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ProGlobal 2015

ConferenceHRreview Special Edition

Innovation in Recruitment 2016

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Innovation in

Recruitment

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Ruth Penfold: That time I realised its all about the people 2

Ian Thurgood: Unearthing hidden talent 4

C-J Green: Adapting to changes in recruitment 6

Alexander Gray-Johnson: Utilising live candidate information to find the perfect fit 8

Robert Ordever: Onboarding- A tactical solution or a vital means of engagement 18

Chris Gannon: The fastest way to fail at recruitment? Stop innovating 20

John Tsalikis: Are you Brexit ready? Five steps to help your business prepare for B-Day 22

Luca Lazzaron: Innovation in recruitment - how to attract the app generation 24

Shelley Hoppe: Creative recruitment with social media 26

Dear Reader,

Welcome to our latest special edition that examines the issues surrounding Innovation in Recruitment. The area is developing quickly as the workforce changes with an influx of digital methods of recruiment and the growing millennial workforce.

This issue includes analysis from Ian Thurgood and Ruth Penfold from Shazam, who will be speaking at our leading conference on Innovation in Recruitment in September, as well as expert commentary from other key individuals in the industry.

All this and much more. We hope you enjoy the issue.

Rebecca ClarkeEditor

Contents

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EditorBecki Clarke

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Shazam is full of smart people, smart people that love their jobs – and we love it that way. Our quest as a global hir-ing team, therefore, is not only to keep finding and introducing smart people to the business; it’s to find more smart people that will truly love their jobs too. Why? Because when you have a room full of smart peo-ple that love their jobs, that’s when the magic happens.

The thing about smart people is, they already know a LOT of stuff. They question, they challenge and we wouldn’t want them any other way. So how do we ignite a spark in those smart people? How do we make them interested in us?

Our amazing product is the first and most obvious thing. What can I tell you – it rocks. We create magic for our us-ers, and that in itself is hugely compelling. I get to watch, first hand, the way that our teams work together cross-function-ally to produce some-thing truly awesome

on a daily basis. We ship our product every month, and each time get that little bit smarter and faster, continuously updating and evolving our tech stack.

But even more impor-tant than our product is our people. When I ask people in interviews what the thing they love most about their current role is, the first answer they give 90% of the time is: the people. It really is that simple folks. People are motivated by being part of a great team, and one they truly vibe with. Any company that fails to recognise that people are their biggest as-set really is missing the point.

At Shazam, therefore, one of the key pieces of work I rolled out during my first few months here was around humanising the hiring process, and looking at ways to make sure we give people a real flavour of who we really are and what it might feel like to be a Shazamer.

The first piece of this

puzzle came in the form of interview training for the teams here. I de-signed a programme to challenge and change people’s approach to hir-ing. Given that we have a team of seriously smart folks here, this was nev-er about being prescrip-tive about anything, just simply demonstrating what good hiring looks like and the tools that are available; how im-portant the way we make people feel is; that we remember that we have all been where they are once; and that we make them feel respected and valued.

Even more importantly, knowing that people is what people truly cel-ebrate in the workplace, it is paramount that our team present authentic versions of themselves in interviews, and that means not reading from a script! Both parties have to feel comfortable. The focus has to be on creating a forum for a respectful, intelligent two-way discussion (and therefore assessment) – one that challenges and

Ruth Penfold

That time when I realised it’s all about the people

Ruthie has around 15 years experience in the recruitment industry. Her first 13 years were spent in a number of small, boutique largely contingency firms which set her up perfectly for the pace of the ‘StartUp’ space. She moved ‘in-house’ for Shazam in 2013, and now leads their global hiring. She believes that brilliant people are the lifeblood of any successful business and is excited to share her experiences in evolving the recruitment practices at Shazam with you all.

At Shazam, one of the key pieces of work rolled out was around humanising the hiring process, Ruth Penfold shows us how to look at ways to make sure recruiters give people a real flavour of their companies ethics.

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inspires (hopefully both parties).We are also working on giving people more access to what it means to be a Shazamer from an online standpoint. Expect to see more of how we work, our envi-ronment and our people coming to some part of the internet near you soon.

The next piece of the puzzle was to make sure my team use a great hiring process. Great pro-cess means that not only do we send the right message about our brand, but also that we are hiring the right people for the right roles! When hiring for a new role, my team spend time working out: What do we need this person need to do? And: What skills will they need to be able to do that?

We sit down and flesh this out with the hiring manager also tak-ing input (where relevant) cross-functionally. We call this the ‘Re-cruitment Plan’. It’s essentially a two-page document covering the following:

• Where the role sits within the business and whom it interacts with.• What this person needs to be able to come in and do/be doing at week one, 30 days and 90 days.• What three things should this person have achieved by the end of year one.• What is the employee value proposition for this role? What makes this role rock? What makes this role special? What is the manager’s background? What kind of manager are they? And lastly, what do they think makes Shazam rock?

By focusing the hiring manager on these key areas ahead of the hiring process, we get them to consider what they are really looking for in a person, and what they need to be able to do. We then write the job spec, using the managers input as much as pos-sible. We focus them on pulling

out the 6-8 performance objec-tives they need to bring to this role, but using words like ‘lead’, ‘build’, ‘manage’ to give a real sense of what they will own, what they will need to deliver and the kind of satisfaction they are likely to draw from this.

By religiously following this practice, we also get key tools as Recruiters, gems of information and insight into each role. That information all goes into how we position the role, how we head-hunt and how we inspire those smart minds to join us. We also coach the managers along the way each time, by sharing ideas and anecdotes that they in turn might decide to use when inter-viewing.

And that’s just it. It has to be about inspiration. It’s important that we also allow our team to find the approach that works best for them, whilst making sure there is an undercurrent of best practice throughout. You can’t tell a smart person how cool a job is – they have to learn it for them-selves, and the same applies to learning about great hiring when on the other side of the fence.

We aren’t in the business of per-suading people that we are awe-some, we just open the door and allow them to see and feel wheth-er Shazam feels the right place for them. The aim for each candi-date is that they have a range of different kinds of discussions with us to give them different flavours and perspectives on our business and our people. Whilst we might have approached them to begin with, they have to choose us right back, and we have to see that they believe in their ability to create magic with us just as much as we do.

Getting on the recruitment ladder is seen as an important process at Shazam

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Ian Thurgood

Unearthing hidden talent in the recruitment process

In the Essex village of Tiptree, they’re mak-ing jam fit for a queen. Wilkin & Sons have held Royal Warrants since 1911 and supply their ‘Tiptree’ preserves to over 65 countries world-wide. If you’ve stayed at a premium hotel recently, chances are you’ve been served their jam or marmalade for breakfast.

