The Power of Storytelling in Recruiting Talent for Your Company with Michael Goldberg of Hiring Transformed

Telling a story is the quickest way to gain a person’s attention. The challenge in recruiting is telling a story that is compelling to the person you need to hire. And to top it off your story is just like everyone else and it is all about you!

What if we wrote each story differently than everyone else. Would we get better results? Damn right you will, and today my guest and I are out to prove it!

Today’s Quote: 

"Storytelling is the essential human activity. The harder the situation, the more essential it is." - Tim O'Brien

Our guest today: Michael Goldberg, Founder & CEO of Hiring Transformed

Recruiting Strategist, Talent Finder, and Hiring Manager Whisperer all describe Michael who advises and coaches Talent Acquisition Leaders through roadblocks. The biggest obstacle is the ability of both recruiters and Hiring Managers to tell stories that are authentic and engaging.  Michael also assists talent organizations with strategies to increase productivity, create strong recruiter/hiring manager partnerships, and lead change management initiatives.

Today we are going to cover 

• The importance of storytelling in recruiting
• How to tell a better story and the framework for recruiting success

Why is storytelling important?

• Give me people now, make sure they are qualified and let’s just get them in the door and we will be able to close them. 
• Don’t take the time to engage, just jump in and let’s go
• Don’t know how to kick off relationships.
• Jump right into it about the position
• Most people are not responded

People don’t respond to your messages... Why?

• Very overwhelming
• 4-5 times a day
• Information overload
• The same exact message
• Timing
• Area of interest
• Miss-targeting, misinformed

Rick’s Input

• Text, email, social feeds (paid media)

How do we do it?

• Start with a Story
• The story is told voice to voice!
• Humanize it
• Don’t run the story at 30,000 feet
• Capture their attention in a job posting or messaging
• Could be done as a video or as a blog
• Goal is to get to a phone call

Structure of the story

• Create the Hero- someone within the company
  • A successful employee
  • Should be a peer
  • Makes it more relatable
• Mission or goal and share the obstacles are/were (targeting)
  • Immediate and concrete to create rapport to create a connection
  • “Have you been in a situation like this before?”
• Resolution (get over the obstacles & hit goals… or it didn’t work out, what would you do differently
  • About showing, not just telling
  • “Imaging yourself just completing X. You have worked with Sally and Joe and were able to overcome these major obstacles. You were able to deliver X with your team....Like selling a car “Imagine yourself behind the wheel of…” 

Rick’s Nuggets

• The story should not be about you
  • Try to make the person you are trying to recruit the hero
• Design the story to a specific pain that the person may have
  • Make it relatable to that specific person
• Tool for crafting messaging
• Crystal Knows- messaging

Key Takeaways:

• Build trust through strategically crafted stories and will help recruiters differentiate themselves from others.
• Storytelling can take different forms depending on where the storyteller plans on sharing info. Videos, Blogs, & Social Media posts but videos prevail because it is the best way to create trust between the recruiter and the candidates.
• Storytelling should be told throughout the recruiting process.  Not only by recruiters but by hiring managers and would-be peers