by Fiona Housiaux | Jan 23, 2017 | News
The right person for the job might be one in a million capable candidates, or could be the only person on the planet with the exact skill set you need; either way, to hire them you have to find them first, and online technology is making it much easier to have your voice heard by an ever-larger crowd.
Big brands like Facebook and Google are increasingly announcing developments with implications for the recruitment market, more directly in the case of Facebook Workplace, and less directly with exciting creations like Mark Zuckerberg’s AI pet project, Jarvis.
The jobs market holds plenty of promise for Facebook, Google and their digital peers, as work completes the picture of many people daily lives, alongside the social content they post to those online platforms for friends and family to see.
What these social networks and similar crowd platforms already have is vast personal data about individuals, just waiting to be monetised in new ways, while for the end-user if it means better job opportunities next time they are looking for new employment, many – perhaps even most – would welcome it.
What would Google do?
The Google Cloud Jobs API is one of the latest announcements in this area, and effectively automates part of the process of matching candidates, skills, personal goals and career history to the job opportunities advertised by recruiters.
Certain skills can be prioritised independently, while the algorithms can also seek certain combinations of skills, experience and personal preferences, to deliver candidates who truly meet the requirements of the role, and not just a box-ticking exercise based on the words used on their CV.
The outcome aims for pinpoint accuracy for recruiters, and highly relevant vacancies for applicants, and again while this requires access to considerable personal data, individuals looking to get the absolute most from their career are unlikely to object.
Face to Facebook
Facebook too is increasingly acting as a mediator for recruitment, serving as a go-between from employer to candidate with trials to allow Page admins to list job opportunities and post advertisements to relevant users across the social network.
This is perhaps the most exciting foray into the social side of recruitment, reaching out to individuals on a platform many access multiple times every day, but usually only use in their personal life, rather than their professional life.
With a growing number of people seeking employment that they find rewarding on a personal level, that boundary is already being blurred, and a platform that can target candidates based on their social skills and even their hobbies and interests makes growing sense for the maturing 21st century.
Of course, this wealth of data means detailed profiles of candidates too, again going far beyond what can be gleaned from an individual's CV, and providing plenty of confidence in the validity of that profile.
As crowdsourced recruitment and richly detailed data from social networks and cloud platforms continues to mature, the next question will be whether candidates are content to allow recruiters to target them in this way, or whether more will attempt to ‘curate’ their social interactions in an attempt to produce the kind of online profile they think employers are looking for.
This is one of the major emergent trends to watch in this area, and may ultimately map out the progress of online social recruitment technology in 2017 and beyond.
by Fiona Housiaux | Jan 13, 2017 | News
Each new year brings with it new recruitment tech that promises to transform the process of finding and hiring the best talent, and with the pace of technology seeming to get faster all the time, 2017 has some very promising developments on the horizon.
Here’s our pick of the top recruitment tech for 2017 and how it could change the way we all apply for jobs or hire new recruits not only this year, but for the future as well.
Not Even Close
A growing number of people work remotely, so it makes sense for remote recruitment to become more of a thing too, with candidates applying online, interviewing online, and ultimately working online if they are successful.
In 2017, video via webcam or smartphone app is only likely to play more of a role in the whole process, while digital CVs are also increasingly likely to include a short video clip of the candidate to demonstrate their confidence and clarity when communicating.
Farewell to the Phone?
Traditionally the phone has been at the core of recruitment, from appointment setting through to offering the successful candidate the job, and email has never really replaced the immediacy of a voice conversation.
Instant messaging merges the two, for the convenience of text messaging with the immediacy of a live call, while smartphone and desktop apps mean there are now more alternatives than ever to that telephone call, especially in digital industries where candidates are more ‘connected’ than most.
Joined-Up Thinking
That connectedness applies not only to candidates, but to recruiters too. The pipeline from LinkedIn profile to email/phone call to interview has been blurred by broader use of social media and candidate information collected from a more diverse selection of sources, and in 2017 that new approach is reaching maturity.
