Ramping Up Interactive Strategies
May 1st, 2007 by adminby Shannon Seery Gude, Margie Kasse, and Kate Christmas
Interactive Expansion
Interactive recruitment strategies are booming, changing and continuing to diversify. And the web is getting more and more crowded with competition. Therefore, it is more important than ever to target efforts to make your organization stand out.
Employers must leverage this technology boom to their advantage, and to position themselves as digitally savvy. To do so, consider redefining hiring parameters - such a when the recruitment process begins and when it ends. Also, create opportunities for candidates to interact and engage with them from the time interest is expressed through onboarding.
Millennial Generation Fueling Changes
WetFeet’s 2006 State of the Student Recruiting Report stated that, the job market is now the most competitive it has been since the peak of the dot-com market in 1999-2001.
Spherion’s Emerging Workforce Study reported that younger workers are focusing on their own professional goals. As has been said before about Generations X and Y, they are less interested in remaining with a company for years than they are in promoting their own professional growth and development. They are increasingly in a “digital state of mind.”
The Generation Y Millennial generation is a new phenomenon. They are the first generation raised with the Internet, instant messaging, cell phones, iPods, e-mail, and social networking. They come to the business world from four out of five colleges that offered wireless networks. Technology is second nature to them and enables their multitasking work style. They effortlessly use technology to work and maintain relationships.
Beyond Postings to Participatory Formats
Any company recruiting today knows how much online activity has increased in the past decade. The Internet has gone from a medium where a few jobs could be posted to a rich tapestry that offers a range of interactive recruitment options ranging from banners that allow a job seeker to apply within the banner and never leave the page they are browsing, to online virtual job fairs and sites for blogging about work related topics. Job seekers can gather an amazing amount of information about a potential employer online before deciding to apply for a position. A study reported by Recruitersnetwork showed that 51% of hires were culled from an Internet source.
The average time a typical college student spends online has nearly quadrupled in the past eight years. And even older Boomers are increasingly comfortable online and use the Internet for research and networking. According to Weboptimization.com, 75% of households are currently connected to the Web, and in households with at least $100K income, it jumps to 92%. Demographics of adult Internet users? Total Adults 70% (Women 69% — Men 71%); Age 18-29 (83%) – Age 30-49 (82%) – Age 50-64 (70%) Age 65+ (33%).
And according to a national independent study by Nursing Spectrum – 60.4% of RNs check email daily; 77.9% of RNs check email weekly; only 9% rarely or never access the Internet and 75.4% of RNs access the Internet from home.
The corporate website has taken on mounting importance, according to the WetFeet survey, and is utilized heavily by job seekers to find details not just about positions, but about your corporate culture and company information. An astonishing 97% of candidates use corporate sites during job hunting, and 43% state that website content influences their interest in working for an organization. If your company website is sub par in showcasing your culture and work environment, the perception may be that your workplace is also below average.
Corporate Sites are Key
With this in mind, employers need to re-think the corporate site and see it through the eyes of job seekers. For example, how easy is it for generational groups to find benefits that are of the most interest to them when surfing your site? Are there video testimonials onsite from current employees that will help potential candidates see themselves in your work environment, or do you expect those with interest to read through volumes of copy? Are their welcoming videos or messaging from your top executives outline your company’s mission and vision?
How user friendly is your search engine? Are your jobs searchable online? Do you post generic job descriptions on your site, or generate enthusiasm about each unique position, unit or department? When you look at your own site, ask yourself what is there that would make you stand out in a positive way from other potential health care employers. Since most recruitment marketing materials drive candidates to your site, make it worth coming to.
Outside of the basics, do you offer sections or pages for special audiences? For example, savvy employers provide new employees access to password-protected sites that get onboarding started before orientation even takes place. Current employees can garner access to Employee Referral and internal mobility pages. And increasingly, employers are offering alumni sites where former employees can keep in touch, refer friends and stay abreast of growth and changes within the company.
