Published in the Corporate Recruiting Journal, the full Co-Authored with Amy McKee, article.
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Transcript
12 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
There has never been a better time to be a recruiter
What we do can literally make or break a company
And investors realize this and are asking tough questions
to company leadership as to how they will attract and re-
tain the top talent
But recruitment is changing
This is not a small evolution but a change that will see
the recruiting landscape change forever So fundamental is
the change that it will see traditional recruiters falling be-
hind and being replaced by new differently skilled recruiters
ready for the challenges of Recruitment 30
Indeed it is not only recruiters who will be found obso-
lete in Recruitment 30 but also many of the current recruit-
ing leaders in the top companies today criminally not
preparing their Fortune 500 companies for the new reali-
ties of a changing recruitment landscape
This paper seeks to provide a greater definition of what
Recruitment 30 is and why we all need to change adapt
and embrace the new recruiting landscape or see our com-
panies fall behind
Remember the Good Old days of Recruitment 10Remember the good old days when recruiting was as easy
as tying your shoelaces Candidates aplenty Anyone could
be a recruiter Even HR professionals
For some it was as easy as picking up the phone and call-
ing a recruitment agency and then rocking back feet on
desk waiting for the resumes to come piling through a few
days later
For the more adventurous prepared to put in a little more
effort they took time to post a job description to a job board
and again relaxed back in an executive leather chair and
wait
But relying on the recruitment agency or posting to a
A Guide to Recruitment 30A look at the need to change adapt and embrace the new recruiting landscapeor see our companies fall behind Itrsquos also a glimpse into the strategy of Autodesk
talent acquisition in the next 12 months
By Matthew Jeffery and Amy McKee
Figure 1
Recruitment Agency Terminology
ldquoExclusively sourced candidaterdquo
ldquoExclusive candidaterdquo
ldquoThey really want your companyrdquo
ldquoReally sought-after candidaterdquo
ldquoYour competitors would love to hire this personrdquo
ldquoWe have a great relationship with the candidaterdquo
The reality behind the lsquospinrsquo
They arrived on our job board 20 mins ago and I saw dollar signs and sent themstraight to you before other agencies could do so
They are exclusive to you for only the next five minutes before I press enter andsend their resume to five of your competitors
I spoke with them 10 minutes ago and reeled off a list of 10 companies that theycould work for and they said yes to all of them
They have been interviewed 15 times in the past three months but still have notbeen offered a job
They are interviewing them as we speak and I am hoping that three of them wantto offer and then I can play you all off against each other get the candidate a bet-ter salary and more importantly for me a bigger fee
We have not met the candidate but done a quick phone screen and to ensure weget them onto both your and other databases hence covering any potential feeswe are sending their details to you before other agencies And we will have a greatrelationship if they are placed as I will love the candidate as I will get a chunk ofcommission that will pay for my holiday to Hawaii
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 13
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
perience who have worked with a company for years and
years will now be on less salary than the inexperienced new
hire Hence a new game starts Hold the basic salary and
start to ldquowoordquo and ldquoseducerdquo with sign-on bonuses reloca-
tion support restricted stock awards Last chance saloon
bribery
Deal sealed Recruiter 10 can again slip back into a slum-
ber and relax as another req has been closed off their hir-
ing list
But who wins here
The recruiterYes in the short term as they have one
fewer job to hire and can tick off their metrics like ldquotime per
fillrdquo
The agency Most definitely They have placed a can-
didate at an average 20 fee and their candidate has received
a bigger offer than expected A good dayrsquos work
The hiring manager Short term yes A bum on seat
Long term they have questions and insecurity in their mind
Have they selected ldquothe bestrdquo for their role Does this can-
didate buy into the brand Are they a long-term hire Are
they money motivated And they have spent more of their
budget to hire this person than they should have hence ques-
tioning ROI
The result More often than not after six months that
candidate has been seduced by another offer and resigned
They had not developed a relationship or passion for the
brand Hiring managers learn the painful lesson that increas-
ing an offer to land a candidate rarely buys long-term loy-
alty and demonstrates that money is a short-term motiva-
tor when recruiting staff Being outside the agency reten-
tion guarantee period the hiring manager loses all the time
and money invested in the original hire and starts again from
nothing
And so begins the great ldquorecruitment circle of liferdquo again
A cynical view But a reality among many recruiters and
recruiting leaders even in Fortune 500 companies How
scary that this is happening in modern business today Re-cruitment 10 is alive and well And is still very wide-spread and prevalent today How scary is that
This situation while suffices for many top compa-nies today and in the past is unsustainable for the fu-ture
Such is the poor reputation of Recruitment 10 that de-
bates are raging about whether there is a need for in-house
recruitment teams Why canrsquot hiring managers just speak
to agencies direct post on job boards directly or even reach
job board was found wanting It was all a gamble It depend-
ed on the spin of the recruitment roulette wheel that the
right person for a role with the right skill set who was the
best culture fit who would bring long term value to that
company would be looking for a job at that moment in time
Thatrsquos a lot of coincidences to rely on A recruitment agency
may not have registered the best candidatesThe best can-
didates may not be looking at job boards or registered for
job alerts Hence recruitment lottery was the gamble that
most recruiters were happy to play
A few days after briefing an agency or posting to a job
board candidate details start to arrive ldquoYesrdquo screams the
recruiter awaking from their slumber ldquoA shortlist can now
be generatedWe are close to getting the job donerdquo
Recruiters in Version 10 are easily seduced as they look
for the least effort solutions to close their reqs Recruitment
agencies sooth recruitersrsquo ears with ldquospinrdquo that points to
highly attractive solutions (see Figure 1)
Perhaps thatrsquos a little cynical (and with a British sense
of tongue in cheek) toward recruitment agencies but itrsquos
very reflective of the core methodologies at work in Recruit-
ment 10
Meanwhile back to our scenario Recruiter 10 has been
able to assemble a shortlist to their hiring managerThe hir-
ing manager faced with little choice has to select a can-
didate as they are worried that waiting too long to fill a req
may result in their headcount being canned
But unsurprisingly as the hiring manager authorizes the
recruiter to offer they learn that the candidate has four oth-
er offers Moving from the ldquorecruitment lotteryrdquo of gener-
ating candidates has ended in ldquooffer pokerrdquo with five com-
panies all holding different cardsWho will blink first Who
has the winning hand
A great hire has ldquobought into a companyrdquoThey respect
the brand feel inspired by the direction of the company
love the feel of the culture and can see themselves as part
of that company making the difference for a few years But
Recruiters 10 have not built relationshipsThey have not
created an emotional bond between candidate and compa-
ny Hence no loyalty exists between candidate and compa-
ny
Meanwhile ldquooffer pokerrdquo plays out with companies com-
peting with counteroffer against counteroffer (like two box-
ers wearily trading punch after punch) until someone sud-
denly slams on the brakes as they realize internal salary eq-
uity will be destabilized as those loyal staff with lots of ex-
14 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
out to candidates directly via LinkedIn themselves Thatrsquos
not the most taxing of skills is it
In some ways at the root of the friction between HR and
recruiting functions is the perception that recruiting has been
lazy and a low skill profession while HR has evolved into
key issues like performance management managing teams
training and development and clear career paths There
should be no debate that a great in-house team offers strate-
gic solutions unimaginable under outsourcing or leaving hir-
ing managers to their own devices A strong in-house team
can seek to maximize through their relationships internal
referral schemes target candidates through their CRM data-
base possess a greater ability and knowledge to ldquosellrdquo their
company can hold and target events use social networks
to build relationships target and build relationships with
the best universities and their ldquocream of the croprdquo talent
In-house teams should be continually building and retain-
ing an internal database of talent for the futureAn in-house
team with a dynamic recruiting leader is without any doubt
the optimal way forward for recruitment But only if they
are not anchored by Recruitment 10 methodology
The Talent LandscapeBefore looking at Recruitment 30 and the need for
change we need to appreciate the current global recruit-
ment landscape All companies are witnessing a tsunami of
changing dynamics in the talent attractionemployment mar-
ket encompassing
bull Global war for talent A cheesy term for many For
others itrsquos a mantraWhat is true is that companies are
getting more competitive in attracting and retaining the
ldquobest talentrdquo Hence the term should be ldquoglobal war
for the best talentrdquo Recruiting on the front line is re-
ally determining a businessrsquos future success (Note the
use of the term ldquobestrdquo Recruiting talent is not hard
it is the best talent that is the challenge)
bull Talent is geographically mobileTalent will move for
the best company and best roleThere are no border
limits to attracting talent hence leading to a more flu-
id talent pool
bull Talent is more demandingTalent demands career
development and upward mobility If not looked after
and able to grow within a business talent will leave to
find a company where they will be nurtured
bull Experienced talent pool is shrinking companies are
expanding and all are seeking experienced talent who
can hit the ground running
bull Convergence of talentmdashie different market sectors
mdashare all competing for the same talent but less in-
dustry-specific talentTalent can leapfrog between Fi-
nancial Services Consumer Goods Retail IT Pub-
lic Sector TV Film Entertainment Accounting
Mobile
bull Graduate pool less skilled and equipped for the work-
forceTherersquos more competition to attract cream-of-the-
crop graduates As education across the world adapts
and a greater range of courses are added to curriculums
graduates are receiving a range of quality of education
(sometimes exceptionally poor in preparing their stu-
dents for their future careers and leaving them in debt
by thousands of dollars) All companies can attract av-
erage under-skilled graduates aplentyThe best com-
panies want the best graduates
bull Talent is less loyal often in a role for less than two
years Companies see greater movement among top-
tier staff
bull Competitors getting smarter in mapping out talent
within companies and pushing seducing buttons ben-
efitted by technological advancements such as LinkedIn
Recruiter
bull Recruitment agencies failing to be creative in attract-
ing unique talent to their databases hence perpetrat-
ing ldquorecruitment chessrdquo of the same talent across com-
panies
All of these changing dynamics make it more challeng-
ing for recruitment to identify and attract the best
And this will affect the bottom-line profitability of com-
panies as they wake up to their workforce not delivering op-
timal business results as they fall back in the war for talent
Best talent equals best results Average talent equals aver-
age results
As companies lose ground in the ldquoWar for the best tal-
entrdquo they start to ldquointrovertrdquoThey start to ask themselves
how they can stop losing talent to competitors Can they
block headhunters from calling their employees They look
at blocking communication tools like Facebook LinkedIn
MSN Messenger and Hotmail accountsThe whole ldquoau-
tocratic regime of distrustrdquo descends like a scene from an
old black and white lsquoBrsquo movie based on the Cold War ldquoYou
shalt not speak to our employeesrdquo hellip very Business 10
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 15
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Rather than seeking to block communications why arenrsquot
companies looking at things from a different perspective
Is it not more worrying for a company if their staff are not
being headhunted or seduced away If not what does that
say about the quality of their employees If your staff are
not being targeted by competitors and headhunted that
speaks volumes about the quality of your workforce and that
is a humiliating issue for your business Pivotal for compa-
nies is to focus on retention of key staff and answering these
following vital questions
bull Are employees challenged
bull Are they well remunerated (measured against market
norms)
bull Do employees have a good worklife balance and can
enjoy time with their family
bull Are managers close to their employees and is there feed-
back on performance and career development
bull Do employees feel part of a world-class company that
has a strong future
bull Can employees see a ladder of opportunity and strong
promotion prospectsrsquo
bull Are employees being developed What training and de-
velopment programs are in place
bull Are employee ideas listened to and they receive feed-
back on them
bull Is senior management approachable and they regular-
ly communicate or living in ivory towers
bull Is the culture fun and people feeling part of a family
If there are any negatives above especially if there are
many then those employees are rightfully subject to the prey
of a good headhunter and can be readily seduced by oth-
er opportunities
If someone is happy however good the headhunter and
the proposition is it is extremely hard to seduce them away
hence the need for companies to focus on retention than
the means of restricting communication channels into em-
ployees
So however cheesy the term is the Global War for the
Best Talent is real Itrsquos happening and many companies are
in danger of losing this battle of attrition
UtopiaQuestion What is recruitment utopia Willy Wonkarsquos
ldquoGolden Ticketrdquo to the chocolate factory
Answer A predictable talent pipeline where companies
can identify hold relationships with and cherry-pick the
best available talent A req is green-lit and the recruiter can
immediately identify and bring forth into interview the best
talentThe req is closed with a ldquoAAArdquo candidate Job done
Sounds fanciful
Not nearly as unachievable as it would seem
So question is how to travel the yellow brick road to the
end of the rainbow
Two key strategies in building a predictable talent
pipeline
bull Sourcing Identifying top talent and mapping out key
competitors (a competitor being defined by where tal-
ent resides as opposed to product competitor)
After mapping out the best talent it is about build-
ing relationships directly (face to facevideo conferenc-
ing) and indirectly through social communitiesThe
best hire may mean a relationship that is built over
weeks and months before that candidate is willing to
join a company Graduate recruitment also fits into this
bucket as it is about identifying the top courses in the
best universities and mapping out the top performers
through campus relationships All of this reduces the
random elements of recruiting
bull Employment Brand and Recruitment MarketingThe goal is building a wider reputation as a destina-
tion for top talent by humanizing the company brand
to reveal what happens within the four walls of your
company and behind the spin of corporate PRmarket-
ing By engaging in a transparent two-way communi-
cation with talent building an engaged set of commu-
nities hungry to participate in your created content
a greater appeal will be generated Employment brand
and marketing should be aimed at taking your com-
munity on a journey from familiarization of company
and product to knowledgeable insight into the com-
pany ending in consideration of working at your com-
panybeing one of your brand ambassadors who talk
favorably about you to their friends colleagues and
communities
So here we come to the gates of the core philosophical
differences between traditional recruiting and Recruitment
30hellip
16 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Not every-onersquos looking
This is the fundamental underlying core essence of Re-
cruitment 30
Not everyone is looking for a job
Different market research exists but citing the US Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics for any given role only 10 of rel-
evantexperienced talent is looking for a role at any given
moment of time
That means that 90 of candidates relevant for arole are not lookingThe best candidates are typical-ly among them
Hence in a candidate-short market with a host ofcompetition for particular skill-sets the Global Warfor the Best Talent is being fought outamongst 10 of active job seekers Nowonder the trend toward salary infla-tion and sign-on bonuses
Reinforcing this message the best can-
didate for your role is not likely to be cur-
rently registered on a recruitment agency
database or registered on a job boardThey
may never search job boards as they are
used to direct approachheadhunting
The best candidates may never have even
considered working for you even worse
they may have never even heard of you
Hence Recruitment 30 is about iden-
tifying the best candidates in that passive
90 of non-job seekers and building a re-
lationship making them care about your company even be-
friend them as this will ultimately then bond loyalty trust
and also start to engender emotion in a candidate
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Everyoneis a potential candidate or brand ambassador Evenyour consumers
Back to the core of Recruitment 30 is the definition of
a candidate
A candidate is someone who has nominated themselves
to be part of an election process It is a voluntary actThatrsquos
the traditional definition
But at what point does someone volunteer to be a can-
didate
bull When they see your advertisement
bull When they apply to your advertisement
