I've changed and you haven't........

Microsoft Digital Advertising viral....not specifically about recruitment but beautifully illustrates the shift that needs to keep happening. The recruitment process has always been a "dialogue". By embracing digital channels in the correct way " recruitment advertising" can and should be the same

Comments

[Alex]

Excellent piece - and couldn't agree more.

In fact - let's look at this through the eyes of a candidate and whilst we (Rec Comms) lag so far behind product advertising, we actually need to be even more about the communication. For gods sake - you're not asking someone to pop into a restaurant or buy a new sofa or indeed invest thousands of pounds in a new car. Recruitment is about asking someone to make a decision that is bigger even than buying a house.

Your life, your lifestyle, your family’s lifestyle and, often, your ability to support and provide for any family depends on making the right choice. What sort of arrogance, or be fair probably just ignorance, means recruiting companies don't do all they can to tell people about why they really would be making the right decision to come on board and then offer you the channels to talk to them about it, as well as focussing on treating you right throughout the entire process - and then listen if you've got anything to feedback and ensure that next time they get it more right?

It’s not only about the conversion process – it’s about business sense. When will business wake up and understand that you give someone a good recruitment experience (whether they get the job or not) and they’ll be a far more loyal customer to whatever it is you are selling. You piss them off and they’ll switch brand allegiance and tell their friends who’ll tell their friends – and more so today than ever in this connected world we live in. You can spend as many marketing £s as you like – but it’ll take a while before that person gets back onboard. So divert some of that marketing spend where it can REALLY make a difference, and at the same time understand Employer Branding is about more than your logo being in the right place, a quirky diversity statement or your exhibition stand being a matching pantone.

And then there’s the longer term. Perhaps I’m not the right candidate for you today – but I might be tomorrow. Or my mate may be. In a scarce skill economy you really can’t afford to be ruining your company’s good name. I know of a company that generated, conservatively, over 20,000 applications over a couple of years for senior IT roles. Now a whole heap would be rubbish of course, but lets’ say just 5% of those might have been half decent – what would it have cost to hold onto and “communicate” with those who didn’t get a position in the first instance? A damned site less than will have been forked out on Agency fees and advertising in filling those positions in subsequent months and years I’d guarantee.

Have far off are we from waking up and smelling the coffee yet? I’m UK Ltd will, but good god it’s a slow and tortuous process watching and trying to influence it happening (from all sides of the fence I’m sure). Still – such is life. And with amusing video’s like that above nailing the topic and the kind of debates we have here then I know there are at least some of us pulling in the same direction (sad as we are).

[John Whitehurst]

so so so true ...

people are the most important things in this business

shall we try and stop talking at people ???

[Jamie]

How comes no one has added anything to the site for a while?

[Alex]

Speaking for myself I'd say particularly busy time of year, with holiday season playing its part in both stretching our teams and taking up our time. I also think that as a peer 2 peer blog we set higher expectations on content / comment (believe it or not) than, in my experience, most blogs out there.

Will do our best Jamie, but if you or any other reader has anything to contribute on the subject of Digital Recruiting then please send through - we're always keen to get a mix of opinions to keep the debate going.

Thanks for caring.

[Matt]

Seconded Alex, this is a particularly mad time of year. It's nearly always the busiest for client work and the fact that everyone is on holiday compounds that! However I do know that there are a few articles in "production". If anyone wants to post as a guest author just email me on [email protected]

[Matt]

Speaking of articles in production Sinead, Alex and Paul....it's one of you's turn to go next!

[Ben S.]

That's a great marketing video..already forwarded it on to everyone in my department. I think that is chronic problem today in actually creating a dialogue with consumers. Some companies are great at it and others are awful. What is important is to experiment with types of communication. I came across http://www.secretarialblog.co.uk recently. It looks like an interesting way to create a community and open up a dialogue with passive jobseekers. Will it work? Worth a try.