Eighty-four percent of employees would consider leaving their current job if offered a role at a company with an excellent reputation.
But how do you build and maintain this reputation? What’s the best way to communicate your employer brand value to the world so that you attract the best and brightest? And how do you analyze the effectiveness of your recruiting dollars?
Join Glassdoor’s Will Staney and SmashFly’s Chris Brablc for an interactive discussion on using integrated recruitment marketing and employer branding to capture thousands of qualified candidates in your talent network, nurture them to become fans of your employer brand, and analyze and optimize the effectiveness of every recruitment marketing dollar.
And get great hires faster who meet the talent needs of the business.
Mallory
Hi and thank you for joining our webinar today – “The Trilogy of Modern Talent Acquisition: Employer Branding, Recruitment Marketing, and Unified Analytics”
We’d like to invite you all to tweet your comments and questions during the webinar at the handles provided with the hashtag “modern recruiting.”
Mallory
A few webinar tips before we begin – you will be muted throughout the session so make sure to ask questions in the questions pane. Dina and Chris will do their best to answer them along the way but there will also be a Q&A session at the end, so please stick around. If we don’t get to your question on today’s webinar, we will follow up with you after the webinar.
Mallory
And now I’d like to introduce our speaker for today’s webinar. Chris Brablc is the Director of Marketing at SmashFly, where he provides leadership for SmashFly’s online marketing efforts — developing and executing comprehensive marketing strategies and branding campaigns through social media, SEO, SEM and PR outreach.
Chris is also the main contributor to the SmashFly Blog and on social media where he shares industry news, client case studies, and other thought leadership content to help recruiting organizations utilize technology better to drive qualified candidate flow and improve budget usage. Due to this online presence, Chris was recognized as one of HRExaminer’s 2012 Top 25 Online Influencers in Recruiting; a yearly list by industry analyst John Sumser and is a Council Member for The Candidate Experience Awards.
Mallory
Our second speaker, Dina Rulli, Manager – Talent Acquisition for Glassdoor's Global Sales Recruiting Team and also a key contributor to the Employer Branding Strategy and social Recruiting channels. In her free time from Recruiting, she has a food blog where she whips up healthy and tasty gluten-free food. See her Twitter Handle, Dina’s Cucina.
Launch Poll: Before we begin, please take a moment to to tell us What your current biggest talent acquisition challenge is?
Employer Branding
Recruitment Marketing
Technology Integration
Data & Analytics
Candidate Nurturing
Social & Mobile
Candidate Experience
Other
CHRIS
Thank You, Mallory! And thank you to our partner Glassdoor, who invited us to join today’s webinar. These topics are ones that Dina and I are incredibly passionate about and it should be a valuable discussion on the trends impacting modern recruiting.
As you may have seen, we have a quick poll question before we begin with the meat of the presentation. And while you answer, let’s take a look at what we’ll be speaking about today.
First, we’ll discuss the major trend happening in the candidate experience and how it will continue to impact how we attract and engage with candidates.
Second, I will pass it off to Dina to discuss Employer Branding, the importance in attracting today’s candidate and the key areas to think about when building your employer brand.
Once you have the foundation of the employer brand in place, it’s about how you promote it. This is where I’ll discuss recruitment marketing and the tactics as well as content that’s needed to consistently convert candidates through the funnel.
Lastly, Dina and I will discuss the baseline measures for which Talent Acquisition is measured on today and additional key analytics that they will be measured on tomorrow.
At any point throughout the presentation we encourage you to submit questions, which you can do via the right panel.
CHRIS
As we look at the Talent Acquisition landscape what worked before in recruiting the right candidates is now working with less success. It’s less a “if we build it, they will come approach” and is becoming a more relationship based approach.
And much of it has to do with a new much more discerning candidate but it also that candidates expect information and engagement much earlier in the process. The candidate experience is not just about making the application process easier or better although important but it’s about the relationships that start with your brand, messaging and reputation.
We refer to this evolution as the “consumerization of the candidate experience”.
CHRIS
Before we get started on how to attract candidates, let’s first agree on “Who the Candidate Is?”