Unusually, at Tiptree they always appoint joint managing directors. When Ian Thurgood and then Walter Scott took the reins, they resolved to set inspiring busi-ness targets and to appoint only managers they deemed better than themselves. Brave or naïve, their policy was viewed simply as an ex-tension of the benevolent paternalism fostered by the Wilkin family since the business started, in 1885.

Over the past decade, the business grew from a £17million preserve-maker to a £40million premium food group; Thurgood is now em-barking upon a new

career as a business consultant. He summa-rises some of the chal-lenges facing businesses recruiting at managerial level:

Irrespective of whether a business recruits for itself, or uses a profes-sional advisor, there’s always the issue of who prepares and agrees the brief. Let’s say an appointment at man-agement level will cost £50,000 a year. A 35-year old manager could cost £1.5million over 30 years! She’d bet-ter be good in her role but more crucially; she needs to be right for the business. A capital investment on that scale would usually require far more than just a phone call to an agent.

To begin the recruitment process, there has to be a real need for the ad-ditional resource. Thur-good remembers a time when an advertising agency advised him not to spend so much of his company’s money on ad-vertising, even propos-ing a complete review of the marketing budget,

thus doing themselves out of a hefty chunk of revenue. As it happened, their candid appraisal ensured a long-term relationship, albeit with less annual income. Who recalls a recruiter ever suggesting to a client they may not really need that new manager?

Let’s have a closer look at that point, whether the client actually needs a new recruit. It’s fun-damental to Thurgood’s thinking on Hidden Talent and should be the starting point of the recruitment process. Although Wilkin & Sons do ask employees about their aspirations and skills, it’s still work in progress. Well-known brands such as Expedia and John Lewis may be great at looking after staff, but do they con-duct employee audits to search out hidden skills within their organisa-tion? If, as happened to Thurgood, a farm worker wants to become transport manager, how likely is it to happen? Moreover, although ex-isting staff can normally apply for vacancies, is it

Ian Thurgood spent ten years leading Wilkin and Sons, famous for its ‘Tiptree’ preserves, and has boardroom experience with other premium food producers.Most recently, Ian built a management team for the ‘Tiptree’ tea room group, expanding it to ten sites and creating a partnership model for accelerated national growth.Ian adapted his unconventional approach to management in general for recruitment processes, placing the emphasis firmly on business ‘fit’ rather than role specifics. He is convinced that most businesses have hidden talent, just waiting to be unearthed.

To begin the recruitment process, there has to be a real need for the additional resource. Ian Thurgood leads with his top tips gained from 30 years of experience in the industry.

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genuinely encouraged, given the potential for failure and conse-quent disruption?

Thurgood turns next to the CV. What does the term even mean? The curriculum vitae are a brief account of a person’s qualifica-tions, occupation and education, but it’s ‘all change’ now. Conven-tional wisdom on CV creation has largely been superseded by com-puters and the internet; words like “passionate” and “team player” have become practically meaningless; and most applicants have a graduate or better qualifi-cation. Of course a good MBA has value, but it’s more difficult than ever to filter management-level applications. Worse still, if an oth-erwise promising applicant has no formal qualification, can they ever make the first cut?

For now, one final point on the recruitment process: defined in the brief and used during inter-views, the appointment criteria are intended to uncover the candi-date with the best ‘fit’ for the role. Maybe it’s time to start thinking more in terms of best ‘fit’ for the business - get that right and the role will follow. Typically, the average successful candidate will get an on-line application, then a few minutes of the employer’s time for her CV, followed by up to three face-to-face interviews; let’s say 2 hours of her employer’s time. It doesn’t make sense does it? There again, savvy candidates understand the value of personal branding and a range of bespoke CVs; many can come across well for two or three relatively short interviews, yet this is not a robust method to ensure the best appli-cant wins.

Getting back to the point, what if anything, can be done to unearth our hidden talent and how can professional recruiters lead the revolution? Thurgood suggests five key areas:

Seriously challenge the need for a new recruit. Recruitment is an expensive process with on-going costs so let’s genuinely exhaust existing resource opportunities.

Check the brief and check the right person wrote it. Brave pro-fessionals will be more proactive in the early stages.

Advocate engagement on the basis of organisational ‘fit’ before role suitability. It’s not easy, but it will be worth it longer-term.

Place more emphasis on the per-son behind the CV, who they really are and what they can do for the prospective employer – their per-sonal brand.

Suggest employers review the coarse filters - the proscriptive on-line application form, the cur-sory dismissal of CVs that don’t fit the norm. In fact, pay particular attention to those who don’t con-form, they’re often where the real talent lies.

Thurgood closes with the case of an exceptionally talented but somewhat introverted business graduate seeking her first career move; she was about to partici-pate in an on-line interview with a multinational company. When asked what background research she had done, what her interview strategy was and what results she wanted, she replied that she had done nothing, nor did she plan to. Rather, she intended to be her-self, answer questions frankly and assume the interviewer would decide on her merit. Now there’s someone surely worthy of further investigation!

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Like everything else concerning the world of work, the approach to recruitment has also evolved. Organisations have slowly reached the conclusion that adhering to the same, archaic process isn’t always the best way to find out how effective someone’s going to be in a given role. Once upon a time ago, it used to be all about the CV, cover letter and formal interview process. Nowadays, thankfully, companies are waking up to the idea that this traditional method of recruitment doesn’t necessarily unveil the true persona or aptitude of the individual in question.

Take the CV, for example. Reducing one’s entire experience and personality into two pages is a skill in itself, granted. However, not all roles require this particular ability; and some people out there have far more to offer than what they can cleverly cram into a couple of A4 sheets. The same can be said for the

traditional approach to the job interview. Yes, there are some roles in business that require the natural ability to remain cool under pressure and to communicate articulately, effectively and confidently, regardless of the situation. However, there are many other jobs out there that don’t need to be filled with people who possess sophisticated, formal interview techniques. In fact, formal interviews often make people look staged and rehearsed, and I would argue that you’re not always getting to see the ‘real person’ in the room. We believe that recruitment is a two-way process so we encourage candidates to interview us during their interview!

For us, attitude and aptitude are the main considerations when we’re hiring, so we really do need to get under the skin of our prospective employees. Servest has recently implemented an ‘Insights Discovery’ programme; a basic profiling tool, used

to help individuals determine their personality type. This involves having the candid conversations necessary to jointly figure out whether someone is going to be a good fit for the team. I believe this recent innovation is going to become more important in the recruitment realm, because it can be used as a tool to see whether a person will fit in with the culture of an organisation. That, for us, personality is as important as attitude and ability. Driving a desired culture always comes down to the people you recruit.

Human Resources Directors used to put a lot of emphasis on referencing. Before handing over the contract, employers’ would want to know what ex employers and personal referees had to say about the candidate. And, yes, such conversations are helpful - but it’s also important to realise that referees are restricted in what they can and

Companies are waking up to the idea that traditional methods of recruitment don’t necessarily unveil the true persona or aptitude of the individual in question.

