There are people all over the place who would be a great fit on your team and in your company.

Once they know how great your company is, and how great your team is, they will eagerly accept. Once they get a chance to meet you and get to know you, these superstars will certainly sign on. Once they see your vision for how the work will impact the world, and how they will specifically contribute, they will show up early to assist.

Once they get it, they will join.

The problem is that we aren’t helping them get it. We are giving them a LinkedIn ad that mentions “other duties as assigned.” Instead of sharing our enthusiasm, we ruthlessly hone the printed job description down to every baked-dry, boring sentence we can think of. Super “professional,” but not very interesting. Not exciting. Not worth learning more about.

The labor market squeeze we are experiencing is the new norm. We won’t be able to rely on the tactics of yesterday to attract the superstars of tomorrow. Too many other options.

Fair warning, though. If you decide to think differently about attracting and retaining superstars, the rabbit hole goes deep.