Category: Candidate Attraction

Leveraging Your Employer Brand to Stand Out in a Sea of Job Openings

Posted on by jpatel

It’s no secret that the pandemic greatly impacted the labor market over the past year and a half. First, job openings plummeted, and unemployment skyrocketed. Now, we’re amid the Great Rehire and organizations are finalizing plans to reopen offices and get back to business as usual.  

As lockdowns ease, vaccination numbers rise and consumers get back to spending, job openings are at an all-time high—as a result of millions of prime-age workers leaving the labor market or switching to part time. Employers in industries like leisure and hospitality, healthcare, manufacturing and more are struggling to fill open positions with qualified talent. 

So, with all these open jobs, how can employers stand out above the competition to attract the next generation of top talent? It starts with focusing on key ideal candidate touch points—from your employer value proposition (EVP) and employer brand to your recruitment marketing strategy, careers site and application process.  

In this article, we’ll take you along the candidate journey and touch on each aspect you should address to make your open roles stand out in a sea of job openings.

Create an EVP and Employer Brand that Speaks to Your Ideal Candidate  

The ideal candidate journey begins long before the candidate even applies to your job, when they first engage with your employer value proposition and your employer brand. At PeopleScout, we define your EVP, as capturing the essence of your uniqueness as an employer and the give and get between you and your employees. In many ways, your EVP is the foundation of your employer brand—the perception and lived experiences of what it’s like to work for your organization. 

Your EVP and employer brand carry a lot of weight for the next generation of top talent, because they serve as differentiators between your brand and competitors and allow you to align your organization’s purpose with your candidates’ passions. It is important to do your research and be aware of what candidates hold in high regard, such as the opportunity for growth personally and professionally or the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Learn what drives your ideal candidate, identify what drives your organization’s mission and values, and establish an EVP and employer brand that speaks to both.  

Building an Employer Brand for the Lawyer of the Future 

The Situation:
Linklaters approached us with a talent problem for the ages. They needed an entirely new type of lawyer. The profile Linklaters recruited for in the past would no longer bring them the ideal candidates necessary to secure and expand on their position as a heavyweight global law firm. 

The Research: 
We conducted one-on-one interviews and focus groups with hundreds of professionals in 20 Linklaters offices across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific. The output of these interviews gave us everything we needed to create the EVP and the framework of the brand on which to build our global advertising campaign. 

The Solution: 
We created an employer value proposition that was a combination of big picture philosophical and a Linklaters-specific selling point. 

GREAT CHANGE IS HERE 

Message: Change is healthy and exciting, as well as unavoidable. Join this modern, international, hugely diverse cohort and you’ll have a truly influential voice that redefines the legal sector and sets you up for an ever-evolving career. 

The Results: 
Glassdoor scores for Linklaters have risen by 8% in the last two years and, importantly, applications from female lawyers – which was a key objective – have increased since the EVP launch. 

Read the full case study

How to Communicate with an Ideal Candidate through Recruitment Marketing  

After evaluating your organization’s EVP and employer brand, it’s time to showcase both in your recruitment marketing strategies. Digital recruitment marketing is a way for employers to source and attract potential candidates, it can include social media, email marketing, display advertising and more. Consider these three stages when building your recruitment marketing strategy: 

Stage One: Increase Awareness 

When it comes to increasing awareness with recruitment marketing, you want to reach ideal candidates and promote your organization as desirable. To ensure you are marketing yourself properly, it can help to create content that drives a potential candidate to come back to your site, even if they aren’t actively looking for a job. 

For example, acknowledging company accolades and awards can spark interest in your organization for both active and passive candidates, like this Instagram post from HubSpot. However, content at this stage does not need to be directly correlated to your organization to be effective. Content regarding professional development and motivation can also lead ideal candidates to inquire further on your website, such as these resume tips from Nestle Purina.   

Stage Two: Generate Interest 

Now that you have increased awareness, the next step is to generate interest. You have succeeded in showcasing your organization’s knowledge and place in the industry, now it’s time to show what it is like to work at your company. This is where you stress your employer brand, especially via social media. This can give potential candidates an inside look as to what it’s like to work for your company.  

A great way of promoting your company culture is giving firsthand experiences from current employees, via quotes about their experience working at your company. 

Social media is a powerful tool that not only generates interest but can also increase applicants for vital roles. For example, PeopleScout helped this manufacturing client increase the number of female applicants and hires in a male-dominated industry. Through the usage of employee spotlights, videos and stories to showcase how women are integrated into the culture and integral to the company’s success, the client was able to increase female hiring by 3% annually from 2018 to 2021. 

Stage Three: Nurture the Decision 

After increasing awareness and generating interest in your company, it is now time to promote open positions and the benefits, perks and compensation that will come with these roles. The promotion of open roles within your organization will lead the candidate to your careers site, which will play a pivotal role in the candidate’s journey toward employment with your organization. Here, it is important to do research on your competitors to see what they are offering for similar open roles. If a competitor is offering better pay, benefits, or perks, that can be a deciding factor for an ideal candidate to choose them over your organization, despite your strong recruitment marketing strategy.  

Build a Careers Site that Stands Out 

At this point in the candidate journey, the potential applicant has made their way to your organization’s careers site. It’s important to remember that a careers site is not only an area for job postings, but it is also home to many opportunities to stand out above competitors. For example, your careers site is a great place to reiterate the employer value proposition you built out in your recruitment marketing strategies to ensure that message is carried through every step of the candidate journey. Your careers site should be inclusive of everything a potential candidate would like to know about what it would be like to work for your organization. Consider these key areas of opportunity when refreshing your careers site:  

Ensure Accessibility 

In the digital age, it is important to make sure your careers site is user-friendly for those on a computer or a smart phone, especially since 61% of applicants applied to jobs via a mobile device in 2020. If a candidate struggles to navigate your careers site, chances are they won’t be staying on that site for long. It is also important to make sure your careers site is accessible for those with disabilities. Here are some suggestions from SHRM on how to make your careers site accessible for all:  

  • Screen reader compatibility  
  • Alternative text for images  
  • Color contrast 
  • Keyboard accessibility 
  • Controls for moving content  
  • Captions  
  • Controls for timed content  
  • Labeled forms  
  • Accessible downloadable files  
  • Plain language  

Search Engine Optimization 

It is important to utilize search engine optimization on your careers site. This can play a pivotal role in your careers site showing up first over a competitor on major search engines. The usage of keywords and traditional, highly searched titles will play an important role in helping your roles stand out above your competition. Research of popular keywords can boost your place among major search engines, leading potential candidates to your careers site first. Google Analytics and UTM tracking codes are important tools to utilize in your SEO journey to track and report where your clicks are coming from.  

Provide a Personal Touch 

On your career site, adding a personal touch, such as a welcome video, can go a long way. It can help the candidate see the human side of your business; it can offer an inside look of the facility and it is also an opportunity to showcase where these applicants may fit in within the structure of the organization.  

This is a great chance to sell the applicant on working for your company and really showcase your company culture. Offer insights, quotes or firsthand experiences from senior leaders to newly brought on employees. Highlight opportunities for growth both personally and professionally and provide examples of success stories from your existing employees.  

