Reaching Candidates Through Digital Innovation and Consumer Marketing Techniques

The information contained in this document is the proprietary and confidential information of TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, LLC and may not be used for any purpose other than evaluation and may not be disclosed to any third

party without the express consent of TMP Worldwide Advertising & Communications, LLC

Reaching Candidates

Through Digital

Innovation and Consumer

Marketing Techniques

Creating a connected culture to

stand out in a crowded market

[INSERT COMPANY NAME HERE]

TalentBrew by TMP Worldwide | Whitepaper Page 1

Contents Introduction ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Is Recruiting Ready? ............................................................................................................................ 3

Connecting With The Right Talent ...................................................................................................... 3

Content Creation Strategy: Interesting, Relevant And Engaging.................................................... 3

Start Your Organisation On A Path To Storytelling .......................................................................... 4

Creating A Successful Content Strategy ........................................................................................... 5

End The Procrastination ...................................................................................................................... 5

Know Your Candidate Audiences ....................................................................................................... 5

Think Integrated Content ..................................................................................................................... 5

Distribution Equally As Important As Destination ............................................................................ 6

Speak In An Authentic Voice ............................................................................................................... 6

Content Should Be Mobile Optimized ................................................................................................ 6

Search Engines Are Powerful Job Boards ........................................................................................ 6

It’s All In The Picture ............................................................................................................................ 6

Have Dedicated Resources ................................................................................................................. 6

Create A Measurement Culture ........................................................................................................... 7

Get Personal ......................................................................................................................................... 7

Adapting To The Future ....................................................................................................................... 7

About The Authors ............................................................................................................................... 8

About TMP Worldwide & TalentBrew™

............................................................................................... 9


Introduction

There was a time when individuals eagerly awaited the delivery of a leather-bound edition of the

encyclopedia. The thrill of immediate access to information across a multitude of subjects satisfied a

thirst for knowledge that’s just as familiar today – except we quench that thirst in seconds; able to

learn things we possibly didn’t know existed using a tablet, or other mobile device.

Research firm Strategy Analytics notes that there are more than one billion active smartphone users in

the world and that its use will increase exponentially. Mobile access to personal networks and an

abundance of information are changing how we interact and learn in the current business and

consumer environment. Savvy marketers are taking advantage of this and studying consumer

behaviour to better understand their customers and what influences the purchasing decision.

Recruiting can also benefit from this mindset: by understanding candidate behaviour, organisations

can implement and execute effective digital recruiting strategies to find talent and employees.

1 Strategy Analytics, Global Smartphone User Base Forecast by OS for 88 Countries: 2007-2017, December 2012 (http://www.strategyanalytics.com/default.aspx?mod=reportabstractviewer&a0=8047 retrieved 02/02/13)

Looking at social habits, consumer brands are gaining insight into customer preferences and adapting

strategies to personally connect with buyers on the technology they are using. Recruiting organisations

that take the same approach can strengthen employment brand recognition, reach passive and active

candidates and build talent pipelines.


Is Recruiting Ready?

Social media has moved from nascent to mainstream, yet recruiting organisations are not fully

leveraging digital innovation. Most organisations are posting jobs to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn,

but that on its own isn’t social engagement; it is just using different platforms for publicising open

positions. In many cases, it is because recruiting organisations either are unsure how to use new

technologies effectively or are fearful of exploring unfamiliar territory. Regardless of reason, the world

has changed, and recruiting strategies need to evolve with it. Coveted talent is no longer perusing the

Sunday classifieds or simply clicking on job boards to learn about companies and job vacancies.

Instead, they’re bombarded with information about people, processes and places, wherever they are,

using the device in their hand, making it increasingly challenging for organisations to differentiate and

stand out as an employer of choice.

Successful recruiters need to shift their mindset from thinking about recruiting from a publishing

perspective – posting job openings on a job board, career site or social network – to being marketers,

including having a content creation and search strategy that delivers a rich, immersive experience

candidates can experience on social channels and through search engines.

Connecting With The Right Talent

Recruiting is about connecting with people and uncovering talent with the right skills, background,

education and cultural fit to advance business objectives. Just as brands have become publishers to

add value to the customer relationship and build a loyal consumer base, successful recruiters can

employ the same approach, using content to educate, inform, entertain and connect with key

candidates and their personal networks.

