How to attract job seekers with corporate communication

SPOTLIGHT: KW DIGITAL CAREER SURVEY 2014

KW Digital’s guide to

ATTRACTING JOB SEEKERS

2 3SPOTLIGHT: KW DIGITAL CAREER SURVEY 2014 SPOTLIGHT: KW DIGITAL CAREER SURVEY 2014

Content

Executive summary ..................................................................................3

Meet your online job seekers .....................................................................4

The Idealist – Student ......................................................................... 6

The Careerist – Employee ................................................................... 10

The Realist – Senior employee ............................................................ 14

6 tips to make your career content more engaging ...................................... 18

Checklist: And don’t forget ...................................................................... 34

Methodology ........................................................................................ 36

About KW Digital ..................................................................................... 37 We asked students and employees how they use social media and corporate websites when looking for a job and what type of content they are interested in. 164 people aged 18-55 from 20 countries in Europe participated in the career survey. Based on the findings from the survey here are our tips on how you can create engaging online career content. But first, an introduction to your typical three job seekers.

KW Digital Career survey 2014


MEET YOUR ONLINE JOB SEEKERSThere are three types of job seekers who will typically visit your corporate website and social networks:

The Idealist Student

The Careerist Employee

The Realist Senior employee


What is the most important information for you when looking for a job?I think that information about the corporate culture and values is the most important one. I also want to know where the company is located.

How did you find your latest job?I used my personal and professional networks and found information on the corporate website and on Facebook to find out about this job and decided to apply for it.

In what channels do you keep yourself updated about job vacancies?I mostly use the corporate website, Facebook and LinkedIn

And to find information about the company and its career opportunities?Then I visit the corporate website, Wikipedia and Facebook.

How would you like to apply for a job?I would like to be able to email my application to a contact person or fill in a general job inquiry form, on the corporate website.

An idealist who wants to understand a company’s values before committing. Trusts their personal and professional contacts above all, and uses Facebook to find jobs. Browses Wikipedia to get general information about a company and scrutinises the corporate website for job openings, career and sustainability details.

The Idealist

Student

DANIEL SANTOS 23 YEARS OLDSTUDENTBACHELOR’S DEGREEEUROPEANACTIVELY LOOKING FOR A JOB

“I and other students

typically look for information

about diversity and equal

opportunities, corporate

responsibility and work

environment”.

Requested content that is unique for students


Work environment/

working conditions

Policy on diversity and equal

opportunities

CR information

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

90%

80% 80%

Personal/professional network

Corporate websites 48%

Career days 22%

Facebook/LinkedIn 22%

Career focused websites (e.g. Monster) 19%

Governmental job centres 19%

Newsletters and job feeds 15%

Headhunters 7%

Newspapers and magazines 7%

Apps 7%

Google+ 4%

52% Corporate culture and values

Competence development 90%

Corporate responsibility and sustainability 90%

Geographical locations 85%

Company introduction specifically for job seekers 80%

The company's policy on diversity and equal opportunities 80%

Work environment / working conditions (e.g. type of work place, air quality, ergonomic seating, noise) 80%

Contact information for questions about specific vacancies 75%

Employee strategy (e.g. visions and goals concerning employees) 75%

95%

Content unique for students to require

How students found their latest job Most requested content among students

This graph shows the percentage of the students that rated this informa-tion 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important. This content is unique for students to find important.

This graph shows the percentage of the students that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

Apply by email to a contact

Uppload their CV to corporate website 70%

Send a general application using a general 65%jobs enquiry form on the corporate website

Fill in a form on the corporate website 55%

Through a recruitment agency 42%

Via Linkedin using LinkedIn Profile 30%

90%

How students would like to apply for a job

This graph shows the percentage of the students that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

This graph shows the percentage of respondents that found it very important to apply for a job each way. They rated 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

The Idealist – Student


The Careerist

Employee

PETER HOWLET32 YEARS OLDEMPLOYEEMASTER’S DEGREEEUROPEANHAS WORKED 5 YEARSIS KEEPING HIS EYES OPEN FOR NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES

What content do young employees typically look for?We look for information about promotion, compensations and benefits as well as the company’s expectations on future employees.

