Recruitment Archives - Talent Works International

How important is paid media in recruitment?

19 August 2019

In the first instalment of our blog series exploring the role of paid media in recruitment, we discussed how a lack of knowledge was having a negative impact. The focus of this piece is on the role paid advertising can play in fulfilling a recruitment requirement.

Businesses currently looking to hire are facing a number of challenges, not least the fact the market is being heavily candidate driven. In the majority of sectors, the number of opportunities available are exceeding the number of candidates qualified to fill them. Unsurprisingly, this is causing problems. However, utilising paid media can have a crucial part to play in alleviating this headache.

Enables a much larger reach

With hiring becoming increasingly difficult, the approach taken when advertising must be considered much more carefully. Organic strategies are now unlikely to be sufficient in bringing in the desired quality applications. Posting a job role on social media without any budget is likely to bring very minimal results. The reason is simple; only 10-20% of your page followers will be directly exposed to your post on their news feed.

A very different outcome is experienced when paid advertising is introduced. The level of investment influences the impact that is felt, but even a small budget is better than none at all. The number of people you can reach is significantly enhanced, which in turn should ensure better results are obtained.

If that ultimately results in a hire being made, the investment was money well spent.

Ability to target passive candidates

Not only does paid advertising enable a company to reach a much larger audience, within that audience will undoubtedly be a number of passive candidates. Even though these individuals are not actively looking for a new role, interest can still be created.

Attracting passive candidates can be extremely valuable when looking to make a quality hire. Typically, these individuals are already employed in a good job, and their current employer usually wants to retain them. Additionally, the absence of needing to find a new role means they are less likely to hide flaws and inflate skills.

To attract such candidates, the campaign must be powerful enough to grab the attention of top talent. Cutting through the noise can be the biggest challenge, and often requires specialist knowledge of the subject area.

Advanced targeting features

One of the biggest question marks around paid media surrounds the accuracy of the targeting. The answer is that it can be as focused as you want it to be, as the algorithms employed are highly sophisticated. The majority of top advertising platforms offer advanced features which enable you to target the specific audiences you’re attempting to reach. This negates the threat of spending money targeting people who are not relevant.

A range of features are available which help to ensure targeting is as focused and relevant as you want it to be. Specific location areas can be selected, with full control over the exact radiuses to be captured. Therefore, transport links in the surrounding areas can be taken into consideration. This is vitally important in recruitment when looking at commute times and distances.

In addition to the location flexibility offered, audiences can also be refined by interest, job title, and field of study. All are essential factors when targeting, especially in recruitment where experience and qualifications play such an integral role. These fields ensure that only those who match the requirements of the role are served the ads. As a consequence, more relevant applications should be received.

Assisting the long-term strategy

The short-term benefits of running paid media campaigns are clear, but they can also have a positive impact in the long-term. Many organisations have a hiring strategy in place, which align with future growth plans. So, even though there might be a recruitment drive taking place at the time of the media campaign running, success is not limited to the present.

One of the primary reasons for this is the boost that can be provided to your employer brand. By investing in paid media to promote available positions, a considerable number of people are exposed to your brand. This is not only beneficial in generating external awareness of your business, but it can assist future recruitment efforts too. Even if someone isn’t looking to apply for one of your roles right now, it doesn’t mean they won’t in future.

Enabling your brand message to be seen by a wider audience can generate intrigue around your business. This can result in individuals taking a keener interest in future developments, as well as any openings which may arise. Ultimately, a pipeline of talent, already familiar with your brand, can be generated well in advance.

Successfully recruiting top talent is far from straightforward. It can be difficult enough to find these individuals, let alone employ them. However, utilising paid media can offer the exposure required to clear this hurdle.

Written by Tom Chapman, Digital Marketing Executive at Talent Works International. For more information, contact tom.chapman@talent-works.com.

3 key ways to assess the success of your RPO partnership

15 August 2019

So, you’ve decided which RPO provider to go with, and you’re about to sign up and hand over to them. Your job is done.

Except… it isn’t.

Choosing your RPO provider is only the beginning.

