Digital Recruiting

Missing In Action – a recruitment advertising agency video, but not as we know it

We started this week with a bit of a ripple in the recruitment advertising twittersphere from a certain agencies video post - a ripple that despite the apparent best efforts of the generating agency to remove the video almost as quickly as it was posted has left a bit of a phasers to stun kind of afterglow.

A few lucky people got to see it and I have it on good authority from one such person that Tribal have produced a spoof Star Trek-esque spoof promo. Im afraid all I can show you is where it clearly isn't (you'll get what I mean if you click on the main video as it comes up  "we're sorry, this video is no longer available") - http://www.youtube.com/user/BHTribal1

It seemingly flashed onto the web Monday morning but within an hour or two was gone again.

For me it begs the question – how can something go that far and then be pulled? Does the pulling of it say more than the making of it (apparently all harmless fun that the person I talked to about it felt showed a bit of agency personality)?

Or perhaps there was copyright infringement that they hadn't checked and worried them?

Any one got any answers? Anyone got any other theories? Anyone got the video downloaded?

Come on Tribal - leave the klingons on the starboard bow and show us your funny bone(s).

:)

Recruiting: SoMe, Web 2.0, Pros & Cons and the future - some thoughts

I was recently approached by OnRec.com ("The Magazine for Online Recruitment around the world") to contribute to an article. You can read the article here - Using social media and Web 2.0 effectively (with additional contributions from Jamie Leonard, Euan McDonald & Lucian Tarnowski). I thought I'd post my full thoughts here too.

How can recruiters use social media and Web 2.0 effectively to engage candidates?
The best way to use social media to engage candidates is by first ensuring you understand your target audience. If you have an idea of where they may already be congregating online or what they’re consuming (by way of web content) then it’s a great idea to ‘listen’ to them first whilst you work out what you can bring to the party. If you’re hoping that a couple of tweaked press releases every other month will in any way be engaging then you’re setting yourself up for a very public fall, or worse: indifference.

Put yourself in the audiences’ shoes because they’re asking “What’s In It For Me” and if you can’t answer that with some degree of empathetic certainty then best manage your expectations right down from the start. Engagement requires the buy in of both parties – and if you aren’t offering anything compelling or interesting then you can’t really expect to reap the benefits.

But once you are confident that you know your audience then the best advice is just to get on with it. You’ll soon know whether you’re hitting the right note and raising any interest, and then: keep it up; keep listening; stay true to your brand values; show integrity; keep looking for other avenues to broaden that reach. Overcoming the initial inertia is probably the hardest part of the whole thing, after all then you’re just doing online what you do in the real world.

What are the benefits and also pitfalls to avoid when using social media and Web 2.0?
The very least you should achieve is an enhanced search engine profile (Search Engine Optimisation), because the search engines love regularly updated content - and you should be producing that if nothing else. But the full rewards, if you get it even modestly right, are very compelling:

• The potential to broaden your recruitment horizons – reach outside of traditional, potentially stagnant talent pools and desperate active job seekers.
• The opportunity to change preconceptions about your business that might otherwise have harmed your recruitment activity (often without you knowing).
• Influence / balance online conversations that would otherwise negatively affect your employer brand.
• Reach passive candidates, establishing and then maintaining a front of mind presence with them.
• Differentiate from the competition - tangibly.

The main pitfall to avoid has certainly got to be underestimating the time commitment this will require. For some people the ability to write engagingly comes more easily than for others, but either way once you’ve started any such activity then you have to keep it up, otherwise that can often be perceived more negatively than not starting out at all (stagnant blogs or poorly updated social media groups can speak louder of your organisation than the outdated content). Another pitfall is not being prepared. If you haven’t listened then you won’t know what you might come up against, you won’t add any value and worst of all, you might not have anything interesting to say (in the target audiences eyes at least).

And finally it’s important to remember that nowadays people “trust peers over marketers”, so be ready to take the rough with the smooth as people will look to openly validate your messages against other (sometimes disgruntled, often highly cynical) commentary. If your company isn’t willing for you to be open and honest, perhaps your Employer Brand is actually as much fiction as fact, then maybe it’s best to get that right first before opening yourselves up to the full frankness of the web.

