Digital Recruiting

The Future of the Web - Kevin Kelly

While Matt and Paul have been off pleasure bent in Chicago, I've been attending a pretty impressive conference myself, via the web though.....

Not since the Web 2.0 video I blogged about last year, have I been so excited by an explanation, not just of the evolution of the web to date, but the next 5,000 days of the web....a real insight into the future of the media and communication landscape..

'Atoms' will merge with 'digital' to create one machine - The Cloud - which touches us all.

The trade off for the personalisation that the future holds is, we all have to be completely transparent, with our personal data......

He (Kevin Kelly) - likens Google to the alphabet and writing.....

Its a tad bit long, but well worth it. Very very cool. As he says, 'to share is to gain'.

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Pay...Go Dutch...or Expect it for Free?

I attended a breakfast seminar a couple of weeks ago held by the FT/exec-appointments.com. The topic was 'International Jobs – Strategies for Candidate Sourcing' and the presentation was given by the exec-appointments CEO, Betty Thayer. There was some great content in there on global talent management, talent being globally mobile, emerging markets and the rise of the Internet as a primary sourcing tool for global executive recruitment. All great stuff.

Now, as often happens at such things, something will be be mentioned or discussed which gets me thinking......

On this occasion, there was mention of how, in some countries, there are recruitment websites that have a candidate subscription model, you register your CV for a fee.....you pay to give them your CV. It was mentioned how Theladders was finding uptake of its 'premium' membership challenging in the UK market.

This brought me back to about a year/year and a half ago, when a German recruitment company was asking MediaCom to launch its services in the UK. They asked me for my tuppence worth and on investigation I discovered the German website/recruitment service was based 100% on job seekers subscribing to this site, paying money for connecting with a recruiter. Seemingly this model was incredibly successful in the German market.

I was at a bit of a loss. Recruitment consultants were ringing tonnes of professionals across many different industries in the UK trying to get them to give their CV to recruiters, arrange an interview, coach them through the process. All for free. Why on earth would I pay money to give a recruitment consultant (of types) access to my CV?

My thoughts, were that for this to be a successful launch, they would have to position this as an exclusive-club of sorts (people like feeling elite) offer fantastic added value (which I couldn't see from the model on show, what that would be) and really it would be more of a compelling proposition in the UK in an economic downturn, when the supply and demand dynamic shifted in the employers favour.

So, we are in the midst of a credit crunch and there is talk of things getting worse before they get better. Does this mean we will all soon be subscribing to the premium LinkedIn and Theladders services? Mmn...I'm not so sure. Unlike previous recessions talent and skill shortages exist, and talent is recognised, like never before, as being an incredibly important commodity to a companies success.

It's only really niche, exclusive type social  networking sites that I see as being capable of securing a paid fee from users. Think of asmallworld.com or the exclusive graduate/MBA professional networking site Doostang.com. 

Call it the cultural conditioning of growing up in the UK Internet recruitment market, but I guess I don't see the added value or exclusivity from premium subscriptions on such sites....not yet anyway.

You Earn How Much??

The inevitable tripadvisor type 'rate your company' website has arrived, Glassdoor.com. The site appeals to the nosey parker number nine, in us all, in that you can view salaries at different organisations. It sidesteps the uneasiness that UK-type people feel, when discussing salaries or indeed money in general. We can now have a good nosey from the comfort of our own chair.

What's really interesting, from an employer point of view, is the employer review sections where employees rate their companies. In terms of employer brand reputation management, all these peer views and opinions will be very interesting. From a candidate perspective this site will be potentially very influential in shaping perceptions of organisations.

The key learning that organisations should take, is that in terms of employer branding, your values and employer value proposition will need to be genuine and have integrity, recognised equally by both your internal and external audience.

Reviews are anonymous and in return for your views and salary info, you get full access to all the info so the model perpetuates growth.

The US-based site intends to make money through recruitment advertising and is adding reviews on UK based employers in next two weeks, although there are already a few interesting ones on there.......

This article sums the whole offering up nicely.

Blyk and you'll miss it?

'I want you.....I need you....I can't get enough of you.....'

The year was 2002 and these were the opening lines of a text message sent out to 2,500 people living in Stockport. A recruitment message sent out on behalf of Sainsbury's, who were opening a store in the area and needed customer service assistants. I couldn't have anticipated the headline in the national newspapers the next day, it screamed:

'Saucy Text Message sent out by Supermarket'

The story recounted how a woman's husband went into a rage when he discovered the above opening three lines sent to his wife on her mobile phone. He didn't proceed to read the final line of the text message, which read...'opportunities for customer service agents in our new Sainsbury's Stockport store'. Not so saucy.

