5 Steps to Strengthen Conference Connections: Lessons from SHRM Talent Management
SHRM hosted a fantastic Talent Management Conference at the Gaylord National Resort and Convention Center in National Harbor this week. What I love the most about HR conferences are the opportunities to see familiar faces, connect with new professionals and learn about the latest trends in recruiting.
I have been attending these types of events for over 10 years now, and as I reflect upon this conference, I am struck by how the way in which we communicate before, during and after conferences has evolved. A cocktail hour is now a TweetUp, with everyone swapping Twitter handles along with their business cards. Laptops and tablets are a “must” accessory during the session as attendees scramble to post a 140-character nuggets of knowledge to share with fans and followers. In real time, you can gain insight from other concurrent sessions to maximize your learning experience.
One consequence of this evolution is that it has changed how one prepares for conferences and interacts with speakers, fellow attendees and vendors. In order to take full advantage of the conference investment and experience, I recommend the following steps: (more…)
Candidate Sourcing: The Self-Selection Setback
by Kendra Pearson
I recently had the privilege of attending the SHRM Talent Management Conference in Washington, D.C., and I was impressed by the caliber of conversation that took place in and out of the classroom, and on and offline. A lot of the dialogue focused on the tools and processes HR professionals are currently using to attract, engage and retain talent.
My colleague Matt Adam led a session on Innovation in Recruitment that touched on this very topic, and he outlined the steps for building an effective and proactive sourcing and recruitment strategy. To kick off his presentation, he asked members of the audience to raise their hands and indicate which components they were including in their current program. While it was not surprising to see that many attendees were using LinkedIn and making updates to their career sites, it was interesting to note how few hands were raised when he asked if they were tracking candidate behavior within their websites.
Understanding which sources are attracting qualified talent is essential in order to make recruiting budget allocations from a position of intelligence. However, if you are relying on candidates to tell you how they learned about your company—to self-select—the resulting data will almost certainly include inaccuracies. So when you evaluate your marketing strategies to identify successful sources, how can you be sure you have the whole picture?
During his SHRM presentation, Matt shared an excellent example of how self-selection can skew an organization’s metrics. Take a look:
So, I’m challenging you to raise your hand.
If you don’t already track candidate behavior, is it at least an organizational goal to do so? Or, are you still relying on self-selection to track candidate behavior on your website? If you are ready to explore a more comprehensive and accurate measurement strategy, I encourage you to download our “Escape the Metrics Maze” white paper here.
Why Pinterest Should Grab Your Interest.
By Charles Davis
Ann Romney, the GOP candidate’s wife, organizes her family photos there. The U.S. Army recently issued a guide on how to use it. According to sources, it drove more traffic to its website in February 2012 than Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and YouTube combined.
If you’re out of the loop on what I’m talking about, it’s Pinterest, the third most popular media platform behind Facebook and Twitter. (more…)
How Sodexo views recruiting and retention in the age of social media.
By Cyndy Trivella
I had the pleasure of speaking with Arie Ball, the VP of Sourcing and Talent Acquisition at Sodexo. Sodexo is regarded as one of the premier employers in the U.S. market space and a highly sought-after company by job seekers. Sodexo is an organization that embraces social media and uses the social channels to their advantage by training employees to be brand ambassadors for their organization. It is truly an honor to speak with Arie.
Cyndy: I want to start off by asking this question. What does Sodexo do to be such a magnet for attracting job seekers?
Arie: We’re thrilled that you consider us a magnet for attracting job seekers. What’s interesting is that although Sodexo is the 21st largest employer in the world, if you look back just a few short years ago, we did not have the brand recognition that would attract the talent we needed to grow our company. As a “b2b” company, with 400,000 employees in more than 80 countries worldwide, we were not a highly visible employer. We knew we had a great company to work for, but our challenge was to find ways to share that with potential candidates. For us, it was also important not only to become a magnet to attract talent, but also that once hired, we wanted to ensure we could retain that talent—by being able to deliver on the expectations that our candidates had when joining us. (more…)
Award Winning Brand Messaging Tips from Titanic in 3D
True story: When Titanic was released in 1997, I was part of the theater audience not once, not twice, but SIX times. And, every single time I saw the movie, both in theaters and later on my VHS, and then DVD set, I cried went Rose promised she would “never let go.” Now, to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, James Cameron has released the 3D version of this movie. Fifteen years later, fans are still enamored by this story of history, action and romance.
As you steer the course of your branding strategy, what lessons can you learn from the launch of Titanic in 3D? (more…)
