What the science of motivation can teach us about recruitment

Are you ready to improve your recruitment results in 2025?

Want to attract more qualified, suitable applications? Save time by only meeting the right people? Secure the right talent in as little as 18 days?

Here’s a simple mindset shift that will go a long way.

Get ready to sell.

Stick with me here. Sales is not a dirty word. To sell is human - according to author on business and the science of motivation Daniel Pink.

What is the connection with recruitment here?

When you need to find the right person to join your team, your job is actually sales (and marketing).

The product is the job - which you want the right person to choose - and keep.

The consumer is the person you want to attract.

When you’re hiring, you are the seller, NOT the buyer.

While evaluating applications, interviews and reference checks are important, knowing how to sell the opportunity you’re offering is equally (if not more) important.

Pink encourages us to think about sales as a process of moving others. To sell is to move others to take action.

In hiring, we want to move people to enquire, apply, share the job with others, attend an interview, accept our job offer. Then we need them to part with resources: their time, effort, attention and skills.

Pink’s work also emphasises the importance of attunement - the ability to see the world through someone else’s eyes. He believes this is the cornerstone of effective persuasion and influence, emphasising empathy and perspective-taking.

In recruitment, the goal should always be to create an emotional connection with the right audience and help them choose you.

Here are 4 tips to get you started.