across all business sectors. The talents are classified as follows:

Class-A: (Top-Tier Talent); These are the best-in-class employees who are diligent in the execution of their assigned responsibilities. They not only thrive in their role; they expand and reinvent the position to create opportunities for the business to grow and prosper in areas not imagined before. Class-A talents are not afraid to push boundaries, take calculated risks, and try new ideas in the execution of their role. Many call them game changers because they are considered the most talented and innovative in their team.

Recruitment prospects: Most Class-A players are passive candidates who rarely surf job boards once they settle in a new role. Having said that, many employers still believe placing job advertisements could land them a Class-A talent. Well, that is not impossible but hoping a Class-A talent would respond to your job advertisements is more like a professional football club (Soccer) advertising for a top striker to apply and join their team instead of discreetly scouting for a prolific striker in their rival clubs. It hardly works.

Class-B (Second-Tier Talent): Class-B talents are quality employees that do their job just fine. They are very good in the execution of their assigned responsibilities and dutifully work to expand their skill sets. Class-B players are more inclined to identify more efficient ways of working and adopt new ideas into their role as introduced by their leadership. These talents are engaged with their work and willing to learn more as long as they are not expected to invent the path forward. Class-B talent wants better, but don’t push and upset the apple cart to make things happen.

Recruitment prospects: Majority of Class-B talents are passive candidates who focus more on the job at hand instead surfing job boards every day for new roles.

Class-C (Third-Tier Talent): C-class players basically do the job assigned to them. They are hardly engaged and seldom change the game. C-Class talent, execute their assigned responsibilities well enough to be proud they are not bad at their job.  In some situation, C-Class employees were once B-Class players who became disengaged because of personal issues, poor workplace culture or toxic team leadership. On the other hand, some Class-C players are serial job applicants who know how to ace interviews and cover deficiencies. They are nomadic employees who hop from one job to another at any given opportunity.

Recruitment prospects: Most C-Class players have job alerts set-up in several job boards and are always on the lookout for new opportunities. They actively surf job boards and are usually among the first to submit application for new job advertisements.

On a conclusive note, despite the challenges companies encounter in their recruitment process, businesses with strong employer brand still attract more Class-A talent than their counterparts with poor reputation as an employer. In a nutshell, your company’s reputation as an employer determines the class of talent you can attract and retain in your workforce.

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In the next edition, we will explore Five Strategies to Boost Your Employer Brand: Watch this space!!