What is the most important information for you when looking for a job?I want to find information about corporate culture and values, the employee strategy and geographical location of the company.

How did you find your latest job?I used my personal and professional networks and found information on the corporate website and LinkedIn to find out about this job and decided to apply for it.

In what channels do you keep yourself updated about job vacancies?I mostly use the corporate website, LinkedIn and Facebook.

And to find information about the company and career opportunities there?Then I go to the corporate website, Wikipedia and LinkedIn.

How would you like to apply for a job?I would like to be able to email my application to a contact person.

The careerist is on the rise, hungry to climb the ranks in a company with a solid employee strategy and generous compensation package. Attractive office location is a must. The personal network can be trusted, but not Facebook. He got his latest job through LinkedIn.

“I found my latest job through

the corporate website and

LinkedIn. My personal and

professional contacts are my

most reliable sources.”

Requested content that is unique for young employees.

$€


Compensationand benefit

system

Company expectations

on future employees

Promotionopportunities

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

80%

73%78%


Corporate websites 24%


LinkedIn 22%

Headhunters 18%

Facebook 16%




Apps 6%

Blogs or forums 6%

Twitter 6%

Career days 2%

Google+ 2%

55%

90%Apply by email to a contact

Upload their CV to corporate website 70%

Send a general application using a general 65% jobs enquiry form on the corporate website

Fill in a form on the corporate website 55%

Through a recruitment agency 42%

Via Linkedin using LinkedIn Profile 30%

Geographical locations

Promotion opportunities 80%

Compensation and benefit system 78%

Company expectations on future employees 73%

Employee strategy (e.g. visions and goals concerning employees) 73%

Corporate culture and values 73%

Competence development 72%

Corporate responsibility and sustainability 68%


Trainee/graduate programs 65%

86%

Content that young employees typically look for.

How employees found their latest job

How employees would like to apply for a job

Most requested content among employees

This graph shows the percentage of the employee that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important. The content is unique for employees to find important.

This graph shows the percentage of the employees within the research that used each source to find their latest job.

This graph shows the percentage of the employees that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

This graph shows the percentage of the employees that found it very important to be apply for a job each way. They rated 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

The Careerist – Employee


The Realist

Senior employee

ANNA SVENSSON45 YEARS OLDBACHELOR’S DEGREESELF-EMPLOYEDHAS WORKED MORE THAN 20 YEARSIS KEEPING HER EYES OPEN FOR NEW JOB OPPORTUNITIES

Which content do senior employees typically look for?For senior employees it is important to find out about the company such as information as company at a glance, financial results, business strategy, ownership and HR details.

What is the most important information for you when looking for a job?I want to find contact details about specific job vacancies, information about career days and what the company expects from their future employees.

How did you find your latest job?I used my personal and professional networks and find head hunters very important. I also use the corporate website.

In what channels do you keep yourself updated about job vacancies?I mostly use the corporate website, LinkedIn and Twitter.

And to find information about the company and career opportunities there?Then I go to the corporate website, Wikipedia and LinkedIn.

How would you like to apply for a job?I would like to be able to email my application to a contact person or upload my CV on the corporate website to apply for a specific job.

Stability and security is the Alpha and Omega for the senior employee who seeks a firm business strategy, strong financial figures and sound ownership in a potential employer. The solidity seeker got her latest job through a head hunter or a job vacancy posted on LinkedIn. If she search for a job on a corporate website, it’s important for her to be able to contact someone directly in HR to ask questions about the job.

“I found my latest job through

my personal and professional

contacts and head hunters.

I trust my contacts,

corporate websites and

LinkedIn the most.”

Requested content that is unique to senior employees


OwnershipDetails toa personalHR contact

Overall businessstrategy

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%The

companyat a glance

Financialresults in

brief

58% 58%58 58%

40%

68%


Headhunters 31%

Corporate websites 23% 48%

LinkedIn 23%


Blogs or forums 15%




Facebook, Apps, Twitter 0% Career days, Google+

62%

Apply by email to a contact Upload their CV to corporate website 75%Through a recruitment agency 50%

Via Linkedin using LinkedIn Profile 33%Fill in a form on the corporate website 33%

Send a general application using a general 25%jobs enquiry form on the corporate website

83%

Content unique to senior employees to require

How senior employees found their latest job

How senior employees would like to apply for a job

This graph shows the percentage of the senior employee that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important. The content is unique for senior employees to find important.

