Creating candidate personas: knowing who you want to hire and how

So, you want to build a brand new team from scratch but not sure where to start? Or you’ve been inundated with applications for a role, but the CVs you’re receiving just don’t seem to be hitting the mark?

There are many frustrations that companies experience when recruiting for top talent. Exactly who are the people you’re looking for? What skills do they already have? And crucially, how can you identify if they’ll be a great fit for your company?

Lots of questions, right? Don’t worry! Taking time to understand what top talent looks like and creating personas through a strategic and targeted approach, will revolutionise the way you recruit.

Decide on the roles you want to create personas for

Identify the key roles within your organisation you wish to attract new talent for. It could be for roles that are being actively recruited. Or if you’re planning for the future, it could be for roles that will need filling further down the line.

Build a strong foundation of research

Research will be your best friend. A good place to start is gathering information from inside the business first. Who have been your most successful hires in that role, previously or currently?

What did, or are they doing that makes them stand out? You dont need to find a carbon copy of them, but a real-life example of someone who is performing well in the role can tell you a lot about the skills or attributes you want to be on the lookout for in candidates.

Are they good at time management? Do they have a particular skill that they're an absolute whizz at? Data doesnt have to be numbers based.

Conduct internal interviews. Those who have recently been hired within your business will be particularly useful, as the recruitment process will still be fresh in their mind. Finding out motivations for looking for a new role, how they came across your business, and ultimately the reasons that influenced their decision to join can provide further insight to help you build your personas out.

Consider external factors

Keep your finger on the pulse on the state of the market. Industry reports, workplace trends, what’s happening in the news…these can all be indicators of what is influencing jobseekers. Take a look at your competitors too. What do they consider to be their selling points to attract future talent? What are their current employees saying?

Have active conversations with hiring managers

If you're recruiting on behalf of another team member, don't assume that you know what they're looking for from a role description alone. Reach out to them and find out as much as you can. What will a typical day look like for this new team member? The more you align the persona you're creating with their idea of an ideal candidate, the more likely expectations will be met.

Identify the common traits, experience levels and personality characteristics that a successful candidates should possess. They can range from anything from academic qualifications to soft skills.

Its also a good idea to list out your non-negotiables. What skills and attributes must they possess? What are the nice to haves? Are you willing to provide training for a candidate?

Remember, top talent will mean something different for each role you're recruiting for. If you're building a tech team, then excellent skills as a software developer might be a hard and fast rule. If you're looking to bring a graduate on board, passion and the enthusiasm to learn might be a priority over work experience.

Start writing your persona. Give them a name and a backstory that aligns with any demographic information that may have come out of the research.

Think about how old they might be or where they live.

Having a basic understanding of who they are will provide a great framework to allow you to get into more detail about who they are.

Where are they now in their career? Your persona could be looking for their first management role (goal) or be looking for a role that will provide them stability (motivation). It’s impossible to know exactly what drives a candidate, but these will be great indicators as to whether they will be a good match for the role you’re offering.

This is also a good point to consider any challenges they may be facing too. For example, your persona could be based in a location which means they’re ability to travel into an office is restricted. Understanding these challenges now will help you tailor your recruitment messaging.

Candidates are increasingly looking to understand a company’s culture and values when looking for a role. From flexible working to sustainability commitments, these are the kinds of company policies that could be just as important to a candidate as the more traditional workplace considerations such as salary or benefits.

Identify where and how your personas like to communicate. This will help you to focus where to target them with job adverts and messaging that speaks directly to their needs and builds trust with your brand.

Off you go!

Remember the list you created earlier of the role’s negotiables and non-negotiables? This is where, side by side with your personas, you’ll be able to head out into the market with a clear idea of who you to attract.

And don’t forget to:

Refresh and refine your personas

It’s common for business goals to change or fluctuations in the job market to happen, which can have a knock on effect on the type of person your persona will be. If you’re creating personas for roles that are regularly recruited for, make sure to refresh them from time to time.

Measure your success

It’s easy, once a candidate has been recruited, to assume that the persona work has done its job. But don’t forget, there’s a wealth of metrics that you can track that can help you to help you better understand the performance of your persona-driven strategy. These can include:

Time-to-hire

Source of hire

Cost per hire

Quality of hire

Candidate engagement

Diversity metrics

Book a talent advisory session

If you need to build talent personas for your hiring strategies, book a talent advisory session with our expert team to get the ball rolling.

It’ll take 30 minutes and it's completely free. Feel free to invite any relevant colleagues along too.

Book now

Everything we do exists to support our purpose of elevating people leaders in their role, career and function

We want to make talent the engine room of every organisation. We want to change how talent acquisition and people leaders see themselves and their ability to drive business performance.

Whether you're new in role or in the midst of a transformation, Caraffi aims to elevate your capability, impact and reputation within your business and beyond.

Contact us

10 Bishops Square, London, E1 6EG
0203 8622 800
info@caraffi.co.uk

Creating candidate personas

Knowing who you want to hire and how

What are personas?

Essentially, they are detailed, fictional representations of your ideal job candidates. You or your hiring teams can use them to effectively attract, engage and hire the very best talent for the role.

Getting started