bull When you interview them
So if they are not a candidate until they volunteer them-
selves what are they
They are your average person sitting and having a cof-
fee in Starbucks or leading a team at work speaking at a
conference running down the road watching TV or hav-
ing a pint at the pubThey are everyone around you
What turns a regular person into a candidate
A whole host of reasons ldquoI am not recognised at work
for what I dordquo ldquoMy boss is selfish and never develops merdquo
ldquoMy boss seeks all the praise and recognitionrdquo ldquoI am un-
derpaidrdquo
You name it any reason can transform someone into a
candidate
So the issue boils down to timing
A company either waits for the moment
someone becomes a candidate and then
jumps on them or makes a proposition
that is attractive and tempts them into
candidacy
At the core of Recruitment 30 is that
EVERYONE IS A CANDIDATE Wecreate candidates
Recruitment 30 companies are slow-
ly realizing great recruitment is about
building relationships and communicat-
ing with people (hence creating an emo-
tional connection with them) before
they become a candidate
Key is how you identify and build emotional relationships
with that talent
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Employmentbrand is pivotal to your success in talent acquisition
Before defining an employer value proposition or employ-
ment brand it is important to understand what a brand is
The classic definition comes from Interbrand Brand Glos-
sary ldquoA brand is a mixture of attributes tangible and in-
tangible symbolized in a trademark which if managed prop-
erly creates value and influence Brands simplify decision-
making represent an assurance of quality and offer a rel-
evant different and credible choice among competing of-
feringsrdquo
Put more simply a brand is a personrsquos gut feel about a
product service or organization
Indeed it is not onlyrecruiters who will be
found obsolete inrecruitment 30 but also
many of the currentrecruiting leaders in the
top companies todaycriminally not preparing
their Fortune 500company to the new
realities of recruiting
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 17
The goal of a brand is to create an emotional attachment
Emotion creates a connection that bonds loyalty and trust
An emotional relationship is one anchored by honest two-
way communication
Consider the following Brands McDonaldrsquos Disney Fer-
rari Starbucks Lego Coca-Cola NikeAdidasApple Pixar
Autodesk Google Instantly people have a reaction to all
these brands
Boiled down even more simply as product parity grows
subconscious brand selection becomes even more pivotal
eg when buying a cup of coffee do you go to Costa Cof-
fee or Starbucks The taste differential is minimal so sub-
conscious decisions on brand and lifestyle creep in I pre-
fer the ambiance and sofas in Starbucks
Product brand is pivotal to sales success A powerful con-
sumer brand can provide vision and inspiration to employ-
ees drive innovation and quality guide business decisions
become something consumers love and can multiply
sales by hundreds of millions and add billions to sharehold-
er value
Walk around a supermarket and on average there are
30000 different product brands screaming at you PICK
ME UP hellip NOW hellip LOOK AT ME hellip BUY ME
Now imagine that same supermarket and if every prod-
uct looked the same and were in pure white packaging with
no advertisingWhat would catch your eye Make you stop
and explore Now look at the Fortune 500 How many com-
panies have an employment brand For how many can you
define their employment brand proposition The answer is
minimal Less than 2 Irsquom guessing
So if employers recognize that recruitment is so impor-
tant and vital to the success of their businessesrsquo future why
are they happy that their company has no employment brand
proposition Why are they happy to sell their company in
a way that is equivalent to bland white packaging with no
advertising in a supermarket
Retro-traditionalists would of course say that product
brand is enough to sell a company and people will come
flocking to work on the best products Unfortunately as re-
cruiters from some of the sexiest brands in the world will
tell you that a product brand is not enough to attract peo-
pleWhen you Google ldquoworking atrdquo some of the best-known
companies due to organizational arrogance little has
been done to provide a great working atmosphere and ca-
reer prospects and their product brand is the reverse of their
employment reality
What Is an Employment BrandldquoHow a business builds and packages its identity
from its origins and values what it promises to deliver to
emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliv-
er what the business promises to customers Building the
employment brand from inside the business with a con-
sistent substance voice and authenticity may be the most
powerful tool a business can use to emotionally engage em-
ployeesrdquo (Taken from the brilliant Libby Sartainrsquos Brand
from the Inside
Why is an employment brand needed over and above a
product brand What benefits does a product brand bring
A world-class employment brand brings many benefits
bull Higher-quality candidatesThe best want to work at the
best companies
bull Increase in unsolicited candidate applications to your
jobs site
bull Higher offeraccept ratios
bull Increased number of employee referrals
bull Improved employee retention rates
bull Increased employee motivation
bull Decreased corporate negativity
bull Stronger corporate culture
bull Increased shareholder value
bull Competitive advantage
bull Enhanced college recruiting
bull Stronger perception among high school students and
future recruits
bull Increased media exposure
bull Increased manager satisfaction
bull Happier workforce
bull Long-term development planning possible with stable
dynamic workforce
Recruitment 10 vs Recruitment 30 on EmploymentBrand
Many Fortune 500 company recruiting leaders donrsquot
understand employment brandingThat is evident from
looking at their corporate careers sites recruitment col-
lateral and what their recruiting leaders say at confer-
ences Common misconceptions are highlighted in Fig-
ure 2 on the next page
So if the employment brand touches everything in Re-
cruitment 30 how does it affect day-to-day recruitment and
how can perceptions be improved
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 13
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
perience who have worked with a company for years and
years will now be on less salary than the inexperienced new
hire Hence a new game starts Hold the basic salary and
start to ldquowoordquo and ldquoseducerdquo with sign-on bonuses reloca-
tion support restricted stock awards Last chance saloon
bribery
Deal sealed Recruiter 10 can again slip back into a slum-
ber and relax as another req has been closed off their hir-
ing list
But who wins here
The recruiterYes in the short term as they have one
fewer job to hire and can tick off their metrics like ldquotime per
fillrdquo
The agency Most definitely They have placed a can-
didate at an average 20 fee and their candidate has received
a bigger offer than expected A good dayrsquos work
The hiring manager Short term yes A bum on seat
Long term they have questions and insecurity in their mind
Have they selected ldquothe bestrdquo for their role Does this can-
didate buy into the brand Are they a long-term hire Are
they money motivated And they have spent more of their
budget to hire this person than they should have hence ques-
tioning ROI
The result More often than not after six months that
candidate has been seduced by another offer and resigned
They had not developed a relationship or passion for the
brand Hiring managers learn the painful lesson that increas-
ing an offer to land a candidate rarely buys long-term loy-
alty and demonstrates that money is a short-term motiva-
tor when recruiting staff Being outside the agency reten-
tion guarantee period the hiring manager loses all the time
and money invested in the original hire and starts again from
nothing
And so begins the great ldquorecruitment circle of liferdquo again
A cynical view But a reality among many recruiters and
recruiting leaders even in Fortune 500 companies How
scary that this is happening in modern business today Re-cruitment 10 is alive and well And is still very wide-spread and prevalent today How scary is that
This situation while suffices for many top compa-nies today and in the past is unsustainable for the fu-ture
Such is the poor reputation of Recruitment 10 that de-
bates are raging about whether there is a need for in-house
recruitment teams Why canrsquot hiring managers just speak
to agencies direct post on job boards directly or even reach
job board was found wanting It was all a gamble It depend-
ed on the spin of the recruitment roulette wheel that the
right person for a role with the right skill set who was the
best culture fit who would bring long term value to that
company would be looking for a job at that moment in time
Thatrsquos a lot of coincidences to rely on A recruitment agency
may not have registered the best candidatesThe best can-
didates may not be looking at job boards or registered for
job alerts Hence recruitment lottery was the gamble that
most recruiters were happy to play
A few days after briefing an agency or posting to a job
board candidate details start to arrive ldquoYesrdquo screams the
recruiter awaking from their slumber ldquoA shortlist can now
be generatedWe are close to getting the job donerdquo
Recruiters in Version 10 are easily seduced as they look
for the least effort solutions to close their reqs Recruitment
agencies sooth recruitersrsquo ears with ldquospinrdquo that points to
highly attractive solutions (see Figure 1)
Perhaps thatrsquos a little cynical (and with a British sense
of tongue in cheek) toward recruitment agencies but itrsquos
very reflective of the core methodologies at work in Recruit-
ment 10
Meanwhile back to our scenario Recruiter 10 has been
able to assemble a shortlist to their hiring managerThe hir-
ing manager faced with little choice has to select a can-
didate as they are worried that waiting too long to fill a req
may result in their headcount being canned
But unsurprisingly as the hiring manager authorizes the
recruiter to offer they learn that the candidate has four oth-
er offers Moving from the ldquorecruitment lotteryrdquo of gener-
ating candidates has ended in ldquooffer pokerrdquo with five com-
panies all holding different cardsWho will blink first Who
has the winning hand
A great hire has ldquobought into a companyrdquoThey respect
the brand feel inspired by the direction of the company
love the feel of the culture and can see themselves as part
of that company making the difference for a few years But
Recruiters 10 have not built relationshipsThey have not
created an emotional bond between candidate and compa-
ny Hence no loyalty exists between candidate and compa-
ny
Meanwhile ldquooffer pokerrdquo plays out with companies com-
peting with counteroffer against counteroffer (like two box-
ers wearily trading punch after punch) until someone sud-
denly slams on the brakes as they realize internal salary eq-
uity will be destabilized as those loyal staff with lots of ex-
14 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
out to candidates directly via LinkedIn themselves Thatrsquos
not the most taxing of skills is it
In some ways at the root of the friction between HR and
recruiting functions is the perception that recruiting has been
lazy and a low skill profession while HR has evolved into
key issues like performance management managing teams
training and development and clear career paths There
should be no debate that a great in-house team offers strate-
gic solutions unimaginable under outsourcing or leaving hir-
ing managers to their own devices A strong in-house team
can seek to maximize through their relationships internal
referral schemes target candidates through their CRM data-
base possess a greater ability and knowledge to ldquosellrdquo their
company can hold and target events use social networks
to build relationships target and build relationships with
the best universities and their ldquocream of the croprdquo talent
In-house teams should be continually building and retain-
ing an internal database of talent for the futureAn in-house
team with a dynamic recruiting leader is without any doubt
the optimal way forward for recruitment But only if they
are not anchored by Recruitment 10 methodology
The Talent LandscapeBefore looking at Recruitment 30 and the need for
change we need to appreciate the current global recruit-
ment landscape All companies are witnessing a tsunami of
changing dynamics in the talent attractionemployment mar-
ket encompassing
bull Global war for talent A cheesy term for many For
others itrsquos a mantraWhat is true is that companies are
getting more competitive in attracting and retaining the
ldquobest talentrdquo Hence the term should be ldquoglobal war
for the best talentrdquo Recruiting on the front line is re-
ally determining a businessrsquos future success (Note the
use of the term ldquobestrdquo Recruiting talent is not hard
it is the best talent that is the challenge)
bull Talent is geographically mobileTalent will move for
the best company and best roleThere are no border
limits to attracting talent hence leading to a more flu-
id talent pool
bull Talent is more demandingTalent demands career
development and upward mobility If not looked after
and able to grow within a business talent will leave to
find a company where they will be nurtured
bull Experienced talent pool is shrinking companies are
expanding and all are seeking experienced talent who
can hit the ground running
bull Convergence of talentmdashie different market sectors
mdashare all competing for the same talent but less in-
dustry-specific talentTalent can leapfrog between Fi-
nancial Services Consumer Goods Retail IT Pub-
lic Sector TV Film Entertainment Accounting
Mobile
bull Graduate pool less skilled and equipped for the work-
forceTherersquos more competition to attract cream-of-the-
crop graduates As education across the world adapts
and a greater range of courses are added to curriculums
graduates are receiving a range of quality of education
(sometimes exceptionally poor in preparing their stu-
dents for their future careers and leaving them in debt
by thousands of dollars) All companies can attract av-
erage under-skilled graduates aplentyThe best com-
panies want the best graduates
bull Talent is less loyal often in a role for less than two
years Companies see greater movement among top-
tier staff
bull Competitors getting smarter in mapping out talent
within companies and pushing seducing buttons ben-
efitted by technological advancements such as LinkedIn
Recruiter
bull Recruitment agencies failing to be creative in attract-
ing unique talent to their databases hence perpetrat-
ing ldquorecruitment chessrdquo of the same talent across com-
panies
All of these changing dynamics make it more challeng-
ing for recruitment to identify and attract the best
And this will affect the bottom-line profitability of com-
panies as they wake up to their workforce not delivering op-
timal business results as they fall back in the war for talent
Best talent equals best results Average talent equals aver-
age results
As companies lose ground in the ldquoWar for the best tal-
entrdquo they start to ldquointrovertrdquoThey start to ask themselves
how they can stop losing talent to competitors Can they
block headhunters from calling their employees They look
at blocking communication tools like Facebook LinkedIn
MSN Messenger and Hotmail accountsThe whole ldquoau-
tocratic regime of distrustrdquo descends like a scene from an
old black and white lsquoBrsquo movie based on the Cold War ldquoYou
shalt not speak to our employeesrdquo hellip very Business 10
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 15
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Rather than seeking to block communications why arenrsquot
companies looking at things from a different perspective
Is it not more worrying for a company if their staff are not
being headhunted or seduced away If not what does that
say about the quality of their employees If your staff are
not being targeted by competitors and headhunted that
speaks volumes about the quality of your workforce and that
is a humiliating issue for your business Pivotal for compa-
nies is to focus on retention of key staff and answering these
following vital questions
bull Are employees challenged
bull Are they well remunerated (measured against market
norms)
bull Do employees have a good worklife balance and can
enjoy time with their family
bull Are managers close to their employees and is there feed-
back on performance and career development
bull Do employees feel part of a world-class company that
has a strong future
bull Can employees see a ladder of opportunity and strong
promotion prospectsrsquo
bull Are employees being developed What training and de-
velopment programs are in place
bull Are employee ideas listened to and they receive feed-
back on them
bull Is senior management approachable and they regular-
ly communicate or living in ivory towers
bull Is the culture fun and people feeling part of a family
If there are any negatives above especially if there are
many then those employees are rightfully subject to the prey
of a good headhunter and can be readily seduced by oth-
er opportunities
If someone is happy however good the headhunter and
the proposition is it is extremely hard to seduce them away
hence the need for companies to focus on retention than
the means of restricting communication channels into em-
ployees
So however cheesy the term is the Global War for the
Best Talent is real Itrsquos happening and many companies are
in danger of losing this battle of attrition
UtopiaQuestion What is recruitment utopia Willy Wonkarsquos
ldquoGolden Ticketrdquo to the chocolate factory
Answer A predictable talent pipeline where companies
can identify hold relationships with and cherry-pick the
best available talent A req is green-lit and the recruiter can
immediately identify and bring forth into interview the best
talentThe req is closed with a ldquoAAArdquo candidate Job done
Sounds fanciful
Not nearly as unachievable as it would seem
So question is how to travel the yellow brick road to the
end of the rainbow
Two key strategies in building a predictable talent
pipeline
bull Sourcing Identifying top talent and mapping out key
competitors (a competitor being defined by where tal-
ent resides as opposed to product competitor)
After mapping out the best talent it is about build-
ing relationships directly (face to facevideo conferenc-
ing) and indirectly through social communitiesThe
best hire may mean a relationship that is built over
weeks and months before that candidate is willing to
join a company Graduate recruitment also fits into this
bucket as it is about identifying the top courses in the
best universities and mapping out the top performers