Applying digital innovation to recruiting processes requires thinking about how consumers and

candidates are using technology to interact with information. It’s no longer possible to enforce tightly

controlled recruiting messages and a linear approach to publishing an advertisement and acquiring a

candidate. Today, it’s about cultivating and nurturing relationships through the exchange of relevant

content.

Individuals follow brands on social media because they get value from the relationship, whether that’s

targeted communication, offers or useful information delivered at the right pace or frequency. Super-

informed consumers are using social networks to learn about other’s experiences and find more

information about companies and jobs. Organisations need to adjust their strategy to adapt to

behaviours of the modern-day job seeker and leverage content and search to drive deeper, more

meaningful interactions. With social media as the primary way individuals gather information, share

experiences, and learn about companies they want to work for, recruiting needs to enter the

conversation.

Content Creation Strategy: Interesting, Relevant And Engaging

Moving to a more relationship-centric mindset and putting a content creation and search engine

strategy in place can be the core of an effective recruitment strategy and create connections with key

talent. Creating, moderating and distributing high-quality content is necessary to reach today’s job


seeker, but it requires different skills than traditional recruiting.

To stand out in a crowded employment market, content must be interesting, relevant and engaging.

However, for recruiting to satisfy this prerequisite, it requires new and evolving skills. Marketing and

HR should be partners in the recruiting function to craft and deliver compelling messages to

candidates. The challenges for modern HR departments are having the right expertise and the

adventurous or experimental courage to traverse new territory. Social representatives inside HR tend

to be younger members of the workforce or individuals who may not have an experienced marketing

background. While they may know how to use social and mobile tools and be active on emerging social

channels, they might not possess the experience in setting strategic direction and incorporating new

tools. Even those forward-thinking organisations that have social titles in the HR department may not

be closely integrated with or connected to the marketing department. This is a missed opportunity

because social media reaches across all disciplines and requires a more cross-functional approach.

Marketing departments already understand how to attract consumers to brands. They are experts in

designing appropriate messages for a targeted audience. Working in partnership, recruiting

organisations can use social channels and marketing messages to share relevant information and

cultivate a more engaged following. As recruiting organisations compete to reach passive and active

candidates, they need to put budget toward the digital space, including content creation and search

strategy, and think more like a consumer marketer.

Start Your Organisation On A Path To Storytelling

Driving conversations around recruitment messages can increase transparency and help answer

questions such as “What is the culture like?”, “How will I contribute?” and “Who are my colleagues?”

With individuals seeking to satiate their quest for information prior to ever sharpening a CV or LinkedIn

profile, companies should consider how the audience thinks and adjust their strategies to reflect user

expectations.

For example, research from the Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) shows that

individuals value meaningful work, good relationships with co-workers and contributing to business

success.2 How can organisations use social platforms to communicate what they bring to the

employment relationship in an authentic manner? One way is to activate the internal workforce to serve

as brand ambassadors and showcase top talent. Highlighting talent inside the organisation helps to

attract individuals with similar or complementary skills, background and experience.

2 Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), 2012 Employee Job Satisfaction and Engagement, October 2012(http://www.shrm.org/legalissues/stateandlocalresources/stateandlocalstatutesandregulations/documents/12-0537%202012_jobsatisfaction_fnl_online.pdf retrieved 2/5/13)

Engaging the workforce increases authenticity and transparency and leads to a culture of storytelling.

After all, who better to know your organisation’s culture, mission and goals than the people who

already work for and interact with your organisation? When done properly, creating a culture of

storytelling does more than enhance recruiting value. It fosters collaboration in the enterprise and

builds a strong, connected workforce.


Creating A Successful Content Strategy

Creating A Successful Content Strategy

A successful content strategy requires commitment and support from the executive team and

company-wide participation. A recent study by the Content Marketing Institute revealed that 64 percent

of B2B content marketers said they struggle with content production.3 Organisations need not only

sufficient resources to produce a high volume of content, but also multiple touch points that engage

the customer.

