6 Recruiting Lessons from Santa Claus

Santa Claus is coming to town – and he’s bringing top recruitment tips with him. Discover 6 valuable recruiting lessons from Santa Claus and set yourself up for an incredibly successful new year!

Happy holidays everyone!

First of all:

Happy holidays to everyone reading this! We wish you all a wonderful holiday season surrounded by love, laughter, family and good friends.

What can we learn about recruiting form Santa Claus?

Santa Claus is coming to town – and he’s bringing a special gift for you: his top recruitment tips!

It might sound a bit crazy at first, but there are some very valuable lessons we can learn from Santa Claus when it comes to recruiting.

Santa Claus works really hard the whole year long. He does everything in his power to deliver the right gift (EVP and a dream job) to the right child (candidate).

See what we’re getting at? Good. Let’s proceed by uncovering a few great recruiting lessons you can learn from Santa!

Santa’s list of top recruiting tips

Here are the 6 valuable lessons we can learn from Santa Claus about recruitment:

Lesson #1: Know what your candidates want

Santa always knows exactly what kids want for Christmas. Every year, Santa takes the time to meet with children.

He lets each child sit in his lap and tell him what they want for Christmas. Santa shows genuine interest in every child and has impeccable listening skills.

➡️ Learn from Santa Claus:

Take the time and get to know your candidate persona. Get to know your candidates’ wishes, hopes and dreams. It is the only way you can deliver an irresistible employee value proposition!

Lesson #2: Team up

Santa Claus does a great job delivering presents to every child around the world.

However, he wouldn’t be able to do that alone. Santa Claus relies on his dedicated team of elves and reindeer. Without their help, he wouldn’t be able to deliver all the toys in time for Christmas morning.

➡️ Learn from Santa Claus:

Santa isn’t a solo player – and you shouldn’t be either. Collaborative hiring has many benefits. Try to get everyone (form hiring managers to executives) involved and excited about recruiting.

Your company’s current employees can help as well. They can recommend great candidates and serve as your company’s employer brand ambassadors!

Lesson #3: Recruit ahead

It may seem to you like Santa has a seasonal business. But Santa believes that next year’s planning starts as soon as Christmas is over!

Santa spends the whole year in his workshop getting ready to deliver presents on Christmas Eve. Additionally, he’s a tireless researcher. He’s always on top of the latest trends in the toy industry!

➡️ Learn from Santa Claus:

Recruit in advance! Prepare for future job openings that are yet to come. Build your talent pool and nurture and engage your candidates.

That way, you’ll have interested, qualified candidates to choose from even without advertising your job openings! And of course, make sure you always keep up to date with the latest recruiting trends.

Lesson #4: Make a list..and check it twice!

He’s making a list, he’s checking it twice… Okay, stop humming along for a second and take note: Santa diligently builds his list!

He also qualifies it each year again (to find out who’s been naughty and who’s been nice). In the end, he checks it twice to make sure there are no errors and his list is up to date!

➡️ Learn from Santa Claus:

Just like Santa Claus, you should diligently build the list of your current and potential future candidates. Keep your talent database fresh and up to date. Finally, make sure to check your every time you have a new job opening.

The chances are you already have an ideal candidate in your talent database, but you’ll never know it unless you check it – twice.

Lesson #5: Go where your candidates are

On the night before Christmas Santa makes his way around the world to deliver gifts to every child on the planet. ️

He visits every corner of the world to ensure that all the children wake up to a stocking filled with presents.

➡️ Learn from Santa Claus:

Go where your candidates are! Find out where your candidates “live” and deliver your recruiting content right on their home address.

You should also consider using an omnichannel approach to recruiting and promoting your recruiting content in different places to boost its visibility.

Lesson #6: Be jolly

Being jolly is Santa’s trademark. Whether he’s in his workshop, out on his sleigh or meeting children, he’s always smiling.

Although he has a very responsible work and operates on tight deadlines (he has to deliver presents to all children on the planet in just one night!), he never lets his stress show.

➡️ Learn from Santa Claus:

Remember the importance of your work and use effective time management techniques for recruiters to keep your cool and avoid burnout. This is an extremely important skill that all HR professionals and recruiters need to learn.

Don’t be like Grinch. Instead, learn how to use humor in stressful situations and become the person who lights up the room with an infectious smile and real enthusiasm.

Key takeaway: Ho, ho, ho…

Hopefully, this blog post has made you smile and gave you some practical tips and ideas for accelerating your recruitment efforts in 2021.

Happy holidays and all the best in 2020 from the whole TalentLyft team!