NAS Talent Talk : Metrics

The danger of mobile recruiting? Not doing it.

Kristine Rhodes — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 20:52:00 GMT

Recently, I asked my client partners why they declined using mobile marketing as part of their recruiting strategy in 2009. I heard everything from “It’s just hype,” to “It’s intrusive,” to my personal favorite “It’s dangerous.” So I thought I’d share some quick facts to dispel the myths, and provide a few ways to ease into a mobile strategy. Armed with information, perhaps you’ll decide it makes sense for your 2010 recruitment marketing strategy.

Myth #1: It’s just hype.

Over 200 billion requests in 2009.
Mobile web usage grew 110% in 2009.
Of the 270 million U.S. cell phones, over 96% are SMS capable.
84 billion text messages are sent each month - over 1 Trillion in 2009.
Cell phone penetration in the U.S. has surpassed cable TV, web access and home PCs.
Over 95% of new phones sold today have web browsers and over 70 million U.S. consumers use them regularly.

Myth #2: Mobile’s not appropriate for recruiting.

The mobile phone is considered by many as an alternate source for a computer. If you think about healthcare workers, sales reps, even truck drivers, they don’t always have access to their computer. But they almost always have access to their phone. Why not reach them and share recruiting event information, invitations and registration, RSS job alerts and your company’s EVPs from your mobile career site?

Myth #3: Mobile is too invasive.

Building a mobile career site only means you're prepared when someone is searching on their phone for an employer. There's nothing invasive about that.
100% of users are opt-in.

Myth #4: It's only for younger audiences.

Wrong! Ages 25-34 have experienced a 40% YOY growth; Ages 35-54 a 31% YOY growth.
Text messaging surpasses phone calls with the 25-44 age range. (Source: The Nielsen Group)

Myth #5: It's too expensive.

A mobi site costs under $5,000 to build.
Many of the mobile tactics are free or far less expensive than interactive tactics and certainly less expensive and more timely and trackable than print (after all, time and ROI are money saved!).

So why should we consider mobile marketing?

Mobile is everywhere and outpacing every other tool for keeping people connected.
Mobile allows for the immediate reaction of a job seeker to a message.
Mobile is private.
Mobile is convenient.
Mobile recall and response metrics are higher than traditional Web.

Here are things you can do fairly easily and quickly, and for a small investment:

Build a mobile site with a homepage and job family pages communicating your organizations EVPs, and include mRegistration (remember, it'll cost you under $5,000).
Consider text messaging for job alerts, even notifications and CRM (candidate relationship management)
Target your organization's passive audience with mobile display ads/banners.
Buy mobile pay-per-click on Google (FYI: mobile search on Google increased 110% in 2009!)
Deploy it as part of your CRM strategy to keep already interested candidates engaged in your organization. Send them a text message with event invitations, reapply notices at 60/90 days and/or links to job alerts, press releases, new store openings and recruiting chat schedules.

People are now synchronized by technology – living in “the cloud.” So, too, is your talent. You’ll be hearing more and more about cloud recruiting – recruiting where you serve and sync technologies to optimize the candidate experience and engage A-level talent. The mobile device is ubiquitously poised within “the cloud” for messaging your organization to the right candidates. Darwin once said, “It’s not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, it’s the one most responsive to change.”

15 New Year's Resolutions for HR

Tara Repucci — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 15:29:00 GMT

It's that time of year again. We drink bubbly, evaluate the past and set goals for the future as we ring in a new year decade. So I became curious … what resolutions are being made in the HR community?

Here's what our friends and partners told us:

1. Build a diverse candidate pipeline

2. Use social media for talent acquisition

3. Measure and evolve the employment brand

4. Capture and provide relevant metrics

5. Embrace technology

6. Launch a blog

7. Focus on employee learning and development

8. Retain A-level talent

9. Upgrade recruiter skill sets

10. Improve the candidate experience

11. Build stronger, proactive candidate relationships

12. Refresh the career site

13. Explore video interviewing

14. Revisit campus recruiting

15. Advance military recruiting

This is by no means a comprehensive list, so what did we miss? If your HR New Year's resolution is locked and loaded, please inspire others and include it as a comment below. Or write about it on your own blog and link back to this post. Of course, if you haven’t made a resolution yet, you can use the ones above for encouragement. Tell us what you decide on.

Image courtesy of J o r

Angels in Disguise? Brand Ambassadors? Your Employees Can Be Both.