C-J Green is Group HR Director for Servest Group, a leading facilities management provider employing more than 20,000 people over 7,500 sites across the UK. C-J joined Servest’s HR team in August 2009 and was promoted to Group HR Director in April 2014. As head of the HR function, she is responsible for all people services within the UK group - including HR advice, HR shared services, payroll, time and attendance, HR business partnering and learning and development. She also provides leadership to the 40 staff working in the people service functions.

C-J Green

Adapting to changes in recruitment

can’t say. This means you won’t always get an entirely honest report. Processes like referencing have become rather procedural in nature. And when something becomes a basic tick box, it loses impact. You’re best off spending quality time with prospective candidates to get a better sense of the individual.

There’s also been a shift in employers’ attitudes concerning the things that were once deemed essential. For instance, possessing a degree used to be a prerequisite for many organisations. However, companies aren’t obsessed with qualifications anymore. There’s the general acknowledgement that a degree isn’t the be all and end all. There’s more open mindedness in business now, with leaders recognising that degrees only go so far. Aptitude and attitude count for a lot more and you can’t teach people these attributes.

Demonstrating longevity also used to matter. Whereas now employers realise that staying in the same place for however long offers no real indication of that person’s future performance or loyalty in their next job. People change. And their circumstances

change. You can’t look at their past as a sort of blueprint for their future. Hopping around, in certain professions, can convey a desire to progress. To other minds, these same ‘colourful careerists’ fear stability and are, therefore, a liability. In contrast, people who have stayed in the same company for years are loyal creatures and are, in turnaround terms, safer. Others will disagree, believing the stay-putters lack drive. In short, there’s too much ambiguity concerning longevity. It, subsequently, bears little weight. Today’s workforce is much more flexible. We do dip in and out. We do take time out. In the past, career breaks or gap years used to be sniffed at. But now, such career getaways can be explained far more easily and, what’s more, employers’ know that people work to live… they don’t live to work. There seems to be more focus on what makes a person tick, as opposed to their historiography and track record.

Servest defies the “norm” when it comes to recruitment, whether it be recruiting externally for any

number of operational roles, or for our various learning and development initiatives. This year’s recruitment process for our Future Leader programme, for instance, was designed to be quite different to traditional graduate recruitment models. Rather than send a CV, applicants were asked to demonstrate that they possessed the natural skills, talents or experience required for the programme in an unconventional way. We wanted to look at each

application in an unbiased way in order to judge each candidate on his or her own merit, as opposed to education or employment history. Candidates were invited to showcase their innovation by sending in videos, presentations, documents or anything that would prove they had the imagination, originality and ‘outside of the box’ thinking required for the programme. Based on the success of the FL recruitment process, there are now plans to ban the CV from the Servest Group application altogether.

This is an exciting time to work in the people profession. Organisations are no longer obsessed by policies, regimented systems or with hitting people with their HR sticks! This means that the forward thinking organisations, like Servest, that aren’t afraid of change, can start being a lot more creative and playful in the way that they approach recruitment.

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Alex is a proud Teesside Graduate and founder of Jropp Jobs. He experienced the difficulties of recruitment first hand, when working as a recruitment consultant in London. He then went on to creating Jropp, which is the first company to offer real time information about the passive candidate market. For further information, visit www.jropp.com

Alexander Gray-Johnson

Utilising live candidate information to find the perfect fit.

Years have gone by with little innovation of any kind in the data collected by, and used by, recruit-ers when hunting for the perfect candidate. Generally, we’re still forced to use algorithms (admittedly increasingly accurate algorithms) to search through massive CV databases to find us the best candidates.

This is useful to a point. Whilst algorithms and huge databases al-low us to analyse vast amounts of data quickly, the accuracy has to be questioned. What if a CV is outdated? What if the CV is a poor representa-tion of the individual? Or a poor representation of what they’re look-ing for? These issues have, as we’ve found, caused massive head-aches for recruiters and employers looking for candidates, largely down to the amount of time wasted contacting and meeting candidates who were simply not interest-ed or right for the role.

To try and solve these issues, we’ve tried to understand how to move

away from the current databases in this indus-try which are all time stamped to an extent. We’ve seen the use of live data a lot in other areas, such as taxis, dating, holidays etc. but never really in recruit-ment. Throughout this article, I’ll be looking at how recruiters and employers can utilise live candidate data effec-tively to identify relevant candidates.

Firstly, identifying what information to collect is important. There is a fine line between collecting useful in-formation which isn’t of detriment to the job seeker’s experience, and collecting lots of use-less information which may limit the candidate’s experience. We found that the most useful information to recruiters is knowing what people are searching for, when they’re searching for it and why they’re not ap-plying for their jobs - as well as having the abil-ity to see who has just browsed their jobs and why they’ve not applied.

Once this information has been collected, it’s then down to the recruiters and employ-ers to utilise this new information to stream-line their recruitment process. Obviously how this information is used is down to the recruiter/employer, but in order to get the most out of this information it is impor-tant to react to it. This data is collected straight from what job seeker’s have told us, as such, it’s generally very accu-rate. If you’ve seen, for example, a dispropor-tionate amount of people not applying to your job because they feel they’re ‘overskilled’, then you may well be losing the best candidates by not offering enough respon-sibility with the position.

Similarly, with wages or location. Is there room for salary negotiation if the candidate is truly excellent? Is there a possibility for the indi-vidual to work remotely if they’re perfect for the role? If this is the case, then it may be beneficial to include this informa-tion in your job post.

Identifying what information to collect to recruit the perfect candidate is important. Recruitment expert Alexander Gray-Johnson discusses how to utilise the best live candidate information.

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Previously, these kind of individu-als will have been lost in the pro-cess. They’ll have simply scrolled over the job, unaware of these possibilities. Similarly, the re-cruiter would be unaware of their existence. Without the use of live data and without access to this passive market many thousands of potentially valuable candidates have been lost. With access to this passive marketplace through a live candidate database, how-ever, these candidates would be presented to you in real time and job seekers would get a level of exposure never before accessible.

Another benefit of utilising live databases is the ability to com-pare the relative success or fail-ure of job posts to identify where your job adverts are resonating with job seekers, and where

they’re not. In the past, we’d only see the discrepancy between the quality and quantity of individuals applying through our job adverts. With live data, we can see exactly why there is this discrepancy, allowing us to make alterations to future job adverts to optimise their reach.

Overall, the ability to access the passive market through the medium of a constantly evolving live database has seen recruiters from sole traders to multinational firms get excited. The uses for this information are seemingly endless, with a couple of the more practical applications mentioned above. The ability to see in real time what people are searching for and why they’re not applying to certain jobs, will allow recruiters to identify more relevant candi-

dates far more efficientlyWith more information than ever before available to recruiters, it is certain that the recruitment process is only going to get more efficient moving forwards.

