Purple Unicorn

What Is a Purple Unicorn? The Rare Perfect Candidate

A purple unicorn is an exceptional job candidate who possesses a rare combination of skills, experiences, and qualifications that perfectly match all requirements for a position with no questions asked. This term refers to individuals who not only meet but exceed standard expectations, making them stand out significantly from other candidates in the recruitment process. 

In the business world, purple unicorns are equivalent to superstars on sports teams, individuals around whom you build the rest of your team due to their extraordinary capabilities.

These candidates are characterized by their ability to contribute directly to a company’s success through their work while simultaneously training and inspiring others to improve performance. Furthermore, purple unicorns possess both the technical expertise and intangible qualities needed to elevate departments or entire businesses to higher levels of achievement.

Their value stems from their unique combination of education, experience, and innate talents that make them immediately recognizable to recruiters.

Purple unicorns typically fall into two distinct categories:

• Passive Candidates (Pink Unicorns): These individuals are currently employed and not actively seeking new positions. Despite their passive status, they possess the expertise and experience that employers eagerly seek. While potentially open to new opportunities, they aren’t engaged in active job searching.
• Active Candidates (Winged Unicorns): These candidates are active job seekers looking for new employment opportunities and engage in ongoing job search activities. They possess high-demand knowledge and expertise but are available in the job market.

The metaphorical name “purple unicorn” deliberately evokes the image of a mythical creature to emphasize their scarcity in the talent marketplace. Encountering such candidates has been compared to “love at first sight” due to the immediate recognition of their exceptional fit and potential. When recruiting, organizations must recognize that these individuals appear only occasionally, with available ones being particularly difficult to secure.

Despite their rarity, purple unicorns do exist in the real world. They are not entirely fictional but rather exceptionally uncommon, similar to how actual purple unicorns would be in nature. Consequently, companies that identify such candidates must be prepared to act quickly and decisively to secure their services. This often requires offering special concessions or benefits packages that acknowledge their exceptional value.

The term “purple unicorn” serves as a practical metaphor in recruitment, highlighting the challenge of finding perfect candidates. Recruiters and hiring managers use this terminology to set realistic expectations about candidate availability. Pragmatic organizations understand that they may only have a handful of such exceptional individuals on their teams if they’re fortunate.

While purple unicorns represent the ideal, excessive focus on finding them can lead companies to overlook other strong candidates who might excel with proper training and development. Therefore, while understanding the concept is important for recruitment professionals, maintaining balanced expectations remains essential for effective talent acquisition strategies.

Types of Purple Unicorn Candidates

Purple unicorn candidates naturally divide into two distinct categories, each with specific characteristics that affect how recruiters should approach them. Understanding these differences helps organizations develop targeted strategies for attracting these exceptional talents.

Pink Unicorns (Passive Candidates)

Pink unicorns represent a subset of purple unicorns who are currently employed and engaged in their existing roles. These candidates are not actively searching for new employment opportunities. 

They typically demonstrate high levels of happiness, engagement, and productivity in their current positions. Although they possess the expertise and experience employers eagerly seek, their satisfaction with current roles makes them particularly elusive.

What makes pink unicorns especially valuable is their potential openness to the right opportunity despite not investing substantial time in job searching. These candidates:

• Remain content in their current positions yet receptive to strategic approaches about new possibilities
• Offer exceptional potential value when approached correctly
• Have not participated in typical job-seeking behaviors such as updating LinkedIn profiles or uploading resumes to job boards

Pink unicorns provide a distinct advantage as they are less likely to have engaged in online activities that signal to competitors they are considering new employment. Their passive status often indicates stability and genuine interest when they do respond to recruitment efforts. Additionally, these candidates may require special incentives or particularly compelling opportunities to consider changing positions.

Winged Unicorns (Active Candidates)

Winged unicorns, conversely, actively participate in the job market while still maintaining the exceptional qualifications that define purple unicorns. These active candidatesare deliberately seeking new employment opportunities and engaging in ongoing job search activities. Their active status makes them somewhat more visible and accessible to recruiting teams compared to their pink counterparts.