This graph shows the percentage of the senior employees within the research that used each source to find their latest job.

This graph shows the percentage of the senior employees that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

This graph shows the percentage of the senior employees that found it very important to be apply for a job each way. They rated 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

Contact information for questions about specific vacancies

The company at a glance

Calendar with "career days" or similar events 60%

Company expectations on future employees 58%

Details to a personal HR contact 58%

Overall business strategy 58%

Financial results in brief 58%


Key figures i.e. number of employees, employee turnover and diversity 46%

Compensation and benefit system 42%

67%

Most requested content among senior employees

The Realist – Senior employee


TIPS TO MAKE YOUR CAREER CONTENT MORE ENGAGING

6


They want to feel what it’s like to actually work there, and this emotion can create a positive, powerful connection between you and your potential employees.

Let your employees talkTwo out of three respondents to the career survey find short videos and text interviews with people working within the company important on a corporate website. Senior employees are most keen on seeing employees talk about their work environment.

Tip: Empower the people in your organization and let them show and tell through video interviews what their role consists of, what a typical day at work looks like, how they create value at work, their competence development and aspirations. The more interaction with the viewer you can create, the higher the level of engagement. And if your job seekers can identify with your employees, their emotional bond to your brand will grow.

1. Show your story –

convey a feeling

Say it with a pictureThree out of four students and job seekers find pictures of people and working surroundings important on corporate websites. Among the career survey respondents, employees are the most evoked by pictures, senior employees the least.

Tip: The brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. Add pictures of your employees, offices, factories and events to your corporate website, Flickr account and social media feeds, such as LinkedIn and Facebook.

Remember that your employees are your most important ambassadors to communicate externally. Let them take images from their work place and publish them on your company’s Instagram channel. You could for instance let one staff member per week be respon-sible for your Instagram account to show what their everyday at work looks like. See how the Swedish companies LKAB and Axfood have done this: @LKABtrainee and @axfood_official #jobbapåaxfood on Instagram.

Your brand is also your story More than 50% of the career respondents think it is important to find videos about the company or employer on the corporate website. Students are the ones who are the most interested in corporate videos.

Tip: Produce a corporate film based on your brand. Make it relevant and interesting. And make your viewers care.

% that believe it’s very important to have PICTURES of people and working environment.

25%

35%

46%

% that believe

it’s very important

to have TEXT

interviews

of people working within the

company

48%

45%

33%

% that believe it’s very important to have VIDEO interviews of people

working within the company

40% 36% 20%

Stories matter in life and when seeking a job. Your potential employees want to see and hear your staff talk about their workplace.


Can you boast about having brilliant ways for your employees to develop their competence? That is the most requested information among all respondents.

Or do you have creative colourful workspaces in attractive areas? Finding information about a company’s geographical location is the second most important content on a corporate website according to survey respondents. So why not take the opportunity to show off how your unique office space or smart location induces positive benefits to your employees. If you also can reflect your company’s culture you’re off to a good start. Make sure to mix text and rich media.

2. Say it right

Try to see the world from your job seekers’ viewpoint. What does he or she want to know about your company? Which information is relevant, engaging and interesting to him or her? Does your content inspire, entertain or give something to talk about?

This graph shows the percentage of the respondents that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least important and five most important.

77%74%

74%

70%

70%

69%

68%

66%

66%

66%

Competence development

Geographical locations

Corporate culture and values

Compensation and benefit system

Employee strategy (e.g. visions and goals concerning employees)

Corporate responsibility and sustainability

Contact information for questions about specific vacancies

The company's policy on diversity and equal opportunities

Company expectations on future employees

Company introduction specifically for job seekers

The most important content


The survey shows that the corporate website and Wikipedia are the channels the respondents use the most to find company and career information.

The corporate website and Wikipedia matter mostThe corporate website is by far survey respondents’ first and foremost channel. They use it to find job vacancies, general company information as well as details about a company’s financial situation, sustainability and career.