3 Content Marketing Institute, B2B Content Marketing: 2013 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends in North America, October 2012 (http://www.slideshare.net/CMI/b2b-content-marketing-2013-benchmarks-budgets-and-trendsnorth-america-14855770/1 retrieved 02/04/13)

A fundamental part of the strategy encompasses understanding the target audience and the goal the

organisation is seeking to achieve. Is it to raise awareness of job opportunities? Identify candidates to

fill a job vacancy? Encourage individuals to join a talent community? Whatever the objective, getting it

right requires publishing content, measuring the engagement, and refining the narrative point of view

from which to approach the audience.

End The Procrastination

Fear of change is not a good motivator for advancing business goals. Neither is doing things because

that’s how they have always been done or pointing out roadblocks in other areas of your company for

an inability to implement a social strategy. Senior leadership needs to support the social strategy and

recognise that innovation comes from moving forward. Craft a business case or find someone you can

help to build one.

Know Your Candidate Audiences

Uncover information about your audience, including their interests, preferences and other

demographics and use it to understand what they read, where they socialise and where there are

opportunities to reach them.

Think Integrated Content

Mobile, social and video aren’t stand-alone platforms but should be leveraged in a way that delivers a

consistent and memorable experience. For example, during the Grand Prix, if Lewis Hamilton was

wearing a new brand of race boots and won the championship , the organisation could create a

connected story by talking about the team who worked on the shoe design, distribution or marketing

strategy. This can help organisations use topical content to tell the stories behind their brand and at

the same time demonstrate why they are a great place to work.


Distribution Equally As Important As Destination

The best ROI on content strategy happens when content appears where users are interacting, not only

where you want to drive them. While the career site still has a major role, brand messages need to be

found in everyday interactions and in places outside the traditional recruiting message arena. Tweak,

test and experiment to determine what works and how to replicate success.

Speak In An Authentic Voice

Of course the CEO and company career site will tout how the organisation is a great place to work.

However, believability happens when that message is permeated on social interactions from

employees, customers, vendors and other individuals. Engaging the workforce can contribute to more

authentic, sharable messages.

Content Should Be Mobile Optimized

There is a world of difference between content that is mobile friendly – easily manipulated with pinch

and zoom – and that which is mobile optimised – designed to deliver quality, easily accessible content.

Successful recruiting requires content and experiences that are not only available on mobile devices,

but that are designed for mobile viewing and interaction.

Search Engines Are Powerful Job Boards

Each month, more than 338 million people use Google and other search engines to look for job-related

content. 76 percent of job seekers are using mobile devices to search, and more than half of all

Internet users have Google as their home page, making Google, by default, the world’s largest job

board. With search as the largest source for job content, organisations need to have a strategy for

optimising job descriptions and consider how they want to be found and what information is important

to convey. Shorter job descriptions perform better, so keep longer-form content for blog posts or video

messages.

It’s All In The Picture

Including photo and video content can improve indexing results and offer candidates more visually

stimulating communication. It also can respond to how consumers behave – searching by image or

voice are new ways consumers are creating queries. Videos should be appropriate length for mobile

consumption, and content should be designed to work for the lowest functioning mobile device – not

just the smartphone user.

Have Dedicated Resources

Whether it’s an internal team or external partner, have the resources that can produce and promote

timely content. Candidates won’t return to your social destinations or talk about your company if they


find the same content that was there the last time they visited. Adhere to a regular posting schedule

and commit to sharing engaging, interesting and relevant content.

Create A Measurement Culture

Put metrics in place to validate that your content is reaching people, resonating and that they’re

engaging with it. The right messaging should get candidates to do something, whether that is clicking a

link, sharing a job, retweeting an article or joining the talent community.

Get Personal

As digital innovation progresses, the career site of the future will be more personalised, targeted and

experiential. Job seekers at different points along the career continuum have different information

needs and interests. For example, a younger worker may care more about the culture and colleagues,

where a more seasoned professional might be interested in company benefits and stock performance.

Ensure messages are tailored to a candidate’s interest.

Adapting To The Future

With increasing capability for candidates to apply via social sites or from their mobile device, the career

site is evolving into a destination that is experienced during a journey through content and connections.

As digital capabilities mature, organisations have the ability to deliver an explicitly personal career site

experience using candidate behaviour insights captured from all of their interactions with you.

Effectively reaching passive and active candidates requires more personalised, relevant, and targeted

content using the technology consumers are using every day. For candidates making a decision, they

want to hear from current and former employees on the work environment and experience. Promoting

organisational messages by tapping into the social network can help organisations use their best asset

– their people – to contribute their stories and share them with their network and beyond.

