Use the Avatar Concept When Hiring
Who is your ideal employee?
An avatar is a marketing term that refers to the description of a single person who represents your ideal customer. We use this concept with our clients to identify their perfect customer and then shape their marketing to hit their target.
But marketing is not the only place that an avatar is useful. It’s also useful in two different ways in your hiring process. Here’s how it can work …
- Your Marketing Avatar Guides Your Hiring Practices
Your marketing avatar helps to inform your marketing, of course, but it can also guide your hiring practices.
Here are a couple of examples:
- If your ideal customer uses a lot of technology then you’ll want to make sure you hire employees who are familiar with or certified in the same or similar technology. You might need to consider a millennial who has grown up surrounded by technology.
- If your ideal customer is a retired baby boomer then think about who might be an ideal person to hire to work with this person. You may decide that a slightly younger person, someone who could be their grandchild’s age, might be a great employee.
- If your ideal customer is young and venerable you may want to think about whether the person can be gentle and nurturing rather than big and imposing.
So your marketing avatar will inform the person you are hiring – you need to make sure they are the right fit for your avatar. At interview you could pose questions around specific needs of your clients and ask the candidates about their experiences and interactions with people who fit this avatar.
- Create A Hiring Avatar
Avatars are a great tool for hiring. You can create an avatar of what you consider your perfect employee to be. This might include their age, experience, qualifications, etc. (please make sure you follow the law in terms of describing who you’ll hire). Your hiring avatar will help you and your team identify potential employees, help you formulate adverts for the position and shortlist much faster.
Here are a couple of examples:
- If your hiring avatar was someone who has young children you might create an advert that shows a picture of kids and says, ‘work with us and you’ll never work during school holidays again’. This would also need to be clearly recorded in the Position Description and Offer.
- If your hiring avatar was into coastal living your advert could mention that the ‘office has ocean views’. Obviously your statements and offers to attract the right candidate must be accurate.
Naturally in the examples above, you would have more information in the adverts but it does demonstrate how you can identify something about your hiring avatar and then use it to help you hire the right person.
Having an avatar helps in marketing and in hiring – knowing your customer avatar and your hiring avatar will help you build a team that is best suited to serve your perfect customers.
To help you build your hiring avatar click here to download our free Avatar Template.
If you need help to recruit the best people for your business I would be happy to chat about your needs, your avatars and how Business By Design can find the perfect match. Connect with us today.
Happy hiring!
Nikki