Let Applicants Know What to Expect 

If the process to apply and interview is not given or discussed at all, many applicants can be led to believe their application will get lost among others. Be upfront and transparent about what the application and interview process is like and offer timelines for the applicants. 

Streamline the Application and Interview Process  

Although the candidate has made it this far, you’re not done yet. After all, 80% of the time, candidates don’t finish filling out job applications, according to Glassdoor. To ensure candidates complete your application and interview process, focus on these key aspects to help you stand out:  

  • Mobile-friendly application 
  • Quick response time  
  • Virtual interviews  
  • Automated chat and scheduling 

Consider how technology can help streamline your process in each of the categories listed above. A mobile-friendly application, easy interview scheduling and quick response times can all be enhanced by AI and automation and provide a superior candidate experience. 

Standing Out Beyond the Application 

Despite having a well built out EVP and employer brand, recruitment marketing strategy, careers site and application, the deciding factor for an ideal candidate to choose your organization will often come down to a strong employment offer. It’s important to keep in mind that if your compensation, perks and benefits (like flexible work options) don’t match up to competitors, ideal candidates in today’s market have the ability to choose to work elsewhere. 

That said, by creating ways to stand out and showcase your EVP and employer brand at each stage of the candidate journey as outlined above, you will be one step closer to securing the top talent your organization needs.  

Employer Value Proposition Meaning & How to Create One

Posted on by nfuqua

Many employers have begun to think about employer value propositions (EVPs) as a transaction, as if an EVP is a contract between an employee and an employer or a “deal” expressing what an employer expects from candidates and what candidates receive in return. But, although it’s an easy way to think about the concept, it doesn’t tell the whole story.

At PeopleScout, we define employer value proposition and employer brand as the following:

  • Employer brand: Your employer brand is the perception and lived experiences of what it’s like to work for your organization.
  • Employer value proposition: Your employer value proposition, or EVP, captures the essence of your uniqueness as an employer and the give and get between you and your employees.

However, when you look at an EVP simply as a “deal,” you leave out the uniqueness – the human side of equation. That’s because candidates are unique individuals who assess prospective employers based on what’s important to them at that moment. For instance, for one candidate, that could mean finding a workplace that’s like a family to make them feel safe and secure. Alternatively, another candidate at another point in their life could thrive in a fast-paced environment where they’re always staring down a new challenge.

Furthermore, candidates now have unrivaled access to information online and are more mobile. Plus, they’re also accustomed to consumer brand interactions that are personalized, anticipate their needs, and demonstrate cultural values that benefit individuals, communities and the environment. At the same time, candidate expectations are changing in line with our expectations of consumer brands: We want a job to pay the bills, but also one that provides us with a fulfilling experience. As a result, an EVP must address the complex emotional needs of candidates in order to strike a chord – and, notably, the need to align meaning and purpose is becoming the most crucial differentiator. 

So, at PeopleScout, we’ve developed what we call the “Purpose, Passion and Mindset” model. This approach enables employers to draw in the candidates who will succeed and provides flexibility for individuals as their needs and desires change throughout the course of their employment. In this article, we’ll explain how this model works in relation to both candidates and employers, as well as how you can use it to find and hire the best talent for your organization.  

Purpose 

Purpose is a candidate’s alignment with and willingness to contribute to the vision and values of an organization. In fact, one study reported by McKinsey found that, out of 100 variables, employees reported that seeing purpose and value in their work was their most motivating factor – even more so than compensation.

Therefore, from an employer perspective, the idea of purpose should be simple to understand and to define: Why does your business exist? Why did it start? What is the vision for the future? Who are the people you need to deliver on that purpose? These are foundational for an employer, but they should also be effectively communicated in employer branding materials; on career sites; and through the employer’s website, social media and other channels.

Conversely, from a candidate or employee perspective, purpose is more fluid. If you ask a candidate where they derive purpose, you may hear answers about five-year goals or work/life balance. And, depending on the circumstances of a candidate’s life, they may be living to work or working to live. Perhaps they’re focused on career growth and looking for a challenge. Or, they may be balancing personal and family obligations with work. In any case, the way a candidate answers that question will provide insight into the type of employer and culture that the candidate is looking for. Therefore, as an employer, you need to understand how your purpose aligns with what candidates want and need – and you need to effectively communicate that to candidates. What are the values that drive your approach to business and your culture?

Sometimes, an employer’s view of purpose and a candidate’s view of purpose can overlap in clear and obvious ways. For example, a healthcare organization dedicated to providing the best patient care would be an obvious fit for a nurse who derives purpose from providing the best care for their patients. However, it isn’t always so simple. Talent acquisition leaders need to understand the gaps that exist between employer purpose and candidate purpose. And, it can be far too easy to fall into the trap of only focusing on an employer’s purpose and not recognizing the needs of candidates. Rather, employers should focus on how a job can help a candidate achieve their goals and find purpose in their lives.

Passion 

Passion is easy to understand on a human level: What gets you out of bed every day? Do you like solving problems? Connecting with people? Helping others achieve goals? Are you passionate about being creative? Telling stories? Creating a perfect product? Helping a team run seamlessly?

Passion is a candidate’s enthusiasm, enjoyment and commitment to mastering the requirements of a role. When an employee is passionate about a role, they are engaged. According to Gallup, 85% of workers are not engaged in their current roles. And, Dale Carnegie Training reports that organizations with engaged workers outperform their peers by 202%. Even so, most employers don’t have a method to effectively understand what a candidate is passionate about.

However, for an employer, passion comes down to the non-negotiables – the pillars of an organization or the three to five things that help a business fulfill its purpose. When thinking about these pillars, many employers talk about “a sense of restless innovation” or “continuous personal development.” But, instead, talent leaders should think of passion as something that allows an employer to connect with candidates and employees around what the candidate or employee is personally passionate about – whether that’s coming to work for the social interaction with customers; creating a culture of belonging; or working with people who treat each other with respect. Or, at the other end of the spectrum, developing new skills and having an influence.

Bringing these two elements together and aligning the employer and candidate passion tells a candidate that what they can bring to the table will be valued here. So, don’t be tempted to talk about your EVP in terms that are filled with business jargon or seem to be on an epic scale. Instead, speak in human terms about the things that are important to you as a business and help candidates connect your value set with their own.

Mindset 

There are two types of mindset: fixed mindset and growth mindset:

  • Fixed mindset is the belief that one’s talents are innate gifts and not malleable.
  • Growth mindset is the belief that one’s talents can be developed through education and effort.

When we talk about mindset from a candidate’s perspective, it’s about a candidate’s belief about themselves and their basic qualities. These beliefs are rarely measured by employers. 

Meanwhile, as an employer, you can create an environment that fosters one or the other. An employer that fosters a growth mindset is one that invests in its employees, providing development opportunities and stretch assignments. The employer doesn’t just allow people to learn and grow and move within the organization; rather, it’s a culture where employee growth and development is a defined goal. 