Jropp has created the first live candidate database of its kind, allowing recruiters and employ-ers to have access to candidates never before accessible, whilst simultaneously providing infor-mation on why people haven’t ap-plied for jobs. We have had excel-lent support from companies and employers looking to be a part of our national launch so far, as they have unlimited access with a 60 day no obligation free trial, and we are even loading their current vacancies onto the site for free. For more information, head to jropp.com.

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September 22 2016 @ Kensington Close Hotel, London

Media Partner:

Conference Preview

Innovation in Recruitment 2016

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Welcome to the Innovation in Recruitment 2016 conference preview

I am thrilled to invite you to take part in a one-day of benchmarking, networking and learning about the latest trends in innovation in recruitment programmes and strategies. Our top speakers will share their exclusive case studies and inspire you to take your HR strategy to the next level. Take part in this event if you agree that recognising the best talent and investing in your recruitment process is a key to your organisation’s success.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Piotr LewiczHead of Conference Production, Symposium Events

09:00 Coffee and registration

09:30 Chair’s opening remarks

09:45 Workforce planning – what skills are missing at your organisation?

• Predicting and planning a longer term recruitment strategy within your organisation

• Increasing retention and decreasing turnover• Finding out what skills are missing in your

organisation and recognising the areas that need to be improved

• Reducing hiring costs as one of the biggest challenges of HR professionals

10:10 Developing an innovative recruitment process - title tbc

• Enhance all of the ingredients of a successful recruitment process at your organisation

• Recognise your strong and weak sides• Get innovative on every level of your strategy• Implement innovative solutions such as video

interviewing, applicant tracking system, online recruitment, etc.

Eunice Z. Clements-Tweedie, Director of Talent, Kerry Foods

10:35 Employer branding on a ‘boot strap’ budget• Build your recruitment’s credibility internally• Build your organisations recruitment

capabilities• Create a buzz around your employer brand to

attract the best people• Get creative with sourcing strategies• Create brand ambassadors

Ruth Penfold, Director of Talent Acquisition, Shazam

11:00 Questions and discussion with speakers

11:10 Refreshments and networking

11:30 Smarter Human Resourcing

• Interacting with candidates in a real way• Leveraging innovative practices and tools• Agile attraction, selection and engagement

Maria McLachlan, Head of Resourcing | Personal Banking and Client & Customer Experience, Barclays

11:55 Using new technologies to enhance recruitment processes

Rob Farace, Senior Programme Lead – Resourcing, NHS Leadership Academy

12:20 Questions and discussion with speakers

12:30 Lunch and networking

13:30 Knowledge share networking sessionRound table discussions with your peers to share solutions to your key recruitment challenges

Conference programme

Innovation in Recruitment 2016 Preview

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Breakout session 1

14:00 Video Interviewing: The Pepsico Journey

• Discover how we saved time & money by implementing video interviewing

• Learn how we improved candidate quality by leverage the power of video interviewing

• Enhance candidate & hiring manager experience by using video interviewing

Daniel Fitzpatrick, Talent Acquisition Lead, PepsiCo

14:25 Revealing Our Hidden Talents• Modern Recruitment - Panacea or Impediment?• Sir Ken’s TED Talk - Analogous Thinking• The Rebelious Employer - Making a Stand

Ian Thurgood, Former Joint Managing Director, Wilkin and Sons

Breakout session 2

14:00 Recruiting the best people for highly-skilled roles• Overcoming the challenge of an insufficient

talent pool• Use the best tools to find the right candidates

for highly-skilled roles quickly• Headhunting methodology• Attract the best talent for technical roles at your

organization

Katrina Collier, Social Recruiting Specialist & Symposium Events Trainer

14:25 ‘Recruit Like Bond: Innovative Social Recruitment• Dressed to kill – making the most of your social

presence online• No-one cares about 005! – building your

industry reputation• Shaken not stirred – breaking the rules to stand

• out against your competition• Target Engaged – giving yourself the best

chance of getting the right candidate

Sara Duxbury, Head of People, Fletchers Solicitors

14:50 Questions and discussion with speakers

15:00 Refreshments and networking

15:20 Why we should wow: Repairing the Candidate Experience

In light of the general shift from agency to in house recruitment, the emphasis is now on the employer to attract, engage, prepare and educate candidates. It is easy for highly attractive employers to fall into the trap of neglecting the last three on this list. We will talk about:

• The expectations of millennials and Gen Z; employer brands should match consumer brands in terms of experience and engagement

• Tools that can aid employers to do this• How digital can help (gamification, apps)

Alex Bennett, Graduate Talent Manage, L’OrealMichael Lake, Recruitment Manager, L’Oréal

15:45 You’ve got to have Big Data, right?

• Is it necessary to collect large amounts of data to make a big change?

• What comes first, the problem or the data?• How to use stories to take information from a

spreadsheet to action

Matt Bradburn, Talent Acquisition Manager, Lyst

16:10 Questions and discussion with speakers

16:20 Chair’s closing remarks and end of conference

www.symposium.co.uk

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Our expert speakers include:Eunice Z. Clements-Tweedie, Director of Talent, Kerry Foods

A highly commercial interim HR professional with 18 years+ talent and resourcing experience, operating at a senior leadership level gained within HR Corporate and Outsourced environments globally, spanning multi-industry sectors. Proven ability to design, deliver and implement best in class talent resourcing solutions with a core focus on delivering operational and cost efficiencies whilst driving through transformational business change via a consultative, partner based approach with a

Innovation in Recruitment 2016 Preview

Matt Bradburn, Talent Acquisition Manager, Lyst

Matt has 7 years experience designing and implementing Talent and People Ops strategies for tech companies across the world. Recently he’s worked for high growth, VC backed businesses like Qubit and Lyst; doubling growth in a short period of time, whilst focusing on maintaining a great company ethos. He is passionate about the role of talent in shaping businesses and is co-founder of DBR, London’s biggest Slack, talks and meetup group for Internal Talent professionals.

Allison Watson, Head of EMEA Business Staffing, Google

Managing Google EMEA staffing team hiring for all non-tech functions: sales, marketing, general & admin across 35 countries: managing a team of recruiters for all Sales, Marketing, General & Admin hiring for Google in EMEA; responsible for building and delivering on regional staffing plan while closely collaborating with global teams; responsible for building a strong, diverse workforce across all functions in EMEA.

Ruth Penfold, Director of Talent Acquisition, Shazam

Ruthie has around 15 years experience in the recruitment industry. Her first 13 years were spent in a number of small, boutique largely contingency firms which set her up perfectly for the pace of the ‘StartUp’ space. She moved ‘in-house’ for Shazam in 2013, and now leads their global hiring. She believes that brilliant people are the lifeblood of any successful business and is excited to share her experiences in evolving the recruitment practices at Shazam with you all.