The key characteristics of winged unicorns include:

• Proactive engagement in job search processes
• High-demand knowledge and expertise combined with availability
• Easier initial engagement for recruiters
• Greater visibility in traditional recruitment channels

Unlike pink unicorns, winged unicorns have already made the decision to explore new opportunities, potentially simplifying the initial stages of recruitment. Nevertheless, they remain highly sought-after candidates who receive multiple offers from competing organizations.

The distinction between pink and winged unicorns essentially boils down to their current job-seeking status rather than their qualifications. Both types possess the exceptional skills and qualities that define purple unicorns – the difference lies in their availability and the recruitment approach required to engage them effectively.

Recent tracking shows that female-founded unicorns represent approximately 4% of all unicorns, a remarkable statistic considering they received just slightly more than 2% of all venture funding in recent years. This data illustrates how the concept of unicorns extends beyond individual talent to organizational leadership as well.

Recognizing which type of purple unicorn, a candidate represents allows recruiters to tailor their approach appropriately, either by creating compelling reasons for passive candidates to consider a move or by showcasing unique advantages to active candidates evaluating multiple opportunities.

Why Purple Unicorns Are So Valuable

Purple unicorns represent exceptional value to organizations through their unique combination of skills and attributes. These rare candidates bring transformative potential to businesses seeking competitive advantage in challenging markets. Indeed, organizations hiring purple unicorns benefit from their extraordinary ability to elevate performance across multiple dimensions of business operations.

The intrinsic value of purple unicorns stems primarily from their innovative thinking. These tech-savvy individuals consistently introduce fresh perspectives and novel approaches to problem-solving. Their creative mindset enables them to push conventional boundaries and identify solutions others might overlook. This capacity for innovation becomes particularly crucial during periods of organizational change or market disruption.

Beyond innovation, purple unicorns demonstrate remarkable adaptability across various work environments. Given their extensive skill range, they can adjust to changing conditions or even initiate positive transformations within the workplace. This flexibility allows companies to deploy these exceptional talents wherever needs arise, creating operational efficiencies that conventional employees cannot match.

The competitive advantages purple unicorns provide are substantial. According to industry observations, these exceptional candidates directly contribute to business growth by enhancing competitiveness.

Their presence often establishes new performance benchmarks that motivate broader team improvement. As a result, the entire organization becomes more resilient and responsive to market demands.

Another significant benefit involves market positioning. Companies that successfully recruit purple unicorns often experience enhanced market differentiation. This occurs because:

• Their exceptional problem-solving capabilities lead to faster resolution of business challenges
• Their comprehensive understanding allows them to see connections between disparate business areas
• Their continuous improvement mindset fosters organizational learning and development

Moreover, purple unicorns possess the uncommon ability to elevate entire departments or companies to higher achievement levels. This transformative impact frequently justifies the additional investment required to attract and retain such talent. Organizations recognize that the right purple unicorn can substantially accelerate strategic initiatives that might otherwise stall under conventional leadership.

The company culture also benefits substantially from purple unicorn talent. These individuals typically create productive yet enjoyable work environments where collaboration thrives. Equally important, they maintain sufficient objectivity to identify team members who underperform or impede collective progress. This balanced approach to teamwork ensures that while the atmosphere remains positive, performance standards never suffer.

In addition, purple unicorns demonstrate exceptional interpersonal skills regardless of organizational hierarchy. This enables them to form effective working relationships across departments and management levels. Such relationship-building capacity proves invaluable when organizations need to implement cross-functional initiatives or manage complex change processes.

Accordingly, purple unicorns contribute directly to enhancing an organization’s Employee Value Proposition. Their presence signals to other high performers that the company values excellence and creates environments where exceptional talent can thrive. This reputation enhancement often yields secondary benefits in broader recruitment efforts, creating a virtuous cycle of talent acquisition.

How to Attract a Purple Unicorn to Your Company

Attracting purple unicorns requires specialized recruitment strategies that acknowledge their exceptional status in the job market. Since these candidates know their worth and have multiple options, companies must develop compelling value propositions to stand out among competitors vying for the same talent.