through campus relationships All of this reduces the
random elements of recruiting
bull Employment Brand and Recruitment MarketingThe goal is building a wider reputation as a destina-
tion for top talent by humanizing the company brand
to reveal what happens within the four walls of your
company and behind the spin of corporate PRmarket-
ing By engaging in a transparent two-way communi-
cation with talent building an engaged set of commu-
nities hungry to participate in your created content
a greater appeal will be generated Employment brand
and marketing should be aimed at taking your com-
munity on a journey from familiarization of company
and product to knowledgeable insight into the com-
pany ending in consideration of working at your com-
panybeing one of your brand ambassadors who talk
favorably about you to their friends colleagues and
communities
So here we come to the gates of the core philosophical
differences between traditional recruiting and Recruitment
30hellip
16 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Not every-onersquos looking
This is the fundamental underlying core essence of Re-
cruitment 30
Not everyone is looking for a job
Different market research exists but citing the US Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics for any given role only 10 of rel-
evantexperienced talent is looking for a role at any given
moment of time
That means that 90 of candidates relevant for arole are not lookingThe best candidates are typical-ly among them
Hence in a candidate-short market with a host ofcompetition for particular skill-sets the Global Warfor the Best Talent is being fought outamongst 10 of active job seekers Nowonder the trend toward salary infla-tion and sign-on bonuses
Reinforcing this message the best can-
didate for your role is not likely to be cur-
rently registered on a recruitment agency
database or registered on a job boardThey
may never search job boards as they are
used to direct approachheadhunting
The best candidates may never have even
considered working for you even worse
they may have never even heard of you
Hence Recruitment 30 is about iden-
tifying the best candidates in that passive
90 of non-job seekers and building a re-
lationship making them care about your company even be-
friend them as this will ultimately then bond loyalty trust
and also start to engender emotion in a candidate
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Everyoneis a potential candidate or brand ambassador Evenyour consumers
Back to the core of Recruitment 30 is the definition of
a candidate
A candidate is someone who has nominated themselves
to be part of an election process It is a voluntary actThatrsquos
the traditional definition
But at what point does someone volunteer to be a can-
didate
bull When they see your advertisement
bull When they apply to your advertisement
bull When you interview them
So if they are not a candidate until they volunteer them-
selves what are they
They are your average person sitting and having a cof-
fee in Starbucks or leading a team at work speaking at a
conference running down the road watching TV or hav-
ing a pint at the pubThey are everyone around you
What turns a regular person into a candidate
A whole host of reasons ldquoI am not recognised at work
for what I dordquo ldquoMy boss is selfish and never develops merdquo
ldquoMy boss seeks all the praise and recognitionrdquo ldquoI am un-
derpaidrdquo
You name it any reason can transform someone into a
candidate
So the issue boils down to timing
A company either waits for the moment
someone becomes a candidate and then
jumps on them or makes a proposition
that is attractive and tempts them into
candidacy
At the core of Recruitment 30 is that
EVERYONE IS A CANDIDATE Wecreate candidates
Recruitment 30 companies are slow-
ly realizing great recruitment is about
building relationships and communicat-
ing with people (hence creating an emo-
tional connection with them) before
they become a candidate
Key is how you identify and build emotional relationships
with that talent
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Employmentbrand is pivotal to your success in talent acquisition
Before defining an employer value proposition or employ-
ment brand it is important to understand what a brand is
The classic definition comes from Interbrand Brand Glos-
sary ldquoA brand is a mixture of attributes tangible and in-
tangible symbolized in a trademark which if managed prop-
erly creates value and influence Brands simplify decision-
making represent an assurance of quality and offer a rel-
evant different and credible choice among competing of-
feringsrdquo
Put more simply a brand is a personrsquos gut feel about a
product service or organization
Indeed it is not onlyrecruiters who will be
found obsolete inrecruitment 30 but also
many of the currentrecruiting leaders in the
top companies todaycriminally not preparing
their Fortune 500company to the new
realities of recruiting
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 17
The goal of a brand is to create an emotional attachment
Emotion creates a connection that bonds loyalty and trust
An emotional relationship is one anchored by honest two-
way communication
Consider the following Brands McDonaldrsquos Disney Fer-
rari Starbucks Lego Coca-Cola NikeAdidasApple Pixar
Autodesk Google Instantly people have a reaction to all
these brands
Boiled down even more simply as product parity grows
subconscious brand selection becomes even more pivotal
eg when buying a cup of coffee do you go to Costa Cof-
fee or Starbucks The taste differential is minimal so sub-
conscious decisions on brand and lifestyle creep in I pre-
fer the ambiance and sofas in Starbucks
Product brand is pivotal to sales success A powerful con-
sumer brand can provide vision and inspiration to employ-
ees drive innovation and quality guide business decisions
become something consumers love and can multiply
sales by hundreds of millions and add billions to sharehold-
er value
Walk around a supermarket and on average there are
30000 different product brands screaming at you PICK
ME UP hellip NOW hellip LOOK AT ME hellip BUY ME
Now imagine that same supermarket and if every prod-
uct looked the same and were in pure white packaging with
no advertisingWhat would catch your eye Make you stop
and explore Now look at the Fortune 500 How many com-
panies have an employment brand For how many can you
define their employment brand proposition The answer is
minimal Less than 2 Irsquom guessing
So if employers recognize that recruitment is so impor-
tant and vital to the success of their businessesrsquo future why
are they happy that their company has no employment brand
proposition Why are they happy to sell their company in
a way that is equivalent to bland white packaging with no
advertising in a supermarket
Retro-traditionalists would of course say that product
brand is enough to sell a company and people will come
flocking to work on the best products Unfortunately as re-
cruiters from some of the sexiest brands in the world will
tell you that a product brand is not enough to attract peo-
pleWhen you Google ldquoworking atrdquo some of the best-known
companies due to organizational arrogance little has
been done to provide a great working atmosphere and ca-
reer prospects and their product brand is the reverse of their
employment reality
What Is an Employment BrandldquoHow a business builds and packages its identity
from its origins and values what it promises to deliver to
emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliv-
er what the business promises to customers Building the
employment brand from inside the business with a con-
sistent substance voice and authenticity may be the most
powerful tool a business can use to emotionally engage em-
ployeesrdquo (Taken from the brilliant Libby Sartainrsquos Brand
from the Inside
Why is an employment brand needed over and above a
product brand What benefits does a product brand bring
A world-class employment brand brings many benefits
bull Higher-quality candidatesThe best want to work at the
best companies
bull Increase in unsolicited candidate applications to your
jobs site
bull Higher offeraccept ratios
bull Increased number of employee referrals
bull Improved employee retention rates
bull Increased employee motivation
bull Decreased corporate negativity
bull Stronger corporate culture
bull Increased shareholder value
bull Competitive advantage
bull Enhanced college recruiting
bull Stronger perception among high school students and
future recruits
bull Increased media exposure
bull Increased manager satisfaction
bull Happier workforce
bull Long-term development planning possible with stable
dynamic workforce
Recruitment 10 vs Recruitment 30 on EmploymentBrand
Many Fortune 500 company recruiting leaders donrsquot
understand employment brandingThat is evident from
looking at their corporate careers sites recruitment col-
lateral and what their recruiting leaders say at confer-
ences Common misconceptions are highlighted in Fig-
ure 2 on the next page
So if the employment brand touches everything in Re-
cruitment 30 how does it affect day-to-day recruitment and
how can perceptions be improved
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
14 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
out to candidates directly via LinkedIn themselves Thatrsquos
not the most taxing of skills is it
In some ways at the root of the friction between HR and
recruiting functions is the perception that recruiting has been
lazy and a low skill profession while HR has evolved into
key issues like performance management managing teams
training and development and clear career paths There
should be no debate that a great in-house team offers strate-
gic solutions unimaginable under outsourcing or leaving hir-
ing managers to their own devices A strong in-house team
can seek to maximize through their relationships internal
referral schemes target candidates through their CRM data-
base possess a greater ability and knowledge to ldquosellrdquo their
company can hold and target events use social networks
to build relationships target and build relationships with
the best universities and their ldquocream of the croprdquo talent
In-house teams should be continually building and retain-
ing an internal database of talent for the futureAn in-house
team with a dynamic recruiting leader is without any doubt
the optimal way forward for recruitment But only if they
are not anchored by Recruitment 10 methodology
The Talent LandscapeBefore looking at Recruitment 30 and the need for
change we need to appreciate the current global recruit-
ment landscape All companies are witnessing a tsunami of
changing dynamics in the talent attractionemployment mar-
ket encompassing
bull Global war for talent A cheesy term for many For
others itrsquos a mantraWhat is true is that companies are
getting more competitive in attracting and retaining the
ldquobest talentrdquo Hence the term should be ldquoglobal war
for the best talentrdquo Recruiting on the front line is re-
ally determining a businessrsquos future success (Note the
use of the term ldquobestrdquo Recruiting talent is not hard
it is the best talent that is the challenge)
bull Talent is geographically mobileTalent will move for
the best company and best roleThere are no border
limits to attracting talent hence leading to a more flu-
id talent pool
bull Talent is more demandingTalent demands career
development and upward mobility If not looked after
and able to grow within a business talent will leave to
find a company where they will be nurtured
bull Experienced talent pool is shrinking companies are
expanding and all are seeking experienced talent who
can hit the ground running
bull Convergence of talentmdashie different market sectors
mdashare all competing for the same talent but less in-
dustry-specific talentTalent can leapfrog between Fi-
nancial Services Consumer Goods Retail IT Pub-
lic Sector TV Film Entertainment Accounting
Mobile
bull Graduate pool less skilled and equipped for the work-
forceTherersquos more competition to attract cream-of-the-
crop graduates As education across the world adapts
and a greater range of courses are added to curriculums
graduates are receiving a range of quality of education
(sometimes exceptionally poor in preparing their stu-
dents for their future careers and leaving them in debt
by thousands of dollars) All companies can attract av-
erage under-skilled graduates aplentyThe best com-
panies want the best graduates
bull Talent is less loyal often in a role for less than two
years Companies see greater movement among top-
tier staff
bull Competitors getting smarter in mapping out talent
within companies and pushing seducing buttons ben-
efitted by technological advancements such as LinkedIn
Recruiter
bull Recruitment agencies failing to be creative in attract-
ing unique talent to their databases hence perpetrat-
ing ldquorecruitment chessrdquo of the same talent across com-
panies
All of these changing dynamics make it more challeng-
ing for recruitment to identify and attract the best
And this will affect the bottom-line profitability of com-
panies as they wake up to their workforce not delivering op-
timal business results as they fall back in the war for talent
Best talent equals best results Average talent equals aver-
age results
As companies lose ground in the ldquoWar for the best tal-
entrdquo they start to ldquointrovertrdquoThey start to ask themselves
how they can stop losing talent to competitors Can they
block headhunters from calling their employees They look
at blocking communication tools like Facebook LinkedIn
MSN Messenger and Hotmail accountsThe whole ldquoau-
tocratic regime of distrustrdquo descends like a scene from an
old black and white lsquoBrsquo movie based on the Cold War ldquoYou
shalt not speak to our employeesrdquo hellip very Business 10
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 15
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Rather than seeking to block communications why arenrsquot
companies looking at things from a different perspective
Is it not more worrying for a company if their staff are not
being headhunted or seduced away If not what does that
say about the quality of their employees If your staff are
not being targeted by competitors and headhunted that
speaks volumes about the quality of your workforce and that
is a humiliating issue for your business Pivotal for compa-
nies is to focus on retention of key staff and answering these
following vital questions
bull Are employees challenged
bull Are they well remunerated (measured against market
norms)
bull Do employees have a good worklife balance and can
enjoy time with their family
bull Are managers close to their employees and is there feed-
back on performance and career development
bull Do employees feel part of a world-class company that
has a strong future
bull Can employees see a ladder of opportunity and strong
promotion prospectsrsquo
bull Are employees being developed What training and de-
velopment programs are in place
bull Are employee ideas listened to and they receive feed-
back on them
bull Is senior management approachable and they regular-
ly communicate or living in ivory towers
bull Is the culture fun and people feeling part of a family
If there are any negatives above especially if there are
many then those employees are rightfully subject to the prey
of a good headhunter and can be readily seduced by oth-
er opportunities
If someone is happy however good the headhunter and
the proposition is it is extremely hard to seduce them away
hence the need for companies to focus on retention than
the means of restricting communication channels into em-
ployees
So however cheesy the term is the Global War for the
Best Talent is real Itrsquos happening and many companies are
in danger of losing this battle of attrition
UtopiaQuestion What is recruitment utopia Willy Wonkarsquos
ldquoGolden Ticketrdquo to the chocolate factory
Answer A predictable talent pipeline where companies
can identify hold relationships with and cherry-pick the
best available talent A req is green-lit and the recruiter can
immediately identify and bring forth into interview the best
talentThe req is closed with a ldquoAAArdquo candidate Job done
Sounds fanciful
Not nearly as unachievable as it would seem
So question is how to travel the yellow brick road to the
end of the rainbow
Two key strategies in building a predictable talent
pipeline
bull Sourcing Identifying top talent and mapping out key
competitors (a competitor being defined by where tal-
ent resides as opposed to product competitor)
After mapping out the best talent it is about build-
ing relationships directly (face to facevideo conferenc-
ing) and indirectly through social communitiesThe
best hire may mean a relationship that is built over
weeks and months before that candidate is willing to
join a company Graduate recruitment also fits into this
bucket as it is about identifying the top courses in the
best universities and mapping out the top performers
through campus relationships All of this reduces the
random elements of recruiting
bull Employment Brand and Recruitment MarketingThe goal is building a wider reputation as a destina-
tion for top talent by humanizing the company brand
to reveal what happens within the four walls of your
company and behind the spin of corporate PRmarket-
ing By engaging in a transparent two-way communi-
cation with talent building an engaged set of commu-
nities hungry to participate in your created content
a greater appeal will be generated Employment brand
and marketing should be aimed at taking your com-
munity on a journey from familiarization of company
and product to knowledgeable insight into the com-
pany ending in consideration of working at your com-
panybeing one of your brand ambassadors who talk
favorably about you to their friends colleagues and
communities
So here we come to the gates of the core philosophical
differences between traditional recruiting and Recruitment
30hellip
16 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Not every-onersquos looking
This is the fundamental underlying core essence of Re-
cruitment 30
Not everyone is looking for a job
Different market research exists but citing the US Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics for any given role only 10 of rel-
evantexperienced talent is looking for a role at any given
moment of time
That means that 90 of candidates relevant for arole are not lookingThe best candidates are typical-ly among them
Hence in a candidate-short market with a host ofcompetition for particular skill-sets the Global Warfor the Best Talent is being fought outamongst 10 of active job seekers Nowonder the trend toward salary infla-tion and sign-on bonuses
Reinforcing this message the best can-
didate for your role is not likely to be cur-
rently registered on a recruitment agency
database or registered on a job boardThey
may never search job boards as they are
used to direct approachheadhunting
The best candidates may never have even