How do you see social media and Web 2.0 developing and influencing the recruitment industry in the future? What will be the next big change?
I think that web will increasingly force the transparency of employer propositions’, certainly within key skills markets. Companies will begin to understand the tangible business value of being THE “Employer of Choice” and invest in managing their Employer Brand more fastidiously, doing so from the inside-out, also realising the benefits of actively encouraging an open culture to further enhance the external Employer Brand.

Potential candidates on the other hand will increasingly hear about jobs through any number of web touch points, peer to peer networks being increasingly ubiquitous, but will also have more and more sophisticated “search agent” type tools that will scour the web on their behalf, sifting through information and collating “must read” lists that will include appropriate job opportunities and articles/comments about previously flagged target prospective employers, all bundled together with their other daily news and active interest subjects feeds.

And what this will all mean is a significant shift in the balance of recruitment spend from what is still overwhelmingly focussed on attraction based activity to a far greater investment in long-term Employer Brand management and broad reach digital engagement activity. Why? Because companies will grow to realise that the new web paradigm is more a technology underpinned attitudinal one than a new medium to be controlled, so getting someone’s attention becomes a (still) crucial but fundamentally relatively smaller part of the overall business picture.

And the next big change?
Joe Public and the Corporate World have a long way to go to get up to speed with what is possible today. The vast majority still barely get Web1.0, so there has to be a period of catch up and consolidation as the technology already here gets converged and simplified – and that’s actually what is going to be the big change: a massive swell of new and existing internet users switching from just accessing 2 or 3 elements of the web resource to becoming immersed in the complete social web.

The systems, technology and downright mindboggling cleverness underpinning the web will continue to evolve at a lightning pace too (not least in pursuit of the next next big change – The Intelligent Web), but I believe a large part of the focus will switch from “what” can be done to “how” it’s done – most importantly delivering the user experience that enables the greatest number of people to engage with each other as efficiently as possible. And with the Internet increasingly being where we store our information and where the software we use runs from (as opposed to on our local hard drives) so barriers to access will continue to diminish and remote functioning capability improve, all furthering the swell of immersed users – welcome to the age of Cloud Computing.

A RAD hangover (or just a miserable aging git)?

There’s no doubt I was considering myself very lucky to get an invite (even as a late stand in – I’ve never been too proud to be someone’s second option come good) to the RAD awards this year. But thanks to the generosity of Jobsite.co.uk I made the event.

I think a bit of pomp & celebration every once in a while does you good, and for me having the RADs in January helps put off any silly new years resolutions for the month of January, pushing them back (if there are any I’m feeling silly enough to make anyway – usually around curtailing of alcohol intake) into the shortest month of the year ☺

I think it’s only fitting (within this particular blog) to keep any observations about awards to those digitally based – and I’m very happy to say that after a some previously negative comments about the rationale and wisdom of judging decisions (of RADs and of course the NORAs) I think there were some very worthy winners indeed. In particular I thought the Shell game looked truly innovative (am hoping that Sinead will get to write us up a case study of it), the Asda site holds together very well indeed (no easy thing for a main careers site), the Landrover site was a vision of flash loveliness (I agree probably a bit too form over function – but a beauty to behold none the less), and I agree with the judges that the National Graduate Development Programme video was a very powerful piece superbly executed and so to me looked to be a worthy overall champion.

It’s nice to write a review about how I think it’s clearer than ever (certainly in the categories listed above) what was ticking the judges boxes – and, most importantly for me, the candidate engagement aspect wasn’t lost in the appreciation of the work before them.

But I was left with a strange after taste from the event (and one that was even stronger than the gin & tonic with double baileys chaser that “did me in” – thanks Gemma! ;). The event was hosted very ably by Rob Brydon, but despite his best efforts (and I don’t think it was just me) did it seem to take a bit longer than usual to get to the awards element of the evening? Did the food take longer (less people than previous so can’t see why that should be the case)? Was there more of a gap between food being cleared and it starting?

Whatever it was, the longer the event takes to get into full swing then the shorter the audiences attention span – which I felt to be a real shame, as there really was some excellent work on show. The audience seemed, well, more disassociated from what was actually happening than I can recollect from previous years.