After all, an RPO is a partnership. So, as the process moves forward, how do you continue to assess the success of this partnership? How do you evaluate whether your goals are being met, and your processes are transforming?

Of course, the hires being made are vital to this. However, there is much more to an RPO partnership than filling roles. An RPO provider works with an organisation not just to fill roles, but to improve their recruitment processes as a whole.

To make a real difference and enable a business to scale and transform, an RPO should be insight-led.

So, we’ve come up with 3 key ways to help you assess if your partnership with your RPO provider is doing what it needs to do.

Firstly, before an RPO begins, there should be a thorough implementation process.

This process should clarify that your provider knows what they’re doing and when it needs to be done by. To help employers understand if the RPO has been implemented properly, we’ve identified 6 steps of implementation.

Pre-planning

The provider should first outline what the aims of the project are and how those are going to be achieved.

Discovery

This stage identifies the methods agreed upon in the pre-planning stage in more detail. As a result, this phase should cover timelines, metrics, current and future EVP status, processes, forecasts, policies, and procedures.

Communication

At this stage, the key information and strategies should be communicated to the internal organisation.

Change

Then, any recommendations for change, with a full analysis of the potential impact, should be presented to the organisation.

Training

As a result of any changes, the RPO should identify if any training needs to take place to ensure there are no limits or negative impact on the new procedures.

Sign off

Once the processes have been agreed upon and the RPO is live, there should be a thorough analysis of the project for the first 30 days. This should ensure that moving forward, any relevant changes can be made.

Secondly, an RPO should review the partnership at regular intervals.

Every provider will do this differently, whether it’s weekly, quarterly, monthly, or all 3. Ultimately, a partnership is effective as long as it is continuing to meet business needs.

As such, an RPO partnership should be flexible, as those needs may change. What your business needs at the start of the relationship may not be what you need 6 months down the line. So, the RPO should be flexible to meet these potential changes in requirements.

Ultimately, these needs should not focus solely on numbers. After all, if your RPO partnership is providing your business with invaluable insight these regular reviews should be enabling your business to transform its recruitment processes. An insight-led RPO should provide your business with information on the market that could have an impact on your processes.

For example, if your brand awareness as an employer is low, or the salaries you are offering are below market rate, you need to be aware of these issues to implement changes. Insights such as these, along with consistently evolving solutions, should give your company the tools it needs to become a leader in the market.

Thirdly, an RPO should provide your organisation with the relevant metrics.

More specifically, these metrics should be different depending on who they are being reported to. For example, the Hiring Manager does not need the same information as the HR department.

As such, they should tailor their metrics to the audience receiving them. So, the hiring manager should have an in-depth understanding of the candidate market and current challenges, while the HR department should be informed of both cost and time per-hire. As a result, every member of the team should have the tools they need to focus on their goals.

As well as this, an RPO provider might provide live metrics which are accessible online to those who need to see them, when they need to see them. No matter the method, your organisation should have consistent assurance that your project is running smoothly.

So, to sum up?

An RPO should not just provide your organisation with hires. When implemented effectively, an RPO should give your organisation the tools it needs to improve its processes moving forward. This should affect everything from your recruitment marketing and employer brand to your onboarding processes, EVP, and internal culture.

Ultimately, a good RPO relies on a solid foundation of communication and honesty. Outsourcing your recruitment processes won’t always produce instant results. However, it will transform your organisation in the long run by enabling you to source, hire, and retain the talent you need to succeed.

For more information about RPO, you can download our RPO eBook here, or get in contact with us at marketing@talent-works.com.

Remote working: Are work-life boundaries getting blurred?

8 August 2019

Is remote working always a benefit?

Research has shown that remote working can increase productivity levels, promote better health and wellbeing amongst employees and, in turn, increase retention levels. As well as this, research shows that 80% of remote workers have higher morale and lower stress levels.

These benefits can be due to employees having more time for themselves and a greater capacity to fulfil personal commitments, such as going to the gym.

Remote workers can make their day work for them. They know when and how they work best, so they can ensure they get the most from their time. For example, some people are much more productive in the evenings, while others prefer the early morning, as soon as they get up.