Among the social media channels, Wikipedia is used to find corporate facts, while LinkedIn is the favourite when looking for jobs and career related information.

Corporate website is the most important source for general company informationAs many as 93% of the respondents visit corporate websites to find general company information. When it comes to social media, students use Wikipedia and Facebook to a higher extent than employees and senior employees to find such information. Senior employees favour LinkedIn and Twitter.

3. Hang out where your

target groups hang out

Today there is an explosion of content, we have a limited amount of time and work-life balance is becoming increasingly complicated. To reach out through this noise and pull your readers in, hang out in the same channels as your job seekers and give them the information they want.

Channels used when searching for general company information and information about career opportunities, financial figures and CR.

Average of all97%

54%54%

28%

15% 16%

Student

Employee

Senior Emp.70%

WEBSITE

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

Percentage of all respondents that use each channel for such information.


Today, as many as 80% of the respondents strategically scroll through their favourite social media accounts to scout for an open position or to find information about potential employers. LinkedIn is the most important channel for both students, employees and senior employees.

4. Know their favourite

channels for career

information and

job vacancies

LinkedIn is the network of choice for when searching for information about companies in social media. Facebook, Wikipedia and YouTube are also popular channels. After LinkedIn, Facebook is students’ favourite network for viable job opportunities.

Average of all

Student

Employee

Senior Emp.

87%

56%

16%

12%9%

WEBSITE

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Channels used when searching for information about career opportunities or job vacancies

Percentage of respondents that use each channel for such information.


LinkedIn is used to find jobsFour out of five use the corporate website and half of the respondents use LinkedIn to search for job vacancies. Students visit the corporate website and tap into Facebook more than employees and senior employees. Seniors search more for jobs on LinkedIn. Interestingly, as many as 40% of those using social media to find a job, wish companies used LinkedIn more to publish job vacancies.

Career informationOnce again, the corporate website is the most obvious place for students when looking for career information, such as promotion opportunities, HR contact details, compensation, work environment and diversity. Employees use LinkedIn more than students and senior employees.

All 80% 41% 16% 7% 5% 5%

100% 32% 28% 4% 0% 0%

76% 43% 13% 6% 6% 6%

79% 36% 7% 7% 14% 14%

80%

Student

Employee

Senior Emp.

70%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

WEBSITE

All 81% 46% 15% 8% 5%

96% 24% 32% 4% 8%

77% 38% 9% 6% 6%

79% 50% 0% 14% 7%

81%

Student

Employee

Senior Emp.

70%

100%

80%

60%

40%

20%

0%

WEBSITE

Percentage of respondents that use each channel to find job vacancies. Percentage of respondents that use each channel to find career information


Students, employees and senior employees all trust their personal and profes-sional network to 100%. More than 90% of the students and employees trust both corporate websites and LinkedIn. 85% of senior employees on the other hand trust LinkedIn, whereas 31% find it very trustworthy.

Students trust Facebook to a higher degree (78%), senior employees to a lower (54%). Yet neither of them rely on Facebook very much.

5. Manage your trust

Humans are a trusting creature and rely heavily on people they know and who are in their network. They also lend a high level of trust to corporate websites and online social networks. However, there is a big difference between trusting a social network and trusting it a lot.

The most trustworthy sources

CORPORATEWEBSITE

PERSONAL/PROFESSIONAL

CONTACTS89%

69%

57%

28%

0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100%

Average of all

Student

Employee

Senior Emp.

This graph shows the percentage of the respondents that rated this information 4-5 on a scale from 1-5 where one is least trustworthy and five most trustworthy.


People look at LinkedIn66% think LinkedIn is a very important social network for finding information about companies. It is the most preferred channel for finding career information.

They trust itLinkedIn is the most trusted social media channel and is regarded as being just as reliable as corporate websites.

They use it to find jobs56% use LinkedIn to find job vacancies and to stay up to date with companies’ career information.

And wish you would use it more40% wish that companies would use LinkedIn more to post jobs.

And to check out your employee profiles25% check out the LinkedIn profiles of company employees before applying for a job. Why not give a helping hand to your employees so they can perfect their online profiles?