This feeling was made all the stronger when I met someone at the bar later in the night who agreed that they’d had a great time – but quickly went on to say that there’s no way they’d suggest their HRD (FTSE top 50 company) should attend because it seemed little more than a bit of an agency/media piss up. And don’t get me wrong – I, and in many cases unfortunately very well documented, have enjoyed more than my fair share of serious hospitality and intra-industry exuberance. But it got me thinking whether there were simple steps that might be taken that would allow such an event to have it’s creative integrity & best practice filled cake and eat (or rather drink) it?

So here’s some sober thoughts / suggestions / musings:

1. Could the event start earlier? Let’s face it – it’s a big night out and many people have to travel for at least half the day to be there, so why not shift it forward an hour.
2. Do the awards element first. If the event is truly about the awards – the celebrating of creative excellence from our industry – then why not hold off the meal and excessive merriment just a little longer? (obviously starting earlier would help this too)
3. Show the shortlisted work before hand so we actually get to know what’s been judged and can come with a raised level of interest and opinion whatever our agency / client chances of success on the night.

I believe some of the work that I’ve seen over the years from our industry – in whatever humble or not so humble way you may take my ramblings – is truly worldclass, and we should be proud of it. Extremely proud of it. Sometimes a creative team or agency clicks into a winning grove, often or not led by a particular client that gives them the kind of brief(s) or latitude (as well as sometimes budget) that others of us can’t always seem to engineer. But then all of a sudden the landscape changes and some really great work comes from another direction all together. And it’s for that reason that I’d actually like to see steps taken to afford more deference to the quality of what we’re seeing and celebrating – more deference than most of us (it’s quite apparent) can muster straining at an image on a screen after c.4 hours “networking” over a light 3 course meal.

But all that said I don’t want to detract from the fact that I’ve been very impressed as to how the RADs have, certainly in recent years, worked hard to evolve with an industry that has seen it’s media and execution sophistication shift at what (certainly in business terms) is near light speed. With some strong and clear direction, through listening to those at the evolving coal face, and almost certainly some good chairpersonship along the way, I think the RBI team have kept these awards relevant. So well done to all those who produced work they thought good enough to enter as well as those of course who won on the night – and here’s hoping that the RADs push to keep pace with our industry's changing landscape, whilst perhaps taking some steps to ensure this great work gets the focus and acclaim it truly warrants on the actual night.

Get into the Christmas spirit at someone else's expense

If you’re reading this then I would think I’m probably fairly safe assuming that you are aware to at least some small degree that for the best part of the last year (in all senses :) I’ve been establishing a business we call 3D MarComms. Well we wanted to get into the Christmas spirit and need your help in doing so. All you have to do is visit our blog, leave a comment with the charity of your choice and then we’ll give the most popular charity £1 per comment left.

Go on – it’ll take you all of a minute at most, so click through and give a quid from our pocket. It couln't be much easier

:)

What’s that coming over the hill?

Well, as the song goes – for 2009 it is indeed “a Monster”. A renewed and re-invigorated Monster.

On Monday I was invited to the launch breakfast of the new Monster.com look and functionality. Launching from Millbank Tower, the home of the New Labour spin machine and from a job board that was practically there at the start of the Internet (and certainly mastered the art of it’s own brand of Internet hype I’d suggest), I was expecting polish and shine but to have to leave questioning whether there was any real substance. I was pleasantly surprised to actually find quite the reverse.

Our starter was a 60second advert which we were told by Monster’s UK MD was made but never aired because the American target audience only ingest 20-30second adverts. Hmmm – was this a portent of what was to come – something made that looked nice but actually didn’t do the job and left you wondering “how much?” & “why?”?!! Oh dear. I thought the presentations themselves were actually pretty flat, which was surprise reversal of expectations no1 – but hey I’m no polished Alan Whitford myself, so I’ll just leave it at that and move on to looking at the substance.