considered working for you even worse
they may have never even heard of you
Hence Recruitment 30 is about iden-
tifying the best candidates in that passive
90 of non-job seekers and building a re-
lationship making them care about your company even be-
friend them as this will ultimately then bond loyalty trust
and also start to engender emotion in a candidate
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Everyoneis a potential candidate or brand ambassador Evenyour consumers
Back to the core of Recruitment 30 is the definition of
a candidate
A candidate is someone who has nominated themselves
to be part of an election process It is a voluntary actThatrsquos
the traditional definition
But at what point does someone volunteer to be a can-
didate
bull When they see your advertisement
bull When they apply to your advertisement
bull When you interview them
So if they are not a candidate until they volunteer them-
selves what are they
They are your average person sitting and having a cof-
fee in Starbucks or leading a team at work speaking at a
conference running down the road watching TV or hav-
ing a pint at the pubThey are everyone around you
What turns a regular person into a candidate
A whole host of reasons ldquoI am not recognised at work
for what I dordquo ldquoMy boss is selfish and never develops merdquo
ldquoMy boss seeks all the praise and recognitionrdquo ldquoI am un-
derpaidrdquo
You name it any reason can transform someone into a
candidate
So the issue boils down to timing
A company either waits for the moment
someone becomes a candidate and then
jumps on them or makes a proposition
that is attractive and tempts them into
candidacy
At the core of Recruitment 30 is that
EVERYONE IS A CANDIDATE Wecreate candidates
Recruitment 30 companies are slow-
ly realizing great recruitment is about
building relationships and communicat-
ing with people (hence creating an emo-
tional connection with them) before
they become a candidate
Key is how you identify and build emotional relationships
with that talent
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Employmentbrand is pivotal to your success in talent acquisition
Before defining an employer value proposition or employ-
ment brand it is important to understand what a brand is
The classic definition comes from Interbrand Brand Glos-
sary ldquoA brand is a mixture of attributes tangible and in-
tangible symbolized in a trademark which if managed prop-
erly creates value and influence Brands simplify decision-
making represent an assurance of quality and offer a rel-
evant different and credible choice among competing of-
feringsrdquo
Put more simply a brand is a personrsquos gut feel about a
product service or organization
Indeed it is not onlyrecruiters who will be
found obsolete inrecruitment 30 but also
many of the currentrecruiting leaders in the
top companies todaycriminally not preparing
their Fortune 500company to the new
realities of recruiting
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 17
The goal of a brand is to create an emotional attachment
Emotion creates a connection that bonds loyalty and trust
An emotional relationship is one anchored by honest two-
way communication
Consider the following Brands McDonaldrsquos Disney Fer-
rari Starbucks Lego Coca-Cola NikeAdidasApple Pixar
Autodesk Google Instantly people have a reaction to all
these brands
Boiled down even more simply as product parity grows
subconscious brand selection becomes even more pivotal
eg when buying a cup of coffee do you go to Costa Cof-
fee or Starbucks The taste differential is minimal so sub-
conscious decisions on brand and lifestyle creep in I pre-
fer the ambiance and sofas in Starbucks
Product brand is pivotal to sales success A powerful con-
sumer brand can provide vision and inspiration to employ-
ees drive innovation and quality guide business decisions
become something consumers love and can multiply
sales by hundreds of millions and add billions to sharehold-
er value
Walk around a supermarket and on average there are
30000 different product brands screaming at you PICK
ME UP hellip NOW hellip LOOK AT ME hellip BUY ME
Now imagine that same supermarket and if every prod-
uct looked the same and were in pure white packaging with
no advertisingWhat would catch your eye Make you stop
and explore Now look at the Fortune 500 How many com-
panies have an employment brand For how many can you
define their employment brand proposition The answer is
minimal Less than 2 Irsquom guessing
So if employers recognize that recruitment is so impor-
tant and vital to the success of their businessesrsquo future why
are they happy that their company has no employment brand
proposition Why are they happy to sell their company in
a way that is equivalent to bland white packaging with no
advertising in a supermarket
Retro-traditionalists would of course say that product
brand is enough to sell a company and people will come
flocking to work on the best products Unfortunately as re-
cruiters from some of the sexiest brands in the world will
tell you that a product brand is not enough to attract peo-
pleWhen you Google ldquoworking atrdquo some of the best-known
companies due to organizational arrogance little has
been done to provide a great working atmosphere and ca-
reer prospects and their product brand is the reverse of their
employment reality
What Is an Employment BrandldquoHow a business builds and packages its identity
from its origins and values what it promises to deliver to
emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliv-
er what the business promises to customers Building the
employment brand from inside the business with a con-
sistent substance voice and authenticity may be the most
powerful tool a business can use to emotionally engage em-
ployeesrdquo (Taken from the brilliant Libby Sartainrsquos Brand
from the Inside
Why is an employment brand needed over and above a
product brand What benefits does a product brand bring
A world-class employment brand brings many benefits
bull Higher-quality candidatesThe best want to work at the
best companies
bull Increase in unsolicited candidate applications to your
jobs site
bull Higher offeraccept ratios
bull Increased number of employee referrals
bull Improved employee retention rates
bull Increased employee motivation
bull Decreased corporate negativity
bull Stronger corporate culture
bull Increased shareholder value
bull Competitive advantage
bull Enhanced college recruiting
bull Stronger perception among high school students and
future recruits
bull Increased media exposure
bull Increased manager satisfaction
bull Happier workforce
bull Long-term development planning possible with stable
dynamic workforce
Recruitment 10 vs Recruitment 30 on EmploymentBrand
Many Fortune 500 company recruiting leaders donrsquot
understand employment brandingThat is evident from
looking at their corporate careers sites recruitment col-
lateral and what their recruiting leaders say at confer-
ences Common misconceptions are highlighted in Fig-
ure 2 on the next page
So if the employment brand touches everything in Re-
cruitment 30 how does it affect day-to-day recruitment and
how can perceptions be improved
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 15
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Rather than seeking to block communications why arenrsquot
companies looking at things from a different perspective
Is it not more worrying for a company if their staff are not
being headhunted or seduced away If not what does that
say about the quality of their employees If your staff are
not being targeted by competitors and headhunted that
speaks volumes about the quality of your workforce and that
is a humiliating issue for your business Pivotal for compa-
nies is to focus on retention of key staff and answering these
following vital questions
bull Are employees challenged
bull Are they well remunerated (measured against market
norms)
bull Do employees have a good worklife balance and can
enjoy time with their family
bull Are managers close to their employees and is there feed-
back on performance and career development
bull Do employees feel part of a world-class company that
has a strong future
bull Can employees see a ladder of opportunity and strong
promotion prospectsrsquo
bull Are employees being developed What training and de-
velopment programs are in place
bull Are employee ideas listened to and they receive feed-
back on them
bull Is senior management approachable and they regular-
ly communicate or living in ivory towers
bull Is the culture fun and people feeling part of a family
If there are any negatives above especially if there are
many then those employees are rightfully subject to the prey
of a good headhunter and can be readily seduced by oth-
er opportunities
If someone is happy however good the headhunter and
the proposition is it is extremely hard to seduce them away
hence the need for companies to focus on retention than
the means of restricting communication channels into em-
ployees
So however cheesy the term is the Global War for the
Best Talent is real Itrsquos happening and many companies are
in danger of losing this battle of attrition
UtopiaQuestion What is recruitment utopia Willy Wonkarsquos
ldquoGolden Ticketrdquo to the chocolate factory
Answer A predictable talent pipeline where companies
can identify hold relationships with and cherry-pick the
best available talent A req is green-lit and the recruiter can
immediately identify and bring forth into interview the best
talentThe req is closed with a ldquoAAArdquo candidate Job done
Sounds fanciful
Not nearly as unachievable as it would seem
So question is how to travel the yellow brick road to the
end of the rainbow
Two key strategies in building a predictable talent
pipeline
bull Sourcing Identifying top talent and mapping out key
competitors (a competitor being defined by where tal-
ent resides as opposed to product competitor)
After mapping out the best talent it is about build-
ing relationships directly (face to facevideo conferenc-
ing) and indirectly through social communitiesThe
best hire may mean a relationship that is built over
weeks and months before that candidate is willing to
join a company Graduate recruitment also fits into this
bucket as it is about identifying the top courses in the
best universities and mapping out the top performers
through campus relationships All of this reduces the
random elements of recruiting
bull Employment Brand and Recruitment MarketingThe goal is building a wider reputation as a destina-
tion for top talent by humanizing the company brand
to reveal what happens within the four walls of your
company and behind the spin of corporate PRmarket-
ing By engaging in a transparent two-way communi-
cation with talent building an engaged set of commu-
nities hungry to participate in your created content
a greater appeal will be generated Employment brand
and marketing should be aimed at taking your com-
munity on a journey from familiarization of company
and product to knowledgeable insight into the com-
pany ending in consideration of working at your com-
panybeing one of your brand ambassadors who talk
favorably about you to their friends colleagues and
communities
So here we come to the gates of the core philosophical
differences between traditional recruiting and Recruitment
30hellip
16 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Not every-onersquos looking
This is the fundamental underlying core essence of Re-
cruitment 30
Not everyone is looking for a job
Different market research exists but citing the US Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics for any given role only 10 of rel-
evantexperienced talent is looking for a role at any given
moment of time
That means that 90 of candidates relevant for arole are not lookingThe best candidates are typical-ly among them
Hence in a candidate-short market with a host ofcompetition for particular skill-sets the Global Warfor the Best Talent is being fought outamongst 10 of active job seekers Nowonder the trend toward salary infla-tion and sign-on bonuses
Reinforcing this message the best can-
didate for your role is not likely to be cur-
rently registered on a recruitment agency
database or registered on a job boardThey
may never search job boards as they are
used to direct approachheadhunting
The best candidates may never have even
considered working for you even worse
they may have never even heard of you
Hence Recruitment 30 is about iden-
tifying the best candidates in that passive
90 of non-job seekers and building a re-
lationship making them care about your company even be-
friend them as this will ultimately then bond loyalty trust
and also start to engender emotion in a candidate
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Everyoneis a potential candidate or brand ambassador Evenyour consumers
Back to the core of Recruitment 30 is the definition of
a candidate
A candidate is someone who has nominated themselves
to be part of an election process It is a voluntary actThatrsquos
the traditional definition
But at what point does someone volunteer to be a can-
didate
bull When they see your advertisement
bull When they apply to your advertisement
bull When you interview them
So if they are not a candidate until they volunteer them-
selves what are they
They are your average person sitting and having a cof-
fee in Starbucks or leading a team at work speaking at a
conference running down the road watching TV or hav-
ing a pint at the pubThey are everyone around you
What turns a regular person into a candidate
A whole host of reasons ldquoI am not recognised at work
for what I dordquo ldquoMy boss is selfish and never develops merdquo
ldquoMy boss seeks all the praise and recognitionrdquo ldquoI am un-
derpaidrdquo
You name it any reason can transform someone into a
candidate
So the issue boils down to timing
A company either waits for the moment
someone becomes a candidate and then
jumps on them or makes a proposition
that is attractive and tempts them into
candidacy
At the core of Recruitment 30 is that
EVERYONE IS A CANDIDATE Wecreate candidates
Recruitment 30 companies are slow-
ly realizing great recruitment is about
building relationships and communicat-
ing with people (hence creating an emo-
tional connection with them) before
they become a candidate
Key is how you identify and build emotional relationships
with that talent
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Employmentbrand is pivotal to your success in talent acquisition
Before defining an employer value proposition or employ-
ment brand it is important to understand what a brand is
The classic definition comes from Interbrand Brand Glos-
sary ldquoA brand is a mixture of attributes tangible and in-
tangible symbolized in a trademark which if managed prop-
erly creates value and influence Brands simplify decision-
making represent an assurance of quality and offer a rel-
evant different and credible choice among competing of-
feringsrdquo
Put more simply a brand is a personrsquos gut feel about a
product service or organization
Indeed it is not onlyrecruiters who will be
found obsolete inrecruitment 30 but also
many of the currentrecruiting leaders in the
top companies todaycriminally not preparing
their Fortune 500company to the new
realities of recruiting
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 17
The goal of a brand is to create an emotional attachment
Emotion creates a connection that bonds loyalty and trust
An emotional relationship is one anchored by honest two-
way communication
Consider the following Brands McDonaldrsquos Disney Fer-
rari Starbucks Lego Coca-Cola NikeAdidasApple Pixar
Autodesk Google Instantly people have a reaction to all
these brands
Boiled down even more simply as product parity grows
subconscious brand selection becomes even more pivotal
eg when buying a cup of coffee do you go to Costa Cof-
fee or Starbucks The taste differential is minimal so sub-
conscious decisions on brand and lifestyle creep in I pre-
fer the ambiance and sofas in Starbucks
Product brand is pivotal to sales success A powerful con-
sumer brand can provide vision and inspiration to employ-
ees drive innovation and quality guide business decisions
become something consumers love and can multiply
sales by hundreds of millions and add billions to sharehold-
er value
Walk around a supermarket and on average there are
30000 different product brands screaming at you PICK
ME UP hellip NOW hellip LOOK AT ME hellip BUY ME
Now imagine that same supermarket and if every prod-
uct looked the same and were in pure white packaging with
no advertisingWhat would catch your eye Make you stop
and explore Now look at the Fortune 500 How many com-
panies have an employment brand For how many can you
define their employment brand proposition The answer is
minimal Less than 2 Irsquom guessing
So if employers recognize that recruitment is so impor-
tant and vital to the success of their businessesrsquo future why
are they happy that their company has no employment brand
proposition Why are they happy to sell their company in
a way that is equivalent to bland white packaging with no
advertising in a supermarket
Retro-traditionalists would of course say that product
brand is enough to sell a company and people will come
flocking to work on the best products Unfortunately as re-
cruiters from some of the sexiest brands in the world will
tell you that a product brand is not enough to attract peo-
pleWhen you Google ldquoworking atrdquo some of the best-known
companies due to organizational arrogance little has
been done to provide a great working atmosphere and ca-
reer prospects and their product brand is the reverse of their
employment reality
What Is an Employment BrandldquoHow a business builds and packages its identity
from its origins and values what it promises to deliver to
emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliv-
er what the business promises to customers Building the
employment brand from inside the business with a con-
sistent substance voice and authenticity may be the most
powerful tool a business can use to emotionally engage em-
ployeesrdquo (Taken from the brilliant Libby Sartainrsquos Brand
from the Inside
Why is an employment brand needed over and above a
product brand What benefits does a product brand bring
A world-class employment brand brings many benefits
bull Higher-quality candidatesThe best want to work at the
best companies
bull Increase in unsolicited candidate applications to your
jobs site
bull Higher offeraccept ratios
bull Increased number of employee referrals
bull Improved employee retention rates
bull Increased employee motivation
bull Decreased corporate negativity
bull Stronger corporate culture
bull Increased shareholder value
bull Competitive advantage
bull Enhanced college recruiting
bull Stronger perception among high school students and
future recruits
bull Increased media exposure
bull Increased manager satisfaction
bull Happier workforce
bull Long-term development planning possible with stable
dynamic workforce