LinkedIn groups19% use LinkedIn groups to receive information about a company.

6. Look over your

LinkedIn strategy

Look over your LinkedIn strategy

look atLinkedIn

use it to find jobs

wish that companies would use LinkedIn more to post jobs

check out the LinkedIn profiles of company employees before applying for a job

use LinkedIn groups to receive information about a company

66%

56%

25%

19%

40%

Other tips:• Create a career tab on your company page on LinkedIn to interact with active

job seekers. (LinkedIn charges for this)• Ask your employees to contribute with a quote on your company page with a link

to their profiles. See how Skanska 1) have done this.• List important people within your company that your stakeholders may be

interested in following.• Create groups about topics related to your line of business that LinkedIn users

can join to discuss with other users or people from your company. (Free)

1) www.linkedin.com/company/skanska/careers


Make your corporate website engagingThe corporate website is an important channel when searching for a job. Make sure you have the information that your target groups want. Make it engaging and to the point.

Why should job seekers choose you?Look over your employer value proposition. Why should potential employees choose you as an employer? What do you offer? How do you work with your people policies, training programs and programs to encourage employee growth and competence development, rewards and recognition and community service? How does your corporate culture and employee strategy attract, retain and engage the right people? These are some of the most important pieces of content that potential employees look for on corporate websites.

Encourage your employees to network online Most people go to their friends and business contacts when looking for a job. Your employees are your most important ambassadors to communi-cate externally. Encourage them to be visible in social media. You could for instance help them create an updated LinkedIn profile or coach them to blog/tweet about their work expertise or publish images from their workplace on your company’s Instagram or Pinterest accounts.

LinkedIn LinkedIn LinkedInLinkedIn is the most important social media channel when searching for information about companies.

Checklist: And don’t forget

Join in on Career days84% think it’s important that your calendar shows career days and similar events.

Invest in navigation and good looksMore than 90% think it’s important that a website is easy to navigate and that it is appealing; they want to find brief as well as thorough information.

Add interactive features to your website70% think it’s important that a corporate website has interactive features such as testimonials, see RSA’s 1) personal face-to-face encoun-ter as an example, or vacancy lists that can be sorted by location or posi-tion, see for example Valeo’s 2) vacancy list.

Be open about your sustainability70% of the survey respondents, and as much as 84% of the students, turn to the corporate website to find information about sustainability. One out of five go to Wikipedia.

Make it easy for people to apply by email to a contact personApplying to a person by email is the most preferred way of applying for a job. People looking for a job also think it’s important to be able to upload their CV on the corporate website in order to submit a job applications. 75% of the students want to be able to submit a general application.

1) www.rsagroup.com/rsagroup/en/careers/meet-our-team2) www.valeo.com/en/candidates/our-job-offers/

36 SPOTLIGHT: KW DIGITAL CAREER SURVEY 2014 37KW DIGITAL CAREERS SURVEY 2014

ABOUT KW DIGITALKW Digital is a digital corporate communications agency that helps companies make better use of digital channels in their corporate communications. We provide strategic advice and implementation based on our research and experience. KW Digital has more than 50 employees at offices in Stockholm and London, and also partners in Milan and Lisbon.

For more information about KW Digital please visit http://kw-digital.com.

Contacts for more information:

Staffan LindgrenManaging Director+46 8 407 22 [email protected]

Phil MarchantManaging Director UK+44 203 700 [email protected]

ABOUT THE CAREER SURVEYThis spotlight is produced by KW Digital. It is based on the KW Digital Career survey 2014 which is carried out yearly to understand what content students, job seekers and employees expects from corporate websites and other digital channels. The purpose of the report is to help companies better meet the demands from their stakeholders and strengthen their employer brand.

The report summarises the responses of the survey which was distributed in February 2014. 23 questions where asked ranging from how they found their latest job, to the most trustworthy sources and to what information they prefer in each digital channel. Our research gives a good insight into what students, job seekers and employees expect from digital corporate communications at the moment.

The KW Digital Careers spotlight 2014 is published as open research under a Creative common license.

For more information about the report please contact:

Linda HultbergKWD Webranking project manager+46 (0)8 407 20 [email protected]

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How to attract job seekers with corporate communication