BEYOND DESCRIPTION:MAKING YOUR BRAND MATTER TO MBAs

Career & Professional Development

CONTENTSCould Your Job Description Survive A Cold Call? .......... 3

Common Characteristics Of Great Recruiting Content .. 4

Practical Ideas For Improving Tactics .......................... 9

You Don’t Recruit Alone ......................................... 13

COULD YOUR JOB DESCRIPTION SURVIVE A COLD CALL?In any HBS MBA classroom, the “cold call” – a faculty member calling on a student to kick off a case discussion, without prior warning – is a source of both anxiety and exhilaration. To be caught unprepared is dangerous, but the opportunity to demonstrate leadership is exactly what the program is about.

The truth is, these MBAs hold recruiters to the same standards. Your brand, your job description, your campus presence – all these are subject to their own version of the “cold call”: can your communications attract the interest and withstand the scrutiny of analytical and ambitious people?

Consider what you are up against. The competition for top talent, always formidable, intensifies when, as now, the economy is strong. For companies that do not have brand name recognition power, the challenge is compounded by a need to educate and inspire.

In this context, generic job descriptions won’t cut it. Your organization needs, not only more compelling job descriptions, but a more commanding brand presence through multiple vehicles including video, online content, live events, conference participation, and more.

In the remainder of this paper, we’ll articulate the common qualities of successful recruiting content, plus practical suggestions for creating them. We hope our ideas inspire more effective recruiting that rewards employers and MBA job seekers alike.

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OFGREAT RECRUITINGCONTENT

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS OF GREAT RECRUITING CONTENTCreating great recruiting materials may not be easy, but there is a simple way of distinguishing weak content from strong content:

Weak content tends to speak about the company, strong content speaks to the concerns and values of the people they wish to recruit.

Strong content comes as a consequence of smart practices, such as:

Emphasize mission and valuesThe HBS mission is “to educate leaders who make a difference in the world.” How does your company, and the position you offer, make a difference? It’s not enough to articulate what you do; you need to articulate why you do it. Share the motivations, ambitions, and goals of your organization, and what role the job at hand plays within it.

Show empathy with the candidate’s concernsPut yourself in their shoes to anticipate candidate concerns. As eager graduates hungry for experience, they want to know, not just what the position is about, but what it leads to. What’s the advancement path? Are there opportunities to learn new skills, or is the position relatively static? Are you looking for narrow functional expertise, or will the candidate be able to exercise general management skills across a variety of functions? Think of what an ambitious, talented person would want to admire about your organization – and reveal those virtues in your content.

Showcase your peopleIt’s one of the most important things candidates want to know: who will they work for and with? They’re not satisfied with titles – they want a real sense of what their potential colleagues and managers are like, and what it would be like to work with them. Get their voices out there, so that candidates gain a visceral sense of life inside your organization.

Reveal the ordinary dayMost recruiters do a fairly good job representing the parameters and/or objectives of their job positions. But they often leave out sufficient information about what it takes to fulfill these objectives. Paint a vivid picture of an ordinary day: what will candidates actually do? Will there be lots of travel, meetings, and collegial cooperation? Or will the job be more about research, analytics, and individual reporting? Candidates need to know not only whether or not they have the correct skills for the job, but the right temperament and personality for your culture and organization.

Talk frankly about challenges and opportunitiesResist the temptation to soft-peddle your position. Put the risks and opportunities front and center: what kinds of problems do you hope the right candidate can solve? What previously unrealized opportunities can they help you achieve? MBAs tend to think big, so appeal to them by being bold.

Don’t neglect the detailsAs a practical matter, your content should be easy for candidates to share among themselves. And keep in mind that all your content serves as a figurative representative of your organization. It’s not just what you say, but how you say it: the look, feel, and tone of your content should reflect the qualities you want your company to project, be it, for example, a formal professionalism or a less formal collegiality.

“WE’RE INTERESTED IN SHARING, NOT SO MUCH SELLING”: LESSONS FROM THERMO FISHER SCIENTIFICAs Recruiter of Global University Relations & Diversity, Hannah Holloway leads Thermo Fisher Scientific’s search for top talent. “We’re not a household name,” Holloway acknowledges. “Our goal is to help job seekers understand and make the connection between our company’s unifying mission and how their work with us will make that happen.”

Attracting potential talent means “a lot of education and brand awareness,” but for Holloway, “we share our employee stories that are the core of our EVP – how with Thermo Fisher Scientific, it’s not just a career, it’s a chance to realize your best personally and professionally.”