However, when the home can also be considered the office, at what point can an employee switch off from their work life and focus solely on their personal life?

When there are no specific boundaries to a remote employee’s working day, there can be an assumption that they must always be available. Without the clear boundaries of an office space, there must be clear guidelines in place to ensure workers are not expected to be on call 24 hours a day.

While there is the potential for remote working to blur work-life boundaries, there is no reason why employers cannot stop this from becoming a problem. After all, according to Time, Talent and Energy, “employee burnout is an organisational problem, not a personal one.”

How can remote working prevent burnout?

Employee burnout is an increasing epidemic, with 23% of employees feeling burnout frequently, and 44% feeling burnout sometimes.

Employees who work remotely have the ability to control their schedule. As such, “they see the world in terms of tasks, not hours.” When employees are more focused on individual tasks, rather than completing a set number of hours per day, they are more likely to “feel accomplished” than mentally exhausted. Having ultimate autonomy over their own work-life can make employees feel trusted and valued.

As well as this, remote workers can call it a day once they are finished. Workers in office spaces may be mentally done by 3:30 pm. However, when they are required to be physically present for longer than that, they are challenged to continue working past their breaking point. If workers are continually pushed past their capacity, they are at a high risk of burnout.

However, does remote working blur work-life balance?

In some cases, remote working can certainly make differentiating between work-time and personal-time more difficult. When employees have the freedom to work whenever and wherever, there can be less clarity on what constitutes “work,” and what constitutes “life.”

However, there are ways employers can support their remote workers to avoid their work hours slipping into their personal time.

Communication is the key

In an organisation with positive communication, employees should be able to be clear about when they can be contacted and expected to respond. For some employees, this will be in between the typical hours of 9-5. However, for others, these times may change.

For example, parents who work remotely may start slightly later, take an hour out to attend a doctor’s appointment, and then make up the time in the evening. If they are able to communicate their schedule clearly to supervisors, they are unlikely to feel the need to be available in their off-hours.

Good communication enforces healthy boundaries

Setting boundaries “does not mean having no expectations or accountability.” Instead, employers who communicate effectively with their staff about their limits can cultivate a respectful relationship in which workers have the freedom to do their best work.

Often, the blurring of boundaries can be a result of the expectation to be available and respond at all times. In a survey, “Americans admitted that they regularly check and respond to emails and feel required to do work while on vacation.” As well as this, “Americans have an average of 9 unused vacation days.”

So, how can employers ensure remote employees strike a positive work-life balance?

Employers can help by respecting employees’ boundaries and making it clear that workers are not expected to respond to all emails immediately. As a result, employers who clarify when an employee is expected to respond, and when they are not, will cultivate trusting relationships with their workforce.

The result of such clarity is ultimately good for everybody. Workers will have higher morale, more energy to give in their work hours, and productivity will increase. Ultimately, employees with the autonomy to choose the working hours that work for them will be more motivated and better equipped to bring the best of themselves in their work hours.

As Bill Gates said, as competition for talent increases in the years ahead, “companies that give extra flexibility to their employees will have the edge.”

So, there is no reason not to take advantage of the benefits of remote working, for your organisation and your employees. Communicate effectively to ensure that boundaries are put in place that help both you and your employees to understand when work ends, and life begins.

Social diversity for employers

29 July 2019

Only 7% of the UK’s workforce attended an independent school and yet, graduates of independent schools make up over 50% “of the top level of most professions.” According to the State of the Nation report, “only 1 in 8 children from low-income backgrounds is likely to become a high-income earner.”

With statistics like these, it’s clear that serious action needs to be taken concerning social and economic diversity within the workplace. However, research shows that many organisations still do not have diversity agendas in place regarding candidates from lower economic backgrounds.

Why does social and economic diversity matter?

Many workplaces now have targets in place. Or, they at least have an awareness of the need for diversity in terms of sexuality, gender, ethnicity, age and disability when recruiting.

Research has evidenced the benefits of diversifying teams. Diverse teams perform better, encourage up to 83% more productivity and make decisions up to 60% faster than none diverse teams. Diverse teams are also “credited with better employee engagement and retention.”