Granted, it can be tempting to think of mindset as a factor that comes to life in the execution of an EVP – as something that is put into place after an EVP has been defined and employer branding materials have been created. But, you can’t foster a growth mindset if it’s the last thing on a checklist.

Instead, employers should approach the concept of mindset as the core of their culture; it should be a thread woven through your EVP. By going back to the concept of EVP as a “deal,” employers that create an environment that fosters a growth mindset will attract candidates who want to learn, grow and contribute more to the organization during their time there.

And, by focusing on purpose, passion and a growth mindset, employers can build an employer value proposition and employer brand for the future. Because when employers take their EVP beyond the transaction and “deal” to focus on the core of the unique human relationship between employee and employer, they’ll be able to attract the right workers to achieve the mission and purpose of the employer – all while providing a sense of purpose for employees. 

Linklaters: Attracting the Lawyer of the Future with a New Global Employer Brand

Posted on by jpatel
Linklaters: Attracting the Lawyer of the Future with a New Global Employer Brand

Linklaters: Attracting the Lawyer of the Future with a New Global Employer Brand

PeopleScout helped the firm create a global employer brand to attract and retain the best and more diverse legal talent across 30 global offices.

8 % Boost in Glassdoor Scores
27 Jumped 27 Places in Best Global Employer Brand Awards
Increase in Applications from Female Lawyers
Increase in Applications from Female Lawyers

Situation

The world Linklaters was facing was one of rapid, multifaceted and unprecedented transformation. New technologies, sectors and innovations were disrupting the world and dismantling old assumptions about business success and the role of the law.

The profile they had recruited in the past would no longer bring them the candidates necessary to secure and expand on their position as a heavyweight global law firm. Linklaters needed a whole new type of lawyer—a nimble business advisor using their legal expertise and global mindedness to help clients navigate a time of huge complexity.

The problem was that every law firm in the world was chasing this new breed of lawyer.

Linklaters approached PeopleScout to help them define, promote and manage a compelling new global employer brand, allowing the business to cut through the noise as an employer of choice in a ferociously competitive market.

Solution

Knowing, Not Guessing

We met with hundreds of professionals in 20 Linklaters offices across Europe, North America and Asia-Pacific including recruitment, HR, hiring managers, associates, graduates and interns to gather insights.

After 17 focus groups in 13 international offices, we had a sense of the key themes which gave us a foundation from which to build the employer value proposition (EVP) and the framework of the employer brand which would inspire our global advertising campaign.

  • Linklaters is global firm with almost unmatched strength across practices and geographies.
  • Linklaters lawyers don’t just embrace the change, they direct it.
  • They are at the epicenter of work that will shape law, commerce, industry, the environment and society for decades to come.
  • The quality of training on offer and the caliber of colleagues to learn from means those who join will never stop learning.

A New EVP – Great Change is Here

We created an employer value proposition (EVP) that was a combination of a big picture philosophy and a Linklaters-specific selling point: GREAT CHANGE IS HERE.

In a time of unprecedented change, this EVP makes progress healthy and exciting. It serves as a foundation for an employer brand that reflects Linklaters as a modern, international, hugely diverse cohort offering employees the opportunity to have an influential voice that redefines the legal sector and sets them up for an ever-evolving career.

Global Relevance

As an international brand with diverse target audiences, we built flexibility into the brand so it would resonate widely across geographies and cultures.

We created four underlying message pillars that we could dial up or down as required to create the right combination of messages with the right geographies.

  1. Human Experts – Collaborate with smart, down-to-earth people on complex issues.
  2. One Team – Multi-jurisdictional work calls for a truly aligned and collaborative environment.
  3. Innovation – Whether you’re solving client problems or setting legal precedent, Linklaters celebrates creative thinking and innovative approaches.
  4. Career Platform – Through prominent projects, high-profile clients, training, support, early exposure, external secondments, Linklaters is investing in their employees’ careers.

Linklaters received a full employer brand toolkit explaining the EVP, the messaging behind the brand, visual design and advertising principles and the tone of voice to be used internationally. We rolled this out to recruiters across North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific so that local activity could be fully supported.

Results

The project was a significant success and was shortlisted for Best Global Employer Brand in 2018. Following the launch, the firm’s reputation as a graduate employer improved significantly over several years, rising 27 places from their 2016 position to 19th place in 2021. Glassdoor scores for Linklaters have risen by 8% in the last two years and, importantly, applications from female lawyers—which was a key objective—have increased since the EVP launch.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Linklaters
  • INDUSTRY
    Legal Services
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS
    30+ offices across 21 countries in Europe, North America and Asia
  • ABOUT LINKLATERS
    Linklaters in a global law firm specializing in corporate practice areas including mergers and acquisitions, finance, litigation, antitrust and tax.
Let’s Connect

Maersk: Making Waves with a Global Employer Brand

Posted on by jpatel
Maersk: Making Waves with a Global Employer Brand

Maersk: Making Waves with a Global Employer Brand

Maersk, a global shipping company, came to PeopleScout for a talent advisory solution that would deliver on a diverse and digital-forward new global employer brand.

Situation

Think Maersk and you think container ships. Steel giants criss-crossing the oceans. You probably think dependable and trustworthy, but slow moving. What you don’t think of is digital trailblazer. But, when they came to us, that was precisely their goal.

Already leaders in global shipping, the Maersk group was about to undertake a huge transformation to take them to the next level of their business strategy. Their vision was to become a global integrator of container logistics and digitalization of the business was at the core of this big move. Maersk no longer wanted to be seen as a shipping company; they wanted to be seen as a leader in technology.

The issue was that they didn’t have the world-class capabilities in the business to fuel this tech revolution.

The brief: create an employer brand that:

  • Made transportation and logistics attractive to global talent in a way it hadn’t been before – competing with the likes of Microsoft and Amazon.
  • Attract diverse candidates (especially STEM and digital) with the innovative mindset to bring radical change.
  • Change perceptions of the Maersk Group away from solid, slow and paternalistic to dynamic and pioneering.

Solution

RESEARCH

The insight phase was intensive.

Understanding the organization, the many and varied brands, the core business areas, its people and the nuances across the globe was highly complex. It was also the key to creating an employer value proposition (EVP) that would turn heads among non-traditional candidates.

We ran a very diverse, in-depth and international series of focus groups and one-on-one interviews across the group and externally.

This allowed us to:

  • Understand the views and vision of senior leaders within the business.
  • Gain deep insights into the lived experience of professionals at various managerial, technical and operation levels.
  • Map the competitor talent market to identify specific territories that Maersk could own with regards to its proposition and messaging.
  • Develop a set of core messaging pillars that we validated with senior stakeholders across the globe before developing our EVP and recruitment communications campaigns.

THE CORE MESSAGE

Our EVP message aimed to inspire, motivate and challenge employees and candidates to be part of a career-defi ning, once-in-a-generation transformation. The result is an invitation and a two-way commitment striking the kind of pioneering, adventurous and fast-moving note that you simply wouldn’t expect from a business like Maersk. It also gave us a platform to tell stories that capture hearts as well as minds.

