How to Attract Top Talent to Your Agency: Insider Strategies

You’ll know first-hand that digital agencies require a mix of creativity, innovation, and technical expertise. To succeed in these areas, you need to attract and hire top talent, which can be a challenge in such a competitive market.

Attracting top talent to your business takes more than posting job ads and hoping for the best. You’ll need to shape your brand and company culture to appeal to potential candidates, offer meaningful incentives and demonstrate how your agency is an employer that allows ambitious professionals to grow and succeed.

We’ve put together our top tips for attracting talent as an agency, so you know the ways to attract top talent and how to get them through the door.

Securing the best talent for your agency is crucial to grow your business and compete within your industry. Below are our top tips for recruiting talented individuals and improving your recruitment and hiring process.

In the same way you’d market your agency to potential clients, you need to consider how you’ll appeal to prospective employees.

It may help to ask yourself the following:

• What makes your agency a unique and positive place to work?
• How do you differ from other agencies?
• Why should skilled professionals choose to work for you?
• What values and culture do you have as a business?

Building a positive agency culture is not only great for new starters, it’s excellent for your existing team and can help attract highly-skilled professionals to your agency as these values are highly sought after. 

Your digital presence is often the first impression that potential candidates have of your agency. So make sure you use your digital and social media platforms to your advantage. Showcase your company culture online to highlight what makes your workplace unique from the rest.

You could share behind-the-scenes content such as employee stories, team events or day-in-the-life of different roles, to give insight into your agency and the team you work with. Remember to shout about your benefits, such as having a healthy work-life balance or your commitment to professional development. By sharing your company culture online, you can give prospective employees a glimpse of what life is like at your agency.

How others perceive you as an employer is crucial and plays a pivotal role in attracting the best talent. A strong employer brand will attract skilled professionals looking for inspiring, forward-thinking workplaces.

Consider your online reputation and what potential candidates will stumble across when they look you up. You could ask employees to leave honest feedback on platforms like Glassdoor, for example. Make sure to focus on your achievements as a business by highlighting awards, employee success stories and testimonials.

Top talent is drawn to organisations that prioritise professional development, so they can continue to grow their career and skills. By prioritising growth and career progression opportunities, you can attract talented, ambitious professionals who are eager to learn and contribute to your business’ success.

Make sure you offer clear professional development opportunities and plans, so potential hires can envision a long-term future with your agency. Make sure you have regular reviews and update these development plans as employees develop, as well as having training plans, workshops and access to online learning platforms, so employees can further enhance their skillset.

Be sure to reward employees for their achievements, through promotions or bonuses. By building a positive work environment that invests in its people, you’ll attract top talent who see your agency as a platform for growing their careers.

Don’t forget to invest in your agency at the same time. Learn the ins and outs of building an agency retainer, or learn insider secrets to retainers in our recent agency retainer report. Both are absolutely essential (and free) assets that can help you take your agency’s profits to the next level. 

Often, the best hires come from referrals and industry connections. You could encourage employees to refer potential candidates and offer a monetary incentive for doing so.

Another way to find top talent is through industry events – you’ll be able to build relationships with like-minded professionals who align with your agency’s culture and goals.

Flexibility and work-life balance are no longer perks in the workplace – they’re an expectation, especially for top talent. Be sure to provide flexible working arrangements, such as remote or hybrid working and flexible hours to accommodate employees’ personal and professional commitments.

Flexible working also demonstrates trust in your team to get their work done wherever they are and shows that you recognise the importance of a work-life balance. Do more than just encourage rest breaks – celebrate them! Remind your employees to take holiday and switch off at the end of the working day. You could introduce wellness initiatives such as mental health days, fitness benefits or a life coaching service to share the importance of wellbeing in your organisation.

By prioritising flexible work arrangements, your organisation will stand out from other agencies as valuing its team and their wellbeing.

Of course, salary matters and is a deciding factor in choosing a workplace. However, employee benefits can make a big difference to candidates choosing where to work. Make sure to review the benefits you offer regularly, to ensure they remain relevant and are used to their full potential. Consider introducing the following into your workplace:

• Private healthcare
• Subscriptions to entertainment platforms or wellness apps
• Professional development budgets for courses, conferences and certifications
• Workplace pension scheme

Top talent are proud of the work they produce and will take an interest in the opportunities you can provide them. Make sure you focus on the types of projects they’ll be working on and the brands you work with. Showcasing the work your current employees do and its impact will attract candidates eager to work on similar projects themselves.

Don’t hide away from new technologies, either! Many agencies are running scared from things like AI, but some have embraced it and grown their agencies as a result. Move like this don’t just attract top talent, but also top clients. Check out our “how AI can transform your agency” guide to see the impact that AI can have on your agency and your team.

Top candidates are drawn to agencies with a clear, inspiring vision they’ll want to be a part of. Make sure your mission, values and goals are clear and inspiring so potential hires can assess how their skills and career goals align with your agency. Include your vision on your website, in job descriptions and across your social media to ensure consistency.

When it comes to the interview process, you can share how your agency has brought its vision to fruition through strategies, processes and client relationships. You can then explain how the role you’re hiring for contributes towards this shared goal.

The best talent may not be looking for a new role right now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t reach out to them. You can use proactive recruitment strategies to reach top talent and share your agency’s message and benefits.

There are numerous ways you can attract top talent, from attending networking events and industry conferences to using platforms like LinkedIn to reach out to skilled professionals who may match what you’re looking for.

Improving your recruitment process could unlock the door to quality hires and boost your company’s reputation as a result. There’s more to attracting top talent than offering a competitive salary. You need to focus on sharing your company values, prioritise career progression and share your agency’s vision for the future. By shouting about your successes and improving your recruitment process, you’ll attract candidates who will grow your agency and stick around long term.

Along with our resources for agencies, we also offer agency web hosting, with reliable, secure packages to grow your client’s digital presence.

Request a free platform tour today, or check out our agency hub for more tips on managing your agency.