A candidate is anyone who is engaging with your employer brand while exploring the possibility of a new job, now or in the future, who hasn’t applied, or is no longer being considered for a position.
And THIS IS IMPORTANT, it’s not just the Active Job Seeker but includes all advocates that touch your organization and brand.
Many organizations talk about finding passive talent but this in my opinion is a misnomer. The fact candidates are changing jobs more often than any time in history with on average 4 years with a company. And in the most recent LinkedIn study, 85% of the global workforce is open to a new job.
These candidates are NOT truly active but in a sense they are.
So as we look to attract candidates the question is how can we tap into the advocates and potential qualified candidates that already have some affiliation or sentiment of our organization?
CHRIS
So we’ve taken a look at “Who a Candidate Is?” from an employer perspective but “What Do Candidates Want from their Experience?”.
As consumers, we have been trained and have perfected skills to be efficient buyers and sellers. And the experiences in terms of how I do my research and make my decisions are incredibly seamless and streamlined.
So as a candidate when I look at the biggest purchase decision of in my life, my Career, shouldn’t I expect a similar experience?
So as we look at improving the candidate experience, 3 Insights are incredibly apparent:
Candidates are in Control: The biggest complaint I hear on a daily basis from talent acquisition teams is not about attracting not enough applicants but about attracting enough qualified candidates. It’s a quality issue. And in many cases, organizations know exactly who they need to attract, it’s just a matter of reaching and engaging them.
It’s Candidates that control when and if this engagement happens
The other element is that we are on the timetable of the candidate. Yes 85% of global workforce are open to new opportunities but many won’t be ready to move right this minute. That means we need to invest more in terms of relationship-building to bridge the gap between when they are ready to move on and when we have an opportunity available.
Candidates Research Like Consumers: As we make purchase decisions, what’s the first thing you do? Most likely, it’s researching through Google. You look up product reviews on Amazon, check price on Google, send an email to a friend, ask a question on social media. There’s a tremendous amount of information to tap into to make an informed decision and it’s incredibly quick. The Average consumer consults 12 sources of information to make a purchase decision and a majority have already made a decision before speaking with the company directly.
When we look at promoting our brand and Careers, it means we need to be more transparent and involved in the conversations that are happening online whether it’s your Career Site, branding platforms like Glassdoor and via social media. The more compelling information and content we can provide, the better.
Candidates Care About Culture AND Jobs: Jobs are still important to candidates but it’s not the only thing. Candidates want to work for organizations where they enjoy the culture, believe in the mission statement and where they can excel in their Careers. The job is a factor but we need to answer the “Why Us?” question for candidates and a job description doesn’t do that.
In short, we live in world where the candidate is firmly in control. And this expected for the foreseeable future. It’s a world where candidates are expecting different things from employers and Dina will go deeper into these expectations.
DINA
Thanks Chris. You’re spot on. Candidates expect realistic job previews before they apply for or accept open positions. They don’t necessarily expect perfection; they just want to know how your organization really works before deciding whether to work for you. The same is true of recent hires, who may not stick around long if they’re disappointed. In this era of transparency, more than ever, an employer's brand has a direct impact on their ability to attract and retain top talent
51% new employees have buyer’s remorse, 88% looking to leave within 6 months because hiring process failed to paint accurate picture of job
As a result, today’s candidates are looking for more than just the employer’s perspective (career site, job description, recruiter conversations)
They’re seeking out information from new channels that didn’t exist even 5 years ago and actually putting more trust in
Today’s candidates really are no different. 95% say reviews from those on the inside are influential when deciding where to work.
a company’s reputation has more of an impact than you might expect
DINA
Today’s candidates want more information about jobs than just the employer’s perspective. They’re seeking information from channels that didn’t exist even five years ago.
A company’s employer brand reputation directly impacts their ability to attract and retain top talent
So it’s critical that employers are promoting their brand where today’s job seekers are looking for it.
DINA:
Let’s talk about what an employer brand is…
Here’s a quote from Lars Schmidt, Founder of AmplifyTalent.com.
Basically if you don’t manage your Employer Brand, someone else will do it for you. Which is definitely not something you want in the competitive marketplace.