Needless to say, I had a small kitten and worried I was in big trouble. The copywriter Craig, on the other hand, who to his credit, had only 130 characters to work with, was delighted his handiwork had made it into the national papers.

I realised that there was a fatal flaw in the targeted SMS lists from the provider, who insisted they had been double opt-ins from subscribers on a mobile ring tones site. It was then and there, I knew that, with the mobile being such a personal medium, the potential damage and annoyance to a brand from unsolicited messages, was too great in exchange for some targeted impactful messages. My ardour dampened and I was happy to use and explore mobile as a response mechanism in the intervening years...that was until last year, when I read all about a new ad funded mobile service being launched by ex President of Nokia, it was to be named Blyk.

I was seriously interested. Free text messages and minutes for 16-24 year olds in exchange for relevant and personalised messages. We explored how it may be relevant for our clients and one of our global clients will be piloting it to the UK graduate market next month, being able to have a dialogue with specific students, studying certain courses in certain universities.

The really interesting approach of this model is that it achieves a number of things - Personalised messages. Relevant messaging. And Added Value to our audience. All critical to brands in todays communication landscape.

With the web access over mobile growing month on month (and interestingly, more so among the older demographic, due to no cost restrictions) the medium and the opportunties to truly communicate with candidates may just be ready to be re-explored again.

From Career to Cremation

Just read that Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com has decided to move into the obituary business. As a further assault on the revenues of classified newspapers, he has launched Tributes.com, and so it would seem that nothing, not even death is sacred to newspapers quest for survival.

The website will be in competition with the likes of Legacy.com and will make its money from selling ads, flowers and other such paraphernalia. Its a rather morbid topic but with families being scattered around the globe, the ability to pay your respects and show your loved ones how much they have meant to you, must mean, the reach of the Internet is the perfect and inevitable vehicle.

Not too sure if its an area that the UK online newspaper industry have developed sufficiently yet. Although I have to say, making money out of peoples grief at a time when rationale thinking is scarce, has always sat uneasily with me. I do hope the rates are reasonable.

The Perfect Employee

Was it inevitable? the Human race replaced by more efficient low maintenace robots? Is this the begining of the end for human capital?

Selfridges has just appointed their first robotic barman, who is described below:

"Robotic barmen don't have attitude problems, they work a bit quicker, they don't need to eat, they don't need loo breaks, so I think they are perfect."

Thinking of getting myself one....on second thoughts, this may give my boss some ideas.

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Kindle Suprise

I love books. Not just the fantastic content and knowledge that they promise and often provide, but how beautiful they can be as an object to hold and admire. My favourite books are the old fashioned hard backed classics with gilded spines and pages.

On a recent visit to Havana Cuba, we went on a tour of the government Capital building and we passed the library room. It had rows and rows of gilded hardbacks from the floor to the ceiling and had one of those huge step ladders on wheels to access all the higher placed books - absolute catnip.

Before I went on my holidays I was contemplating what books to take (what high brow books would I take to weigh down my suitcase and complement my essential Jackie Collins read).

It was also at the same time, a few weeks ago, that  I saw the launch of The Kindle; Amazons new wireless reading device with revolutionary electronic paper that provides an experience on par with a normal book.

Hmmn....I was dubious. I went to the site to check it out and see what it was all about. Thinner and weighing less than a normal paperback, allowing a download of a book in less than a minute, a battery life that allows you to read War and Peace in one sitting, (should you wish), I have to say, the flexibility and benefits are really intriguing. You can download daily newspapers to access when you wake up each morning and keep up to date with your favourite blogs.

My next thought was what advertising opportunities can this device offer?  This is where it will get really interesting - I'm sure just as in normal newspapers we will be able to place recruitment messages to relevant people.

Also, perhaps for the first time we can associate our employer brand and message with particular books. We want to target females - we can perhaps be associated with the numerous female orientated books on the best sellers list. We want to target business minded professionals - we can be associated with books such as The Tipping Point and Wikinomics.

The Kindle (and its competitors like the Readius) will be successful if they truly provide benefits and added value to consumers. As a traditional book lover, I have to say, I can see real potential with such a device, especially on my commute or on my holidays, but it may be a while before books are just consigned as lovely ornaments on my bookshelf.