EVP message: Let’s go into the amazing

INTERNATIONAL RESONANCE

Because our audiences were very diverse and located all over the world, we created a series of five messaging pillars. Drawn from the key insights gained at the research stage, these pillars allowed our brand messaging to be flexed in order to speak to the motivations of individuals and talent groups all across the globe.

THE PILLARS

Pioneering
Candidate offer: Seize every new opportunity, pursue every experience and never be afraid to be the first.

Belonging
Candidate offer: Be open, be curious and bring your whole self to work.

Societal impact
Candidate offer: This isn’t just about the part you play in our business, it’s about the change you can make in our world.

Unfolding potential
Candidate offer: Jump in wholeheartedly and we’ll support and invest in you to be your very best.

Global citizens
Candidate offer: Broaden your horizons and make the world your workplace.

KEEPING IT ROBUST

Inspiring EVPs need strong foundations to stay inspiring. This is how the architecture of the Maersk employer brand all fits together.

MAKING IT REAL

This is how we took each of the pillars and turned it into a candidate-facing advertisement.

The Outcome

It’s still early days, but in the latest employer brand benchmarking, Maersk was delighted to see the impact the work was already having. A key measure is its ranking in The Most Attractive Employers List produced by Universum.

Maersk has seen its ranking improve. Our goal is to continue this momentum in each of the key markets and among each of the key talent segments.


At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Maersk
  • INDUSTRY
    Transportation & Logistics
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS
    Global with priority markets in India, the UK and Denmark
  • ABOUT MAERSK
    With locations in every port in the world, Maersk is one of the largest container shipping line and vessel operators in the world.
Let’s Connect

Diageo: Bringing Iconic Characters to Life with a New Global Employer Brand

Posted on by jpatel
Diageo: Bringing Iconic Characters to Life with a New Global Employer Brand

Diageo: Bringing Iconic Characters to Life with a New Global Employer Brand

You might have heard of Captain Morgan, but have you heard of the parent brand Diageo? PeopleScout helped Diageo, one of the world’s largest alcoholic beverage manufacturers, with a new global employer brand that helped them both celebrate and transcend their iconic brands to attract world class talent across cultures, companies and languages.

26 One Employer Brand Nuanced to Resonate Across 26 Countries
5 In-Market Brand Launch Events Plus One Global Webinar
300,000 + Impression on Social Media During Week of Brand Launch

Situation

Diageo has a portfolio of some of the world’s most renowned drinks brands including Guinness, Baileys and Captain Morgan. Even though its drink brands are long established, the Diageo brand itself is less recognizable, particularly in the employment space.

Our challenge was to develop an employer brand that cut through this lack of awareness and inspired people in a wide variety of commercial disciplines all across the world to see themselves at Diageo. The new brand needed to reflect their employer value proposition (EVP) to drive Diageo’s reputation as an employer of choice for world class talent globally and complement the existing corporate brand positioning.

Solution

Our mission was to create and launch a new and compelling employer brand for an employer that was being outshined by its own iconic products.

Delving into the Challenges

We dove into insights gathered from a variety of internal stakeholders—from experienced Diageo colleague to recent hires—across North America, Latin America, Europe, Africa, India and other parts of APAC. These employees were from several departments like e-commerce, supply chain, marketing, finance, HR, IT and customer management.

We realized that the wide variety of geographies that Diageo covers creates complex challenges for the business, from the differing strengths in consumer brands between markets to talent attraction techniques and cultural nuances relating to alcohol. So, we knew that the new employer brand had to be flexible enough to resonate in different countries and feature local employees as champions to bring it to life.

From an external perspective, a survey revealed that 58% of our target audience had not heard of Diageo. Yet, 78% said they would be interested in working there after we connected the Diageo name to their famous brands. So, we needed to find a way to link the Diageo name to their recognizable products.

A Unique EVP – Character is Everything

We anchored the new employer brand in the history of the organization: character. People of extraordinary character—like Arthur Guinness, Johnnie Walker and Charles Tanqueray—had built the business from the ground up centuries before. And their spirit lives on, driving every aspect of Diageo in the 21st Century.

The EVP we introduced—Character is Everything—was grounded in the history of their individual products as well as influenced by the characters we met at Diageo. We wanted the brand to be a celebration of their personalities, joy and enthusiasm for Diageo’s famous brands.

An example of the creative PeopleScout talent advisory team created to support Diageo employer brand.

We took Diageo through a comprehensive journey, developing pillars, narratives and collateral that fit into their overall corporate brand.

Tailoring the Employer Brand for Global Talent

We created six brand pillars, ensuring the message was compelling and authentic for audiences divided by geography or job area and then tested the proposition globally to gain buy-in business-wide.

In our narratives and designs, we made Diageo employees the brand heroes, telling local and global stories, and showcasing their characters to bring the Diageo story to life on every channel. The brand imagery was genuine and full of depth—from the smiling faces of real employees to the bold headlines.

We fine-tuned and then launched different iterations of the brand for different geographies. For example, in various African countries, recruiters told us that candidates responded well to messages around supporting the community. We also translated our communications into a range of languages.

The brand was designed to provide enough content and materials for immature markets to roll out independently, while still leaving enough scope and space for innovation in advanced markets.

Setting Diageo Up for Success

Our Talent Advisory team supported the brand launch across the globe, promoting and publicizing the new brand. We helped the Talent Engagement Teams to understand the proposition, what tools are available to them and how to use the brand effectively to hire great talent. We also supported internal launch events in which we engaged employees in activities to explain what it means to work for Diageo and the kinds of traits and behaviors they should look for in new hires.

Results

The new EVP and employer brand creative was well received across Diageo.

Launch Events

We hosted five in-market events plus a webinar which had over 500 webinar registrants, over 200 live participants and 30 on-demand views of the recording. These events inspired huge amounts of user-generated content on LinkedIn from employees.

Social Media

Diageo executed a series of posts across their social media channels under a unique branded hashtag, #characteriseverything, generating a huge amount of activity and traffic during the first week.

  • 329,472 overall impressions
  • 6,257 clicks plus 2,936 click-throughs to the Diageo career site
  • 2,986 likes
  • 179 shares
  • 72 comments
  • 3.19% overall engagement rate (well above industry average)

Global Reach

Activations of the brand have now reached 26 markets. So far, we’ve worked on:

  • A film to support recruitment in Budapest
  • Brand activation project for hiring in Korea
  • Communications for Diageo’s global ATS platform
  • A revamped toolkit for employee reward
  • Recruitment event collateral for Venezuela
  • A recruitment marketing campaign for early careers within the supply chain division
  • An internal communication project for the Diageo’s migration to Workday

We’ve gained evidence across a number of campaigns that the new employer brand is altering perceptions and boosting awareness of Diageo. There has been a great response internally too. Not only were we over-subscribed for brand champion volunteers, focus group feedback is showing an upswing in pride around the Character is Everything message.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Diageo
  • INDUSTRY
    Consumer Goods
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Talent Advisory
  • LOCATIONS
    The refreshed Diageo employer brand was flexed to resonate in 26 different countries including Budapest, Korea and Venezuela.
  • ABOUT DIAGEO
    Diageo is one of the world’s largest producers of spirits and beers including iconic brands like Guinness, Smirnoff and Johnnie Walker. With over 27,00 employees, their 200+ brands are sold in 180 countries.
Let’s Connect

Specialized Nurse Recruitment at a Not-for-Profit Healthcare System

Posted on by jpatel
Specialized Nurse Recruitment for a Not-For-Profit Healthcare System

Project RPO for Healthcare

Specialized Nurse Recruitment for a Not-For-Profit Healthcare System

A not-for-profit healthcare system serving the New England area of the United States engaged PeopleScout to help find specialized nursing candidates through a project-based recruitment solution.