DINA:
An Employer Brand is made up of a few key components:
Culture– this is the glue that binds the organization which includes it’s values, vision, mission statement, working language, systems, beliefs and habits. Company culture affects the way that people and groups interact. It’s important to establish this within your company so everyone is on the same page.
Employee Opinions – This reaches far beyond your companies doors, especially when they share their views and work photos on public forums like Facebook, Glassdoor and Twitter. Your employees opinions matter because they can help you attract the candidates you’re trying to reach
Candidate Opinions- First impressions are everything. Your emplyoer brand starts taking shape during an initial job interview. Be sure that the candidate experience lines up with your mission/culture and values.
Corporate Brand- Brand aligns directly with it’s corporate strategy. Consumers want to know that they’re buying goods and services from companies that treat their employees well.
Define Employment Value Proposition
DINA:
There are many sites and ways to manage your employer brand. Glassdoor, Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are all places where you’re brand is being showcased.
Learn who’s coming to your page. Find out where you have a presnece and OWN IT. Figure out the type of candidate you’re attracting.
It’s important to know current employees you are trying to attract—what keeps them there.
Retention should also be a part of your strategy. You can learn this thru exit interview etc.
Mallory:
Thanks Dina. At this time I’d like to Launch another poll, if you’d be so kind as to answer this question: Have you invested time/resources in building your Employer Brand?
Began investment in 2014
No but have initiatives in place for 2015
No, most likely not until 2016
*pass off to Chris
CHRIS:
Thanks, Dina! As Dina mentioned, your Employer Brand is a critical foundation for your Talent Acquisition strategy and as I can see with the poll many organizations are looking to invest in building the employer brand.
Recruitment Marketing and the Employer Brand go hand-in-hand. The Employer Brand is the essential first step in terms of understanding how to communicate your employer value proposition. Recruitment Marketing is about how you promote and communicate it to candidates.
CHRIS
The term Recruitment Marketing is thrown around as a buzzword at conference, in webinars and by vendors with little to know definition for what it is. That’s why I like to always share a definition for recruitment marketing.
Recruitment marketing is everything you do to promote your employer brand and attract, engage and nurture qualified candidates. When I say everything this includes your Career Site, advertising channels such as job boards, social channels and employee referral programs. All while ensuring the candidate experience is strong across all channels.
There’s 3 IMPORTANT POINTS in this definition is that it’s not just attraction but built around relationships. It’s about quality not quantity. And it’s focus is before a candidate applies.
Now that we agree on what recruitment marketing is, let’s look at it’s main goal and it’s crucial for organizations.
CHRIS
When it comes down to it, recruitment marketing is about “conversions”. In particular converting candidates to applicants and measuring the impact of these candidates as qualified candidates and hires.
Recruitment Marketing is about converting candidates along the funnel that you see on the screen. Being able to utilize various channels, tactics and content to convert candidates from one stage in the candidate’s journey to the next.
As you know from your Marketing and Sales brethren, it’s a numbers game and the better we can align our strategies to converting candidates from one stage to the next, the more successful we can be
Today many organizations promote their jobs through multiple channels but neglect any engagement until a candidate applies.
The major problem with this is that there is no other choice for candidates to opt-in other than applications. It’s evident that not every candidate is ready to apply especially the passive ones. And we have stats to back it up with application drop-off rates which on average are 60% of candidates.
So why in many cases do we give the ultimatum to candidates, “Apply or Go Away”
Having a way to enable candidates to opt-in to begin a relationship other than applying and having a nurturing strategy to convert these candidates will be integral to excel as a modern recruiting organization.
So if recruiting is about conversions from stage to stage, how do we actually convert these candidates through the funnel? We do it through content. Let’s look at the different stages and the content and messaging we need to consider.
CHRIS
For Awareness, we are really answering the base needs of the candidate and it’s all about getting that first touch-point. And a lot of it comes down to understanding where your candidate audiences lives or travels and creating a great marketing mix to reach those candidates. And making sure when those interactions happen, that they are intrigued enough to consider.
The content pieces to focus here are
Job Ads
Employer Value Proposition
Blog Articles
SEO Landing Pages
Event
This is your first impression and it should be compelling.