Kristine Rhodes — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:32:00 GMT

This year, my 22-year-old daughter graduated from college and landed her first full-time job in advertising. She’s working on a team supporting a global brand – a really cool brand – with a very tough client. Tension is high and the working hours are long. What motivates Megan to get up and go to work each day? Project managing the agency’s pro-bono work for a local food bank. Ironically, she spends more time sharing with us her lessons and touching stories from her pro-bono work rather than what she’s learning from her manager. In fact, I would argue that her work experiences and the encouragement she’s received from the team as a result of her pro-bono work are what’s growing her as an employee, helping her identify strongly with her agency’s services, and making her a proud ambassador for her burgeoning advertising firm.

Corporate Philanthropy and Grassroots Programs are becoming increasingly prevalent with organizations as a means to engage employees. But can we correlate those activities with easier recruiting, improved retention and increased productivity? Megan’s story certainly fits the bill. Does it work in larger organizations? Does it work with different age groups other than GenY? ABSOLUTELY! The fact of the matter is that media is streamed to us 24/7 through websites, blogs and social media, sharing breaking news about challenges around the world and in our neighborhoods. It’s much easier to get involved and to engage all age groups and ethnicities.

As a Talent Strategist moderating employee focus groups for large organizations, I’ve had the pleasure of working with several companies whose grassroots programs stand out as successful recruiting and retention initiates. Three elements that make these programs successful:

Empowering employees to identify the programs to participate in (truly grassroots – “bottom-up” instead of “top-down”)
Tying the volunteerism back to the products or services the organization sells and employees support.
Contributing to the communities and the neighborhoods in which the organization serves.

One of our telecom clients serves as a perfect example of promoting this kind of grass roots approach. The employees in one of the customer care centers read an article that shared how many Vets in Veteran hospitals don’t have access to phones to speak with their loved ones to “stay connected.” “Staying connected” is part of their organization’s consumer brand. So, the employees organized a teams of volunteers who regularly visit local veteran hospitals and allow the Vets to use their personal company cell phones to call anywhere in the world. Before long, the employees had teams visiting nursing homes and retirement communities as well. Soon, they were sharing their stories with the press and talking about their organization and their employee-centric, community-centric culture. The pride the employees felt extended beyond the walls of their organization and they became ambassadors and recruiters for their company brand and culture (as did the recipients of the outreach in the hospitals!).

Another great story involves a large hospital system in Texas, whose challenge, like most hospitals, is to recruit RNs. Hundreds of them. While also keeping happy all of the wonderful RNs who have kept the hospital running smoothly through thick and thin. So the company pulled together a committee of RNs to develop a system-wide program that aligned with the company’s mission to provide high-quality healthcare in the communities they serve while also providing the nursing staff with continuing education, career path, rewards and recognition. They identified opportunities for volunteerism within their patient ranks and community – such as creating a Diabetic Education Manual and Tool Kit, and a “Date Night” program for Neonatal ICU parents. Then, they developed a point system tied to each of the various volunteer opportunities that “cashed out” as a dollar amount to assist in their specialized continuing education. The outcome the first year included over 40% of the total RN participation throughout the system, and nearly $1 million in contributions to the nurses’ ongoing education and professional growth. But the real benefit was far beyond the payouts. It was the recognition, the morale booster, the celebration amongst the nurses, patients and the community. The nurses became more engaged in the workforce and, as a result, more strongly aligned with their mission. They take pride in their hospital system and recommend it as a great place to work to their friends and family. It’s no wonder the hospital system enjoys a great reputation and referrals at nearly 30%.

Bottom line, by touching others’ lives with grassroots programs employees extend their companies’ recruitment brands and bring people outside of their organization closer. They become the representatives, the exemplars, of what it means to work for Company X and become increasing more proud of their company and its products. Find ways to extend your corporate philanthropy and make it personable! See how it affects your employee recruitment and retention. I’d be willing to bet that you will see and feel a difference in your employee culture rather quickly. And even if you cannot immediately measure its success, you will know that you have made a difference in someone’s life – whether it be a Vet, an ailing child's parents or your favorite project manager. Helping others is never a bad business – particularly during the Holidays when so many are in need.

Share your company’s success stories and let’s pass on good ideas and good will.

In recruitment, every ingredient counts

Tara Repucci — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 04:04:00 GMT

“Direct mail doesn’t work for us.”

I hear some version of that statement a lot when I meet with companies to discuss recruitment marketing. But attributing success or failure to the media channel alone is silly. We are too quick to declare a particular medium useless without examining messaging or frequency or timing. We are too reluctant to try something new because it’s untraditional or unproven or unpopular.

Marketing is a three-ring circus, not a single act. It’s the media we pay for and the publicity we don’t. It’s the placement and resonance, the design and copy. It’s reliable and accurate metrics on both a macro and micro level.

When we say, "I’ve tried everything” or “that never works for me,” we've given up. We’ve closed the door to revision and we make it difficult to uncover the one ingredient that, if changed, could be the key to something truly great.