Daniel Fitzpatrick, Talent Acquisition Lead, PepsiCo

Since 2011, Dan has been involved in Talent Acquisition with global food and beverage leader, PepsiCo. His expertise is put to great use to create and develop stellar Talent Acquisition strategies. In January of this year, he undertook the role of Talent Acquisition Lead, whereby he oversees and provides direction in the recruitment of key roles across PepsiCo’s Worldwide Flavours division. He is joining us today to give some valuable insights about PepsiCo’s journey with Sonru.

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www.symposium.co.uk

Alex Bennett, Graduate Talent Manager, L’Oreal

Alex joined L’Oréal from Bath University as an intern in 2011 working within the Graduate Recruitment space and was subsequently appointed to the permanent role coordinating graduate activities. After a short spell outside of the Company at the BBC in 2014 Alex returned to L’Oreal as the HR Officer within the HR Retail team working with the Beauty Consultants and field teams. Alex has recently been appointed as the Graduate Talent Manager, bringing a wealth of knowledge of the graduate arena, an expertise in assessing graduate talent and the passion to drive a creative programme

Ian Thurgood - Former Joint Managing Director, Wilkin and Sons

Ian Thurgood spent ten years at the head of Wilkin and Sons, renowned for its ‘Tiptree’ preserves. He was variously responsible for global sales, marketing and business diversification. Most recently Ian was involved in change leadership, building a strong team for the future and developing new growth areas such as the ‘Tiptree’ tea room group. Wilkin and Sons has long nurtured an unconventional approach to recruitment. Ian built upon that philosophy, improving recruitment processes and at times stripping things back to organisational basics to promote long-term thinking. Ian is a Fellow of

Katrina Collier, Social Recruiting Specialist & Symposium Events Trainer

Since 2009, Katrina Collier has been showing SMEs to global Corporates around the world how to source their staff on social media; transforming HR & Recruiters into Certified Searchologists. London UK based, Katrina is a social recruiting specialist; a global trainer and keynote speaker, sharing proven techniques gained from over a decade of full cycle recruitment and social recruiting experience. Katrina is one of The 100 Most Influential People in HR & Recruiting on Twitter and her social recruiting

Michael Lake, Recruitment Manager, L’Oréal

Since joining L’Oréal in October 2014, Michael has been tasked with increasing talent acquisition across Europe as part of the group’s drive to recruit highly talented and qualified candidates for the “Emerging Markets”. A big part of this strategy is partnering with top business schools in the region who are educating experienced people from those markets to help offer them opportunities after graduation. The other main prong to the Emerging Markets strategy is actively mapping and targeting experienced international hires across Western Europe in a headhunting style.

Sara Duxbury, Head of People, Fletchers Solicitors

As Head of People at Fletchers Solicitors, a Sunday Times Top 100 employer, Sara is responsible for defining and implementing the talent, training and HR strategy. A qualified psychologist and executive coach, with an extensive retail background; Sara is a people person through and through. She has revolutionised the way Fletchers deals with HR and recruitment. Out of work, Sara can often be found shoe shopping and is an avid Newcastle United supporter, showing she isn’t quite perfect.

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Robert Ordever

Onboarding – A tactical solution or a vital means of engagement?

Robert Ordever is the European People and Operations Director at reward and recognition experts, O.C.Tanner. Robert joined O.C. Tanner in August 2014, as People and Operations Director. Roberts background has given him a real passion for creating a workplace culture that truly gets the best out of its teams. Robert holds Chartered Fellowship of the CIPD and has specialised in the field of Human Resources for over 16 years.

It’s all too common for HR professionals to get bogged-down with the administration around recruiting and onboard-ing new hires. So it’s hardly surprising when a new recruit sat behind a working computer with employee manual in hand is regarded as a job well done.

In fact, ‘onboarding’ – the process of hiring, welcoming, orienting and engaging new staff – should be viewed as far more than just a tactical solution to the issues of getting forms filled in and computers set-up. Onboarding needs to be tackled strategically from the very top of the organisation down.

Imagine a graduate be-ing excited about their new job only to find that one week in, they still haven’t been told the names of their team members, their manager has been elusive and they are unclear about the company’s vision and goals. This is hardly going to encourage

engagement and high performance!

Far from being a fluffy extravagance, an effec-tive onboarding pro-gramme is a vital means of getting staff engaged and bought into the com-pany’s vision and val-ues. It is the employer’s chance to make sure the dream sold at interview is every part the reality.

Not only can effective on-boarding reduce new hire turnover and increase retention, it can acceler-ate performance, short-en time-to-productivity and help to engender trust in the manager and team. With people more likely to jump from job to job, successful onboard-ing is more critical than ever.

So what does effective onboarding look like?

Research by the Aber-deen Group found that 86 per cent of new hires make their decision to stay or leave their jobs within the first six

months. So if new hires are ‘onboarded’ within a month and then little is actively done to try to keep them engaged and moti-vated, few will be encour-aged to remain past the six-month mark.

Therefore, a time limit should never be put on the onboarding process. The induction period should never stop, it needs to take place every single day and there needs to be an ongoing effort to build engagement and connec-tion between the individu-als and the ‘why’ of what you do.

Use the onboarding pro-cess to really get to know the person as an individ-ual – how do they like to be managed? How do they like their coffee? What keeps them motivated and most effectively impacts their performance? How do they like to be recog-nised for great work?

This leads onto the key element of a successful onboarding programme – delivering recognition. The probation period should

Onboarding – the process of hiring, welcoming, orienting and engaging new staff – should be viewed as far more than just a tactical solution to the issues of getting forms filled in and computers set-up. Robert Ordever talks us through his top tips to onboard tactically.

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never be regarded as a pass or fail but should be used as an op-portunity to recognise individuals’ successes. What have they done well in? What deserves particular praise? How can they be best sup-ported and motivated to do even better?

This manager recognition needs to be included early-on as em-ployees who feel recognised and appreciated are far more likely to stay with the organisation and perform at a high level. However, recognition is not just about a pat on the back. There should be structured and public recogni-tions by managers, which include setting and recognising key milestones. These may include 30/60/90 days in the job, achiev-ing goals, completing training courses and celebrating yearly anniversaries. Employees need to be formally recognised in front of their peers and given something tangible to mark their achieve-ments and symbolise the key part they are playing in the company’s success.

The best organisations under-stand that managers need to be trained and developed in how to effectively deliver recognition as it is not always intuitive. In fact, for some managers, delivering rec-ognition is totally outside of their comfort zone and they go about it in an ineffectual and understated way that does little to engage and motivate.

Imagine sales people in neigh-bouring teams being recognised differently because of inconsistent managerial approaches – team X is presented with token gifts during a high profile awards cer-emony whilst team Y receive their token gifts at their desks during a low-key affair. Such inconsistency will do little to motivate team Y and could, in fact, damage en-gagement.