Clearly, diversity within the workplace makes sense both economically and culturally. However, within these diversity agendas, candidates from lower-income backgrounds still do not remain a priority. Research by Talent Works International has uncovered that many employers overlook socio-economic diversity in their targets.

Why is this?

There are several potential reasons. It is more likely to be a culmination of all of them, as well as systemic prejudice, rather than one in particular.

Firstly, there is no law against class discrimination.

Therefore, employers are not legally obliged to consider socio-economic background or class in their recruitment processes. If employers are not obliged, there is no reward or immediate benefit to them putting targets in place. The benefits of diversity of thought are often long-term. So, it may seem like there is no pressing reason for employers to implement changes.

Secondly, class is relatively invisible and, still, difficult to define.

Class is a shifting social structure – “the architecture of British social hierarchy has undergone huge shifts as a result of broader changes in social, economic and cultural life.” The boundaries aren’t the same as they once were and, as such, people sometimes struggle to categorise themselves.

The challenges to working-class people are not necessarily apparent to people not directly affected by them. As such, the lack of working-class people in positions of influence becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. For example, those currently in positions to make changes don’t understand the difficulties. Those who do understand them do not have the power to create change.

So, how can employers create opportunities for candidates from lower economic backgrounds?

Organisations need to recognise that there is a problem in the first place. Then, they need to consider the class divide as not so much something to be overcome, but as an opportunity to grow. To adequately understand the opportunity for growth, employers need to assess their workforce to gain more detailed knowledge of where there is room for change.

Then, organisations need to commit to diversity agendas, which specifically target class and socio-economic background and set specific recruitment targets.

When it comes to diversity, drastic measures need to be taken to initiate real, lasting change. A true overhaul will become inevitable once working-class talent takes up the same space as talent from privileged backgrounds.

How to achieve these targets?

Employers should be open and honest about their diversity measures and goals with both their current workforce and any potential candidates.

This may seem like a risk; however, “publicly sharing data about company diversity can have tremendous benefits.” As Cindy Robbins, president and chief people officer at Salesforce, says, “sometimes to be an advocate, you have to be overt.” So, committing to an annual audit to measure your progress can establish your organisation as a leader in diversity measures.

For example, Buffer prides itself on being transparent about its organisational diversity, employee salaries, and cash flow. As such, Buffer has a well-established, positive employer brand and is extremely profitable, being valued at $60 million.

Why does your employer brand matter?

A strong employer brand can improve your recruitment processes and, ultimately, your company culture. This can lead to more quality hires and longer retention rates. Being open about your diversity rates can be integral to your talent attraction strategy. For instance, 78% of candidates look into a company’s reputation before even applying for a job with them.

So, now is the time to access a wealth of talent that could transform your company and become a leader for socio-economic diversity amongst employers. For more information on the class divide in workplaces, get in touch with us at marketing@talent-works.com to read our whitepaper on the topic.

How to make a new hire feel welcomed?

9 July 2019

We’ve all been there. It’s your first day in a new job at a brand new company.

It can be an extremely stressful experience, no matter how excited you are to be there or to have got the job. So why, when we’ve all experienced this, do we so often forget what it’s like? All too frequently, companies fail to welcome their new hires properly.

Those first few days in a job can shape an employees’ first impressions of your company and their expectations for the future. Changing jobs is a huge switch and can cause a lot of mental turbulence. Research shows that it can take 3-9 months for a new hire to feel settled and behave “authentically”. Of course, if a new hire isn’t appropriately welcomed, it can likely take longer than this.

If a new hire fails to settle and consider themselves to be part of the team, it seems inevitable that they will eventually look to settle somewhere else. According to the Work Institute Retention Report, “more than 3 in 4 employees who quit could have been retained by employers.”

So, when quality candidates are difficult to source, and the hiring process can be so costly, it makes sense to make sure you help your new employees to settle in.

So, here are some tips for welcoming a new hire.

1. Prepare for them arriving.

Nothing makes someone feel less welcome than feeling as though they’d been forgotten about. Make sure a desk is prepared for them. Maybe add a welcoming gift or a card. Add some personal touches that show you’ve prepared for their arrival.