6 Weeks to Fill Vacancies that Had Been Open for Over a Year
13 Week Engagement Renewed —Twice
Improved Quality of Hire
Improved Quality of Hire

Situation

This healthcare facility is the only level III NICU and level I trauma center in the region. Offering this kind of specialized medical care requires specialized nursing recruiting. The client’s HR team had difficulty sourcing candidates who met the minimum education and experience requirements.

The client engaged PeopleScout for Recruiter On-Demand™ project-based recruitment solution to hire nurses at two facilities, included labor and delivery nurses, surgical nurses and emergency nurses.

Solution

PeopleScout deployed a Recruiter On-Demand solution with virtual recruiters working alongside the client’s internal TA team by sourcing and recruiting specialized nursing talent.

Our recruiters developed a close relationship with the client’s hiring managers to better understand their needs and company culture. This helped us to source candidates that closely aligned with the organization’s values and expectations.

To attract nursing talent in a competitive labor market, PeopleScout positioned the client’s employer value proposition to better align with candidate expectations for career growth, sign-on bonuses and educational assistance. We also monitored the regional labor market and identified recruiting opportunities at competitors or facilities closing operations or laying-off staff.

Our healthcare experts also posted on job boards and updated content regularly on niche healthcare sites, social media and medical association sites to source both active and passive candidates.

Results

Unfilled Positions Sourced Within Six Weeks

In the first six weeks, PeopleScout sourced and hired nurses for eight vacancies that had been unfilled for a year.

Contract Renewed

As a result of the success of the program, the client renewed its initial 13-week project RPO contract with PeopleScout, not once but twice.

Dedication and a Quality Partnership

The healthcare system’s HR team valued the quality of candidates our dedicated nursing recruiting brought to the table, and the relationship continued to improve with each engagement.

At a Glance

  • COMPANY
    Not-for-Profit Healthcare System
  • INDUSTRY
    Healthcare
  • PEOPLESCOUT SOLUTIONS
    Recruitment Process Outsourcing
  • About the Client
    This New England-based not-for-profit healthcare system operates a level III NICU and level I trauma center in the region.
Let’s Connect

Reimagining Recruitment Strategies for the New World of Work

Posted on by edyson

In the new world of work, the global pandemic disrupted the world of talent acquisition: Sourcing, interviewing and onboarding went virtual; talent acquisition departments faced tough reductions in budget and personnel while being asked to do more with less. As a result, recruiting and hiring are the biggest concerns employers have for the coming year, according to a survey by XpertHr, as two-thirds of HR professionals expect it to be somewhat or very challenging in 2021.

Meanwhile, there are also plenty of other hurdles that can make it more difficult to find and attract talent right now. For instance, some fear exposure to COVID-19 – either from an on-site interview or in any role that requires them to leave their home. At the same time, others may be putting off their job search until the job market improves or are looking for better compensation in their next role.

So, how do you improve your talent acquisition process? Unfortunately, there’s no “one size fits all” solution when it comes to tackling the challenges presented by the pandemic. Employers across different industries and geographies face different challenges, and the type of role also leads to varied challenges. However, in this article, we provide actionable ideas and strategies that you can implement now to help you improve your talent acquisition process in the new world of work.

New World of Work Benefits & Compensation

new world of work

There’s a lot of uncertainty in today’s talent landscape, but for employers, one factor remains constant: Without competitive compensation and benefits, job-seekers will look elsewhere. This is especially important in traditionally lower-wage industries that include a lot of face time with customers, like leisure and hospitality.

For employers, the difficulty in filling those roles means the possibility of having to navigate the challenges of today’s new world of work without key team members to rely on. Fortunately, that’s a risk that can often be mitigated by offering compensation that aligns with – or even exceeds – the overall market rate. This trend is particularly present in the food and beverage and manufacturing industries.

In an article with Marketplace, Spiro Pappadopoulos, CEO of Schlow Restaurant Group, said, “There is a complete lack of applicants for jobs that we have open, and have had open for a considerable amount of time … And, when we were faced with nobody wanting to come back to their job, we realized we had to do something to get more competitive.”

To attract talent, the company raised hourly pay by around $5 for entry-level jobs. It’s also offering more benefits, flexible schedules and signing bonuses – and it’s not alone.

The median hourly wage for non-medical essential jobs – such as grocery workers, delivery drivers and cleaners – has already risen nearly 2%. Starbucks, for example, issued a temporary pay bump of $3 more per hour for some workers. Similarly, grocery chain Kroger recently offered one-time bonuses of $400 for full-time workers and $200 for part-time workers.

Along with providing an extra incentive for people to apply, offering a pay raise or bonus can also show candidates that your company puts its employees first – which can help build a positive workplace culture. What’s more, some local governments have also introduced legislation that would require employers to provide hazard pay to essential workers, while others created funds to help eligible employers offer hazard pay for workers in “life-sustaining” fields, like healthcare or food manufacturing. In the United States, the CARES Act also offered qualified employers “emergency retention credits” of up to $10,000 per employee to help businesses retain their most vital workers.

There’s no doubt that these measures were well-deserved and vital for talent attraction and retention, and each of these factors may influence current pay rates in your local market.

Early Retirement & Engaging the Next Generation of Talent in the New World of Work

The health risks presented by the pandemic have been clear, and the elderly are among the most susceptible to negative health outcomes. As a result, some workers are taking early retirement. In fact, in the New York City metropolitan area alone, 300,000 people expect to apply for Social Security, according to the United States Census Bureau.

Furthermore, many retirees work part-time jobs in retail, hospitality and other public-facing industries hit hard by the pandemic. And, as you might expect, these workers are less likely to return to these jobs as the health risks may outweigh the benefits of returning. Unfortunately, the shock of losing so many valuable and experienced workers only exacerbates recruiting challenges for employers. To help fill the gaps, employers’ recruitment strategies should focus on the next generation of leaders and talent entering the workforce.

To that end, Millennials will soon make up the majority of the global workforce and many are mid-career experienced professionals ready for leadership. On the other hand, Generation Z is just entering the workforce. Of course, all generations express different working styles and preferences, and these generations are no different. So, it’s worth bearing in mind what the next generations at your workplace want from their employers.

