Have you ever come across mystical candidates with shining resumes and been tempted to hire them?
Such rare and unique candidates are called Unicorns!
Encountering a purple unicorn is almost equal to love at first sight because you can’t help but be in awe of the perfection of the candidate.
However, finding and hiring a unicorn candidate isn’t as easy as you think it might be.
We’ve decoded it for you.
Who is a unicorn candidate?
A unicorn candidate is an HR term used to describe an ‘ideal and perfect’ candidate that has the right set of skills, qualifications, and experiences.
Unicorn candidates involve staff and professionals that have a unique set of qualities, making them more valuable than other applicants and employees.
Unicorns are basically the celebrities of the recruitment world!
Unicorns know that they have the potential to become something big and since they are too rare to find, recruiting them is a difficult task. As a result, recruiters have increased pressure to find talent, and spotting and hiring these top talent is not an easy job.
The question is- Is it worth hiring unicorn candidates?
Let’s find out.
Read more: The battle between purple squirrels vs normal squirrels: Who should you hire and why?
3 advantages of hiring purple unicorns
1. They help develop the workplace
Though they are hard to find, however, once hired, unicorn employees bring enormous benefits to the workplace and can help scale your business or brand to the next level.
They help develop the workplace by putting in efforts to improve the overall functioning of an organization. They even help enhance the Employee Value Proposition (EVP).
2. They have leadership qualities
Managers often look for candidates who can take up newer initiatives and bring more value to the company.
To do the same, candidates need to have leadership qualities.
Unicorns are equipped with team spirit and the ability to work with others and manage a team.
These candidates also encourage and motivate their colleagues to work efficiently. They always find a way to move the needle.
3. They help enhance a company’s reputation
Any organization’s reputation majorly depends on its employees.
The performance of the candidates and workers impacts the company’s reputation and position among its competitors and in the market.
Unicorns happen to be the top-performing candidates, and they bring in a lot of value to the organization, enhancing the company’s work.
3 disadvantages of hiring unicorns
1. They have a lot of demands
The thing is that these elusive and exceptional candidates know their worth, and that is why they put forward a lot of demands.
They not only demand a fat paycheck but also demand work flexibility and favorable differential treatment.
Unicorn candidates often expect companies to adapt to their ways and methods.
2. Hiring them is expensive & time-intensive
Hiring these rare and valuable candidates may take you days, weeks, or even months. In fact, most of them are passive candidates, so attracting them is a time-consuming process.
It requires a lot of monetary investment and can really exceed your budget as a lot of capital is required to source and hire them.
3. Other potential candidates may be ignored
There is a possibility that in the search for purple unicorns, recruiters may overlook other talented job seekers from the candidate pool.
Unicorn candidates do snatch away job opportunities from normal candidates.
They also pose a threat to other employees, superiors, and managers at the company.
5 tips to attract & hire purple unicorns
1. Fix your job postings
The first step towards attracting potential candidates to apply to your jobs is by writing compelling and attractive job descriptions.
Good job postings include clearly written job descriptions with the roles and responsibilities and include the benefits of taking up the jobs. Mention the pay benefits, career growth opportunities, and other benefits the company offers.
A part of fixing job postings includes updating your job boards and advertising job postings on various online platforms.
2. Offer competitive packages
The first thing that most unicorn candidates look for is the salary package offered by the company. Since a lot of recruiters are in a battle to hire unicorns, they will agree to work with your client if it provides a well-paying job.
3. Provide work flexibility
Another important factor to consider while finding unicorns is to provide work flexibility in terms of timings and location to the candidates.
These elusive and special candidates often look for jobs that provide work-life balance to their employees.
They wish to see the company adapt to their needs.
Providing work flexibility to candidates will increase employee retention rates and also help increase the productivity of the employees.
4. Engage the candidates effectively
Unicorn candidates are mostly passive candidates, which means they already have a job and aren’t actively looking for job opportunities.
In order to attract them, you need to communicate and interact with them in an interesting manner.
Candidate engagement is an important factor to consider as it helps attract talented candidates and also helps retain them by continuously communicating with them during the recruitment process.
An effective candidate engagement process will automatically improve the candidate’s experience which will enable them to perform efficiently.
5. Market your client’s company
Why should these purple unicorns apply for jobs at a company they know nothing about?
If you’re thinking that the process of recruiting does not involve marketing then you’re wrong.
An essential part of recruiting is to promote
and market the employer’s brand on different channels and platforms so that it helps in establishing a brand name in the market.
Once the brand name is established, candidates will identify the company as a great place to work and would be willing to work at the organization.
In final words
Hiring rare and extraordinary candidates like the unicorns might be fascinating because it totally is but don’t forget to not overlook other deserving candidates.
How can you forget the fact that recruiting unicorn candidates requires a lot of hard work and can heavily cost you your time and money?
It’s always best to hire only the deserving and talented candidates because you can always train them to build your own unicorn team 🙂