2. For their first day, give them a later start time.

Chances are, you still have last minute things to organise. Maybe you need to set up their laptop or get some work out of the way, so you can spend the time with them that you need to. It’s much better that when they arrive, everything’s ready to go, rather than waiting around for tasks to be completed. Also, nobody sleeps well the night before a new job. Giving them an extra hour provides an added touch of thoughtfulness.

3. Introduce them to everyone.

Of course, this is more difficult in very large companies, so it’s not always entirely attainable. However, a newly hired employee should be introduced to all the members of their own team, at the very least. If you want to go one step further, you could try team bonding exercises to really break the ice.

4. Take them out for lunch.

Keep this a relatively small affair, depending on who they’ll be working most closely with. Then, use this time to get to know them a little better. The interview process can be gruelling, and it can result in you only getting to know a particular side of each other. So, take away the pressure and just spend some time with them.

5. Introduce them to their new role slowly.

Don’t throw them in at the deep end to see if they sink or swim. Not everyone deals with tests all that well. When you’ve been with a company for a long time, it can be easy to forget that ingrained processes and systems are only familiar to you because you’ve been doing them over and over. For a new hire, those processes will take time to learn. So, spend the first few days giving them that time, while completing small tasks so that they slip seamlessly into their new role over the next couple of weeks.

6. Get the paperwork done. However, maybe don’t do it first thing.

Many companies recommend getting the paperwork out of the way, which is entirely understandable. However, consider leaving it until the second day, especially if there’s a lot of paperwork. This approach means that the employees first day can be dedicated solely to familiarising themselves with the place and the people. Spending your first day locked in an office filling out several different types of form can be an underwhelming start to a new job.

7. Give them a chance to speak.

At the end of the day, this is a massive step for them. They’re now dedicating their time to pursuing a career with your company. They might need to talk to be able to process the change. So, instead of always telling them new things that they need to take on board and learn, ask them questions. Give them a chance to feedback on the hiring process. Make them feel safe to acknowledge if they’re not quite sure about something.

Ultimately, the most important part of welcoming a new hire is making them feel comfortable. Everyone’s different, and some hires will require more attention than others.

However, it is crucial for a longstanding relationship that the first impression is positive. Otherwise, you will spend twice the time trying to make up for a negative first impression, wasting both your time and theirs.

So, remember your own experiences as a new hire. There’s no rulebook, and these are just some ideas. Rather, treat people the way you would like to be treated, and you’ll be on the right track.

Tech recruitment: 5 reasons why you should utilise RPO

2 July 2019

There is a war for talent in the tech field. According to research, 86% of recruiters said they “find it challenging to find and hire technical talent”.

So, why is it so difficult to hire tech talent?

In short, there is a limited pool of candidates. Technical innovations over the last few years have, rather than depleting the need for human labour, increased it. As such, the outlook for work in the tech industry is extremely positive. However, while machines have or will take over “hard, dangerous and dull jobs”, technology has “created more jobs than it has destroyed”.

What does this mean?

There is an increasing number of roles available in the tech industry, many of which the current workforce does not have the skills to fill. This is because the tech industry is developing far more quickly than the workforce has had time to keep up with. So, candidates with the right skill sets for highly-skilled roles are few and far between. As a result, 53% of recruiters “have hired tech talent despite candidates not meeting the job requirements.”

So, fears that technology will make human labour obsolete are clearly unfounded. However, until the next generations of tech-savvy talent enter the workforce, there is likely to be a skills shortage within the tech field.

For your company to continue to innovate effectively and keep up with technological advancements, there are things you can do to attract and retain the tech talent you need. Utilising Recruitment Process Outsourcing to hire your tech talent can have many benefits for your company.

So, we’ve summarised a few of these here.

