At Baltimore Consulting, we are proud to have one of the best leadership teams in the recruitment industry that are truly experts in their sector.
Our Director of People, Louise Foster, has been described as “the best trainer in the industry” by many renowned recruitment professionals; she helps people achieve great things. In 2022, she was crowned “Most Inspiring Support Professional” at the Recruiter Investing in Talent awards.
Over the last circa 28 years, Louise has been able to pass on her skills and experience to a new generation of recruiters; her passion from watching others learn, develop, and succeed from her training expertise stems from her innate ability to nurture those around her. It’s one thing training people to do their job effectively, but you know you have employed someone truly special when they feel that sheer elation when watching others flourish.
What is most inspiring about Louise is her drive; she takes the bull by the horns in every facet of her life and wears her heart on her sleeve whilst doing so.
In this Q&A series, we sat down with Louise to discuss what steps businesses can take to retain talent in an evolving job market.
How can businesses adapt their recruitment strategies to address the growing skills gap and ensure they attract qualified candidates in an increasingly competitive job market?
“In terms of recruitment strategies, I believe that adaptability differs between sectors due to different talent pools, personas and resource availability, but something that is interchangeable is a company’s focus on their brand, holistically.
How a brand presents themselves on social media is crucial to any recruitment strategy. I think that employers can really benefit from researching where their potential hires are hanging out and really utilise these platforms to showcase their brands. For instance, at Baltimore Consulting, we utilise Instagram for social hiring when it comes to our employer brand and candidate attraction, showcasing everything we have to offer and ensuring that our brand message is heard. I think candidates aren’t just looking for a desirable job, but a holistic package including a brand that they have a positive perception of as well.
That said, we utilise social media for candidate and client engagement and attraction as well, but have adapted our strategy to include LinkedIn and X as we know that these platforms work better from a B2B perspective.
Brand perception, trust and credibility are all imperative; brand negativity, be it through word of mouth, or on a larger, more visible platform like Google reviews, can be so damaging for both new and existing employees.
I also think it’s important for companies to be open to change. Leadership teams are extremely time poor and whilst recruitment may not be their number one priority, the market is changing rapidly; inflexibility can cause such a huge impact, not only to the ability to recruit top talent, but for your staff retention as well.”
It goes without saying that a strong employer brand drives retention, helping businesses compete for talent through engaging with the right people, with social media only increasing it’s importance when it comes to brand awareness, perception, and a business’s ability to build trust and credibility. Find out more here.