If LinkedIn was Recruitment 2.0, then this is Recruitment 3.0 as we stop approaching candidates from such a linear perspective and, as an industry, become more comfortable with assimilating information to build up a much richer candidate profile from career history right through to social interactions and personality.
Big-Brand Platforms
Finally, the emergence of platforms like Facebook Workplace and the Google Cloud Jobs API mean that the behemoth brands of the internet are muscling in on the recruitment sector more and more, which is not necessarily a bad thing.
Just as these internet giants have enabled much more flexible business practices with their cloud platforms for collaboration and document sharing, 2017 could finally be the year they apply their ingenuity to recruitment, creating new and elegant ways to appoint talented candidates in the coming 12 months.
by Fiona Housiaux | Nov 7, 2016 | News
There’s no denying the fact that the ‘Leave’ vote in the EU Referendum – now commonly referred to simply as ‘Brexit’ by the media – has transformed certain aspects of the UK economy, notably the exchange rate with the euro and the dollar.
But to what extent has marketing recruitment been affected? Marketing is a discipline that often flourishes in adversity as organisations look to positive PR to help them weather the storm, and the
latest Morgan McKinley Marketing Q3 Recruitment Insights report indicates that this is exactly what is happening.
Financial services organisations are searching for professionals with a background in written communications, including online and offline, and for different audiences, as part of the effort to win
new business, while in the online space specialists in both long-form content and short social media posts are in demand.
In terms of PR recruitment though, the direct hiring process is proving lengthy, as candidates’ past performance, successes and industry knowledge must be properly screened to prove their worth; this applies particularly to those switching from agency roles to in-house PR positions.
Emma Greaves, senior consultant for marketing and sales support at Morgan McKinley, writes:
‘Marketing recruitment has seen a steep rise in job flow over the past quarter with passive candidates becoming more open to exploring new opportunities. After a quiet Q2 with tight budgets and the looming shadow of Brexit, July to September has proved lucrative to both jobseekers and employers.’
Looking ahead to the end of 2016, top marketing talent will remain in demand as hiring managers look to use up remaining annual budgets, while others start to plan their first recruitment for the New Year.
With a focus on technically minded professionals, including writers who are well versed in HTML and content management platforms, standing out in this crowd more than ever requires a comprehensive and effective digital marketing strategy, to capitalise on the potential Brexit has unleashed for the marketing sector.
https://www.morganmckinley.co.uk/article/brexit-prompts-new-wave-marcomms
by Fiona Housiaux | Oct 24, 2016 | News
Social networks may have been the scourge of productivity in some companies for years, but Facebook Workplace is set to turn that on its head, with an intranet platform based on the social network that is now available to organisations all over the world.
Facebook’s own offices run an internal version of the platform as a productivity and connectivity tool, allowing co-workers to contact one another using a workplace-specific version of the site’s familiar messaging tools.
Over 1,000 organisations worldwide now use the platform, formerly known as Facebook at Work, but more recently simply Facebook Workplace; the UK is among the top five, along with the US, France,
India and Norway, and together nearly 100,000 groups have been created. Facebook have now opened up the platform to businesses anywhere in the world, with a particular view towards enabling better connectivity for employees who spend most or all of their day on the move, an ever-increasing hallmark of the flexible working arrangements enjoyed by many Millennials.
Whether that means travelling between meetings, out in the field or on the road, Workplace aims to ensure those individuals can be in continual communication, including via live video and text updates from head office.
“Large multinational companies like Danone, Starbucks and Booking.com, international nonprofits such as Oxfam, and regional leaders such as YES Bank in India and the Government Technology
Agency of Singapore have all embraced Workplace,” Facebook said. “People work in different ways, around the world, and Workplace’s mission is to help them stay connected.”
What’s in Workplace?
The features of Facebook Workplace include some that would be familiar to any user of the social network, along with others that have been added specifically to facilitate business use.