Offer competitive benefits

Retirement benefits, health insurance, and other perks function as alternative forms of compensation when attracting purple unicorns. These exceptional candidates frequently evaluate the complete compensation package before making career decisions. Organizations should thoroughly review their benefits offerings compared to industry competitors, as substandard packages may cause unicorns to look elsewhere.

Beneficial offerings that appeal to purple unicorns typically include:

• Comprehensive health insurance coverage
• Robust retirement plans with matching contributions
• Paid professional development opportunities
• Housing assistance including relocation support
• Wellness programs including gym memberships
• Commuter benefits

Notably, 41% of employees prioritize flexibility over higher pay when choosing a new job, indicating that benefits extend beyond traditional compensation structures when attracting top-tier talent.

Promote flexible work options

Workplace flexibility has become a decisive factor for purple unicorns evaluating potential employers. Currently, 76% of office workers operate in hybrid environments, with 72% of employees preferring a hybrid remote-office model. This preference for flexibility significantly impacts recruitment success, as 73% of potential candidates consider workplace policy (remote, in-office, or hybrid) very important when evaluating new positions.

Flexibility options that appeal to purple unicorns include:

• Remote or hybrid work arrangements
• Flexible working hours
• Autonomy in managing schedules
• Extended time-off policies

Organizations offering flexible arrangements often experience substantial benefits beyond recruitment, including 13% higher productivity among remote workerscompared to in-office counterparts, plus enhanced employee engagement with 60% of hybrid or remote employees reporting higher engagement levels than those in fully in-office roles.

Craft compelling job listings

Creating effective job listings markedly increases the probability of attracting purple unicorns. These listings should clearly define roles and responsibilities while highlighting benefits and advancement opportunities. Comprehensive research regarding market rates for similar positions helps ensure competitive compensation offers.

Essential elements of unicorn-attracting job descriptions include:

• Clearly articulated responsibilities and expectations
• Specific information about growth opportunities
• Transparent compensation ranges
• Details about unique perks and benefits

Showcase company culture

Purple unicorns typically seek environments aligned with their values and career aspirations. Subsequently, showcasing authentic company culture becomes crucial in attraction strategies. Providing windows into day-to-day operations through employee-created content demonstrates organizational values in action.

Effective culture showcasing methods include highlighting team-building activities, employee recognition programs, and community involvement. Specifically, employee spotlights recognizing achievements demonstrate that the organization values individual contributions. Companies should emphasize their core values, business goals, and how potential candidates can contribute to organizational success.

Approximately 82% of employees consider work-life balance important when evaluating potential employers, making culture demonstration a critical component of purple unicorn attraction strategies. Organizations must show potential unicorns why their environment offers superior opportunities compared to their current position or competing offers.

Challenges in Hiring Purple Unicorns

Despite their desirability, pursuing purple unicorns presents substantial challenges for organizations. These exceptional candidates often create complications that extend beyond the recruitment process into team dynamics and organizational effectiveness.

High salary expectations

Finding and securing purple unicorns typically requires significant financial investment. These candidates understand their market value and typically demand premium compensation packages. Hence, hiring these exceptional individuals often strains organizational budgets. The recruitment process itself becomes expensive as finding such rare candidates may take days, weeks, or even months.

Purple unicorns commonly request not only higher salaries but likewise expect:

• Work flexibility accommodations
• Favorable differential treatment
• Company adaptation to their preferred methods

The financial implications extend beyond initial recruitment. Employee retention expenses escalate as purple unicorns frequently receive attractive offers from competing organizations. Companies must regularly adjust compensation packages to prevent talent loss, creating ongoing budget pressures.

Risk of favoritism

The presence of purple unicorns often generates perception challenges within teams. Notwithstanding their skills, their special status can create assumptions of preferential treatment. This perception potentially undermines workplace morale as other employees may feel like “second-class citizens”.

Team dynamics often shift with purple unicorn integration. Other members might feel overshadowed or struggle when comparing their capabilities to those of the exceptional candidate. Correspondingly, this sometimes fosters unhealthy competition or resentment among team members.