Winning Web logs
In addition to the corporate website, do you employ tools like blogs to spread the word and engage dialogue? It can be a vital source to potential job seekers, and a way of extending your brand in a dynamic and truly participative medium. A Web log, or blog, is an interactive web site created with easy-to-publish software that contains posts written in a conversational but authoritative tone.
Blogging platforms allow readers to easily post their comments - encouraging customers and prospects to engage in a real dialogue with you.
There has been a boom among web users to create and publish web content – such as blog posts and comments. In 2002 there were approximately 13,000 blogs online; in 2005 – 20 million blogs. Today there are 55 million blogs online. This has gone far beyond mere fad status.
Having a blog does not mean starting a virtual free for all. There are ways to monitor what is posted, and to put guidelines in place to keep things civil. Comments can be held, and made live after an approval process. Such guidelines may include ideas such as no divulging of confidential information, being respectful of all participants, and not allowing angry posts or foul language.
Many employers fear negative information being broadcast through blogs, but the truth is that the ‘word on the street’ contains the same things that might end up being discussed in a blog. The difference between street gossip and a blog site is that the employer can have the last word on their blog.
Because they are so easy to publish, blogs allow people within companies to instantly become part of an ongoing conversation and communicate in real time with job seekers, top talent and current employees.
As opposed to relatively static web sites, blogs are frequently updated, sometimes daily, with fresh, relevant content – directly resulting in higher search engine rankings on Google and Yahoo.
A well-maintained blog provides job seekers and prospects an authentic view of your company and can influence market perception of the company. Blogs introduce a level of transparency and authenticity, while also becoming part of the online conversation.
Blog or Be Blogged – Participating and initiating conversations in the blogosphere gives an employer a tool to help control, influence and shape what is being said about them and how they are perceived on the web.
There are currently more than 180 recruitment-focused blogs.
Beyond the Blogs
Other means of interactive media are also booming, such as social networks, podcasts, webcasts and even consumer produced audio and video content as seen on YouTube and solicited by traditional media outlets such as CNN. The age of the connected consumer has created an age where information is shared at blinding speed, 24/7/365.
Google purchased the video-sharing site, YouTube, for $1.6 billion on October 8, 2006. According to the New York Post, YouTube is showing approximately 100 million videos per day.
Corporations are trying to get the attention of job candidates by producing short, hip, humorous videos that, deliberately or not, are showing up on YouTube.
Pod and webcasts of everything from local news to current novels are in vogue, with topics to interest every age group.
And although social networking sites such as MySpace or Facebook have not been used extensively for recruitment purposes, they can be used in the same way that employers use resume databases. Profile searches can be run for specific keywords, categories, and locations. Employers can run keyword searches and such as ‘accounting major’ and ‘Florida’ or ‘nursing student’ and ‘Miami’ to find specific candidates.
It is not surprising that some employers such as the U.S. Army and Marines and Ernst and Young have profile pages on these sites, with banners and focused profiles to connect with their target demographic audiences.
Controversially, content of these personal sites have checked as references by employing companies. Qualified candidates have been rejected because of their profile content. A small number of employers have terminated employees because of profile content online. The line between personal time and what influences work character becomes blurred. Needs clarification-maybe in different section.
See For Yourself
Want to learn more? Shannon Seery Gude VP of Bernard Hodes Group is an avid blogger and you can visit her interactive recruitment marketing blog at www.exceler8ion.com
Think about how effective increasing interactive strategies can be for your organization, create compelling participatory content. It is safe to say that private label social networking communities will help to define and build employment brands in the future. Technologies and strategies that enable conversation and collaboration will be the foundation of career web sites. Increasing use of the Internet will create a demand for interactive and participatory content. Employers who leverage these strategies to their advantage will position themselves well to passive candidates, current, potential and former employees.
To contact a Hodes Health Care team member, call us at 800-582-4668 or email us at healthcare@hodes.com