Recruitment 10 vs Recruitment 30 on EmploymentBrand
Many Fortune 500 company recruiting leaders donrsquot
understand employment brandingThat is evident from
looking at their corporate careers sites recruitment col-
lateral and what their recruiting leaders say at confer-
ences Common misconceptions are highlighted in Fig-
ure 2 on the next page
So if the employment brand touches everything in Re-
cruitment 30 how does it affect day-to-day recruitment and
how can perceptions be improved
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
16 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Not every-onersquos looking
This is the fundamental underlying core essence of Re-
cruitment 30
Not everyone is looking for a job
Different market research exists but citing the US Bu-
reau of Labor Statistics for any given role only 10 of rel-
evantexperienced talent is looking for a role at any given
moment of time
That means that 90 of candidates relevant for arole are not lookingThe best candidates are typical-ly among them
Hence in a candidate-short market with a host ofcompetition for particular skill-sets the Global Warfor the Best Talent is being fought outamongst 10 of active job seekers Nowonder the trend toward salary infla-tion and sign-on bonuses
Reinforcing this message the best can-
didate for your role is not likely to be cur-
rently registered on a recruitment agency
database or registered on a job boardThey
may never search job boards as they are
used to direct approachheadhunting
The best candidates may never have even
considered working for you even worse
they may have never even heard of you
Hence Recruitment 30 is about iden-
tifying the best candidates in that passive
90 of non-job seekers and building a re-
lationship making them care about your company even be-
friend them as this will ultimately then bond loyalty trust
and also start to engender emotion in a candidate
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Everyoneis a potential candidate or brand ambassador Evenyour consumers
Back to the core of Recruitment 30 is the definition of
a candidate
A candidate is someone who has nominated themselves
to be part of an election process It is a voluntary actThatrsquos
the traditional definition
But at what point does someone volunteer to be a can-
didate
bull When they see your advertisement
bull When they apply to your advertisement
bull When you interview them
So if they are not a candidate until they volunteer them-
selves what are they
They are your average person sitting and having a cof-
fee in Starbucks or leading a team at work speaking at a
conference running down the road watching TV or hav-
ing a pint at the pubThey are everyone around you
What turns a regular person into a candidate
A whole host of reasons ldquoI am not recognised at work
for what I dordquo ldquoMy boss is selfish and never develops merdquo
ldquoMy boss seeks all the praise and recognitionrdquo ldquoI am un-
derpaidrdquo
You name it any reason can transform someone into a
candidate
So the issue boils down to timing
A company either waits for the moment
someone becomes a candidate and then
jumps on them or makes a proposition
that is attractive and tempts them into
candidacy
At the core of Recruitment 30 is that
EVERYONE IS A CANDIDATE Wecreate candidates
Recruitment 30 companies are slow-
ly realizing great recruitment is about
building relationships and communicat-
ing with people (hence creating an emo-
tional connection with them) before
they become a candidate
Key is how you identify and build emotional relationships
with that talent
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Employmentbrand is pivotal to your success in talent acquisition
Before defining an employer value proposition or employ-
ment brand it is important to understand what a brand is
The classic definition comes from Interbrand Brand Glos-
sary ldquoA brand is a mixture of attributes tangible and in-
tangible symbolized in a trademark which if managed prop-
erly creates value and influence Brands simplify decision-
making represent an assurance of quality and offer a rel-
evant different and credible choice among competing of-
feringsrdquo
Put more simply a brand is a personrsquos gut feel about a
product service or organization
Indeed it is not onlyrecruiters who will be
found obsolete inrecruitment 30 but also
many of the currentrecruiting leaders in the
top companies todaycriminally not preparing
their Fortune 500company to the new
realities of recruiting
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 17
The goal of a brand is to create an emotional attachment
Emotion creates a connection that bonds loyalty and trust
An emotional relationship is one anchored by honest two-
way communication
Consider the following Brands McDonaldrsquos Disney Fer-
rari Starbucks Lego Coca-Cola NikeAdidasApple Pixar
Autodesk Google Instantly people have a reaction to all
these brands
Boiled down even more simply as product parity grows
subconscious brand selection becomes even more pivotal
eg when buying a cup of coffee do you go to Costa Cof-
fee or Starbucks The taste differential is minimal so sub-
conscious decisions on brand and lifestyle creep in I pre-
fer the ambiance and sofas in Starbucks
Product brand is pivotal to sales success A powerful con-
sumer brand can provide vision and inspiration to employ-
ees drive innovation and quality guide business decisions
become something consumers love and can multiply
sales by hundreds of millions and add billions to sharehold-
er value
Walk around a supermarket and on average there are
30000 different product brands screaming at you PICK
ME UP hellip NOW hellip LOOK AT ME hellip BUY ME
Now imagine that same supermarket and if every prod-
uct looked the same and were in pure white packaging with
no advertisingWhat would catch your eye Make you stop
and explore Now look at the Fortune 500 How many com-
panies have an employment brand For how many can you
define their employment brand proposition The answer is
minimal Less than 2 Irsquom guessing
So if employers recognize that recruitment is so impor-
tant and vital to the success of their businessesrsquo future why
are they happy that their company has no employment brand
proposition Why are they happy to sell their company in
a way that is equivalent to bland white packaging with no
advertising in a supermarket
Retro-traditionalists would of course say that product
brand is enough to sell a company and people will come
flocking to work on the best products Unfortunately as re-
cruiters from some of the sexiest brands in the world will
tell you that a product brand is not enough to attract peo-
pleWhen you Google ldquoworking atrdquo some of the best-known
companies due to organizational arrogance little has
been done to provide a great working atmosphere and ca-
reer prospects and their product brand is the reverse of their
employment reality
What Is an Employment BrandldquoHow a business builds and packages its identity
from its origins and values what it promises to deliver to
emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliv-
er what the business promises to customers Building the
employment brand from inside the business with a con-
sistent substance voice and authenticity may be the most
powerful tool a business can use to emotionally engage em-
ployeesrdquo (Taken from the brilliant Libby Sartainrsquos Brand
from the Inside
Why is an employment brand needed over and above a
product brand What benefits does a product brand bring
A world-class employment brand brings many benefits
bull Higher-quality candidatesThe best want to work at the
best companies
bull Increase in unsolicited candidate applications to your
jobs site
bull Higher offeraccept ratios
bull Increased number of employee referrals
bull Improved employee retention rates
bull Increased employee motivation
bull Decreased corporate negativity
bull Stronger corporate culture
bull Increased shareholder value
bull Competitive advantage
bull Enhanced college recruiting
bull Stronger perception among high school students and
future recruits
bull Increased media exposure
bull Increased manager satisfaction
bull Happier workforce
bull Long-term development planning possible with stable
dynamic workforce
Recruitment 10 vs Recruitment 30 on EmploymentBrand
Many Fortune 500 company recruiting leaders donrsquot
understand employment brandingThat is evident from
looking at their corporate careers sites recruitment col-
lateral and what their recruiting leaders say at confer-
ences Common misconceptions are highlighted in Fig-
ure 2 on the next page
So if the employment brand touches everything in Re-
cruitment 30 how does it affect day-to-day recruitment and
how can perceptions be improved
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 17
The goal of a brand is to create an emotional attachment
Emotion creates a connection that bonds loyalty and trust
An emotional relationship is one anchored by honest two-
way communication
Consider the following Brands McDonaldrsquos Disney Fer-
rari Starbucks Lego Coca-Cola NikeAdidasApple Pixar
Autodesk Google Instantly people have a reaction to all
these brands
Boiled down even more simply as product parity grows
subconscious brand selection becomes even more pivotal
eg when buying a cup of coffee do you go to Costa Cof-
fee or Starbucks The taste differential is minimal so sub-
conscious decisions on brand and lifestyle creep in I pre-
fer the ambiance and sofas in Starbucks
Product brand is pivotal to sales success A powerful con-
sumer brand can provide vision and inspiration to employ-
ees drive innovation and quality guide business decisions
become something consumers love and can multiply
sales by hundreds of millions and add billions to sharehold-
er value
Walk around a supermarket and on average there are
30000 different product brands screaming at you PICK
ME UP hellip NOW hellip LOOK AT ME hellip BUY ME
Now imagine that same supermarket and if every prod-
uct looked the same and were in pure white packaging with
no advertisingWhat would catch your eye Make you stop
and explore Now look at the Fortune 500 How many com-
panies have an employment brand For how many can you
define their employment brand proposition The answer is
minimal Less than 2 Irsquom guessing
So if employers recognize that recruitment is so impor-
tant and vital to the success of their businessesrsquo future why
are they happy that their company has no employment brand
proposition Why are they happy to sell their company in
a way that is equivalent to bland white packaging with no
advertising in a supermarket
Retro-traditionalists would of course say that product
brand is enough to sell a company and people will come
flocking to work on the best products Unfortunately as re-
cruiters from some of the sexiest brands in the world will
tell you that a product brand is not enough to attract peo-
pleWhen you Google ldquoworking atrdquo some of the best-known
companies due to organizational arrogance little has
been done to provide a great working atmosphere and ca-
reer prospects and their product brand is the reverse of their
employment reality
What Is an Employment BrandldquoHow a business builds and packages its identity
from its origins and values what it promises to deliver to
emotionally connect employees so that they in turn deliv-
er what the business promises to customers Building the
employment brand from inside the business with a con-
sistent substance voice and authenticity may be the most
powerful tool a business can use to emotionally engage em-
ployeesrdquo (Taken from the brilliant Libby Sartainrsquos Brand
from the Inside
Why is an employment brand needed over and above a
product brand What benefits does a product brand bring
A world-class employment brand brings many benefits
bull Higher-quality candidatesThe best want to work at the
best companies
bull Increase in unsolicited candidate applications to your
jobs site
bull Higher offeraccept ratios
bull Increased number of employee referrals
bull Improved employee retention rates
bull Increased employee motivation
bull Decreased corporate negativity
bull Stronger corporate culture
bull Increased shareholder value
bull Competitive advantage
bull Enhanced college recruiting
bull Stronger perception among high school students and
future recruits
bull Increased media exposure
bull Increased manager satisfaction
bull Happier workforce
bull Long-term development planning possible with stable
dynamic workforce
Recruitment 10 vs Recruitment 30 on EmploymentBrand
Many Fortune 500 company recruiting leaders donrsquot
understand employment brandingThat is evident from
looking at their corporate careers sites recruitment col-
lateral and what their recruiting leaders say at confer-
ences Common misconceptions are highlighted in Fig-
ure 2 on the next page
So if the employment brand touches everything in Re-
cruitment 30 how does it affect day-to-day recruitment and
how can perceptions be improved
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
18 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Candidate Experience and Employment Brand AreOne
Critical to employment branding and Recruitment 30
is understanding the stages of the employeecandidate ex-perience lifecycle
There are seven distinct stages that all affect the employ-
ment brandThose stages are
bull Notice When someone first takes note of a company
bull Considers When someone actively starts to consid-
er whether they would
like to work for that com-
pany
bull Apply This is a critical
stage as the candidate
decides to apply A very
informative insight into a
company
bull OnboardingThe experience the can-
didate receives when they
first start at their new
company
bull Work The whole experi-
ence when someone works
and invests a period of
their life in a company
bull Leave The experience someone receives when exit-
ing a business good or bad
bull Remember After a period of time goes by after
leaving what sort of memories will someone be left
with
Much of the following employment brand suggestions are
common sense But few companies do the below which
would go a long way toward enhancing their EVP
Figure 2
Recruitment 101 Views
ldquoA company creates an employmentbrandrdquo
ldquoWe have a great employment brandlook at our news logos and advertisingrdquo
ldquoE-Brand is about marketing and how weadvertise We control messagesrdquo
ldquoHR owns the employment brandrdquo
Recruitment 30 Perspectives
A company cannot create an employment brand An employment brand derives fromthe opinions of both employees and external perceptions It is organic changes andis the perceived truth A company can try to guide and affect the employment brandbut it cannot create and control
Employment branding is not about creative changes to logos creating a vision state-ment or even advertising Its a collective perception of what it is like to work foryour company
An employer PR Team or HR leader is not in control of what people say it is like towork at your company All can try to affect it But messages have to be authenticand communities come to their own collective decisions Reality will always over-come company spin
Far from it No one owns it HR PR marketing all can help to shape messages butthe employment brand is shaped by employees and external communitiesTo help form an EVP companies need to embrace the whole business and involveHR PR Legal Marketing business leaders HRrecruiting does not own or lead em-ployment brands
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 19
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Stage 1 NoticeThe Notice stage is self-explanatory Itrsquos when someone
first takes note of your company and starts to make sub-
jective judgementsWhat is the company like What do they
do Do people seem to be enjoying what they do Do peo-
ple seem to think it is a good business to work for Does
the business seem fair A level of interestintrigue is nur-
tured and builds in the subconscious
From a recruiting perspective there are many interaction
points that a company can have with potential candidates
to get them to notice them or elevate themselves onto peo-
ples agendas
The goal for a business is getting a message out to a wider
uneducated audience to start to stimulate their mindset into
your company and set them on the road to either applying
or being a brand ambassador
How can a company elevate itself on an agenda
External PRRecruiters traditionally shy away from PR or are held away
at armrsquos length as PR is the responsibility of the corporate
PR team or corporate marketing But corporate PR and mar-
keting are quite naturally focused on product PR and not
on humanizing a company or describing what happens be-
tween the four walls of your company and making it appeal
as a great place to work
Recruitment has a critical role in driving PR and mar-
keting in looking at the bigger holistic picture PR is a mass
communication tool reaching large audiencesThe question
is why arenrsquot more recruiters especially recruiting leaders
using PR to elevate their employment brand and their com-
pany as a thought leader
Why arenrsquot recruiters giving interviews on the current state
of the talent pool on what makes their company an excit-
ing place to work and exciting developments inside the com-
pany There are many publications both online and in tra-
ditional print where recruiters can write thought leadership
articles Mixing product PR company strategy and human-
izing a company are powerful messages that journalists love
for their copy Does your recruiting leader speak to the me-
dia Are they promoting your brand Google their name
and if they have little that comes up ask yourself if they are
a true champion and face of your company
Any articles and resultant PR not only provide access to
wider readerships and stimulates the Notice stage but cap-
turing them as a PDFdocument and posting to social me-
dia networks or emailing potential candidates adds extra val-
ue to recruiting collateral and impresses potential candidates
Presentations and EventsRecruitment events 10 style were traditionally labelled
ldquorecruitment eventsrdquo or ldquotoursrdquo or they were stalls at ex-
hibitions or tables at university fairs with recruiters focused
on mass-selling of current roles being recruited No pinpoint
targeting just mass-spraying of leaflets and accepting pa-
per CVs that were rarely put into a company database and
hence never replied to It was the ultimate in goodwill by
holding an event or having a booth at a fair but savagely
destroyed positive employment brand experience with can-
didates passing over their personal details or registering their
interest only to never hear from that company againTrag-
ic but oh so common
Recruitment events donrsquot work for mid-level to senior tal-
ent Experienced talent does not take the risk of being caught
attending such events or speaking to recruiters at fairs Most-
ly junior talent visits recruitment events or fairs And this
sporadic talent often gets a bad experienceThey leave a re-
sume and enthusiastically walk away and never hear again
as the company has a structured and targeted university re-