The recognition training therefore needs to include an understand-ing of what type of recognition works best in your culture so that its delivery is consistent. The training will also need to teach

managers how to best integrate recognition into the onboarding process and then sustain mo-mentum so that on-the-spot and more formal recognition becomes second nature. By mastering the art of delivering recognition, this will help to build a positive work environment.

It’s clear to see that onboarding plays a critical role in the engage-ment of people throughout their employee journey. So why do just 15 per cent of companies have a formal onboarding programme in place?

Sadly, it is largely overlooked as an effective means of engage-ment with the induction process all too often viewed as the re-sponsibility of HR and not within the remit of the new hire’s wider team. With many HR profession-als simply fighting to keep their heads above water, it is hardly surprising if ‘onboarding’ is ticked off their ‘to do’ lists as quickly as possible.

Searching for the right candidate can be hard work, but Ordever believes that onboarding plays a critical role in the engagement of people throughout their employee journey.

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Recruitment has drastically changed over the last 10 years. It used to be that a recruiter solely sat on the HR side of the table, but in a hyper-competitive landscape, recruiters need to think more like marketers, and align themselves with sales and marketing within the company. In this new era of recruiting, where companies are feverishly competing for the top candidates, recruiters have a role to make their company stand out from the cluttered market. The recruiter’s new objective: Redefine, and refine, the candidate experience. Marketers call this the “UX” for user experience. Well for me, it’s all about the CX — the candidate experience.

A decade ago, I could give a poor candidate experience and no one would know. But now, someone can tweet about it, write it on Facebook or give a bad “interview review” on Glassdoor. Seconds

later, I’ll have my CEO breathing down my neck asking why we gave that candidate a terrible experience. And so I have to constantly ask myself, “what are we doing wrong, and what can we be doing better?”

To be truly innovative in the marketplace, my company, Reward Gateway, which delivers an all-in-one employee engagement platform to showcase benefits, discounts, reward and recognition and communications, is breaking down our entire candidate experience from start to finish. We’re focused on ways to attract, engage and retain our employees, which has led to countless hours brainstorming everything from how candidates perceive us to what media they track us on, right from initial introduction to hire or rejection. As the Group Director of Talent Acquisition, I’m tasked with considering the multiple paths a

candidate can take on their journey with Reward Gateway, and how it affects the candidate experience every step of the way.

So what have we looked at? Here are a few ways we’re innovating our recruitment strategy, focusing solely on the candidate experience:

1. Our Website. There are multiple external sources out there that have information on your company. A few include Glassdoor, Indeed, Angel List, and Crunch Base, but so many companies overlook the most obvious source of information: their own website. Over the next quarter, we will be overhauling our entire career section so that it doesn’t just talk about our culture and the role that candidate might step into, it’ll show them. When a candidate is researching Reward Gateway we

Chris Gannon is the Group Director of Talent Acquisition at Reward Gateway, an industry-leading employee engagement technology company for human resource professionals. His thoughts appear frequently on the Reward Gateway Blog.

Chris Gannon

The fastest way to fail at recruitment? Stop innovating.As recruiters, we need to be constantly innovating and delivering new value to our candidates. Employee engagement specialists Reward Gateway talk us through ways to attract and engage the right employees.

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want them to feel that they have a full understanding of not only what we do but also who we are. Highlights will include; our Diversity Statement, full virtual tours of our offices and some special profiles of the passions that make Reward Gateway unique.

2. Our interview process.

We identified a few key issues in how most companies handle their CX. These included candidates not finding a job that they’re the exact fit for, nerves getting the best of a solid candidate, unqualified interviewers giving poor interviews, and abysmal handoff after an offer is actually extended. Here’s what we’re doing to attack these issues:

Open interview process:

If a candidate can’t find the job they are looking for, at best, most companies direct them to send their resume to Blackhole@HR.com. This is not only impersonal but it greatly restricts the black hole master on the other side of the wall from understanding who and why this person is applying. At Reward Gateway, we partnered with a company called Hirevue and are in the final stages of developing an open video interview that any candidate can apply to. We asked our employees around the globe to submit their best questions centered on our core values then carefully selected the ones we feel give a candidate the best chance to truly represent the value they can add to the company.

Welcome postcard:

Everyone is nervous on an interview, even those people in sales. We wanted to make sure our first impression during the interview process was a positive

one, no matter what office the candidate walked into. So we developed a welcome post card, which is given to every candidate when they come in and has a simple and disarming message. We felt this little gesture goes a long way.

Internal interview training. At the end of the year we will be kicking off our internal training on all things recruiting and interviewing. There will be multiple levels (think bronze, silver, gold) and it will be mandatory for every manager that wants to take part in the hiring/interviewing process.

Post-offer welcome pack:

Every recruiter is guilty of going a little ghost on a candidate from time to time, even ones that have signed offer letters. So not only are we internally holding ourselves more accountable but we’ve built a candidate welcome pack that will include such items as a video welcome from your team (we get excited when we hire new people) to a map of all the hot spots around our offices globally. Before you even step foot in the door on your first day, we want you to know you’re part of our team, and you should feel that way, too.

Candidate “funnel.” Remember how I talked about taking a cue from sales and marketing? We realised that some candidates will take a different style of nurturing after we engage them. This journey is unique to both the needs of the candidate and our company whether the candidates are hired or not. That’s why we’re introducing boom! for candidates. It’s a play on our own internal communications hub, boom!, which is built on our SmartHub® technology. They’ll find insider access to Reward Gateway, like our fortnightly

video updates or leadership blogs so they can see how open and transparent we are about our culture, and the business. That way, candidates can decide whether or not we’re the right fit for them if and when our job conversation continues. We’ll also include candidate-driven content, like interview advice and CV clichés to avoid, so they have value-driven content to come back to. We’re even going to give them six months of access to one of our core products, a discounts platform, which will familiarise them with our product, and give them a great perk for bearing with us as we figure out if they’re a fit for a job down the line.

As recruiters, we need to be constantly innovating and delivering new value to our candidates. By shaping innovation around your company’s values and goals, you can start to piece together a much better candidate experience, both for you and for your potential hires.

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Statistics concerning post-Brexit vote job numbers are certainly coming in thick and fast. John Tsalikis talks us through the best ways to take advantage of the Brexit vote when it comes to recruitment.

John Tsalkis is founder and CEO of recruitment agency management software firm AgencyBox.

John Tsalikis

Are you Brexit ready? Five steps to help prepare your business for B-Day

We now know Brexit means Brexit. The Prime Minister Theresa May made that clear last month during a visit to German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Her subsequent appoint-ment of David Davis as ‘Brexit Minister’ seems to have done little to ease the unrest in the economy though. Talk of EU migrant worker cut-off dates and a stream of data (including IHS Markit’s PMI Index) pointing at a shrinking economy are not helping. So what does this mean for recruitment?