When working with an RPO which specialises in tech hiring, you can gain from the experience of recruiters who have worked extensively within the tech field. This means that they have a nuanced understanding of the role being hired for and what it requires. So, they already have a pool of highly skilled talent waiting to be contacted. All this experience can significantly reduce your time-to-hire, saving money on advertising and lengthy recruitment processes.
In a candidate shortage, all organisations need to be thinking of ways to increase their retention rates. The good news is, an RPO can help you do just that. An RPO can ensure that your company maintains a positive employer brand throughout the recruitment process, improving the candidate experience. An improved candidate experience improves the “perception of employees about the company”, thereby increasing retention rates.
If you don’t want to outsource all your recruitment processes, but you need to hire more staff for a specific department (such as Tech), you can utilise Project RPO. This provides a solution which is both flexible and scalable to your needs, while giving you access to those experienced tech recruiters. As such, you can utilise an RPO just for your tech hiring needs. This flexibility can save your company money and ensure you fill those tech roles quickly.
RPO providers often have a capacity for research and industry-led insight. This means that your provider can assess the problems with Tech hiring your company is encountering and provide insight-led solutions. For example, a researcher can assess everything from salary and culture to job descriptions and broader problems within the market. This should then give you a realistic idea of the talent available and how to appeal to the right people with suitable marketing techniques and offerings.
Some RPO providers have marketing, creative and digital capacities. This can enable the team working on your behalf to market your roles with the innovation required to attract top talent. Too many companies underestimate the value of a high-quality job advert. RPO providers with creative capacity can utilise the expertise of copywriters and designers. This ensures that your campaign is targeted to the right audience, in terms of both the language and overall design. An RPO’s digital capacity can create an application process which is quick and tech-literate, therefore appealing to tech-savvy applicants.

To get ahead of the game

You need to appeal to applicants from the very start of the process. This begins with talent attraction, refining your employer brand and EVP. So, by the time the applicant gets to interview stage, you don’t have to convince them of your company’s values because they are already aware of them.

Utilising RPO for tech talent can give you access to those insight-led techniques to ensure that your company attracts those highly-skilled applicants who are so in demand.

RPO, after all, is about much more than just recruitment. RPO can give your company the capability to truly define itself as an employer. So, it’s time to ask what your organisation wants to say and how it wants to say it.

To find out more about how RPO can help to solve your tech hiring troubles, download our RPO eBook.

Should you be checking your candidates’ social media pages?

24 June 2019

These days, most employers check their candidates’ social media accounts. It seems inevitable, in a culture in which social media use is so prevalent. Checking your candidates’ social media can give a quick insight into their personality. It can also be used as a tool to see if the way they’ve portrayed themselves on their CV and during interviews is accurate.

However, is it ethical?

70% of prospective employers check their candidates’ social media profiles, and 7% plan to start. With this many employers’ utilising this method in their recruitment processes, there are questions about ethics that need to be asked. Such as, is this method invading candidates’ personal lives too far? As well as this there are legal risks involved with seeking out information on job applicants further than the information they have directly given you.

Your company may already have strict rules in place about what hiring managers should and should not know about candidates before interview. For example, any company which utilises blind recruitment techniques should not be checking social media profiles.

However, while many companies do not have such strict restrictions in place, all companies have specific guidelines to follow. This is when it comes to avoiding discrimination based on age, gender, sexuality and race. So, is it fair to judge a candidate on how they portray themselves on social media?

Can you avoid personal bias when screening social media profiles?

Social media profiles can reveal all the above characteristics of a candidate. As well as this, social media can open up a window into other, personal aspects of their lives that they have not directly let you in on.

So, if your recruitment process includes social media profile screening, hiring managers should avoid doing this until they have met the candidate for an initial interview. Utilising the technique before the interview stage could result in accusations of a biased approach to recruitment. No matter your companies’ intentions, it’s always best to eradicate room for misinterpretation.

Social media is most commonly used as a place for personal expression. It should, therefore, be considered that most people do not have future employers in mind when updating their profiles. Social media is, essentially, personal, not professional. So, holding candidates to a professional standard on their profile might mean your company turns down applicants who have the potential to be a perfect fit for the job.

Judging a candidate’s profile to assess if they are a good fit for your company culture is like judging a book by its cover. Social media profiles are rarely completely honest. Often, they show particular elements of people’s lives while leaving out huge chunks.