lations strategy partnering with the top 10 universities
Recruiter 30 sees events differently Events are a way to
spread messages to engage with people to enhance employ-
ment brand perception Whatrsquos the goal of attending
events or fairs Name generation Building a database
Reaching out to talent Why not hold an event at a major
conference or exhibition organize a keynote speaker from
your business on a topic of huge interest that will cause peo-
ple to want to attend Such a presentation is not labelled
as a recruitment event so competitors will be happy to at-
tend and allow their staff to attend as well Managers from
your competitors wonrsquot curtail their staff from attending
as they will see no threat
For those who want to attend set up a pre-registration
site on the web that captures all the details that recruiters
want to capture Name company job title contact details
Job done Before the event has even taken place recruiters
have a database At the event no recruiting activity takes
place but the whole event is a subconscious reinforcement
of what makes your company coolYour keynote speaker
gives an insightful presentation and then people socialize
meet key staff and drink After the event you have a data-
base and relationships to follow up on
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
20 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
As the event contains a keynote speaker it also presents
other opportunities As it is a presentation on a topic of in-
terest invite the media PR then follows which the recruit-
ment team can post to social media networks and also be
sent to aspiring new candidates Record the event Post to
YouTubeTake a Flip and interview people and post to your
social media sites Take photos Reinforce the ldquocoolrdquo and
that your company is a ldquothought leaderrdquo
For university fairs or jobs booths if you have to do them
the key is to remember that traffic is random and based on
appeal of your company Ensure that your swag and give-
aways are cool but even if you have minimal budget you
can make your booth stand out Maybe you have a karaoke
competition Raffle give-aways Play video games Maybe
have musical instruments and allow people to jam Booths
are about appeal and leaving that subconscious message that
you are a great company have a great strategy the culture
screams fun Fun FUNhellip
Stage 2 ConsidersRecruitment advertising can fit naturally in either box
ldquonoticerdquo or ldquoconsidersrdquo
Recruitment 10 advertising is plain simple and aesthet-
ically boring advertising in print a list of jobs with spuri-
ous job descriptions crammed together leaving a muddled
and confused message to job seekers Many companies trans-
late this online again listing jobs and descriptions hastily
thrown together that neither sell the role or the company
or catch the eye and hence sell the company
Recruiter 30 adapts and uses recruitment advertising in
a different way In print it cuts down on text and uses mar-
keting techniques to provide eye-catching imagery and sim-
ple message-led advertising For example pictures of
products interspersed with people pictures and the simple
headline ldquoA great place to work hellip and playrdquo with a link
to the job site Just as a tabloid newspaper catches the eye
with a big headline and huge picture why not recruitment
advertising Advertising is a vehicle for messaging
Also in the Consider stage is social mediaThis is criti-
cal to the whole Consider piece and a section is devoted
later in this article to social media and building an engaged
communityies
In the Consider stage a candidate will visit and start to
get a feel for your company via your corporate careers job
siteThis site is key in framing the whole perception of your
company as a great place to work But why do so few com-
panies not put any effort into their jobs site and leave it por-
traying boring scripted corporate spin messages that would
be better used by a parent reading their kid to sleep If you
are just lucky enough to have been chosen to go on a date
why mess it up by going out without taking a bath smelling
like a banshee having messy hair ripped jeans dirty sneak-
ers with holes in them and a T-shirt of a pop concert that
was cool 20 years ago
Hand in hand with the corporate careers site in the No-
tice stage is job descriptions Itrsquos perhaps the least appre-
ciated element of employment branding Job descriptions
are in effect marketing documents but hiring managers and
recruiters invest minimal amounts of time into them Of-
ten job descriptions are badly written and essentially bland
as a spec is split between listing job responsibilities and then
required experience which nearly every spec includes Must
demonstrate leadership skills be a team player be able to
use Microsoft Office have managed budgets etc A job de-
scription would better be used to sell the company and the
role even if that means less information on a role A job
description must capture the actual role (and inspire the
job seeker) many of which donrsquot leaving job seekers dis-
appointed when they come to realize this difference between
reality and rushed craftsmanship on the part of the job de-
scription authorA bad job description reflects badly on your
brand and promotes a lazy and canrsquot-be-bothered-to-invest-
in-you company appearance
Stage 3 AppliesThis is a critical stage as the candidate decides to apply
They will be making judgements including Is this compa-
ny interested in me as a person Is the application process
efficient and well-structured Does this company act like
a great place to work Does this companyrsquos collateral and
experience feel consistent with its external perception and
PR messaging Is the interview informative and challeng-
ing Does the candidate feel the interview is thorough Do
the company values feel aligned with mine Does the can-
didate feel the decision process is fair if the candidate is
rejected is it done so respectfully
The application process can be split into three distinct
phases
bull Pre-interview
bull Interview
bull Post-interview
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 21
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Pre-InterviewHow candidates interact with your company in the pre-
interview stage is critical and leaves lasting embedded mem-
ories Whether contact is via email or phone the process
needs to be as personal and humanized as possible Person-
alized communication takes more time but the key bene-
fit is that candidates are made to feel more unique special
and desired
The goal of any company must be to leave candidates pos-
itively gushing at the thought of working with your compa-
ny They are hungry to join Inspired to tell their friends
Dating seduction and recruitment have much in common
The better the pre-interview process the easier the of-
fer decision process More goodwill is stored up especial-
ly if a candidate has multiple offers to consider
How many companies bother to create
and send out interview packets Many
rely on candidates doing their own research
or looking at information on the corporate
careers site Content is king The goal of
an interview packet is to not only provide
information but build the brand build ex-
citement It should also define the inter-
view process Candidates must demon-
strate they have taken time out to read the
packet if they are hungry to impressThis also raises the qual-
ity of any discussion at interview Their questions will be
more targeted and deeper If they have not taken the time
to read that speaks volumes for their level of passion and
desire for your company
How many companies look at their reception areas as re-
cruitment buttons Many visitors pass through a reception
Are they candidates in waiting Are they brand ambassa-
dors Why do reception areas rarely contain recruitment lit-
erature or reflect the brand of the company they represent
Interview ProcessThe interview process shapes opinions and perceptions
of a company in a candidatersquos eyes
bull Is the recruiter on time and picks them up from recep-
tion quickly
bull How does the recruiter break the ice
bull Are they engaging
bull Are they interested in the candidate
bull Do they provide the candidate with refreshments
bull Whatrsquos the interview room like Does it convey excite-
ment or is it a blank room
bull How competent is the interviewer
bull When interacting with the hiring team do they feel like
the sort of people who the candidate wants to work
with
bull Is the interview process laborious with too many peo-
ple in the process
bull Do interviews repeat the same old questions
bull How much time is left for questions Does the com-
pany come across as credible
bull Does the interview team give credible insight into the
rest of the process
bull Is there any takeaway recruitment collateral
Key for employment branding even if the
candidates arenrsquot very good is that they
must be made to feel special throughout the
interview process and remain desperate to
work for your companyThe goal is to en-
sure every candidate has an excellent expe-
rience so they may be brand ambassadors
for your companyThey will always speak
positively to their friends and when they
comment in their social communities
Post InterviewAfter the interview the candidate will be judging your com-
pany on the timeliness of your feedback its quality and how
caring you are if you are rejecting them
Both rejecting and offering provides solid bonding expe-
rience
If the candidate just misses out on a job offer keep that
candidate engaged Maybe they add valued experience and
join your company down the line Maybe another job comes
up that they are relevant for Keeping in touch bonds loy-
altyWhether personalized through regular phone calls or
keeping up to date with candidate news via email the can-
didate will feel part of an extended family
If the candidate is offered a job too few companies cel-
ebrate the job offer Whether sending celebratory swag
bringing the candidate in for a team lunchevening dinner
taking the husbandwifekids on a tour of the facility reg-
ular update calls and emails from the team all reinforce
the decision to accept Some candidates on three-month no-
tice periods are often left with zero contact in those three
Everyone is a candidateRecruiters create
candidates
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
22 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
months In that time a candidate can again become shaky
and prone to counteroffers Learning how to celebrate some-
one accepting a job offer goes a long way in cementing re-
lationships and long-term goodwill
Lastly reinforce the image that your company cares with
a candidate experience survey It shows to a candidate
you are hungry for their feedback pass feedback to hiring
managers and hence improve Itrsquos a simple but motivation-
al message to candidates and of course useful for individ-
ual recruiters to add into their metric assessments for the
year when it comes to appraisals The best recruiters will
relish feedback and come to the top of any experience sur-
veys There is no better way to inspire and provide on-going feedback to a recruiter than running in tandemregular hiring manager satisfaction surveys andcandidate experience surveys
Stage 4 OnboardingOne of the scariest things for a new employee is the on-
boarding experience Naturally they get the jitters in their
first few days and question whether their decision to join
is wiseThe starting experience never fades away through-
out the lifetime of that employee in your company
The new employee is passing judgement from the first
minute they walk into your offices on
bull Are people ready for me
bull Do I have a desk
bull Is my computer set up
bull Is my mobile phone activated
bull Is my paperwork handled efficiently
bull Are my essential questions answered effectively
bull Do I feel part of the culture or an outsider
bull Is my experience consistent with the brand of the busi-
ness
bull Can I see myself here for a period of time
bull Do I have clear objectives for the next 30 60 and 90
days
Again that new employee will be telling friends and for-
mer colleagues and will reinforce or destroy the decision to
join and either add or detract from employment brand rep-
utations
Stage 5WorkMuch of the work experience relies on the skills of the
business leaders and HR to provide the tools and frame-
work for success
Again key employment brand influencers are at work
bull What performance management systems are in
place and how successful are they in motivating and in-
spiring the workforce
bull Does the company invest and reward those who are risktakers and innovators
bull Does the company focus on pay for performancebull Can the company identify top performers and re-
ward them
bull Conversely does the company know its poor perform-ers and can it either improve their output or remove
them from the business
bull How organized is the company in providing learningand developmenttraining
bull How open is the leadership in communicating
company strategy
bull Is communication two-way and is feedback encour-
aged
bull Does the company grow and grow new leaders
bull How detailed is succession planning
Once onboard a recruiter still has a part to play with the
new employeeThat bond that was developed through the
hiring process is not easily broken A bond of trust exists
In many ways the open relationship almost should mean
the recruiter is an early warning radar system if a new hire
is having doubts or deciding to move onThis is a bond or
relationship that often HR does not have or can nurture that
only a recruiter has developed
While much of the work experience is outside of the hands
of recruiters there are other key interaction points If there
has been a positive experience to this point the new em-
ployee will want to encourage their friends and their for-
mer colleagues to join your company
The importance of referrals is well documented If a com-
pany has a strong employment brand and is effective at mar-
keting and selling internal referrals then an effective
benchmark rate of 40 of new hires should come through
quality referrals from employees
Referrals rates are a key indication of the strength of an
employment brand If people love your company they will
enthuse and inspire ex-colleagues and friends and attract
them to your company If your company is a pig of an em-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 23
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ployer it would be no surprise that the employee is
ashamed to refer people and a rate of 10 and less could
be the norm
Recruitment marketing is a key driver in employee re-
ferrals programs be it posters email or creation of in-
ternal intranet sitesWhen creating campaigns many com-
panies focus on monetary rewards as the key driver of an
employee wanting to refer people in Interestingly as re-
ferral monetary reward rates increase the number of can-
didates being referred does not increase proportionally
Money is not the key driver Creating a sense of fun or
competition or adding a degree of status is what creates
that additional driving force Publishing company-wide
league tables of either individuals making hires or
grouping into geographical regions creates fun and a sense
of ldquobeating othersrdquo
The last notable point in this part of the candidate ex-
perience is internal marketing and internal communications
While internal communications is an article topic in its own
right recruiters have to also be at the forefront of
marketingselling themselves internallyThis is not only no-
tifying fellow employees about open headcount but extra
activities the recruiting team are initiating be it universi-
ty relations PR events or social media How many com-
panies see their recruitment teams regularly communicat-
ing via company-wide emails or intranet sites apart from
advertising referrals programs If the recruiting profession
wants to demonstrate its skills and competence it has to
prove its merits and demonstrate to internal employees it
is not all about ldquobums on seatsrdquo
Stage 6 LeavesHow a candidate departs a business is equally key whether
it is a resignation termination or a retirement
If someone resigns a positive experience reinforces the com-
pany brand Even for those terminated keeping matters civ-
il dilutes the potential ldquohatredrdquo from the dismissed employ-
ee Remember that the terminated employee has the poten-
tial to be that fierce anonymous blog critic constantly acting
as a sniper from the sidelines hence civil terminations help
dissipate any sense of misplaced anger or revenge
The goal is for anyone leaving is to feel positive about the
company or at the very least neutral
Stage 7 RemembersThe final stage of the candidate experience is remember-
ing At one point those who left were employed by your
company Over time they will remember the good times and
this could transform into nostalgic fondness
Hence employment brands can wrap itself round alumni
programskeeping in touch with past employees It can be done
through a LinkedIn alumni group Or through regular emails
Or special recognitionseating at future events Or targeted
catch-up calls by friends Even special alumni events
Keeping in touch may lead to a re-hire Alumni commu-
nities are often a hidden gem in recruiting
All of these seven stages are critical in forging employ-
ment brand perceptions But moving back to the core philis-
ophy of Recruitment 30 understanding people is key
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30The Psychol-ogy of People
People are naturally social people
They like to engage
They are hungry for information They are passionate
about learning and developing
When forming a relationship they want honesty authen-
ticity integrity transparency and communication Two-waycommunication
Any good salesperson knows this People buy from peo-
ple A relationship however superficial drives sales results
When looking at employment branding people want re-
lationships with people not faceless companiesThis is the
key mistake among many in the Fortune 500
The key is allowing people to have transparent trustwor-
thy two-way communication with your company
People love a good story Shows like X Factor and Amer-
ican Idol get this If these shows were pure singing compe-
titions they would not be so successful Instead these shows
tell a story and draw us into the world of the competitor
We learn they had a difficult lifeThey have lost their par-
ents tragically just recovered from life-threatening cancer
their children are bullied at school they lost their job and
had to sweep the roads to pay for their mortgage As com-
passionate viewers we immerse ourselves into their world
and even if they canrsquot sing we feel we know that person and
more importantly for the show we pick up the phone to vote
for a complete stranger (perhaps multiple times)
Simon Cowell gets it And is in many ways the best re-
cruiter in the world today He has a clear application process
a detailed and through interview process open assessments
allows for clear feedback and final selection is understood