Statistics concerning post-Brexit vote job numbers are certainly coming thick and fast. The Recruitment & Employment Confedera-tion report this month revealed that the job market went into freefall during July. Numbers from Reed Group howev-er found that the number of jobs posted on its site were up eight percent on last year, while the Bank of England released its

challenging. Brexit, with its potential alterations to immigration laws and policies on recruiting overseas will only raise the bar further. How do businesses meet this challenge? While some companies are already looking at Brexit man-agers to help negotiate the overall impact on an organisation, recruit-ers and HR managers will still be faced with the same old problem of how to locate and recruit talent, regardless of location. Skills shortages generally dictate here but perhaps Brexit pro-vides an opportunity to re-evaluate recruitment process and agency rela-tionships to ensure there is improved coverage of global talent, as well as increased opportunity for graduate trainees? A HR manager and executive study of 75 top graduate employers by PathMotion said if UK companies were unable to freely hire EU graduates as a result of Brexit, 25 per cent of employers would be likely to increase

own business conditions report. The report says the vote to leave was ex-pected to have a negative effect overall on hiring activity over the coming twelve months.Brexit is certainly mak-ing waves in recruitment and will continue to have an impact as we move closer to Brexit day, or B-Day. What this will mean in real terms is of course uncertain. We can only speculate as to the scale of impact but there will be change. So is this change a help or a hindrance? There will certainly be challenges but perhaps there is also opportunity in Brexit? Ei-ther way it is good to be prepared, to identify ar-eas of potential change and react accordingly.

1.Attracting Talent – a chance to review pro-cesses and procedures?

It’s no secret that find-ing talent within certain industry sectors such as technology, engineering and healthcare is already

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recruitment of British graduates. Having to look further afield to attract talent if EU workers prefer moves within existing EU states, will mean a shift in policy if the business is not already look-ing outside of the EU. This is a chance to streamline procedures, reduce complexity and improve opportunities.

2. Canned projects and the re-cruitment conundrum

Brexit has already impacted infrastructure projects such as Heathrow’s third runway and the HS2 railway and a recent KPMG report has revealed that 30 per cent of projects have been can-celled or postponed leading to a 28 per cent drop in recruitment. As we all wait for the politicians to come up with some solutions to Brexit, how do organisations manage their project talent and ensure they do not lose key skills when it comes to turning pro-jects back on? With such a large scale of projects put on pause the impact on temporary staff will be considerable. Managing this pro-cess and ensuring skills are still available as and when projects are restarted will be a challenge, otherwise projects will be under-staffed, under skilled and end up delivering poor results for more cost.

3.Managing expectations and keeping lid on costs

Beware the complexity of mul-tiple agency deals as Brexit will undoubtedly force businesses to spread their net even wider, bringing on board more recruit-ment agencies in order to access the right talent. In a slowdown all costs are also scrutinised so how do businesses ensure they are getting their bang for buck? We are entering a difficult phase

for HR managers and recruiters where board level decisions will be impacted more than ever by the availability of skills. The abil-ity to offer executives solutions based on solid research and at low cost will underpin business development in the next 12 to 18 months. In the same vein, provid-ing the board with a clear under-standing of the current recruit-ment market and the difficulties facing EU workers is essential.

4.Rein-in technology and use the cloud

Technology can help businesses stay on top of talent acquisition and management. Flexibility is the name of the game in an uncertain market. Using cloud-based services to increase agility and management of talent and agencies will help keep a lid on potentially spiralling costs but also provide the business with an insight into new opportunities as some sectors benefit from Brexit. Certainly algorithmic-based rec-ommendation and management platforms, as well as automated matching and alerts to any device have huge potential to add value.

Trends towards ‘gig working’ have limited scope and are focussed on the lower end of the SME market. Recruiters and HR managers need more control, more visibility of agencies and the employment needs of the business to ensure waste and risk is minimised.

5.Keeping your European options open

Of course Brexit doesn’t actu-ally mean we are upping anchor and shifting the country towards Greenland. The UK is still part of Europe and will remain a popu-lar destination for visitors and workers, it’s just it will become more difficult to actually make it happen. Keeping track of new legislation and rule changes will of course be important as busi-nesses plot a course through the Brexit waters. Certainly any business and projects plans will need to factor in the extra costs and complications associated with bringing in workers from EU countries in the future. This is almost guaranteed. As a recent Manpower report revealed, Brexit could leave the UK woefully short of workers.

Recent statistics from the ONS suggest that Brexit hit is unapparant as employment rates reach record highs, but should HR profession-als still prepare for the worst?

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The imminent arrival of a new generation of young, tech-savvy employees into the workforce marks a milestone for HR teams to re-consider their recruitment and retention strategies. Working environments, processes and the technologies that support these must evolve beyond accommodating the preferences and behaviours of the current workforce to meet the expectations and working styles of the ‘App Generation’.

These young people have grown up in a world of digital media and mobile technology. To the App Generation, everything is mobile and the solution to virtually every problem is an app. But for those businesses still relying on legacy communication tools, this could have a serious impact on employee satisfaction, talent retention, and their ability to attract younger staff.

Fuze research, carried out among 2,500 teenagers aged 15 to 18 years, uncovers a number of insights into how businesses can prepare for the imminent arrival of the App Generation and evolve HR and recruitment strategies to attract the best of the next generation of talent.

Workplace technology

For example, there are stark differences in how the App Generation expects to work compared to current workplace practices. While today’s workforce uses email and desk phones, it’s mobile messaging, video calls and social media that are standard for teenagers. Only 2% of teenagers prefer to use a landline telephone to communicate and 17% have never used one. In addition, only 42% of teens expect to need a deskphone for work.

Introducing modern

technology shouldn’t be about avoiding training for baffled young workers who have never picked up a desk phone. The latest tech is a big incentive for the App Generation, with 71% of teenagers saying that it is important to be able to use the latest technology at work. They are just as likely to use FaceTime to communicate as they are to make an audio call (on their mobile, of course).

Changing culture to attract new recruits

We are all aware that flexible working is growing as a trend and significant demand exists within the current workforce. The App Generation, however, may be the first to see it as ‘the norm’. Teenagers have already been exposed to increased flexibility. Remote and collaborative studying have become part of their everyday lives and many teenagers have witnessed first-hand how parents can work

Luca is Senior Vice President of International Operations at Fuze,

He has been a sales Executive and General Manager in multiple Software organization in the last 18 years, bringing together successful startup and IPO experience scaling rapid growth organization, with large Corporations overall operational management at Worldwide level.

Luca is also a strong and committed supporter for the Istituto Serafico in Assisi, a unique institute specialized in the rehabilitation and long term care for children with severe multiple disabilities

Luca Lazzaron

Innovation in recruitment - how to attract the app generationThere are stark differences in how the App Generation expects to work compared to current workplace practices. Luca Lazzaron discusses his own companies case study on how to change culture to attract new recruits.

