Companies outside the tech mecca need to offer candidates compelling reasons to choose them, especially when some of the Silicon Valley giants can afford to offer highly nice, sought-after talent salaries in the top percentile. Within your area, you must stay competitive with starting salary numbers or packages, especially when many giants have highly established graduate and training schemes for millennial talent that can seem hard to turn down. Technologists in particular rate learning and skills development as their most important factor when considering accepting job offers.

Once you’re up to date on salary trends – which of course we are here to help you with – it’s time to start interviewing. These three strategies can help you hook top talent:

1. Your Strengths
Every applicant is in your office for a reason. Perhaps you have a fantastic location or a smaller pond where everyone’s efforts can shine. By identifying what your candidate wants – once again this is what we help you recognize – we can demonstrate to candidates how your company can deliver.

Each candidate will want different things so rather than trying to broadcast a ‘one-size-fits-all’ job advert, we can help you appeal to individual candidates who we are able to engage and appeal to their interests.

2. Honest Communication
If after an interview you know you want to hire, be honest and open. “Preface your honesty with a few genuine sentiments, and encourage the candidate to communicate with you after the interview, and ask whether he or she has received other formal offers with the numbers to influence their decision,” says Forbes.

3. Don’t Sell The Farm To Get The Golden Goose
When you find the “golden goose,” always ask yourself whether you can find a similar candidate who is equally eager and would join the team for less. It can be difficult to know where to stop when it comes to what you should offer to close your ideal candidate. Interviews too often focus on money and requirements when in reality, key to discussions should be finding the right fit to ensure the candidate is comfortable speaking honestly.

In many industries, 9-to-5 suited-and-booted environments are elements of a bygone era. Embracing new culture and modern work approaches will give you the ability to look at candidates in a way that focuses on what they’ll deliver to your company. Millennials are living in an employer era of flexible-working, advanced facilities and ‘fresh and funky’ offices, and a whole load of attractive benefits and rewards.

We’re not saying you need to start advertising free gym memberships or annual-passes to Thorpe Park, but rather keeping up to speed with what young candidates are being exposed to in the world of graduate job adverts, especially in areas like FinTech and banking.