What are recruiters looking for when screening online profiles?

Research shows that recruiters have been put off candidates by specific things that bother them personally. For example, political rants, alcohol consumption and grammatical errors all proved to be red flags.

However, you cannot judge a person’s entire personality from the parts they choose to show on their social media pages. Often, social media tends to exaggerate some aspects of people’s lives by isolating it.

So, ultimately, there is a real risk that your company could be missing out by checking social media profiles. After all, if there are questions you would never ask in an interview, it is best not to find out the answers via social media inadvertently. Social media profiles very rarely paint the full picture.

Of course, there are benefits to checking social media profiles.

Research has shown that 58% of employers who conduct social media screenings are looking for information to support a candidate’s application. For example, to clarify a person’s identity. If candidates make claims about their personality in their CV, you can try to check these against what they show online. You can also use the platform to gain more of a glimpse into who they are, beyond the CV.

However, it is possible that employers are becoming too dependent on this method to support their recruitment processes. According to research, 47% of employers said they wouldn’t call a person for an interview if they can’t find them online. This indicates a reliance on online profiles that, in some cases, eliminates a candidate from the process.

To conclude?

It is easy to presume that most people now use social media in some capacity. However, many people choose not to. So, it is important not to allow preconceptions to overrule ethical and personal recruitment processes.

So, while checking social media pages can have its uses, it is best to do so with caution. Ultimately, never allow the importance of an online presence to come before a face-to-face communication with a candidate. Digital processes can never replace the importance of human interaction.

How is a lack of knowledge on paid media affecting the recruitment industry?

20 June 2019

There are numerous avenues available when looking to fulfil a recruitment requirement. The majority of these are well known and have been discussed at great length. One strategy that doesn’t fall into this category is paid media.

Despite the concept being well documented over recent years, it continues to be largely overlooked for recruitment needs. Google, Facebook and LinkedIn, amongst others, offer strong advertising capabilities. Therefore, considering the wealth of options available, the current lack of use is somewhat surprising.

What is behind the current reluctance?

So, what is preventing businesses from taking advantage of paid media advertising for their recruitment? There are a number of potential explanations, but a lack of understanding features high on the list.

A likely scenario is that decision-makers are concluding that there is insufficient knowledge within their organisation to adequately set up, and maintain, a successful paid media campaign. With the complexities that accompany the day-to-day running of these channels, it’s unsurprising that this is proving challenging.

Which aspects are discouraging the use of paid media?

Even though an increasing number of organisations recognise the importance of paid social media, they also understand the need for expertise in the area.

There are several potential pitfalls when attempting to run a successful campaign, and mistakes can be easy to make when not experienced in the area. There must be consideration shown to the locations to target, the campaign goals to set, the tracking of users who have visited the landing page, the call to action and the media channels to utilise. Failure to acknowledge any one of these aspects can significantly harm the success of a campaign.

How can this barrier be cleared?

However, there is a straightforward solution to this problem; partnering with a specialist recruitment marketing company. By doing so, the creation of your campaign, as well as the daily maintenance necessary to maximise success, are all handled on your behalf. Not only will this ensure adverts are optimised to target the largest and most relevant audiences, but it will also significantly increase the likelihood of good quality applications being harvested.

Another option open to businesses is the use of an RPO provider. RPO, of course, means much more than just handling paid media campaigns, but it can certainly fall into the overall offering.

All aspects of the recruitment campaign can be managed, from the construction of a landing page to the creation of assets to advertise across the most appropriate paid media channels. Such specialisms highlight the value of an RPO provider and the crucial role they can have in ensuring the success of your recruitment campaign.

Witness the success of consumer marketing

How often have you witnessed adverts on the internet related to products or services you have recently searched for? No doubt, countless times. In turn, has that ever prompted you to click through to the page and purchase that item or take advantage of that offer? Most likely. This is a classic example of remarketing.

By retargeting ads to individuals who have recently visited a site, there is a higher probability that the final action will be taken. If an individual has already displayed interest, an additional reminder could be all that’s required to tempt that person into eventually making that all important purchase.

How can it be replicated in recruitment?

