Video: BraveNewTalent, on home turf

I very rarely use my blog to promote my firm – I’d rather talk about concepts and ideas, or new bits of software.  Time for an exception. This isn’t a sales pitch though… it’s for recruitment.

We’re building.  Both in terms of team and product, we’re building. It’ll be a long time before we’re done – if indeed any software platform is ever “done” – and right now, we have the nucleus of an awesome team. From technical people who make my brain ache to mobile people who’ve already proven visionary ability, this team will achieve something spectacular.

Trouble is, there’s simply not enough of us. We know where we want to get to – and we have the backing to ensure we can get there. Everyone on the team contributes and I’ve NEVER worked in a place where the passion is so evident in every single person.

Help make this happen. We have roles open from Global Marketing VP to blogging intern, technical genius to graduate developer. Join us.

Blog: 5 key recruitment lessons

After many years working on various parts of the recruitment industry, there are a few choice lines that I hear crop up regularly.  These are the ones I see proved right time and again…

1. People join a company, but leave a manager
2. Hire for attitude, train for skills
3. Make connections on-line, but build relationships offline
4. You have two ears and one mouth. That ratio is a usage guide.
5. Success lies in the part between what the hiring manager wants, and what he tells you he wants.

Feel free to disagree – or better still, let me know what you prefer!

Blog: Rejection and branding in the recruitment industry

I wrote this post last week for Bill Boorman as part of the build-up for #TruDublin. Now posted here for my archive!

I’ve been a strong supporter of the #TRU series of the events from the start. I’m delighted to be heading over to Dublin for Bill’s next event, and once again, I’ll be running a track. Those who’ve followed the events in the past will know I’ve often contributed in this way, usually focussed on use of Twitter from one angle or another. This time though, will be different.

I recently joined tech start-up BraveNewTalent. My role here is multi-faceted, for which I’m very appreciative – it allows for involvement across the firm, whilst also supporting outside engagement. As a result, I was recently at another HR industry event – leading me to write a short post on whether, based on energy expended, the Recruitment industry should rebrand itself the Rejection industry.

I suggest in that piece that the rejection aspect of recruitment is one which has a high brand-impact (especially for consumer brands) and is something which use of social media platforms could help to address.

Therein lies the focus I’ll be taking with my track for #TRUDublin. It only takes a little thought to realise how a poor recruitment (rejection) experience impacts brand values for someone who is also a consumer, thus ensuring the cost of rejecting that candidate is raised further when including the (sales) revenue you’ll no longer have access to and the marketing spend previously focussed on that consumer which is now to no avail.

Consider then, what can be done to address this? There’s plenty of evidence to suggest candidates drawn from a talent community, rather than a more traditional transactional recruitment exchange, outperform at assessment and are more likely to accept a job offer. This then, is a more effective model (if anyone wants a BraveNewTalent case study, please let me know, I’d be delighted to talk further!).

For the purposes of this track though, I don’t want to look at talent communities producing successful candidates – I want to look at those left behind. Maybe they’re rejected as unsuitable, maybe they’re not ready yet, maybe your hiring requirements changed. Regardless, they joined your community and you have the ability to continue talking to them. Surely to do so would send a far stronger message than the simple “Thanks, but no thanks”.

What can be offered? All kinds of relevant content. You may have rejected the candidate from a specific post – but there’s always the possibility you’ll consider them again in future. Even more likely, the possibility you’ll consider someone else they know. How many times have you heard the phrase referral recruiting?

If someone is part of a community, you can continue to offer them useful information about your industry sector, or the development cycle of a particular type of career. Depending on your choice of community platform, you can deliver these messages to the whole community – or target a relevant subset, based on filtering or segmentation. For those you might look to hire at some point in future, perhaps a mentoring programme might be appropriate. Regardless, they are ALL jobseekers, and it’s very rare any candidate gives the perfect interview.

Whatever you decide you can offer, at least offer SOMETHING. Simply closing the door when they’ve taken the time to investigate your brand is insufficient. Need more support or budget? Engage with your marketing department. If your community grows to a healthy size, they’ll have suitable incentive to help you.

That’s where I’m at so far. I have a myriad of thoughts on the subject, and I think social recruiting is really only seeing the tip of the iceberg so far. Let’s pull a great track together in Dublin and see if diving in allows us to get a glimpse of the rest of this particular iceberg.

Sláinte mhaith!

Are we recruiting or rejecting?

At the recent ConnectingHR event, one of the organisers behind the community space we used gave us a brief insight into their plans and philosophy. While he spoke for only a few minutes, he left a lasting thought with me for our industry. He used the analogy of a mis-named light bulb: most of the energy going in gets distributed as heat, not light – so why do we not refer to it as a heater?

From a recruitment perspective, he claimed, we are similarly misnamed. The vast majority of applications result in rejection, with actual recruitment occurring in only a minority of circumstances (how many CV’s do you review before you make a placement or a hire?). I meant to blog this last week, but have been somewhat sidetracked with a team day out and subsequent brainstorming day at BNT (the day out led to a new recruitment video!).

Due to a current technology curse, I was subjected to a history lesson yesterday as I attempted to send a text – with Nokia predictive text, the key-presses for Selection actually show initially as Rejection. I figure this blog is meant to be written!

I don’t believe either the light bulb or recruitment are mis-named; both are named to reflect the intended outcome, not the unintended side effect. However, this by-product is not inconsequential. In the case of the light bulb, advances are being made. A change in the chemical composition and materials used result in an improved environmental footprint.

In recruitment though, I’ve seen very little change in the last twenty years. If anything, the processes I’ve witnessed first-hand have actually deteriorated as technology such as job-boards and mobile apps have made it easy to apply to multiple roles – increased volume of applications has meant a reduction of individual feedback, or even the absence of a response / acknowledgement all together.

We live in a socially connected world. Whilst recruitment might not yet be ready (in the main) to adopt social media, as an industry it must surely accept that we’re all brand consumers and we all share our experiences. A bad experience individually leads to a retweet, a Facebook update, a blog post. I heard the perfect sound-bite for this a few weeks back: If you have a great experience, you tell your friends. If you have a bad experience, you tell Google.

I recently joined BraveNewTalent. Managing the rejection process isn’t what BNT is about – but by ensuring all applicants come into a community environment, where they gain an insight into clients, can see a community develop and can learn about other opportunities with the organisation, maybe a better rejection process is a damn decent side effect for Social Recruiting to aim for?