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effectively outside of an office.

Every employee has a legal right to request flexible working and, given the appeal of home working among the App Generation, it’s highly likely they will want to take advantage of the legislation. Setting up your business with the policies and technologies in place that allow for remote and flexible working will be a big selling point for the next generation of workers. But even with a propensity towards flexible working, that doesn’t mean they don’t see value in face to face interaction with their colleagues.

Create spaces that promote fresh thinking and brilliant ideas

We might think of the App Generation as being permanently ‘heads down’ in their smartphones, but in fact their number one way to communicate with friends is in person. They see the value in face to face communication at work too, with 69% believing that it’s important to meet regularly with the people you work with, believing this is key to effective team work.

With in-person interaction being important to the App Generation, it’s unlikely we will see the decline of the office any

time soon. But it’s clear these spaces need to evolve. The App Generation wants to feel part of a community and work in an inspiring environment, whether they are emailing, taking calls, holding meetings or collaborating on a project.

Create spaces that promote fresh thinking and brilliant ideas, where casual meetings and serendipitous interactions can happen any time. This could include soft seating next to all desks and ‘workstations’, desks that allow for standing or sitting positions, white boards and brainstorm areas right in the heart of the office or simply spaces where employees can sit, talk and share ideas.

This is a view shared by Samantha House, Project Designer at Area Sq, a company that specialises in creating inspiring and collaborative office interiors, who says: “We have experienced first-hand the benefits of allowing people to work in flexible, innovative and diverse work environments. Organisations must understand their people, the nature of communication, and the way technology and space impacts our working

relationships. This vital insight has to inform the design of a workspace if it’s to become effective in supporting the array of individuals working within an organisation.”

Your employees already want to be working flexibly, using technology that matches what they’re used to using in their personal lives. The major difference is that the new generation don’t just want this, they expect it.

Embrace the arrival of a new generation of worker and address the issue now. Work with your IT department to implement the technology that will not only attract young talent but empower your existing workforce. Put in place processes and policies that set boundaries for flexible working for everyone, and make your business a more attractive prospect for the talent of the present as well as the future.

To find out more about the demands of both the App Generation and today’s workforce, download the Fuze report: The App Generation: How employees of the future are shaping the way we work.

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The relationship between companies and candidates has changed dramatically in recent years. It used to be that the recruitment process lay in the hands of the employer, who would place an advert or brief a recruitment agent and then sit back and wait for the CVs to roll in. The lines of communication were predominantly one-way, with little opportunity for candidates to find out more about the role, the working environment or their potential career progression.

All of that has changed in recent times. Widespread access to high speed internet, the rise of social media and increasingly affordable consumer technology have fundamentally altered the nature and level of interaction between organisations and their stakeholders, whether customers, employees or candidates. Honesty, transparency and

accessibility are the order of the day.

Be where your candidates are

Today’s jobseekers expect to be able to find information on what the company stands for and how it operates. Candidates are increasingly picky about where they want to work, and are more inclined to conduct thorough research to ensure they are making the right choices. In fact, research by CareerBuilder shows that the average candidate now consults 16 sources of information before applying for a job. This includes corporate social media channels, which provide valuable insights into the firm’s personality and culture.

You can leverage this trend by ensuring your social feeds are home to relevant recruitment-focused messages. That could be something as simple as posting a

job ad on LinkedIn or Facebook, or it could be a series of posts that drive traffic to more detailed content such as a “join us” page on your company website or a “day in the life” blog from an existing employee. If you have interesting content to share, or there’s something you want potential candidates to see, then you need to make sure it’s appearing on your social media pages.

The benefits of paid promotion

You can take this principle a step further by paying to ‘boost’ your social media activity, so it reaches a whole new audience beyond your existing fans and followers. Paid promotion is undertaken on a ‘cost per click’ basis, which means you only pay when someone clicks on your call to action. You can specify exactly who will see the message, either by

Shelley is CEO at creative content agency Southerly, a small, specialist content marketing agency that focuses on creating great content for both corporate and employee communications. www.hellosoutherly.com

Shelley Hoppe

Creative recruitment with social media

The recruitment process used to lie in the hands of the employer and predominately with the CV. Now acquisition is increasingly ruled by techonology and social media. How can HR professionals use this to their advantage?

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demographics, such as age or location, or by more sophisticated criteria like profession, interests or behaviours. This is a highly effective way to attract the attention of passive candidates; those people who may not be actively looking for a new role but who could be wooed by the right opportunity at the right time.

Our own research conducted earlier this year revealed the popularity of social media for recruitment purposes. In our Recruitment Marketing Insights 2016 survey, 67% of respondents said they have used social channels to distribute recruitment content, with 73% saying they had done so on Facebook and 67% on LinkedIn. When asked about paid promotion, 31% said they had tried it, with many finding it highly effective. A further 21% said they have plans to try it at some point in the future.

Get personal

The power of social media doesn’t just lie in its ability to deliver communications and content to broad audiences. It also provides a route for contacting people on a personal level. LinkedIn has long been a favourite tool of recruitment agents, who use it to send speculative messages to potential candidates.

Unfortunately, it’s fair to say that many recruiters are engaged in a numbers game, so these messages are often untargeted and involve little more than firing off the same message to anyone with a certain job title or skill set.

Cautionary tales abound of people who have responded to such messages only to be met with a wall of silence or feedback that they are not right for the role after all. As such, many professionals have stopped paying attention or taking these approaches seriously. But that all changes when the message comes from the employer.

Companies who get in touch with candidates directly and make it clear why they think that person is right for a specific role are much more likely to generate a positive response than if that contact is outsourced to an external recruiter. If you’re hunting for a specialist or hard to find candidate then it’s worth focusing on quality rather than quantity. That means only contacting people who you believe could be right for the role, and doing so with a personalised, highly targeted messages that makes it clear you have done your research and would like them to come for an assessment or interview. Your targets will be flattered that you have taken the time to approach

them personally and more likely to respond positively.

In our survey, almost half of respondents (43%) said they have used social media to communicate directly with potential candidates, with 80% using LinkedIn and 79% using Facebook to make contact. Interestingly, some people reported success in experimenting with newer social channels such as Instagram (13%) and the darling channel of the younger generation, Snapchat (5%) for recruitment purposes. The key here is to select the right social channel for your particular audience, so take some time to work out what platforms your candidates are using and what kind of messages and content are most likely to get their attention, whether that’s images, videos, podcasts or something entirely different.

Test and learn

Social media activity is highly measurable, so it’s possible to try something and have an immediate idea if it’s working or not. Having said that, these things can take time, so don’t be disheartened if your first foray into social recruiting doesn’t quite live up to expectations. Start small, set realistic goals, and keep assessing and adapting your activity as you go along and you will start to see rewards.