How to win the war for graduate talent…

A network of the brightest students

A network of 250+ leading employers

A Bright Network member is 47% more likely to get hired than the average graduate

What’s happening…

1. The sky is falling on traditional methods

2. Stories are powerful

3. It’s crucial to building trust and engagement

1. The sky is falling on traditional methods

Source: 1. Display Benchmarks Tool 2. Page Fair 3. McCarthy Group

1. Average click through rates of display ads across all formats and placements is 0.06%

2. Ad blocking grew by 41% globally in the last 12 months

3. 84% of millennials don’t trust traditional advertising

4. It’s becoming embedded in our psyche - expecting things for free - news / content etc.

2. Stories are powerful

1. It’s in our DNA. They can shape decisions

2. 86% B2B & 77% B2C marketers are now using ‘content marketing’ strategically

3. It’s through stories and content that you can share your unique perspective, create a purpose and inspire engagement

3. It’s crucial to building trust

Source: Edelman Trust Barometer Survey 2016 Results

1. Employers are viewed as the most trusted sources of information (above CEOs, senior executive and media spokesperson) when it comes to: Communications on financial earnings; Operational performance; Business practices, Handling a crisis, How it treats employees and customers

2. 59% of people have recommended a company to a friend or colleague

3. 52% agree employees are a credible source of information (Up on 2015)

4. Peer-influenced media, including social now represents two of the top three most used sources of news and information

Brands that are doing great stuff with content

• Launched Porter magazine which nearly outsells Vogue in the UK

• Understood their users wanted to engage with content, but wanted to do this offline not online

• Started by financial services firm CPA Australia • Targets students and young professionals• Thought leadership approach that is different and radical as

they put a person at the heart of it

• Media output is huge. Podcasts, TV shows & web series• Online magazine: GE Reports – tells the story of the crazy

research going on inside the company

What makes content effective?

1. Audience relevance

2. Engaging & compelling storytelling

3. Triggers a response / action

Source: LinkedIn Technology Marketing Community

The New Rules

1. For content to work it has to be bold, independent but aligned to your values

2. Brand lift is just as important as conversions. Yes, it’s harder to quantify but positive brand perception can yield strong network effects in the long term

3. Vanity metrics of pageviews, impressions, social actions encourage the wrong outcomes - clickbait style approach doesn’t encourage or build long term trust

4. Success is arguably how much time a person thinks and engages with your brand (offline and online) on their own accord

5. The multi-touch approach matters even more

‘’ Being trusted is the single most urgent way to build business.

A brand can’t care. All that can care is people.’’

Seth Godin

Why? We’re curating a journey & focus on content

EARLY ENGAGEMENT

BECOMING MORE INFORMED

HIGH VALUE APPLICATIONS

STUDENT APPLICATION

The Graduate Recruitment Process

2. Becoming more focused & informed

• Becoming more focused about the need to think about their career

• Become aware of events & networking opportunities

• Actively begin looking for work experience and internship opportunities

• Open to receiving interesting, relevant and timely content

• Looking for advice to make their application stand out

• Staying on their radar matters

• Want to meet and talk to relevant people

3. Drive highly informed applications

• A high value application is the result of a student making an informed decision

• Bought into what you do and take their time over their application – 35%+ Bright Network members research firms for over 3 hours

• Likely to make fewer applications

• Less likely to renege on offers

• They’re hyper-engaged – you can leverage successful applicants immediately on campus – ‘Application Clubs’

When it comes to graduate employer reputation & image, what is most important?

When it comes to graduate employer people & culture, what is most important?

When it comes to graduate role characteristics, what is most important?

When it comes to remuneration & advancement, what is most important?

Five years after you graduate, what would career success look like?

Five key ways you can leverage content marketing

1. Leverage current successful graduates & employees

1. Toast success and get peers to talk about how they did it. Include photographs, real stories and detail

2. Live talks at events, filmed for Bright Network TV

3. Leverage employees and their experiences at live events on campus and online

Importance of trust ambassadors

9,500+ views of Bright Network Success Stories

Successful campaigns of putting our members in touch with graduates from that university

2. Use your Senior Business Leaders at key times

1. ‘How I made it’ feature interviews / What we’re looking for / Q& A

2. Live talks at events, filmed for Bright Network TV

3. Panel discussions & debates on topical issues, pre-recorded and live for Bright Network TV

Our interview with Sharon Thorne, Managing Partner, Deloitte - 4.07 mins & 660+ views by target audience

10,000+ distribution on campus of Bright Network magazine with Tom Stevenson interview

Creates content that works across multiple distribution channels – social / email / offline and resonates with students at different stages

3. Early Engagement

• What stage are they at?

• Do they understand your sector?

• Do they know their degree is relevant?

• How do they know you’re the employer for them?

• They’re focused on university – how do you get them to listen about life beyond it?

• Do they need to do things now to strengthen their CV?

• Has anyone from their course / university / school succeeded?

• How do they know this is the route for them?

• How will they get to know you?

4. Upskill your target audience with rich content

Commercial Awareness

- 12,000+ Views since launch

- 3+mins spent on the page each time (length of posts)

- Network effect - people are joining us because they’ve heard about it from friends

- Those ‘actively applying for roles’ rely on this content to help them in their applications

4. Upskill your target audience with rich experiences

Sector Understanding & Skills Sessions

- What is Consulting…?

- How to succeed when it comes to the interview?

- How to crack a case study interview?

- How to excel at an assessment centre?

5. Relevant content that taps into your audience’s needs

Visual content gets 94% more total views and is now 40% more likely to be shared on social networks – content must be rich

Photos get 84% more click-throughs on links than text-based posts

64% of all the world's internet traffic in 2014. It’s predicted to be 80% by 2019

24,000+ views on our exam revision blog

1. Identify your exact target audience

2. Think about what matters to them

3. Create content to engage, inform and inspire

4. Trigger responses. It doesn’t have to be an application

5. Start building an engaged pipeline

6. Generate great applications that matter

The six point check list

Thank you