So what did I make of the new offering? Well let’s start with the fundamental principles. Aggressive growth through global acquisition is a tough business model to deliver against long term, especially when you’re in the websphere and “bringing together” different systems – and Monster have clearly been honest with themselves about the fact that it was approaching do or die in terms of addressing this. So as of January every single Monster site (well most – the rest to come) will be working off the same single platform. No different inventory for this site or that site – and one would also hope the facility for a sales team to access real time stats and data (and costs?) to give you a simple response to what should be a simple global question. So, in theory, tick one.

The next thing they’ve done is completely re-invent the user interface. What’s a user interface? Well that’s what the visitor to the site interacts with. And I think they’ve done a cracking job. Now of course the proof is actually in the using, but from the screen grabs I saw I’d say that this is a significant advance – for both the candidate user (front end) and the recruiter user (back end). NEVER underestimate how dramatically a bad interface will ruin / hamstring your site, or for that matter how much a good interface will enhance your site.

If people can’t work out quickly how (or why) to use something then they just won’t – particularly in such a crowded place as the job board market. So it doesn’t matter how clever this widget is or that whodjamaflip - if it’s not easy to get to grips with they won’t be arsed (you may have heard of two examples sites that do this element pretty well: Google & Facebook). To a slightly lesser degree the same is true of a back end experience – if it’s a pain to understand and work with then it’ll be barely used (or used just as little as it can be), and if the candidates don’t fall in through basic use then it all adds up to a negative overall impression of the entire proposition. Monster has reinvented both experiences.

I see this as a massive tick for Monster and short term will be a big positive. Knowing they HAD to change the underpinning system (more on that shortly) they did the right thing and used the time to also bite the bullet on design (which due to the new technology on offer they probably had to do anyway), but I think from what I’ve seen it looks like they’ve done their work very well.

But what of this much vaunted technology that’s going to “change everything”? I actually think it does indeed have the potential to do so. Monster have looked at their CV database not as just a pile of CV’s, but as a source of knowledge from which to train a kind of search based artificial intelligence. Is it going to be perfect from day one? No. Is it going to be a pretty blunt tool? Absolutely – but it’ll get better and is already significantly less blunt than other sites’ can offer. Monster are actually doing their bit to bring the future to today – and this system (if it’s worth the millions they’ve spent on it) will just get better. It will never stop learning, and as more people rate the relevance of the possible matching vacancies it delivers them it will learn some more.

Look – if you’re reading this you’ll be bored to tears with discussion about what web2.0 is/isn't/might be – but this is indeed web3.0. And if you know me you know I hate to bandy terms for terms sakes, but sometimes it’s easier. Web3.0 is about the intelligent web, websites doing some thinking for you and in return for some of your data and/or perhaps a little time provides you a far "richer" experience (without you even realising it most of the time). And that’s what this is.

And do you need to know how it works? No. All you need to know is this:

•     Monster has a very impressive audience to tap into to start with – that’s a good start.
•     They’ve redone their interface so it’s easier for candidates to use – that will pay dividends in the short term (possibly leading to better informed candidates, my money says certainly leading to more candidates).
•     The search/profile matching is very clever but will take time to bed in – but it should be pretty good to start and it will get better and better and better.
•     The more people that use the system the better the search/profile matching gets (it’s a recession, so you can pretty much guarantee an upswing in traffic).
•     The better the search/profile matching gets the more people talk about it and the more people us it.
•     <repeat last two ad infinitum>

Now there were lots of other bits and pieces talked about but I’m sorry to say I didn’t necessarily buy into those as the shinning future. For me it was largely about a job board trying hard to gain some Social Media space (or at the very least some headlines from those who fall for massively complex diagrams and organisations trying to be the next Facebook or LinkedIn) and IMHO will generally in practice wash over the greater candidate community.

Monster is trying to do in web2.0 terms what Workthing did with web1.0 when they entered the market not as a straight up and down job vacancy posting website, but rather a kind of career advisory facility with jobs. Everyone does that now though, so Monster are using latest technology to do that in a far more engaging way. It may take off, it may not – when you’re talking Social Media not even Monster are in charge of whether the web takes to it or not (no matter what the pitch says). Anyway, time will tell for that – and just because I’m a cynic doesn’t mean that I won’t applaud them for trying. And at least they’ve not put all their eggs in that one social career networking basket.