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
24 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
by all and brings highly qualified top candidates bought into
by a large part of the business (viewers)
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30You are notin control of what people are saying
Everyonersquos talking
Whether you like it or not they are talking about your com-
pany
Google ldquoWorking for rdquo (Insert company name)
Already you will see a host of top stories on Googlersquos
search engines On the left-hand side margin click on
ldquomorerdquo and you can see what people are saying real time
as well as comments on blogs and on social media No one
can escape Log into Glassdoorcom and absorb further
views on your company as a place to work
People love to talk and gossip People tell friendsThe dif-
ference is that in 2011 they tell their friends via larger com-
munication channels and word of mouth spreads like wild-
fire
This is pretty scary especially for modern business Busi-
ness can no longer control what is said Before all this cor-
porate PR put out highly crafted press releases which were
then reproduced into print media Corporate marketing de-
signing great ads or 30-
second TV spots that the
world could digest But
due to limited word of
mouth and public scruti-
ny companies were in
total control
Today there is a shift
in the balance of power
Technology is shifting
the balance of power
away from the editors
the publishers the es-
tablishment and the
media elite Itrsquos the peo-
ple who are in control
Rupert Murdoch mul-
timedia guru insight-
fully suggests
Those companies
that listen are humble
and seek to solicit the
opinions of their com-
munity will be the winners of Recruitment 30 But how do
companies listen and seek opinions
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 Building re-lationships and communities is key
The growth of the Internet is unstoppable
We are all aware of the explosion of the number of com-
munication channels be it
Facebook (source)
bull 500 million+ active global users
bull Search engines refer 7 of traffic to Facebook
bull 20 million Facebook users become fans of Facebook
pages every day
bull More than 35 million Facebook users update their sta-
tus each day
LinkedIn (source)
bull LinkedIn has more than 101 million members world-
wide (411 female 589 male)
bull 18ndash24 year olds 209 25-34 358 35-54 363
55+ 69 (source)
bull There are now 231 million LinkedIn users across Eu-
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 25
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
rope (North America represents 472 of member-
ship Europe 228 Asia 136
bull In terms of worldwide distribution by industry the
biggest are High-tech 16 Finance 133 Manufac-
turing 95 Medical 85 Corporate 83 Recre-
ational 54 Construction 44
bull Worldwide distribution by job functionThe biggest are
Sales 12 Admin 104 Academic 103 Opera-
tions 97 Engineering 86 Information Technol-
ogy 83 Consultant 54 Finance 53 Support 5
Marketing 43 PR 43
bull India is currently the fastest-growing country to use
LinkedIn with around 91 million total users
YouTubebull People watch 2 billion videos on the Internet daily
bull Every minute 24 hours of video is uploaded to
YouTube
Twitterbull Twitter now has 280000000+ users
bull The current rate of Tweeting is 1200 tweets per
second but those increase during important events
such as the Superbowl with 4064 tweets per second
bull About 110 million
Tweets per day
bull 460000 new users
signing up every
day
bull 29 of Twitter
users 18-24 use
Twitter to follow
their favorite com-
panies
bull 53 of people on
Twitter recom-
mend companies
andproducts in
their Tweets
Blogsbull 77 of Internet
users read blogs
bull Blogs are among
the top four social
media tools used
by marketers
bull 56 say their blog has helped their company establish
a positioning as a thought leader within their industry
bull More than 133000000 blogs have been indexed by
Technorati since 2002
We also know that social media communication is pre-
dicted to exceed email usage by 2014 (see chart below)
Those companies that choose to ignore or under-use so-
cial media are playing a dangerous game with the future suc-
cess of their hiring teams and their employment brands
Social Media Recruitment 10 StyleThe drive toward having a social media recruiting pres-
ence is unstoppable But only a handful of companiesare doing it right
Most companies beating their chests like Tarzan and pro-
claiming how proud they are to have a social media pres-
ence rush to market proclaiming their mastery of social me-
dia and the fact they have their own TwitterFacebook page
But here we are back to Recruitment 10 as companies
create a Facebook and Twitter pageThey add a sexy logo
with background graphicsThen they post a list of all cur-
rent job vacancies with a hyperlink back to their corporate
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
26 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
careers pageAnd then again rock back in the chair and wait
for the resumes to flood in
Feeling confident that Twitter and Facebook mastery is
in place a YouTube Channel is created with the first video
being a slickly produced corporate video of the CEO talk-
ing straight to camera (looking like a petrified bunny caught
between the headlights of a rapidly approaching juggernaut)
With the killer employment brand strategy in place the
company now rushes out to speak at conferences and ap-
ply for awards (Stop laughing itrsquos happening)
But social media strategy requires some more direct ques-
tions being answered
bull Whatrsquos the purpose of our social media sites
bull Who is the core target audience
bull What experience and takeaways do we want our com-
munity to have
bull Will these sites generate repeat visi-
tors
bull How are our sites sticky so that peo-
ple want to stay on them
bull Whatrsquos the difference between social
media and our jobs board
bull How does our social media strategy
build relationships with talentpeople
bull Whatrsquos the word of mouth likely to be
on our social media
Many current companies are making ba-
sic yet fundamental mistakes in social me-
dia
Companies publishing a list of jobs on their TwitterFace-
book account with a hyperlink back to their jobs commu-
nity why Whatrsquos the point How does that engage people
Why would people repeat visit that site Whatrsquos the differ-
ence between their jobs site and a list of jobs on a
TwitterFacebook page
The key to social media lays in the title social
Social media is not about immediate bums-on-seats hiring
Social media is about building a communityies of evan-
gelists and potential hires
The Core Philosophy of Recruitment 30 recruitmentis boring
That may seem like a scurrilous statement for a recruiter
to make about their profession But it is true
But ask yourself how many recruitment job sites or re-
cruitment social media pages you visit when you are not
looking for a jobWhen people are looking for a job they
will engage and look at job boards and corporate careers
sites but once happy in their job they have no reason to
come back
Why would someone who is not looking for a job
bull Visit on a daily basis a list of jobs on Twitter
bull Visit a list of jobs and employment statement on Face-
book
bull Visit a corporate careers site
bull Visit the Monster job board or the Total job board or
any job boards
Not many people unless they lead totally dull lives So
why are so many companies acting in a
Recruitment 10 fashion They need to
build an engaged community
What Is a CommunityA community encompasses a range of
individuals united by one common pur-
pose They participate in reviewing and
engaging in discussion in like-minded
groups Many in the community will not
have considered working for a company
or even wish to in the future But key is
that they will start on a journey of famil-
iarization with a company and a compa-
nyrsquos goal is that they either become a brand ambassador (be
positive about the brand join in discussions and share with
friends) or physically consider and apply for a role (or en-
courage their friends to)These communities benefit both
the company employment brand and the wider corporate
brand and product familiarization It should not be lost that
these communities want to be ldquoentertainedrdquo whether that
be through information discussion debate or seeing
what their friends are up to
Engaged CommunitiesAn engaged community is one that demonstrates a high
degree of participation That could be through reading a
companyrsquos community information (page impressions) par-
ticipating in discussions (writing comments on blogsFace-
book) or sharing links with friends and colleagues Word
If your staff are not beingtargeted by competitors
and headhunted thatspeaks volumes about
the quality of yourworkforce and that is a
humiliating issue for yourbusiness
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 27
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
of mouth spreads like wildfire across social communi-
ties
Building a community implies developing a relationship
with peopleThat means people care they decide to devote
time to look at latest posts and see what their ldquofriendsrdquo are
doingWhen people care they invest an emotional commit-
ment to something
That is the goal of any community should it either wish
to create brand ambassadors or physical job applicants
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to nurture an emotion
ensure people take an interest and want to sharehave an
opinion
How Can Recruiting Create Engaged CommunitiesAgain recruitment is fundamentally boring People
tend to only visit jobs sites when they are looking for a job
Generally there is no hookrsquo or engagement tool in place to
encourage any repeat visitors
Recruitment-focused content will not create an engaged
community not generate repeat visits or seek to human-
ize the brand
A different angle is needed in order to hook people in
Why the Need to Humanize the BrandCorporate PR and marketing is naturally focused on pro-
motion of the product to increase salesmarket penetration
There is generally less attention directly focused on com-
pany and people promotion or revealing behind the corpo-
rate iron curtain But it is not the prime driver for corpo-
rate PR and marketing to humanizeTheir driver must right-
ly be raising product and company awareness to increase
sales and market penetrationThis means a focus on con-trolling the message to ensure strict adherence to a
brandcore messageAnything that encourages feedback can
distort the message and move away from the core propo-
sition and is tougher to control
But controlling a message or perception is tough in an
interconnected world as everyone is discussing brands prod-
ucts on Twitter blogs community forums Controlledmessaging is almost impossibleThe question is whether
modern corporations are happier to have people comment-
ing on their company and products on their official sites or
elsewhere where they have zero control or influence
While corporate PR and marketing focus on product mes-
saging there is a potential gap in understanding a compa-
ny People cannot take a decision on working at a compa-
ny based on product informationThey need to answer in
their own minds
bull Is this a company that I could work for
bull What is the culture like
bull Would I feel at home with the people Would I like
them
bull Who are the key leaders Are they leaders in their field
and will they drive a company forward
bull What is the experience of the leaders How they get to
their position
bull What are the key challenges facing the company and
how is it overcoming them
bull What are the different locations How do they differ
bull What facilities does the company have
bull What college courses does the company recommend
bull Are there any special opportunities for training and de-
velopment
bull What promotion possibilities are there
bull How do teams gel What do people do to have fun
bull Is the company involved in community relations and
what sort of activities
bull Insights into people and culture
bull Compensation and benefits whatrsquos included
These insights can take many forms but are clearly dif-
ferent than the goals of product prmarketing
Revealing the true side of a business greatly enhances the
offering to candidates and new candidate pools as they get
to see a more human company
Legitimately internal discussion will focus on what the
benefits of humanizing the brand are
The key is that whoever attracts the best talent getsthe best business results
If a company does not as yet possess a killer employment
brand the goal must be to map out key talent pools and
proactively attract the best talent Sourcing can help iden-
tify top talent but cannot spread the positive subconscious
messaging throughout talent pools Recruiters need to have
every weapon at their disposal to tempt and seduce talent
Three Core Elements on 30 Social Media SitesRecognizing that pure recruitment messaging is boring
and our goal is engagement any elements of social media
communication must encompass and balance three core ar-
eas
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
28 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
1 People The aim is to humanize the brand show the
culture remove the corporate iron curtains show who
the people are what they do what experience they
have what they do in their spare time what challenges
they face what they studied at the university and so
on
2 Opportunities This is the subconscious push toward
jobs but in an interesting way It answers all those great
questions how do I progress in my career what pro-
motion prospects are like whether a company has ca-
reer structures have they mapped job families what
training and development they offer
and more
3 Product We cannot get away from
products as we need to get people ex-
cited about what we do But we have
to be short sharp simple and fun in
our communications
Product is the most controversial ele-
ment here as there is crossover amongst
the PR and corporate marketing teams
The goal is any product material used
across social media must be taken from of-
ficial press releases At Autodesk for ex-
ample we also have to ensure that we en-
gage peoplersquos subconscious into what
our software can create
ndash On Facebook a link to a cool trailer that Autodesk Soft-
ware created the visual effects for with a caption like
Have you seen Inception Love what the guys at Double Neg-
ative have achieved with Autodesk Maya Whatrsquos your favorite
scene in the film
This can be posted on D-Negrsquos site for cross-communi-
ty building
A photo of someone standing by the Bay Bridge with a
caption
Gotta love this photo of John by the Bay bridge We were so
happy that Autodeskrsquos software was used to create the new bridge
Would you guys have designed the bridge differently
Note the use of open questions to stimulate debate
Whatrsquos cool as well is that this differentiates us from pure
product PR and corporate marketing plus it allows people
to feedback
ldquoIt Is Too Dangerous for People to Have OpinionsrdquoThe biggest fear of social media is that people have opin-
ions and could disagree and slam a company Bad feedback
is not what anyone wants to see
But if people feel passionate to post bad feedback on a
site they will do it anywhere It could be it on a news site
or a blog and they will still tell their friends No company
can control that
Itrsquos better that any negative feedback is
posted on official sites
The pressure for any company is to
want to delete negative feedback or have
a member of HRmarketingPR reply in
a professional way But if a company is
misleading through messaging and infor-
mation this will be recognized by the com-
munity and whatever degree of messag-
ing wonrsquot work If someone says something
critical in the community and it is with-
out basis or untrue then the community
will spring to the defense of a company
(much to the proud delight of HRmar-
ketingPR) If something being done by
the company is wrong it gains consider-
able kudos amongst communities to
demonstrate that a company listens and proposes correc-
tive action as in ldquoWe were wrong we have been listening
to your views and will be doing xyz to improve this situ-
ationrdquo People respect companies that listen and apologize
Key Channels to TalentSocial media is rapidly becoming the communication
channel of choice for millions of people By 2014 social me-dia messaging will exceed email
Social media is also bridging generational divides It is no
longer the preserve of Generation Y and younger genera-
tion Social media is proving a cross-generational commu-
nication vehicle
The key is not to dilute strategy and to only focus on
building communities where it makes senseThere are so
many social networks and media outlets that it is impossi-
ble to cover a large number without diluting effort
Is there a need for in-house recruitment
teams Why cant ahiring manager speak to
recruitment agenciesdirect or post to a job
board or even reach outto candidates direct viaLinkedIn themselves
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 29
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Therefore focusing on a key strategic number will reap
rewards for an employment brand
bull A company blog site
bull LinkedIn community
bull Facebook page
bull YouTube Channel
bull Twitter community
The key to all social media is content CONTENT ISKING
Examples of ContentContent is so diverse But it must be short and sharp
A general rule is one short paragraph and 1-2-3 pictures
That is what grabs It also means multiple people across the
world can generate and post content without an impact on
their day jobs
For example a member of the staff takes a picture of the
food from the cafeteria that day BANGTherersquos a story that
reveals a little of the brand It says they have great food at
a company A member of the staff takes a picture of the out-
side view of the offices in India BANG itrsquos a story It em-
phasizes the global nature of the company
What else we will focus on at Autodesk
bull Photos from inside officeslocations across the world
with intro into the offices
bull Employee profiles (Photo plus answers to 4-5 questions)
bull Photos and write-ups of a cool eventparties at locations
Summer Party Xmas Halloween office party bring
kids to work etc
bull Products mdash taken from product press releases
bull Sharing of relevant ldquoWowrdquo articles in the media with
a hyperlink to content (We note all the great stories on
sites that cover Autodesk designs such as a link to a re-
view of the latest film like Inception and a reminder of
the fact Autodesk designed software used A discussion
takes place about what people think of the effects and
the story of the film itself
bull University presentationsmdasha great area for content Both
video from the presentation interviews with grads on
Flip video and photos from the presentation
bull Photos from the launch of ldquoMy Autodeskrdquo Global Au-
todesk competition for employees to take a photo to