Competition for talent is intense, but organisations have the opportunity to stand out in a crowded

market, engage candidates and develop relationships with the right talent through effective use of

social and mobile platforms. A connected culture is the future. Organisations that eliminate barriers to

the social strategy and think like a marketer can deliver meaningful messages that strengthen the

employment brand, build the talent network and create pipelines to meet future talent needs.


About The Authors

Anthony Andre

Senior Vice President Social Media Strategy

Mr. Andre has been with the agency for over 23 years. His tenure within the company has given him

exposure to many facets of the business. In his current role, Anthony is responsible for the

development, promotion, and delivery of the agency’s strategic social media services line. By

coordinating social media channel managers and implementation specialists,digital strategists,

creative geniuses, web development pros, media and analytics experts, and product development

teams, he ensures cross discipline integration and consistency.

Anthony has worked with many of the agency’s leading global customers on employer brand and

interactive solutions, including HP, General Electric, Accenture, UBS, and Areva.

Steven Z. Ehrlich

Global Vice President, Client Development

Mr. Ehrlich has spent the past 18 years as a complete “tech geek.” As an early adopter of everything

from the Apple Newton and the compact disc to satellite radio and the iPhone, he has focused on the

use of emerging tools and technologies to enhance brand articulation and recruitment for a multitude

of organisations, including Walmart, Disney, Schering-Plough, and Enterprise Rent-A-Car.

Mr. Ehrlich is constantly on the move, both in the office and out, working with the agency and clients to

explore, develop, and implement strategic initiatives leveraging social media, new technology, and

innovative employer brand delivery channels. He is one of the agency’s thought leaders and is often

found in front of a crowd, yakking away about some new socially-enabled tool. He has been a featured

speaker at a variety of events, including the Conference Board Employer Brand Conference, NACE, and

the Social Media Summit.

A frequent featured speaker at events around the country, some of his recent engagements include the

Conference Board’s Annual Diversity Conference, the Conference Board’s Extending Your Brand to

Employees Conference, the NACE National Conference, the Students in Free Enterprise CCN event,

Lehman Brothers’ WILLPower, The Social Media Summit, and the Campus Recruiting Forum.

Todd Maycunich

Vice President, Product Innovation

As Vice President, Product Innovation Todd co-manages the agency ‘Labs’ -- an internal design and

innovation think tank comprised of a diverse group of the agency’s most innovative thinkers and

rounded out with a dedicated innovation development team designed to help bring ideas from Labs to

our clients to help them innovate within and grow their organisation.

Prior to that Todd oversaw the Media and Analytics teams, helping to ensure our clients were reaching

candidates effectively and efficiently and that we were measuring their results comprehensively,

making the data actionable and the digital media strategy informed.

Todd started his career with TMP in July of 2006 as the Campaign Management Product Manager,

responsible for product development, marketing, and vendor relationships. Additional responsibilities

included developing cross-product integration strategies, as well as helping to define the overall

product roadmap.

In 2007, Todd took on the role of Director of Platform Development, overseeing the development and

deployment of TMP’s new Pathways platform – an innovative distribution and marketing vehicle for

jobs, active and passive candidate mining, and employer brand.


Prior to working with the agency, Todd spent six years with Aon Corporation, leading various roles

including, database management, email marketing, search engine marketing, and most recently as a

web designer/developer having built and maintained 20 production websites.

About TMP Worldwide & TalentBrew™

TMP Worldwide is a global, tech-enabled recruitment communications agency that leverages software,

advertising and creativity to develop and deploy our clients’ employer brands across digital, social and

mobile platforms to connect candidates with employers.

This strategic mix of our talent and technology allows us to serve a global client base that spans

virtually all sectors of private, public, and government employers, and positions us as the organization

to define the standard of measurable and cost-effective solutions to the human capital management

community.

TMP is the owner of TalentBrew™– a job distribution and search engine optimisation tool that works

together with an organisation’s ATS to create a consistent, measurable and easily navigable candidate

experience. The software offering is underpinned and supported with agency thought leadership,

strategy and creative execution.

Business

Reaching Candidates Through Digital Innovation and Consumer Marketing Techniques