Top Employer Requirements for Millennial & Generation Z:

Job-seekers in these generations expect:

  • Regular meetings with managers; in fact, employees who have such meetings are three times as likely to be engaged workers
  • Ethical company behavior in all of its activities
  • The company to have an ambition and purpose beyond simply making money
  • A diverse senior management team
  • Flexible working options
  • A high-trust culture
  • A great company culture and workplace environment
  • To be treated as individuals, not as a number on the payroll

Screen Candidates In, Not Out

In the current talent landscape, your organization can’t afford to screen out candidates solely based on experience or because they lack all of the desired hard skills. This is particularly true for niche and highly specialized roles in which workers were more likely to remain in their jobs through the pandemic. For these types of positions, many employers now struggle to find qualified candidates.

To compete, employers should look for candidates with transferrable skills. This means that, rather than assessing candidates for potential and dismissing those who don’t have the requisite experience and hard skills that you may require, employers should look for job candidates who have key soft skills. These are the types of skills that may not always come naturally to some candidates, but that are valuable in the workplace, for example:

  • Communication – both verbal and written
  • Time management
  • Teamwork
  • Problem-solving
  • Emotional intelligence
  • Conflict management and resolution
  • Personal productivity and discipline
  • Trainability
  • Learning agility

Assessment techniques like the whole person model can help you better view a candidate’s full range of skills and abilities to determine which candidates may be a good fit for a role regardless of experience. Moreover, soft skills – like learning agility and trainability – are especially important for roles in which your candidates might not have much relevant experience, but in which they need to learn new things at a rapid pace.

Bringing it All Together with Your Employer Brand

The challenges presented in the new world of work have changed what candidates look for in employers across all industries. This means that, regardless of the strength of your employer brand prior to the pandemic, nearly all employers need to shift their employer branding messaging to stay competitive.

Additionally, to attract employees in the current talent market, you need to communicate changes you’ve implemented regarding workplace safety, compensation, benefits and remote work policies to let candidates know upfront what they can expect from your organization. Likewise, make sure you reassure candidates that their health and safety are a priority by specifying what new procedures your business has initiated to minimize the risk of exposure to COVID-19, such as social distancing rules, staggered shifts, reduced customer capacity, face mask policies and enhanced cleaning procedures.

Another way to help you recruit during the Great Rehire is to be completely transparent about your interview process. Can the entire interview process happen remotely, or will candidates be required to interview in person at some point? For on-site interviews, in particular, explain how you’re maintaining a safe interview environment, such as socially distanced interviews, avoiding handshakes, symptom questionnaires, temperature checks and so on.

Meanwhile, keep in mind that we live in a social world. As such, before applying to work for you, 70% of candidates will check out employer review platforms – such as Glassdoor, Indeed and LinkedIn – along with other social media networks to see what employees past and present have said about your company. So, make sure your organization’s reputation is managed properly.

You might also consider enlisting your current employees to act as brand ambassadors. In this way, employees can help refer candidates and spread the word about your organization to other professionals in their network. 

Hiring during a pandemic is enough of a challenge; so, your talent acquisition process in the new world of work has to be on point if you want to get ahead of your competition. With these recruiting strategies in mind, you can set yourself up to attract more candidates, make the right hires and get back to business as soon as possible.

Total Workforce Solutions: A Holistic Approach to Talent Channel Management

Posted on by edyson

Modern workforce management has evolved. Increasingly, organizations are leveraging a multi-channel approach for sourcing talent to extend the reach of both their internal and external workforce. In fact, evidence of this trend can be seen in a survey conducted by the MIT Sloan Management Review, which found that 87% of global executives included some portion of external workers (contingent workers, contractors, freelancers and statement of work [SOW] consultants) when considering their workforce composition. 

And, because employers are leveraging multi-channel sourcing strategies, workforce management programs are more complex – thereby resulting in the need for new strategies, proven methodologies and enhanced levels of service from outsourced providers. So, in this article, we’ll discuss how a Total Workforce Solution (TWS) can help your organization by providing a holistic approach to total talent management through enhanced strategic capabilities; precise and up-to-date workforce information; and greater visibility into the multi-channel workforce.

What Are Talent Channels?

A talent channel is a managed and repeatable source of talent and may include anything from a job board to staffing vendors and college campuses. Essentially, a talent channel is a dependable path that leads job-seekers to your open positions.

Just as marketers utilize a variety of marketing channels and techniques to acquire customers, talent professionals likewise need to utilize various talent channels to attract prospective job candidates. And, while there are a host of recruitment channels and platforms to choose from, below we’ve outlined some of the most common and effective sources:

  • Job Boards: Job boards (including generalist and specialist websites) – where recruiters and organizations post open positions – have long been a source of candidates. More recently, job aggregators like Indeed have provided an alternative platform where job-seekers can search and apply for jobs. 
  • Internal Recruitment: Internal recruitment offers many benefits. For example, internal talent pools already have a wealth of knowledge about the company, the company culture and expectations. Therefore, directly sourcing and redeploying candidates who are already within the organization can also dramatically decrease time-to-hire, as well as hiring costs associated with training and onboarding.  
  • Campus Recruiting: Campus recruiting has been a mainstay for recruiting the next generation of young talent for years. Campus recruiting involves sourcing, engaging, and hiring college talent for internships and entry-level positions, while also building a talent pipeline for an organization’s future hiring needs.
  • ATS Database: An organization’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS) is an invaluable resource for sourcing and curating top talent. An ATS offers a recruiting channel full of applicants who may not have been the best fit for one position, but who have the experience and skills needed for a current or future opening. 
  • Events: Whether you host career events or attend networking opportunities, the power of face-to-face interactions with candidates is priceless. And, although in-person meetings have been less likely lately due to the pandemic, many organizations are still leveraging virtual events to meet and engage with candidates. 
  • Employee Referrals: Employee referrals are an effective way to build a talent pool because they allow employees to submit candidates from their professional and personal networks for open roles. Plus, by encouraging referrals, employers can tap into a steady flow of candidates, while also providing additional opportunities for engagement and compensation for current employees.
  • Staffing Vendors: Organizations might also outsource certain recruitment functions to staffing vendors to curate talent pools and supply candidates. Staffing vendors help organizations with permanent placement, executive search, SOW contracting and procuring talent of all categories – both permanent and contingent.

Sometimes, a hiring or procurement manager may fill an open role from a certain talent channel and labor type simply due to historical practices or for budgeting reasons. However, a Total Workforce Solution model opens the possibilities for reassessing historic practices and identifying the most efficient labor category and talent channel to deliver better outcomes.

Why Total Workforce Solutions Are Perfect for Workforce Management

workforce management

Total Workforce Solutions – also known as Total Talent Solutions and Total Talent Acquisition – are outsourced programs that blend the capabilities of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) and Managed Service Provider (MSP) programs by integrating the talent acquisition function for permanent and contingent workforces under one delivery team. By bringing together disparate talent functions under one centralized program, Total Workforce Solutions provide organizations with greater visibility for all workers, including full-time employees and contingent workers (such as temporary workers, independent contractors, freelancers and SOW providers). Total Workforce Solutions also provide a holistic view that leads to better workforce, sourcing channel, and demand management by deploying the resources, technology, and strategies best suited to improve talent and business outcomes. Specifically, a TWS offers:

Data Capture & Analysis: A TWS can take unstructured workforce management data from multiple sources and formats and create structured outputs, which create greater visibility into an organization’s workforce and talent channel efficacy. This enables an organization to measure the success of each recruiting channel, as well as employer brand campaigns and staffing vendor performance.