What does this sharing look like? Holloway and her team focus on the following:

• Careful targeting: Thermo Fisher aligns with HBS student clubs, such as the General Management and Health Care Clubs, to build relationships with candidates who share a mutual interest in life science.

• Authenticity: Instead of “big job fairs,” Holloway prefers small, more intimate group discussions in which the conversation can address issues – like culture and values – that are difficult to represent on the company website.

• “Day in the Life” panels: Holloway assembles panels of three-to-four recently graduated HBS alumni to share their stories, concentrating on the day-to-day qualities of working and leading at Thermo Fisher.

• Informal videos: To offer more on-the-ground perspectives, Thermo Fisher produces brief videos in which participants discuss the company’s leadership development rotational program: what it is, and how people balance work and life within it.

The personalized approach may demand more care, but Holloway believes it’s worth it. “Our brand is humble, even our mission states that we enable our CUSTOMERS to make the world healthier, cleaner, and safer. Hiring people that share that same sense of humility is important to us” she says.

PRACTICAL IDEAS FORIMPROVING TACTICS

We asked our recruiting partners for advice: tips, hints, and “secrets” that have proven most successful for them at HBS and on other college campuses. Here are some of their favorite tactical approaches:

WRITING MORE EFFECTIVE JOB DESCRIPTIONS

Not a job, but an “identity”When you’re attracting high-level talent with leadership potential, keep in mind that they see their roles, not merely as jobs, but as missions they identify with. Leverage that “identity”: go beyond the what of the job – skills, objectives – to articulate the why: what this role means and why it’s important.

Speak to underlying qualitiesKamryn Ralph, Senior University Talent Acquisition Partner for Workday, believes it’s critical that job descriptions are written in such a way that prevents otherwise qualified people from self-selecting out. For example, says Ralph, “Instead of writing, ‘requires four years’ experience,’ write out the specific skills you expect to see with four years of experience.” That way, you can engage people who might not meet your exact specifications, but may have the necessary talents you want.

Capture the feel of your environmentWatch your tone – because job seekers will certainly hear it. Your voice should be consistent with your company’s culture and personality. A company that emphasizes close teamwork should sound collegial; an organization that esteems professionalism must communicate attention to detail. Read your description out loud and listen for tone before you commit to it in print.

PRACTICAL IDEAS FOR IMPROVING TACTICS

ORGANIZING MORE ATTRACTIVE ON-CAMPUS EVENTS

Replace “talking heads” with interactive talkingThink less “show and tell” and more “give and take.” Candidates are often less than enthusiastic about static presentations (that more or less duplicate what they can learn online) and more willing to participate in events that welcome, or even encourage, their participation. Consider the presentation part of your program, not as a company biography, but as a starting point to stimulate discussion.

Get real“Missions,” while important can drift into abstraction, diluting their impact. Show your mission in action. Share stories about real people, in real situations, living the mission in their daily work.

Go big, go boldYour potential candidates have come to business school for a reason: they want to take on the hard stuff. Don’t hold back: share the big trials, the hard tasks, the complex questions your company faces. Allow your audience to be inspired by the challenges that can test their mettle.

MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS

Use video to bring jobs to lifeLess scripted talk, more movement and action. Video can do so much more than merely talk about your company; it can be used to give candidates a tour of your workplace, to show them what life and work are really like at your organization. Show people doing, acting, communicating, and collaborating.

Go long-form on team workMany of your open positions will be for roles within established teams. You can help candidates get a feel for their potential “fit” by creating white papers or ebooks – long-form content – to communicate what your teams do and why they do it, in depth.

YOU DON’TRECRUIT ALONE

YOU DON’T RECRUIT ALONEBecause the stakes are so high, recruiting can be stressful for all parties involved. HBS students, of course, have the support of our extensive Career & Professional Development office.

But recruiters are not alone, either. Recruiting isn’t just for recruiters, but an outreach that involves the entire organization. Your resources may include:

• Colleagues within your company who can speak from their own personal experiences of the company, in print or on video

• Enterprise leaders who can share your company’s vision, mission, and purpose

• Internal innovators and creators who can articulate the exciting challenges, developments, and opportunities your company pursues

• Clients, customers, and end-users who can talk about the meaning of your company’s products and/or services

Finally, HBS itself offers an entire team who work side-by-side with recruiters to help them connect with, and communicate to, students seeking internships and/or post-graduation positions.

For support with your on-campus HBS recruiting efforts, contact our office:cpd@hbs.edu • www.hbs.edu/recruiting • 617.495.6232