I’m a simple man at heart and I think simple things work best on the web. And it’s those elements I’ve laid out above as to why I think it looks as though they have some fundamental elements right to actually indeed game change the job board market.

But – I’m gonna slip in a disclaimer here – and quite a big one. Over the years (admittedly I’m going back quite a few - but the market is slow to forget) I had plenty of clients coming to me disillusioned with the Monster sales machine (or indeed the delivery that didn’t back up the dream they felt they bought). My worry is that in a down recession where the pressure is on a hard pressed sales force then the dream weavers will be out and by 2010 we’ll be seeing another pile of client/media relationships in tatters.

Make no bones about it: I think Monster have here what could be one of the best interfaces of any jobboard with the clever underpinning technology to back that up and keep evolving and enhancing the candidate experience – it should be a winner.

All that really matters to people buying space is bums on seats and I see no reason why that shouldn't be significantly enhanced by your tech & design teams' efforts. But please guys n gals @ Monster – resist the pressure (as much as you can without losing your job) to blow it by believing your own hype and go all short term and aggressive on us again – keep your focus on the site delivering great results and this will in turn beget great results for you. The investment WILL pay dividends, but it will need time and nurturing. With a platform that looks like it can really deliver Monster should seize the chance to be a little more approachable like the toy Trumpy given out on Monday - I just hope it doesn't have an ugly short-termist sales crazed monster inside all too desperate to get out and get us all angry again.

"Recruitment - but not as you know it!" - the biggest digitally focussed event of the year...

... (that's being held in The Gate in Farringdon) is now nearly here.

:)

You've probably heard of it already (MLL tend to get themselves heard) - but just in case thought we'd give it a final plug. Now there's a rumour that it might actually be over subscribed for agency types - I don't tend to like believing rumours though, so if you're intrested get onto MLL and tell them just why they "need you" to be there and that you know there's room in one of them famous Gate leather boothes for you to squeeze in with another friendly person.

I think they can also squeeze in a further media or two though - so if you're reading this and have something that is pretty new / innovative / not your run of the mill digital media offer and just has recruitment communication potential written all over it then do get a move on and tell Jamie (jamie@mylonglunch.com or @jamieasleonard). If it screams "Web 2.0" (and I don't mean Paul Harrison in the shower!) and you're reading this blog, so therefore one might assume you have a recruitment industry interest, then you gotta think this audience is worth a couple of hours.

Who's there already? Well some names you'll know, some you won't - but hopefully most (although probably all) of whom you'll be impressed with (even if you can't see a way of working together right now) and I'm sure all will help you leave feeling a little more enlightened as to the potential on offer.

This is all (well I think it is anyway) about getting a snap shot of what's out there in the digital world that you might not come across in your every day media schedules, or else seeing what's new and exciting with some brands you think you already know - and if there's just one thing you pick up, one new contact you make, something that renews your interest in digital developments that will impact the recruitment world or something/someone inspires you to go back and slap your clients until they get with the digital programme then that's gotta be worth a show up. Hasn't it?!

So wanna see if they squeeze you in?

It's at The Gate (Farringdon) and starts at 3pm on Wednesday 26th November.

Matt Wise: matthew@mylonglunch.com
Jamie Leonard: jamie@mylonglunch.com

T.   020 7183 1227

Maybe see you there.

Phone sexiness (of the technical persuasion)

We've been waiting what seems like an eternity for a promised post from our very own Matt "3blogs" Alder about why he felt that the i-phone (of course he had one within the first few days) was indeed a game changing technology. I mean we all have a good idea that it's fun, very cool to have, got some nifty features and is beautifully designed - but what does a user I know find about it that means phones and the way we interact with them will never be the same again?

I'm particularly interested at the moment as I've been having my own phone provider related issues (if you've got time to kill you can find out here why I'm gutted to not be getting the G1) and so in an "habitual need for annual technical toy replacement" will likely be ditching t-mobile and deciding between Blackberry Storm or the i-phone in the not too distant.

Anyway - whilst we all wait I did pick up on these two videos today, and have to say "Oh my god - how clever are these people when they work together".

