Every year, nearly one million books are traditionally published. Combined with self-published books, you arrive at several million annually. It can be incredibly challenging for publishing companies to thrive if they hire the wrong author, illustrator, or agent. Publishing companies need to be on top of their game in order to recruit top talent and ensure their works go above and beyond the rest of the competition. How should talented publishing professionals be recruited?
Build a Strong Brand
Recruiting decent, hardworking talent can be difficult if no one has heard of your brand. You will want to establish a physical and online presence to ensure people are familiar with or can learn about your publishing company. Create memorable advertising campaigns, logos, brand images, and slogans. How will you set yourself apart from other publishing companies? Why should top talent provide work for you?
Create a Positive Company Culture
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You won’t retain any employees without the right company culture. You will want to create and foster a positive work environment. Make it productive, easy, and supportive to work there. Encourage a reasonable work-life balance, offer benefits, and ensure HR professionals do all they can to create a decent work environment. Don’t overwork your employees or make communicating with managers and HR professionals difficult. Do not tolerate harassment, racism, sexism, homophobia, or other discriminatory practices from managers or employees.
Tighten Recruitment Policies
If you’re looking to hire top talent, you must also accommodate them. Don’t just look up ‘book designers’ or ‘editors’ on recruitment platforms, assuming they’re all worthwhile. When searching for writers, editors, or book cover designers for hire, learn about big names in the industry but remain open-minded. Be responsive to inquiries and be respectful of applicants’ time. Ask essential questions in the interview to ensure they understand the scope of the work.
Write an Excellent Job Listing
If you expect applicants to go above and beyond during the application process, you should, too. Ensure the job listing details the skills required, the job responsibilities, and what your company is all about. If you’re looking for specific degrees, experience, or fields, detail this in the job listing. On the other hand, if you’re flexible and want to open up opportunities for many types of talent, include this. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket. Tailor each listing for multiple job posting platforms to reach the widest audiences. High-quality applicants won’t be lining up for a mediocre job description.
Offer Competitive Salary and Benefits
You must show employees they are valuable and desired. Ensure you offer competitive benefits, like dental, health, and life insurance, as part of their employment. If you don’t adequately take care of your workers, they will find employers that do. Employees are more likely to provide high-quality publishing work when their needs are adequately met. You will want to pay them what they are worth. It may be tempting for the company budget to give applicants a more economical offer, but you will regret it when they find other opportunities. Keep it competitive. Offer them a reasonable, competitive salary that they won’t get anywhere else. Dictate the opportunities for growth to keep them interested, and pull through on those promises.
Offer Professional Development
A job offer or role is more attractive when it presents the opportunity to learn new skills. Consider offering professional development options like on-the-job training or additional certifications they can obtain by working for you. How will working with your publishing company enhance their career? It’s a good sign if you can easily answer this question.
Manually Check Resumes
While ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems) are beneficial, they can truly limit a wide variety of top talent. Resume content is essential, but the ATS may not grasp the whole picture of an applicant’s worth. Manually review resumes to ensure you’re not missing any high-quality applicants. Look at portfolios to get a better feel for an applicant. ATS should be your sidekick, not do your job for you.
Study Portfolios
An author, designer, or illustrator’s portfolio can speak far more words than a resume. If you rely only on resumes, you will only consider those who look good on paper alone. Look at resumes and portfolios of creative employees your publishing company is looking to hire. Does their work capture various genres, formats, or mediums? Are they skilled? Are they a good fit for your publishing company’s average content?
Be Authentic
Lying about compensation, company policy, or work culture can turn many applicants away. Even if you manage to snare top talent, they will soon realize that the work environment isn’t ideal for them if you weren’t authentic. Be truthful about what you’re willing to offer and provide during the application process. If they know what to expect, they will likely be more productive and happier in their role.