Resource & Process Control: The right workforce management view helps ensure the right work is being done by the right type of worker. Thanks to the holistic view provided by a Total Workforce Solution, organizations can track how budgets, headcount, procurement, staffing vendors and other issues are being managed across the entire enterprise.

Talent Engagement Expertise: Understanding the talent market is key to knowing how to best attract and engage job-seekers across all labor categories. To that end, a TWS provider’s ability to engage with job-seekers in both full-time and contingent sourcing channels in ways that job-seekers want to be engaged is driven by expertise in candidate experience and engagement. What’s more, TWS providers also have dedicated resources to support education and adoption of the best practices among an organization’s hiring managers and other stakeholders; this ensures that talent teams are engaging candidates from all talent channels in the right way.

Single Point of Contact: While procurement, HR, and talent teams each have their own methods, talent channels, and hiring objectives, each department strives to secure talent to meet their organization’s business needs. Fortunately, Total Workforce Solutions can help successfully align talent acquisition strategy across each of an organization’s recruitment channels by communicating between HR, recruiting and procurement teams. In this way, the TWS ensures that the right talent decisions are made for wider business goals, thereby optimizing both permanent and contingent workforces to give you a total talent view.

Workforce Management: Leveraging Talent Channels to Plan Ahead

In the dynamic talent environment created by the pandemic, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to source talent. Even so – and despite persistent hiring challenges – organizations need to be smart about the allocation of talent acquisition resources when filling roles. For example, conversations about filling open roles should begin with fundamental questions, like: What do we need to accomplish? Is the role easily managed with clearly defined goals? Is it core to the organization’s long-term strategy? Does the role require a long-term commitment, project ownership and management?

Depending on the answers to those questions, you can determine whether a full-time employee or a contingent worker is the best option. And, understanding how to more effectively fill or augment talent gaps also allows teams to scale, prioritize and be nimble – each important factors in today’s business climate.

Furthermore, different talent channels will have different advantages and disadvantages to consider. But, a TWS provider can provide insights by identifying all available sourcing channels, as well as assess where work needs to be done and what skills are needed to get it done. Then, from this evaluation emerges a talent strategy that taps into available candidates from across an organization’s recruitment channels – which then provides a high level of precision for getting the work done with the highest-quality output at the most cost-effective rate.

Candidate & Hiring Manager Experience

In talent acquisition, the human element matters. Specifically, an empowered experience on the part of workers who feel they have access to more opportunities can help boost an organization’s employer brand across its talent channels, as well as among job-seekers and the general public. At the same time, a positive experience for a hiring manager who has access to all talent types equates to higher engagement from the manager, including an increased commitment to sourcing talent from the right talent channels and at the right time and cost to achieve the desired goals.

Furthermore, the traditional employer brand is built on the idea of the employee value proposition that seeks to answer, “Why would this company be a great place to work?” And, to appeal to the growing, flexible workforce, the concept of the Assignment Value Proposition (AVP) is gaining ground as a fundamental brand component to support cases in which an organization needs to sell the value of the project just as much as the strength of the business itself. Add to this assignment value the idea that an organization provides many ways to work – through traditional employee roles or flexible assignments – and the result is a reputation that appeals to professionals of all working preferences.

Fortunately, a TWS provider can help you create compelling employer value propositions across your talent channels so you can attract the right mix of external workers and traditional employees. In particular, a TWS provider will have discussions with your team to consider the following in relation to messaging:

  • Work: Role versus project type and required necessity of skill; core versus non-core
  • Speed: Time to fill, time to contract, time to productivity and leveraging known relationships to reach candidates
  • Cost: Expected tenure of salary plus benefits or rate; or pay rate plus mark-up or deliverable and milestones
  • Worker Engagement: Classification preference or mandates, talent motivation, and talent communication

This discussion will provide you with insights into delivering precise and sophisticated messaging to job-seekers regardless of talent channel, as well as create better recruitment marketing for talent sourcing, engagement and management activities. Moreover, a TWS provider with a firm understanding of your workforce needs that is supported by the right talent technology and committed to continuous improvement will bring the value of a holistic view into your talent channels and workforce strategy. As a result, your organization will be able to make better data-driven decisions and broaden your choices from a single note to a full orchestra of talent options. While the journey takes time and dedication, the effect of this approach – in terms of access to talent, speed of engagement, cost control, and alignment of talent and business strategy – makes the effort essential for growth in today’s competitive global business environment.

Three Potential Pitfalls of High-Volume Hiring and How to Avoid Them

Posted on by akessler

A fairly large handful of colleagues and clients are aware that my family and I are having some fairly extensive renovation work done on our home. Partly because I have moaned about it on a weekly basis since January. Partly because the endless background sounds of drills, hammers and circular saws— and on one particularly fraught occasion, a builders exposed backside descending from a loft ladder behind me—have all permeated some of my Zoom video calls. 

Now that the work is 90 percent finished, I look back on the project, and there are some aspects of it that I wish we had done differently. In doing such a lot of work at one time, we inevitably compromised on our standards in some small ways when faced with the size of the project ahead. 

Hopefully, you can see where the analogy is leading. When we, or our clients, are faced with a mountain to climb in terms of the complexity or scarcity of required talent in big numbers, it’s easy to deviate away from best practice. And this is never more common than now. 

As organisations switch from hiring freezes to acute growth mode, we are seeing a dramatic shift back towards a candidate-driven market. As the next 12 months play out, I personally believe this will prove to be one of the most dramatic shifts in several decades, and employers will be scratching their heads at just how they are going to close the hiring gap. 

During these impending and inevitably large-scale campaigns, there are three potential risks that stand out to me:

1. Introducing new people will impact the company culture.

Firstly, hiring lots of new people can present a risk to the company culture you’ve spent a lot of effort crafting. This may be more prevalent within smaller organisations or for those hiring at the leadership level, but no organisation is truly immune. With any hiring that significantly impacts a team, you must consider not only the skills and competencies match, but also how the existing cultural makeup of that group will be affected. One way to counter this is through thorough training to help align old and new employees on the same cultural path. This should be led by leadership and serve as a catalyst for people—old and new—to embrace your organisation’s mission and values. 

2. High-volume hiring can increase the risk of compromising on quality.

When it comes to high-volume hiring, hiring managers are more inclined to drop their standards on quality-of-hire. Not so much in terms of matching skills and experience, which tends to be a more objective. Plus, a deviation away from the requisite profile can be harder for the hiring manager to justify in their own mind. However, I’ve seen a “lowering of the bar” when it comes to the softer skills—the personality traits and competency matches which are naturally more subjective. One effective antidote here is robust candidate assessment practices. Backing up your gut feel with a bespoke or even “off the shelf” assessment package can help make your judgement more objective. 

