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Recruitment Spin

Communication and Marketing…it's not just products. It's people.


  • Five things Barack Obama

    by on June 20, 2008

    No matter where you sit on the political fence, one thing this year�??s democratic presidential primary did was effectively change the way politicians effectively compete. Here are the five things I spotted that help reinforce some of the ways we can effectively brand a company, and drive a memorable (and thereby effective) recruitment campaign:

     

    Don�??t slander the competition; state and consistently reiterate what you do best/differently/efficiently. Throughout the primary, we watched Obama strategically avoid (for the most part) getting too immersed in defending. By working to avoid political smear tactics, the Obama campaign kept their message ...

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  • It is still a business of touch.

    by on Sept. 19, 2007

    It is tradeshow season...or at the very least, the next wave of tradeshows has arrived. This week I attended a show in San Francisco as an Exhibitor. I always enjoy the opportunity to talk about our product and listen to other companies promote their products and services, but the thing that rejuvenates me each and every time is the engaging conversations happening inside, outside and during the information sessions.

     

    Some of the best tips I?ve ever heard, were usually offered over a bagel and coffee during a break. Some of the best ideas are born out of spirited ...

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  • Put down the MySpace and ?Tweet.?

    by on May 17, 2007

    I?ve been hesitant to jump on the MySpace wagon as a suitable vehicle for recruiting. Sure, it is touted as one of the top five most popular English-language websites and everyone including your grandmother might have a personal page there...but size aside, my opinion on networking or community based sites as recruitment gold has been skeptical at best.

     
    When I first tooled around with the site a few years ago, it was to look into some of the bands I admire. It was a great way to get information on new releases and club dates for some lesser ...

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  • Talladega Nights, Brand Saturation 101.

    by on Aug. 16, 2006
    Over the weekend, I went to the movies to catch Talladega Nights. The big marketing buzz preceding the movie was that it would break records in the areas of brand integration and product placement. And so it does. From the beginning to the very end, the movie is littered with brand placement in the typical NASCAR format. But even with NASCAR, it goes over the top in a celebration of the sponsorship/marketing rat race. What was particularly amusing were the types of products "branded" and what the movie tried to convey about Nascar, celebrity and some broader culture. Sterotypical ...

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  • You are what you tag.

    by on July 6, 2006
    The joys of folksonomy.
     
    If you have an account on Flickr, or you maintain a personal blog or receive rss feeds in lieu of watching the news or reading the newspaper - then you're already all over the notion of tagging.
     
    It's literally a labeling and categorization system used online to quickly compartmentalize and...well...label items. Visit Consumating to see labeling done on a personal label. Brilliant!
     
    The big recruiting debate right now is...should recruiters search for information about candidates online. Online personas, when is it ok to reject or accept a candidate based on online personal ...

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  • Living the Candidate Experience...

    by on May 23, 2006
    It never ceases to amaze me how much you learn each time you become a candidate.
     
    I recently changed my role/company/career focus. I was an active/passive candidate - depending on the day. I went from active to passive to a combination of both. There have been a million theories about how it happens, the transition from active to passive. A bad day...the sudden realization that what you're doing is not your joy...maybe just another day of feeling like what you're doing doesn't matter. Whatever the reason, the transition can happen in seconds, hours ...

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  • Banners: No longer the red-headed step child.

    by on March 26, 2006
    I can remember my early days in recruitment advertising, when trying to sell a media buy that included banner ads was about as easy as milking a snake. (If you didn't see Lemony Snicket, then that means absolutely nothing to you)
     
    The bad rap on banners was tracking ROI, the complicated nature in buying them based on click-thrus and all sorts of complexities that clients were hardly interested in giving a second thought. After all, how many of us were REALLY able to tie hires to banners?
     
    That was then, but it still is, now. We still struggle with ...

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  • Are you inclusive, because you

    by on March 22, 2006
    Fresh on the heels of a great Diversity Summit meeting with AIRS in Houston on Monday, I'm still feeling a bit "ranty" on the topic of diversity sourcing - especially, the impact of open honest communication as it relates to the subject.
     