capture what Autodesk means to them Given the
6000-plus employees we will get enough content for
one photo per day for 365 days
bull Community relations and charity work People do this
for Autodesk and in their own time Great subtle PR
coverage for a company that cares
bull Videos about products training recruitment the
whole mix
bull Staff profiles and exclusive interviews with the CEO
chief of creative marketing managers receptionists
cleaners etc (PR lets key media know and points them
to the site)This drives PR and traffic particularly to
the exclusive interview with the CEO
bull Competitions among the development community
This only scratches the surface
Who Writes ContentA company does not need to hire full-time employees fo-
cused on keeping social media up to date Instead what is
needed is a network of contacts across the world (Numer-
ous people responsible for content on Facebook such as
someone in Asia Europe and North America who occa-
sionally go on and review postings and post comments and
they assume the one identity be it a single Avatar or the com-
pany name)
The key is a photo plus one paragraph of short text Itrsquos
easy and not time-consuming
As communities grow content can be posted by commu-
nity members and becomes a self-evolving beast
Recruitment 30 Corporate Careers SiteKey to the whole humanized approach is the corporate
careers site Many sites are pure job boards and have zero
engagement and repeat visit sites A corporate careers site
is a marketing page and is there to sell your company and
promote your EVP
As the area you drive most traffic to you need to be hon-
est and ask if this site captures your EVP Does it excite
Does it inspire Is it sticky for people to spend some time
to exploring
A modern corporate careers site is your shop window to
your world Just as you walk past a shop in the local town
do you stop look and want to explore content
At minimum a corporate careers site should host your blog
site and contain links and feeds from all your social media
communitiesThe blog site creates that re-visit factor as it
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
30 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
is an engagement tool On your careers site it also provides
that extra insight for new candidates wanting to gain greater
insight into your companyWhat better advertisement than
a job seeker coming to the corporate careers site and see-
ing such an open company listening and speaking with its
own community
The Channels hellip
Recruitment 30 Company BlogA blog (ideally hosted within the corporate careers site
with its own direct unique URL) should act as the anchor
piece of social media the mother ship but directs people
out and back from the other social media channels
By having the blog situated in the same area as the careers
site repeat visit content drives continual trafficThe separate
naming convention allows us to drive traffic without being over-
ly obvious that it is for recruiting purposes
A company blog should contain
bull Regular short insightful contentbull Community can comment on content But they will
have to register their identity and email address
(hence allowing data capture)
bull Ratings Community can rate articles on a scale of 1-5
bull Links to all social communities bull RSS feeds from corporate
bull RSS feeds from corporate Twitter site
bull Contact form allowing people to contact directly
bull Newsletter (powered by Feedburner) mdash a daily
email newsletter for those who subscribeThis is gen-
erated by automation and sent at a specific time each
day with no input needed by the host (Again captur-
ing data including email address)
bull Categories Such as by product or locations It
should be easy for community members to search top-
icsstories
bull Tags a section where community members can see the
most discussed subjects
bull Tabs Separate sections inside the blog on company
culture and why work at your company
bull Company video content Derived from the YouTube
Channel
The blog is linked to all social media and ideally on pub-
lishing of a story pushes out
bull A full story to Facebook (includes images and full text)
where the whole Facebook community can comment
bull Short tweet of the headline plus short URL to the blog
article
The great thing about modern blogging is that a great blog
site can be created on minimalzero budgets Blogging
technology through packages like Wordpress and Blogger
is free to use and a community of software developers helps
create content
From experienceWordpress is the stronger blogging soft-
wareThe Wordpress is the developer community contin-
ually writing plugins and updating software AT NO COST
TO THE END USER
Recruitment 30 Facebook CommunityFacebook is a social network and is most successfully used
in a light-hearted way Posting a list of jobs will not engage
a community or derive brand loyalty Discussions need to
be light and hence encourage participation A balance be-
tween content and ldquoslipping inrdquo job postings is key
The key to Facebook is subconscious brand recognition
When building the InsideEA community open-ended
questions and feedback helped grow the community to over
150000 in just over a year
People are social beasts and love to talk
Even more interesting is what discussions people engage
in In EArsquos example this was bizarrely not games but the fol-
lowing Facebook updates drew response rates of over 300
comments deep
bull What are you doing this weekend
bull Whatrsquos the weather like where you are
bull Where in the world are you
bull What are you doing right now
bull Whatrsquos on the TV tonight
bull Whatrsquos your favorite music
bull Any good films at the cinema right now
Rightfully the question will be asked internally how does
this benefit our company But PR and marketing should
quickly be encouraged that people are on the company site
talking their friends joining them and engaging and it is
all great brand recognition
Content can be mixed with careers messaging and
posts like
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 31
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
bull Have you ever considered working for Autodesk
bull What sort of jobs could you do at Autodesk
bull We are looking for a great salesman in AustriaAny rec-
ommendations
bull Register for a job alert to ensure you never miss out on
a dream job
The key is a balance
Building a vibrant community is not random but is tar-
geted to key names and groups of people and encouraging
them to join
How to Build the 30 Blog and Face-book Community
Building a community of strong num-
bers is key How can this be achieved
Relatively easily
bull Mass email your recruitment database
of most likely many thousands of can-
didates (These are people who al-
ready like your company as they ap-
plied to work for itThe natural pre-
sumption is since they applied to work
for you they like you and it should
be easy to convert them into your so-
cial media communities)
bull Push your PR team to encourage their
media partners and key journalists to
review and publish your stories and thus drive traffic
Key websites hopefully will publish a story on the launch
of your new strategy and sites (Remember this all has
the potential to revolutionize PR once the domain of
the single well-crafted press release Now itrsquos driven by
social media where instant feedback and new postings
can be watched and picked up by the media)
bull Advertise in Facebook and LinkedIn communities
Through a combination of the above traction canbe quickly gained again at zero cost
Creative companies will also be using Facebook adver-
tising to hit sites of potential targets Maybe advertising
to competitor communitiesThe potential is huge whether
it is traffic generation building communities or even
cheeky disruptive marketing against your closestcompetitor
Recruitment 30 Twitter CommunityTwitter does not offer short-term candidate pipelinebums
on seats However it is the fastest-growing of the social me-
dia communication and is an engagement tool beyondcompare
Communication is crisp and short and frequentDue to frequency playing a part that means that a range
of people across the globe would assume the avatar iden-
tity of your companyrsquos tweeter This ensures that it is not
a full-time job for someone They take a look every 2-3
hours reply and rest assured someone else takes over in a
few hours
Put crudely Twitter can be moni-tored by someone as they make a cupof tea and the kettle boils It doesnrsquotimpacting too much on their dayjob but gives them appraisal filler atthe end of the year
Successful use of Twitter as an engage-
ment tool is ensuring that one-way ldquopush
messagingrdquo is not the norm Do not list
jobs and hyperlink to your careers site
That is dull Engagement means partic-
ipating and replying to the community
This does not mean that someone
replies to every tweet but a healthy num-
ber of tweets to the following communi-
ty help demonstrate two-way communi-
cation and feedback
Companies again can be very clever in building their street
cred and also building their community via close monitor-
ing and participating in latest trending Hashtag discus-
sions or even creating their own Hashtag debates Remem-
ber solid discussions will appear on Google search engines
Recruitment 30 LinkedIn CommunityLinkedIn is the resumeCV shop window to the world
It provides recruiters and sourcers the chance to map and
locate top talent
But that top talent may not be aware of the company
brand or ever considered working for it
The goal with LinkedIn is to develop an active commu-
nity of professional followers Membership can be controlled
to let in only relevant professionals who can engage in more
intellectual discussions Unlike Facebook and Twitter
communities discussions on LinkedIn are deeper more in-
90 of candidatesrelevant for a role are
not looking So why arecompanies restricting
themselves to fighting toattract the small talent
pool of the active 10 ofjob seekers
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
32 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
Recruitment 10 Ready-made Excuses Regarding Social Media
Recruitment 10 excuse
People would say bad things about us
I dont have any budget for it
My company blocks social media
We only have a small company so it isnot worth the effort
Our brandproduct line is boring so wehave nothing to say
No time to do this
No clear metrics Nothing is measurableIts all fluffy
Social media is all about the young
Answers
People are already saying bad things about you if there are bad things to write Is it betterfor people to say them on your own site in one place than push underground and allowwider coverage on a brace of different sites
It is free to set up a Facebook page It is free to set up a Twitter page It is free to set up aYouTube Channel It is free to set up a LinkedIn community It is free to set up a blog (ifhosted on your domain) Site design is free when using software like Wordpress and Blog-ger Key is content Budget is not a blocker Lack of ambition is
Do they not trust their employees If employees are delivering on their objectives and loveworking for your company why not let their collective enthusiasm run free and the employmentbrand benefit from their word of mouth through social media If a country proclaims the bene-fits of free speech why curtail it in the workplace as long as people are delivering
You dont want to develop relationships with talent You dont want to build an engagedopen transparent employment brand and show potential candidates the benefits of work-ing at your company Its all to scale Bigger companies will have bigger communities thatdoes not mean they are better or more qualitative focused
Why work for your company if it is so boring One persons boring is anothers fascinatingKey is content Companies are made up of people People have stories People have livesDoes not matter if you are accountants or pack fish at the local market There are storiesof peoples lives to be told And people love that
Engaging with social media communities should be a minimal activity We all have dayjobs Create a number of people who can blogadd Facebook comments or Tweet A blogstory is only a photo plus a paragraph of text This is all about developing your appeal and attractiveness to entice the best talent If youdont devote time rest assured your competitors will
Social media is a very metrics-focused area but sometimes it is tough to track key metrics tofocus on Obviously trackable stats like volume of traffic to sites and click-throughs demonstratespopularitysuccess but it goes deeper than this Volume of CVsresumes received demonstratesthe success of engagement on talent attraction But the branding elements can be quite fluffyand immeasurable as is much of PR and marketing But other stats also demonstrate success- Number of Facebook fans- Number of average comments per thread- Facebook fan group age spread- Facebook fans per geography- Blog Google rankings- Blog site traffic- Blog site commentary- Blogmdashnumber of people registering for a candidate newsletter- Blogmdashnumber of article mentions on other influential sites- Twitter followers- Twitter re-tweets- Twitter trending topics- LinkedIn size of community- LinkedIn user-generated discussions- YouTube friends- YouTube subscribers- YouTube views per video- YouTube user ratings per video
Social media is cross-generational and older generations are the fastest growing groupson the social media networks
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
copy2011 ERE Media Inc Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 33
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
tellectual and more profound
Discussions are the key to
engagement Again joining
the most popularlargest
LinkedIn communities join-
ing in discussions and then di-
recting people to your com-
munity helps As long as it is
not too obvious that a hijack-
ing of membership is under-
way
Recruitment 30 YouTubeCommunity
The company YouTube
channel should reflect culture
products and opportunities It
is not a tool to post corporate
overly manufactured corpo-
rate spin video Raw footage
from employees representing
the culture works best
A good example again
based on experience was the
InsideEA YouTube channel (linked to the main EA Chan-
nel) which was broken down into five categories of content
bull Favorites Mix of EA product video
bull Career paths at EA Video taken from training ses-
sions
bull EA having fun Fun staff-made videos and culture
insights
bull Hey EA thatrsquos soooo cool Videos that showed EA
on the cutting edge use of technology
bull EA Graduates University presentations graduate in-
terviews
PwC is the perfect example of YouTube successThe exec
team spent many thousands Pounds on a slick corporate PR
video which attracted less than a thousand hitsA few mem-
bers of staff created a video with a Flip camera based on
Tony Christiersquos lsquoRoad to Amarillordquo which was raw fun and
portrayed a fun side to working in auditing (a deathly dull
profession)The video achieved 102000 hits
Videos on YouTube donrsquot need to be slick or corpo-rate One person one Flip video can make a greatvideo and give great insight
Mobile Recruitment the next big thingThe average job seeker is now searching for jobs via their
mobile and staying in touch with their FacebookTwitter
and LinkedIn buddies while on the move
Recruitment 30rsquos goal must be to integrate all social me-
dia channels and job search functionality into an app that
is viewable on iPad iPhone Android and Blackberry tech-
nology to capture the mobile job seeker market
This allows a candidate or fan to monitor all tweets Face-
book updates LinkedIn discussions and blog stories in one
place on the move
Primary to this approach is employment branding and
engagement with communities with the secondary goal of
job search (People will search for jobs but will want to re-
ply when they are back at their desk)
The Most Underused Aspect of RecruitingOne of the most underused and oft-forgotten assets of a
recruiter is the database
The recruitment database is not just a tool to search and
review candidate details It is a marketing tool If the data-
base is easily segmented recruiters can send precise appeal-
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk
34 Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership | crljournalcom | June 2011 copy2011 ERE Media Inc
RECRUITMENT 30
TIME TO CHANGE
ing targeted emails hence the move by many companies
from pure ATS to more CRM-focused systems
A Last Revolutionary ThoughtRevolutionary Thought Is recruitment always destined
to be a cost center
Consider the media world Itrsquos in a tail spinTV adver-
tising is in decline as the number of channels proliferates
and the goal of capturing and messaging to core markets
becomes harder and more fragmented
Print media is also in decline Again so many news chan-
nels on the web and ways of getting news means that print
media advertising is in decline as advertisers struggle to mes-
sage to their core audiences
Recruiters are in a core position
As they build mass communities on social media and build
their recruiting databases they are creating their own mes-
saging vehicles
As recruiting departments struggle for budgets to invest
in employment brand activity who not cross-charge your
in-house marketing department to advertise on your Face-
bookTwitter page Why not cross charge your internal mar-
keting team to advertise to your recruitment database via
targeted emails Indeed you may even get to a point where
there is such traffic to your corporate blog site that exter-
nal companies want to pay to advertise on your blog
Imagine that recruiting moves from being a cost center to
a profit center Not as far-fetched as you would imagine
The New Recruitment 30Recruitment 30 is about building engaged communities
telling a story listening discussing and fostering an emo-
tional attachment with new talent
Recruiter 10 and 20 will be a dying breed in the com-
ing months and years replaced and thrown on the scrap
heap by Recruiter 30 who can combine a range of skills
including
bull PR and messaging
bull Marketing
bull Direct Marketing
bull Market segmentation
bull Candidate relationship management
bull Sales
bull Presentation and communication skills
Are your recruiters ready
Is your recruitment leader ready
All will unravel in the coming months and years and we
will see which companies can be transparent and build and
engage communitiesWill yours
This paper is an insight into the strategy of Autodesk Talent
Acquisition in the next 12 months in which much will change
and be updated to reflect this philosophy Please feel free to judge
us against our own criteria in the coming months
Matthew Jeffery is the head of EMEA talent acquisition and global talent brand for Autodesk He is the former global director of talentbrand for Electronic Arts He was the highly rated spring 2010 ERE Spring Expo chairman and keynote speaker and was the UKRecruitment Personality of the Year 2010 matthewjefferyautodeskcom
Amy McKee is the global director of talent acquisition for Autodesk