Now I've never seen fit to even use voice activation on any of the phones I've had in the past where it's an option - and I'm not so sure this will be used more than showing off just how cool your i-phone is to mates in the pub (although I understand a significant flaw/frustration with the i-phone is the virtual keypad - so maybe google have effectively helped create a bit of a work around for apple) - but if nothing else it's just impressive to see technological advances continue to trickle down at an amazing speed to us (quite literally) in the street.

 

and

WOW!

Innocent guilty of mediocrity, but still pick up award

In case you missed it the National Online Recruitment Awards (NORA) 2008 were announced at the end of last week. The debate has already raged (e.g. on the UK Recruiter blog & globally on Cheezhead) about how contentious these awards are (we also took issue with the results last year). Anyway - in case there's any interest out there and the news hasn't filtered through to you already you can pick up all the results here.

Anyway - congrats to all winners (it's nice to get an award even if no one can really work out how some of the decisions are arrived at).

My focus is looking at Employer activity and I still stand by my comments on the quality of the Best Employer website shortlist (left this in response to Andrew Baird's blog post on the nominations) and in particular the stand out favourite (in a poor quality field) Innocent:

Yes Innocent has a quirky tone and good written content because it's clearly got it's employer proposition right - but the delivery is as flat as a flat thing. The only media rich element is the video of a TV interview which (not sure about your browser) but for me was so distorted it was pretty much un-viewable and would have been better, at this quality, stripped down to just audio.

Perhaps NORA judges are looking for something different to myself - but I have this, perhaps quirky, feeling that awards should be awarded for "best in class", not just "quite good". We're living in a world where rich media and true creative engagement is not just possible but all around us - so flat careers sections with an animated button or two just shouldn't be held up as anything other than "awright" or a "decent effort".

Now I don't profess to have my finger on the industry pulse for best work coming out, but I do know there's far far better out there. Perhaps the problem is how NORA draw up their shortlist, maybe they're not seeing the full picture either - but however you cut it for any of these to win "Best Employer Website 2008" will do the Recruitment Communications industry a massive disservice in regards to the strides we have made with creative digital execution.

So - the "massive disservice" was of course followed through (as it had to be) and Innocent was proclaimed 'best employer website of 2008'. I suppose the positive for this year is that it was without doubt the best of the flawed shortlist - where as last year the disservice was done by the shortlisted (and truly excellent) Royal Navy site losing to a flawed Police site, so let's check back in 12months and see if Stephen O'Donnel has listened or is impervious to the very public feedback this years awards has stirred up - or whether the controversy storm that is now associated with these awards more than the results is such that it doesn't actually warrant whatever benefits running such an event provides Stephen & his interests.

Now this is an apolitical US election video - and it's good!

yup - video clip Friday seems to be back.

Anyway - I think this one is very good too.

No way we're cool enough in the country to get such a thing done next general election - but I think someone should edit this for the UK market too - great sentiment hitting out at the apathetic. (and loving the British input in it).

When is it OK to business blog about politics?

A question that's being found out right across America at the moment. With such an impassioned election campaign many business related blogs are having to ask themselves how much their blog personality and any personal political opinion is enmeshed with their business profile.

A blog I like to catch up on once in a while is a great example - you can read it here Common Craft

Sitting in the UK it's of course easier to pass comment on Politics in another country - we're less likely to have passionate clients who would take exception to any comments and take their business elsewhere (actually - even if it was about British politics I wonder if it's probably "not very British" to get so worked up about someone saying something pro or anti one political party or the other?)

But when I think it's safe to blog about politics is when you come across something that is so well executed and amusing that one would hope no matter your political persuasion you'll see the funny side. Or perhaps the fact that I think this clip is so well put together demonstrates my underlying political allegiances in the current American election race - and if I was leaning the other way I'd be struck by how powerful a message has been put together and horrified by the potential reach of it.

Well - here's sticking my neck out and posting something picked up in a number of places for those of you who missed it. I think it's excellent - hope you enjoy.

Please be aware - there's another party other than Mr Obama's to vote for in the American election and posting this highly amusing and very powerful and poignant video in no way reflects any political bias of this blog, it's contributors or any company that they may work for.

That said - anyone else scared witless of Sarah Palin in the white house?!

;-)