Driving Digital Recruitment

I'm back, its been a while. You know what its like, you have plenty to say in your head but don't get round to blogging...

Anyway, imagine the scenario:

'Bertha got into her car to begin the commute home. She had been working in Reading for a global IT firm for 2 years. They were a good company to work for but lately she felt a bit stifled, didn't really see a clear path for her development....if anything she was getting itchy feet and 2 years was a decent enough time to stay at a firm, wasn't it? anyway the incident at the Christmas party still left her feeling a bit uneasy.

The mellow tunes of Magic FM filled the car, she loved that Gloria Estefan track, reminded her of an old boyfriend. After ten minutes she heard a jingle from her satellite navigation system - it was instantly recognisable, similar to the Intel jingle and just as catchy.

Looking at her sat nav screen she realised she was being alerted to that fact she was passing the premises of a rival company. A message filled the car telling her there was a perfect and very relevant position for her at the company with huge opportunities. At the push of a button she could respond by either having an initial conversation there or then or to receive a subsequent email to set up a good time to discuss......

Maybe I will push the button, she thought.......'

Rightio, I may not win the booker prize anytime soon, but I thought of this cool scenario after reading a rather interesting article (you have to register - 'Why Your Car May Soon be Driving advertising) last week. It was all about how satellite navigation systems are allowing geo-targeting advertising and two way dialogue. We were excited when we were the first to use GPRS geo-targeting on bus sides for The Metropolitan Police (community based roles were advertised with digital messaging that changed as buses entered different post codes - nice and personalised)

The satellite navigation scenario is obviously more evolved than what we did for the Met Police but what is also different is that in a car when people are commuting you have a captive audience (much like when flying) which in an incredibly fragmented media landscape is like gold dust.

The digital world continues to excite.

The Lives of Others

Think of 'Allo Allo' the 1980's comedy set in occupied France during WW2. Now think of Herflick the Gestapo commander character uttering the phrase 'Ve 'ave vays and means of getting you to tell us the truth'.

Now think of Facebook.......eh? Bear with me on this one.

I was sent the below link today by Nicola on our team. Its an article on Facebook and I don't think I have ever read an article about the Internet that has filled me with so much dread. Its a pretty long article on Facebook and the political and philosophical views of the people/venture capitalists who are behind it. The gist of the article is that Facebook 'is some kind of extension of the American imperialist programme crossed with a massive information-gathering tool'. We are all voluntarily giving our most private thoughts and information up to a company who hold right wing Neocon views and who will provide our information to big corporations to advertise to us.

The article is obviously one sided, however it does make me wonder that whilst the Internet is incredibly positive in so many ways there are some areas that concern me in a Big Brother kind of way.

With Friends like these...

Collaboration, Innovation and People

I finished my last new business pitch of the year this morning and I can now allow myself to wind down a little and reflect on the past year. Yay!

What a year its been! so much has happened that I can't sum it up in one post so I wont try, but overall its been great.

I will instead blog about my morning.

When I was getting ready this morning I was, as usual, listening to Terry Wogan on the radio when the news came on. One of the stories summed up a key theme that has permeated 2007 and will continue to be a real influencing factor on the business, social and political world in 2008 and beyond.

It centred around the development of medicine for Aids sufferers. In the past, patients would have had to take around 30 different tablets a day, often on an empty stomach. Today they can instead take one tablet to treat their symptoms. This is quite an amazing transformation, but how has this vastly improved scenario come into play?

- well, three of the major pharmaceutical companies who are major competitors collaborated to make this a reality. The sharing of intellectual capital and resources for a greater good...fantastic.

Collaboration between companies, people and organisations is transforming the social and business world we now operate in. This goes back to my earlier post in May when I got excited to hear about Proctor and Gamble operating an open source policy, something more and more companies and organisations are doing to great effect.

What has enabled this age of collaboration? - The Internet.

The company we pitched for this morning is the world's largest steel company and through research over the last couple of months it been really interesting to note that three of the most important factors affecting businesses, certainly according to Global CEO surveys are Collaboration, Innovation and People.

In a knowledge economy, collaboration, innovation and great people are critical to business success. Its clear that in 2008 things are going to get even more interesting for us all

To my fellow bloggers, its been a real highlight to work and get to know you all in 2007 and thanks everyone for contributing to the discussion. Look forward to chewing the fat in 2008.

Have a lovely Christmas and New Year everyone.

p.s. thanks Matt for getting the whole blogging thing started.