This summer we did 2 very different family holidays.
First was 10 days in Lanzarote, staying at the Princess Yaiza for the second time. With young kids, it’s hard to beat. Pools, kids’ clubs, soft play, discos, entertainment every evening and pretty much guaranteed sunshine.
We had a brilliant time.
A couple of weeks later, we packed up the car and headed to Fethard-on-Sea in Wexford, where my family have been going for 37 years.
This time there were no kids’ clubs or nightly entertainment. Our house was right on the beach, my parents were across the road and we spent our days on the beach, at the playground or visiting places we know well around the Hook Peninsula.
The kids loved both holidays.
And it struck me that there’s a recruitment lesson in that.
Some People Want the Resort. Some People Want the Beach.
The same applies when people choose where they want to work.
What are you actually offering?
I regularly see companies focusing too much on what they can’t offer.
Another employer pays more. Someone has a bigger brand. Another offers better benefits or more flexibility.
But very few companies can offer everything, and very few candidates expect them to.
The important thing is understanding what’s genuinely attractive about your opportunity and being confident enough to sell it.
For one person, that might be the scale of a large multinational: the brand, international opportunities, structured progression and bigger teams.
For someone else, it might be a smaller business where they’ll have more autonomy, direct access to senior management and the chance to make a real impact.
And plenty of companies can offer a bit of both.
We work with businesses that have relatively small teams in Ireland but are part of major international groups. Someone joining can have real responsibility, regular access to senior leadership and the ability to influence decisions locally, while still getting the resources and international exposure that come with a global organisation.
That’s a great story to tell a candidate. But somebody has to actually tell it.
Don’t just sell the job
Companies spend a huge amount of time explaining what they want from a candidate.
5 years’ experience. This qualification. Those technical skills. These responsibilities.
All important.
But what does the candidate get?
If I’m speaking to someone who’s reasonably happy in their current job, why should they leave it to join you?
Maybe they’ll get exposure they can’t get elsewhere, genuine opportunities to progress or access to a manager who is very good at developing people.
Perhaps the role has real international exposure or your flexibility is genuinely better than the market.
Whatever it is, know it and talk about it.
And don’t just say you have a “great culture”. Every company says that. Tell people what actually makes it good.
You don’t need to appeal to everyone
Lanzarote and Wexford were completely different holidays.
One gave us great facilities, entertainment and sunshine.
The other gave us the beach on our doorstep, family across the road, familiar places and the ability to throw everything in the car and be back home 2 hours later.
Neither was better.
They were just different.
And that’s the point.
You don’t need every candidate in the market to want to work for your organisation.
You need to understand why the right candidates would want to work there, and make sure you’re telling them.
Some People Want the Resort. Some People Want the Beach.
Know what you’re offering, understand who it’s attractive to and don’t be afraid to sell it.
If you would value a chat regarding hiring insights or need help with recruitment, please get in touch!