News Feed, Groups and Chat are all retained, along with real-time data transformation tools like Trending, Reactions, and the integrated Search function – all of which enables real-time collaboration with colleagues all over the world.
On top of this, there are features unique to Workplace, for example integration with single sign-on and identity providers that allow the platform to work within existing IT systems; there is also a powerful
dashboard with analytical tools built in. Recent announcements include Groups that multiple companies can participate in, effectively building a secure software bridge to enable collaboration between employees of different organisations, whether within the same parent group, or for partnerships between completely separate entities.
All of this seems to underpin more modern ways of doing business, including the more relaxed internal environment in many modern offices, a slightly more casual approach to collaboration between departments, but also an outward-looking view on working with others in your industry – who may be viewed as partners in the 21st century, when they would have been rivals in the 20th.
What does it cost?
Facebook Workplace is charged on an active-user basis, which means organisations only pay a fee per person who is actually using the software, and Facebook have promised that it will be priced competitively, both of which should enable good scalability when new employees are recruited too.
“The new global and mobile workplace isn’t about closed-door meetings or keeping people separated by title, department or geography,” the company said. “Organisations are stronger and more productive when everyone comes together.”
by Fiona Housiaux | Oct 5, 2016 | News
The importance of a good content strategy for recruiters when using social media
As search engines have become increasingly complex and social media ever more pervasive, the way recruiters reach out to candidates has changed.
In fact, the way many brands approach customers has shifted in the same direction – online marketing is no longer about broadcasting your message, but is instead about publishing it in a way that allows your audience to find it for themselves.
This is never more apparent than on social networks, where sharing content is one of the fundamental uses for each of the main platforms, whether it is multimedia-specific like Flickr or Pinterest, or content is an add-on like on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
Rather than reaching out to individuals, the best results are now achieved by being ‘found’, and by appearing in candidates’ search results so that they come to you – hence the term ‘inbound marketing’ for much of this content.
What is content marketing?
In essence, content marketing consists of creating some kind of content, with the intention of using it as an online marketing tool.
While that might sound obvious, it’s worth remembering that ‘content’ can be anything from a plain text blog post or press release, to an infographic, podcast or viral video.
The defining feature is simply that the content is produced for marketing purposes – but by making sure your content is also entertaining or educational, you can increase the chances of more people sharing it amongst themselves, gaining you some valuable online or real-world word of mouth.
Content marketing for recruiters
Historically, marketing has been a siloed function for many recruiters, and you may lack the in-house expertise to expand the role and overlap it with other departments like HR and finance.
By working with a specialist consultancy, you can make sure that you have real purpose to your marketing communications in all forms, including content marketing.
The internet makes it easier than ever to track the number of impressions an ad gets, or the amount of traffic it generates, allowing you to set tangible objectives even for a campaign taking place in the digital world.
Using such Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, you can set out the parameters of your campaign from the outset – such as the number of new candidates you want on your books, the number of interviews you want to schedule, or the number of new placements you want to achieve.
The Good, the Bad and the Bebo
With the right third-party advice, planning and measurement of your campaign, you can create a clear idea of the content you will use on your chosen social networks, whether you stick to the more ‘professional’ CV-based sites, or venture out into the more casual throngs of Facebook and Twitter.
It is essential to set the right tone – many brands are noticeably more light-hearted on social networks, and this can help to deflect negative publicity while portraying recruiters as approachable for high-calibre candidates.
At best, social media and content marketing can vastly increase your brand awareness and positive perception; but at worst, it is easy to stray into a sensitive topic area that is out of your depth.
Finally, remember to move with the times; infographics are still around, but in nowhere near the numbers they were in the early 2010s, and this and trends like it raise both challenges and opportunities.
By adapting your content strategy to changing usage trends on social networks, you can remain relevant on all of the platforms you target – and avoid becoming obsolete like older social networks such as Bebo.
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