CHRIS
For Consideration, we are essentially focused on answering the “Why Us?” We need to prove value and the best way to do that is through storytelling, messaging and compelling Calls to Action. At this stage, Employer Branding is important not just on your properties but on other channels most importantly of which Glassdoor that you don’t own per se but greatly impact candidates perceptions.
Employee Stories (Video)
Employer Reviews
Brand and Messaging
Testimonials
The goal here is to begin the relationship and capture in a CRM or social network not necessarily getting them to apply.
CHRIS
For Application, we are focused on building a Talent Network and communication strategy that helps us remain relevant and engaged with potential talent. It’s about bridging the gap between when a candidate first engages with us and when they are ready for their next Career Change.
Content here includes:
Newsletters
Targeted Job Alerts
Recruiter Engagement
Company News
Industry Articles
Continuing Education
Webinars
Blogs
White Papers
The goal is to nurture and convert into the ATS.
CHRIS
So the question often asked is how do we create content?
Content is incredibly important but many recruiting teams don’t have the necessary resources or people to become a content factory. And this is one of the most common complaints for TA leadership as they look to build better relationships with candidates.
To get started in sharing content, you can start by Curating content vs. creating it. Assess the content that your own marketing teams are creating, identify key influencers within your industries or that your key candidate audiences would find compelling.
Lastly, find someone on your team that can own content curation and help your team share and find compelling content.
Moving on to Recruitment Analytics, I’m going to pass this off to Dina and let her touch on the metrics we’re paying attention to today when we’re gauging success.
DINAFor this slide, we’ll be presenting that we focus a lot on high level end goal metrics. And that’s what we should but what’s changed is that there’s a lot of initiatives and projects that affect these core baseline metrics.
Each of the metrics on the bottom influence the top metrics and it’s incredibly we understand and measure the importance of these to give credence to the initiatives that best influence these key baseline metrics.
This will be able understanding talent needs based on skills for every business unit. Then tying it to historic data to understand what we need to do from a recruitment marketing standpoint to reach our goals.
Predictive of the types of initiatives we have to execute to be successful and at some point suggest what mix is needed in order to best meet these goals.
Time to Slate—resumes to a manager
*pass off to Chris
CHRISThis will be able understanding talent needs based on skills for every business unit. Then tying it to historic data to understand what we need to do from a recruitment marketing standpoint to reach our goals.
Predictive of the types of initiatives we have to execute to be successful and at some point suggest what mix is needed in order to best meet these goals.
CHRISThis will be able understanding talent needs based on skills for every business unit. Then tying it to historic data to understand what we need to do from a recruitment marketing standpoint to reach our goals.
Predictive of the types of initiatives we have to execute to be successful and at some point suggest what mix is needed in order to best meet these goals.
*pass off to Dina
CHRIS
CHRIS:
There are many sites and ways to manage your employer brand. Glassdoor, Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter are all places where you’re brand is being showcased.
Learn who’s coming to your page. Find out where you have a presnece and OWN IT. Figure out the type of candidate you’re attracting.
It’s important to know current employees you are trying to attract—what keeps them there.
Retention should also be a part of your strategy. You can learn this thru exit interview etc.
CHRIS
A Modern Recruiting Organization Needs:
Foundation of Great Employer Brand and EVP
With the Recruitment Marketing Skills and Processes to Attract Qualified Candidates
Brand Led and Data Driven Strategy that consistently and predictably improves over time
I’m going to pass it off to Mallory who has been taking your questions…
Mallory
Thanks Chris! If you have a question, please feel free to type it into the question pane at this time. If we run out of time, we can follow up with you after the webinar.
SEED QUESTIONS
1) What are some examples of companies that are doing employer branding and recruitment marketing well? - Dina and I can provide one example each.
2) In terms of analytics, what systems have you seen organizations use to provide this type of data? - Chris
3) Creating content is a challenge for us. How would you suggest getting started with this? - Chris then Dina.
4) What mistakes have you seen companies make when creating an employer brand or implementing recruitment marketing efforts? - Dina first on the employer brand. Chris second on Recruitment Marketing