3. Diversity amongst new hires suffers.

Thirdly, there is naturally a risk to diversity in your hiring. We’re all hopefully well-versed on the myriad benefits that fostering a diverse and inclusive workforce can bring. But, what is a valid, primary consideration when hiring one or two team members can begin to feel like an added challenge when filling a large number of openings starts to weigh down on a manager. Is there a temptation to let diversity standards slip if the challenge of filling critical gaps on your team already feels impossible? Is one allowed to be pragmatic in the circumstances and just hire, regardless of the diversity credentials? 

I would argue that you wouldn’t hire someone who has the wrong skills for your team, so you shouldn’t be any more inclined to lower standards on diversity. As we all know, the wrong hiring decision now, only costs us in the long-term when we have to re-hire down the line. Better to get it right first time, whether that be a diversity match or a skills match. 

Ultimately, any short-term concessions we might be tempted to make under pressure to hire at the time will be a source of regret. So, don’t lower your standards and suffer from these pitfalls. Take it from me—the decision not to fit underfloor heating in our family bathroom will likely haunt me for the next decade or two!

Feedback Loop: The Key to a Strong Employer Brand (That You’re Probably Missing)

Posted on by nfuqua

A good candidate experience is based on a strong employer brand. But, many employers are missing basic steps that can have a drastic influence on how candidates perceive those organizations. In particular, they’re lacking processes to provide feedback to candidates and gather feedback from candidates.

In the recruitment process, feedback should go both ways. Employers should gather feedback from candidates about the experience, but they should also provide feedback – especially to candidates who make it deep into the selection process.

The Candidate Experience Gap

When employers around the globe rate the candidate experience they provide, they often give themselves good scores. However, when candidates are asked to rate their experience, they often have a very different opinion.

For example, in recent surveys by HRO Today and PeopleScout, 65% of companies in North America; 59% in Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA); and 84% in Asia-Pacific (APAC) rated their candidate experience as “good” or “excellent.” At the same time, only 5% of candidates in both regions rated their experience as excellent.

That is a massive gap and, at the end of the day, it’s the candidate’s opinion that matters. That’s because the effect of a bad experience can be severe. In fact, research by Deloitte shows that 80% of disappointed candidates will share their experience – and that has serious consequences for an organization’s employer brand.

Additionally, candidates are consumers. In research we completed with one of our telecom clients, we found that disappointed candidates actually canceled the service of that employer – and the potential impact of this was was worth millions of dollars to the bottom line based on the number of applications received in a typical year.

Finally, a bad candidate experience can also mean that employers miss out on the best talent. If another company offers a strong candidate a better experience, that candidate will likely choose that employer. This gap also illustrates that, while employers need to provide a good candidate experience, they also need the right metrics to determine just how good their experience is. And, where should that data be coming from? Candidate feedback.

Gathering Candidate Feedback

In the same HRO Today and PeopleScout surveys, employers reported significant challenges in capturing candidate feedback. In EMEA, 39% of employers said that one of their top candidate experience challenges was that they had “no formal way to capture candidate feedback.” On the flip side, only 26% of respondents in EMEA always ask for candidate feedback, whereas 44% never ask for it.

In North America, the numbers are only slightly better. In that survey, 31% of respondents rated “no way to capture candidate feedback” as a top challenge. And, while 32% reported that they never asked for feedback, only 21% claimed that they always did.

Similarly, in APAC, 23% of respondents cited “no way to capture candidate feedback” as a top challenge. However, far more employers in the region said they already collected feedback. Specifically, 46% said that they always did, while just 10% reported that they never did.

no formal way to capture canddiate feedback grahp
frequency of measuring candidate experience graph

Why is this so important? At PeopleScout, we work with clients to develop and test authentic employer value propositions and employer branding materials based on research, and a critical component of that research is understanding how candidates perceive an organization. A strong employer brand evolves over time as talent acquisition teams constantly test small adjustments; without candidate feedback, employers won’t know if those adjustments resonate with candidates.

We all know the process for providing feedback in the consumer space. After we get food delivered, we get a pop-up on our phone asking if we liked the food and how the driver did. Likewise, if we purchase a new pair of jeans or a television, we receive an email asking us to write a review of the product. Companies can then use that information to improve their products and services.

In the same way, the practice of asking for feedback should be integrated throughout the candidate experience. This can mean a screen at the end of an application asking the candidate to rate the application. Or, it can be a short text sent to a candidate asking them to rate their virtual interviewing experience after they complete an on-demand interview. It could also be a short questionnaire sent after a candidate completes a final interview – asking if the interviewer was on time and prepared, or if the candidate felt as though they were able to showcase their strengths.

Providing Feedback

As important as it is to gather candidate feedback, the feedback flow can’t just move in one direction. Employers should also provide feedback – especially to candidates who make it to the final round of interviewing. Unfortunately, the likelihood of that is greatly dependent on location.

The HRO Today and PeopleScout survey found that, in EMEA, more than half of respondents made it standard practice to provide feedback after a face-to-face interview, while only 13% of employers never provided it. However, the situation is vastly different in North America, where only 21% of employers reported that they always provided feedback, while 39% never did. In APAC, the numbers landed in the middle, with 38% of employers stating that they always provided feedback and 12% saying that they never did.

feedback to candidates after face to face interviews

This is a significant missed opportunity for employers. By the time a candidate reaches the final interview stage, not only have they invested a considerable amount of time and effort into an organization, but the employer has also poured a considerable amount of time, effort and money into recruiting this candidate. As such, a candidate who has invested so much time and effort into an employer can only feel an even deeper sting from a rejection, as compared to a candidate who failed to advance earlier in the process. Plus, in Europe, one survey found that candidates ranked providing feedback and providing a reason for rejection as two of the top three most important components in delivering a positive candidate experience. The only other factor in the top three was providing a short, easy application.

Additionally, by the time a candidate reaches the final interview, the recruiter and hiring manager have clearly seen potential for that candidate to be a great employee. And, while a candidate who finishes in second or third place in the recruitment process may not be the best fit for that role at that time, the candidate still has the potential to be a great employee at some point in the future. This makes it even more critical to provide meaningful feedback.

More precisely, providing feedback at this point in the process accomplishes two major things for candidates: First, it provides candidates with something in exchange for the time and effort they’ve put into your organization. While the candidate may or may not have received a job offer, feedback that they can use as they move forward in their career is the next-best outcome; often, candidates may receive a generic email or – even worse – no communication at all. Additionally, the feedback provides candidates with actionable steps that they can take going forward if they want to apply to your company again in the future. If the candidate was a close match, the feedback you provide after this interview could help them become the ideal candidate the next time they apply.

Feedback Loop

These surveys reveal critical information about the importance of feedback – both gathering it from candidates and providing it to candidates – at a critical time for employers. With high unemployment across the globe due to COVID-19 and the upcoming “Great Rehire” as world economies recover, employers are already seeing large application volumes and will soon see increased competition for talent.

That combination makes a good candidate experience especially important: When a large number of candidates have a bad experience, it can do significant damage to an organization’s employer brand. Furthermore, the best candidates won’t stay on the job market for long. A poor experience can mean losing out on the best talent at a time when the right people can aid in a strong recovery. Therefore, now is the best time for employers to develop their processes for giving and receiving feedback.

Check out the full report from HRO Today and PeopleScout, How HR’s Response Defines Employer Brand.