    As I googled my favorite news topics this evening, I happened across two articles on diversity recruiting from different points of view - both enlightening in their own respect.
     
    In the Daily Mining Gazette, there was an editoral indicating a less than stellar regard for collegiate diversity initiatives at Michican Tech University.
     
    Let's face it. Desiring to create ...

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  • Contact Management = Relationship Management

    by on Jan. 18, 2006
    In the most dynamic selling environment, you are only as good as your contact management system, and your product.
     
    Being able to access your customer's information, preferences, personal and professional interests and predispositions can be the difference between a dial tone and a meaningful opportunity.
     
    Many of us are using our Applicant Tracking Systems as a sort of makeshift contact management system, typical of an aggressive sales organization. This makes sense, because in a corporate recruiting environment our recruiters are just that - aggressive sales people. Many of these ATS were designed to capture, report and track candidates already engaged ...

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  • Managing Expectations = Managing Brand

    by on Aug. 16, 2005

    The embodiment of push/pull lives in the constant struggle for a Recruiter working to meet the needs of a hiring manager, while ensuring the candidate has a positive experience. It's an amazing juggling act.

     

    The Hiring Manager/Recruiter/Candidate relationship is one that can dangerously cyclical in nature. Hiring Manager says I am looking for "Candidate X." Candidate X could actually look a lot like Candidate W or Candidate Y...hey, even Candidate Z might work. So the Recruiter brings alphabet soup to the Hiring Manager hoping to snare someone as close to Candidate X as possible by ...

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  • The greatest initiative no one ever noticed.

    by on July 23, 2005
    We've all been there.
     
    You come up with a great new company-wide recruiting initiative. Something that's going to bolster your employee referral program. An idea that's going to make your company employees spring to life and start referring individuals left and right. It's the very thing that going to reinforce the recruiting anthem, "always be recruiting."
     
    Problem is, no one in your company seems to know a thing about it.
     
    Navigating the choppy waters of communicating within your company culture can be mission impossible if you don't know three key things:
     
    1. How your employee population ...

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  • Does your company have blogging guidelines?

    by on July 17, 2005
    Ah blogging.
     
    We all love it, don't we? A forum where the exchange of great ideas, complaints, social commentary is alive. And then, we found the recruitment element in it, and we loved it all the more.
     
    Companies like Microsoft were the pioneers of blogging for purpose of recruitment. The image ?http://www.erexchange.com/PUBLIC/scripts/blank.gif? cannot be displayed, because it contains errors.Then, there came discussion regarding usability studies, to learn and perhaps optimize online readership to further develop and improve recruitment job boards and other online recruiting channels. (Yet another spin on our approach to passive candidates)
     
    Great creative thought. Great questions and great strategies are abounding. Technical and non-technical companies ...

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  • You are what you write...aren't you?

    by on July 14, 2005
    There's truth in advertising.
     
    *crickets*
     
    Ok...there CAN be truth in advertising. How much truth, depends on how honest you are prepared to be with your audience.
     
    I was speaking with one of my mentors in the recruitment marketing business last week (we call him: Bradvertising), and he referenced a brilliant line from an article that ran last year on ERE by Dave Lefkow. Literally, the point was - Branding is NOT putting lace on the pig.
     
    In recruitment marketing in particular, there is a heightened tendency to use standard fare catchphrases to differentiate yourself from your competitors. As the ...

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  • Before we tear apart that branding campaign...

    by on June 28, 2005
    In the business of recruitment, the goal is simple. Find the best talent available, as quickly and cost effectively as possible.
     
    Simple concept, right? Find talent, sell company, sell jobs, hire talent. My question is this:
     
    **How did such a simple concept become such a complicated practice?**
     
    Welcome to Recruitment Spin, a blog dedicated to the communication and branding related activities in our world of recruiting. In this blog, I'll be ranting  blogging about topics like the candidate experience, effectively branding in the recruitment marketplace and navigating company culture to drive recruiting results.
     
    One issue that can potentially wreak ...

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