Changing Recruitment at Manchester Metropolitan University...via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook around Employee stories, features. • Immediate rise in engagement and internal brand

Changing Recruitment at Manchester Metropolitan University

Julie GriggsHead of Talent & Resourcing@jules_griggs

What we’ll cover today

• Background to the University & Project• Where we were• Where we needed to get to• What we did • Results• Future• Takeaways

Background to the University & Project

• Post 1992 University. Current Vice Chancellor of two years. Ambitious plans for Students, Research and International.

• Extensive £multi-million building programme and Student Journey Transformation Programme

• Expanding links with Local and National Governments and businesses to develop Research/Commercial activity.

• Increased agenda around Talent and need to attract research focused Academics.

• Resourcing need to become a “pro-active” function to support growth and development.

Where we were

• As a Resourcing function – purely transactional using a not fit for purpose Applicant Tracking System and Careers Website.

• Every role posted (EVERY ROLE) posted to an Academic job board - £ waste.

• 78% drop-out rate on Careers Website – lost applicants.• Average time on page – seconds!.• Massive Agency spend – no consistency or quality tracking.• Lack of confidence from Hiring Managers.

The start of the journey

• Raise profile of function, move to a pro-active state and become Subject Matter Experts.

• Build both our Employer and Talent Branding.• Using both technology and human interaction improve our

Candidate Experience especially in Professional Services.• Improve and develop our Quality of Hire.• Build a reputation and become an Employer of Choice.• For the first time deliver ROI and create a customer centric

mantra.

First things first…

• First things first – Fix Senior and Exec Hiring.• Massive drop-out from Professorial candidates due to poor

candidate experience and lack of available content around the “Why”.

• We needed a solution that was cost efficient, easy to use, scalable across all Senior and Exec Hiring.

• We engaged with our branding partner who suggested an innovative way to not only attract but communicate…

What we and did

What we did

• Better and more accessible content.• Totally re-useable for all Senior and Exec Hiring.• Unique concierge Candidate Experience bringing back the human

element.• Full Google Analytics tracking (For the first time).• Vast majority of hires taken in-house versus agency• Just a few cost savings…

Next…

• Explore and capture our Employer Brand.• No understanding of our People Proposition or position in the

market; All Marketing efforts 100% Student focussed.• Necessity to attract the right and deselect the wrong talent.• Short turnaround to discover, create and articulate our People

Proposition via our new Careers website, Social Media and Candidate touchpoints and Internal Engagement/Experience.

• No budget for a large outsourcing of work to branding agency.• So we decided with a little help from our friends to do it

ourselves...

Assess

Research

Review

Construct

Communicate

Measure

What is our current employment experience?

Where do we want to get to?

Consumer/Corporate Brand Competitor/Market Employer Brand strength Employee Experience Alumni/Leavers Corporate/People Strategy Exec/Leadership External Reputation

Key Findings Themes/Relationships Segmented Grouping Behavioral/Emotional Address Points Strategic Impact

Pillars/Offerings Statements/Messaging Tone of Voice Segmented Audiences Internal/External Integration Testing

Strategic/Operational Plan Internal Touchpoints External Touchpoints Champions/Advocates

Dashboard/Metrics Survey/Benchmark ROI Evaluate/Re-Assess

Consistent

Authentic

Unique

Actual

Aspirational

Acceptance

Building our People Proposition

Attraction & Awareness

Hiring

OrientationDevelopment

Retention

Transition

EMPLOYEE LIFECYCLE

Hiring collateral Careers site Job adverts Social Media

Application Screening Assessment Offer/Reject

Post-offer Onboarding Induction Team/Org introduction

Performance Management

Development Internal Mobility

Communications Benefits Culture & Values Reward

EMPLOYER BRAND

TOUCHPOINTS

Exit process Leaver data Alumni registration Re-join

Exit Interviews Alumni Boomerang hires

Attrition Engagement Benefits usage Comms reach

• People Board Pack• Succession Planning• Internal Mobility

Social media traffic Careers site traffic Glassdoor score Passive interest

Applications Funnel conversion Candidate

Experience NPS

Quality of Hire Hiring Manager NPS Orientation Rating

PEOPLE

PROPOSITION

Messaging Touchpoints

What we did

• Creation of a People Proposition encapsulating the real Employment Experience.

• Leveraging what we can offer with what we want to offer.• Emphasis on “People” and “Human” factors and stories (i.e.

engaging with a wedding photographer to capture our imagery).• Had to appeal to everyone from Baristas to Professors.• Following persona profiling regular and planned content sharing

via Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook around Employee stories, features.

• Immediate rise in engagement and internal brand advocacy

Engagement examples

And finally (for now)

• Targeted Advertising.• A number of high-profile hiring campaigns across Professional

Services that needed a different approach to attraction.• Identifying through our People Proposition and Persona Profiling

that targeted and segmented advertising would bring both “passive” candidates and a lower cost per hire.

• Working with our advertising partner created a Facebook campaign centred around our new Video Job Descriptions and “People” focussed content.

• Both very unconventional for Higher Education however…

• Pay per click campaign for IT Services across Greater Manchester to 53,000 identified recipients. Multiple roles and multiple levels.

• 40,158 page impressions.• 372 link clicks.

• 74 potential leads to candidates at £15.27 each…

The campaign..

Results

• Senior and Exec Hiring – significant cost savings, improvement in Quality of Applicant, better Candidate Experience and Brand reflection.

• Creation of People Proposition – creation of the ‘Why”, ability to build a brand on our People and their stories, market differentiation, greater Employee Experience, reaching for greater Quality of Applicant.

• Targeted Advertising – again large cost savings, creating segmented audiences, building trust and reputation, building a recognisable brand, more relevant candidates, better engaged Hiring Managers.

The Future

• Leveraging our improved Employer Brand. Attracting the right and detracting the wrong

• New careers site with segmented content with an emphasis on UX and CX

• New ATS– more data driven decisions• Individual People Proposition for each role• Greater level of forecasting • Social Media and Content Marketing to continue to

play a significant part in both attraction and awareness

Takeaways

• Never underestimate your organisation’s complexity.• Understand your weaknesses and what people think of you.• Understand your audience and their individual personas.• Engaging talent is all about “Fishing Where the Fish are” –

this is where engaged, passive and active candidates spend their lives.

• Reinforce your brand positioning in the best display environments as well as recruitment platforms.

• Embrace Social Media as an opportunity and not a threat.