Unfortunately, teams occasionally develop excessive dependence on purple unicorns. Should the purple unicorn be absent or leave, the team may struggle significantly to fill the gap. This dependency creates operational vulnerabilities that can impact organizational performance.

Overlooking other strong candidates

In pursuit of these mythical perfect candidates, companies frequently reject numerous qualified applicants. Henceforth, positions often remain unfilled for extended periods. This extended vacancy generates opportunity costs that can exceed the value of waiting for the ideal candidate.

The obsession with finding perfect candidates commonly results in:

• Managers rejecting candidates with less experience but strong potential
• Overlooking individuals who might lack specific qualifications but demonstrate learning aptitude
• Dismissing candidates with employment gaps who might otherwise excel

Practically speaking, waiting for the perfect candidate frequently ends with companies “settling” for someone after an extended search. This pattern creates negative outcomes for both employers and candidates, often leading to premature departures and restarting the hiring cycle.

The reality remains that purple unicorns, while valuable, represent a small segment of the talent pool. Organizations fixating exclusively on these candidates inadvertently eliminate numerous individuals who could become strong contributors with appropriate development opportunities. This narrowed focus potentially damages the company’s reputation as an employer, further complicating future recruitment efforts.

Best Practices for Hiring and Retaining Purple Unicorns

Successful recruitment of purple unicorns demands strategic approaches that balance expectation with reality. Initially, organizations must redefine what constitutes a purple unicorn within their specific candidate pool, focusing on individuals who genuinely exist rather than imaginary perfect candidates.

Effective hiring begins with creating a grading system for job descriptions that helps both recruiters and hiring managers understand what a nearly perfect resume actually looks like. This system enables organizations to identify genuine unicorns within realistic parameters. Through targeted recruiting, companies can identify these rare candidates by focusing on niche job boards, using advanced search filters, and leveraging employee referrals.

Pre-boarding represents a critical yet often overlooked phase in securing purple unicorns. Organizations should develop comprehensive pre-boarding plans that showcase company brand values and demonstrate appreciation before the candidate’s first day. This might include personalized communications, welcome gifts, or detailed benefit explanations that create connection before employment formally begins.

Regarding retention, development opportunities rank among the most effective strategies. Research indicates that 94% of workers would remain longer at companies investing in their learning opportunities. Organizations should consider implementing:

• Reskilling and upskilling programs that allow purple unicorns to grow within the organization
• Clear career pathing that shows advancement opportunities
• Mentoring programs that connect junior employees with executives and tenured staff
• Relationship-building initiatives that foster belonging

Employee development represents an essential retention strategy, particularly considering the cost of turnover—as much as twice an employee’s salary to find, hire, and onboard a replacement. Ultimately, purple unicorns expect continuous growth opportunities alongside competitive compensation and supportive environments.

Regular check-ins primarily drive retention success, with weekly touchpoints recommended during the first 90 days of employment. These consistent interactions ensure questions are answered and employees successfully navigate both job responsibilities and company culture, fostering long-term relationships between purple unicorns and their organizations.

Key Takeaways

Understanding purple unicorns—exceptional candidates with rare skill combinations—helps organizations develop realistic recruitment strategies while avoiding common hiring pitfalls.

• Purple unicorns are exceptional candidates who perfectly match job requirements, divided into passive “pink unicorns” (currently employed) and active “winged unicorns” (job searching)

• Attract these rare talents through competitive benefits, flexible work options, compelling job descriptions, and authentic company culture showcasing

• Hiring purple unicorns creates challenges including high salary expectations, potential team favoritism, and overlooking other qualified candidates

• Focus on realistic expectations rather than mythical perfection—develop grading systems and targeted recruiting to identify genuine unicorns within your candidate pool

• Retain purple unicorns through comprehensive pre-boarding, continuous development opportunities, clear career paths, and regular check-ins during their first 90 days

While purple unicorns bring exceptional value through innovation and adaptability, organizations must balance their pursuit with practical hiring strategies that don’t overlook strong candidates who could excel with proper development.

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