A similar approach can also work effectively in recruitment. As a job seeker or passive candidate, you’re likely to come across a whole host of job advertisements while searching the internet. Within that, you may click through to roles which sound of potential interest. However, that will not always translate into an application being made.

In many cases, the timing may not be right to make a move, even if the proposition sounds like an interesting one. Despite this, if served the ad again at a later date through remarketing, it not only reminds the individual of the opportunity, it could represent an appropriate time to register.

Consequently, a similar degree of success can be enjoyed as is experienced with consumer marketing.

Don’t let a shortage of expertise be a roadblock

The digital transformation process taking place at the moment should provide a great incentive to give the green light on utilising paid media. Without doing so, you risk missing out on much of the top talent. By failing to open up your proposition to a broader audience, the quality of responses is likely to be significantly reduced.

Don’t let a lack of expertise within your business prevent you from adopting paid media strategies to propel your recruitment campaign.

This is the first instalment of a blog series exploring the subject of paid media within the recruitment industry, so look out for more over the coming weeks.

Written by Tom Chapman, Digital Marketing Executive at Talent Works International. For more information, contact tom.chapman@talent-works.com.

The case for a flexible working policy

5 Key Benefits

Only 50% of UK employers offer flexible working. Yet, research shows that 87% of the UK’s full-time workforce wants to work flexibly, and 73% of the workforce want a workplace culture where people are judged on the work they do rather than the hours they put in. As well as this, new research shows that flexible working is more important than pay.

So, what is holding some employers back from embracing this modern way of working? Your company could save money, and increase productivity rates.

Flexible working is often seen as an initiative for working parents. However, there are many other benefits to giving employees the freedom to manage their own workload and schedule. These benefits apply not only to employees but also to the company itself.

Natalie Pancheri, HR Policy Advisor at the London School of Economics, has said: “the benefits of flexible working are well established, from increased employee engagement to better performance.”

Research shows that it’s younger workers who most want to work flexibly. As it stands, millennials are due to take over the workplace. So, it makes sense to create a workplace culture that attracts them. After all, in a candidate-driven market, employers need to make sure they have their pick of the talent.

Work-life balance is no longer a concept for the future, but it is entirely achievable now with the right policies and company culture. Heather Niblett, Client Partner for Talent Works International, works in our Northampton office 3 days a week and 2 days a week from home, as she works 2 hours away from the office. She is left to manage her own time, with her days in and out of the office changing from week to week depending on her schedule.

So, we thought we’d take you through some of the key benefits of introducing a flexible working policy into your business.

Employee Retention

As the saying goes, employees don’t leave an employer, they leave a manager. So, it goes to show that employees who feel trusted by their manager to manage their own schedule will feel no need to go elsewhere to find that trust.

High retention rates can save money and boost profitability, as employees gain experience and keep that knowledge within your company. Retaining your staff can also mean that better working partnerships are developed over a period of time. This strengthens working relations, increasing productivity and employee morale.

According to research, 76% of employees who do not feel valued look for other job opportunities.

Employee satisfaction

The value of creating a positive work-life balance for employees cannot be underestimated. Employees who can get their work done on their own terms, while also making time for appointments and self-care (such as a yoga class etc.) are more likely to be happy in their job.

As previously mentioned, employees would rather be valued on their achievements, rather than the time they spend in the office. After all, having employees in the office 8 hours a day has never guaranteed that those are 8 productive hours. If the same amount of work can be achieved while allowing the employee to prioritise their personal life, the employee will be happier.

After all, a happy workforce is a productive workforce.

Reduced commute

The hours an employee spends commuting are not productive hours. By getting rid of the need to commute, the employee can gain back that time to either rest or work. Either way, the employer is gaining an employee who is happier, more motivated and able to achieve more.

Increased productivity

Productivity has been shown to go up when employers utilise flexible working. A study of UK workers has shown that flexible working motivated employees to achieve more at work.

When employees must spend a certain amount of time in the office, they inevitably try to fulfil all their other responsibilities around these hours. So, it’s no wonder employees are burning out trying to achieve everything.

Giving employees the ability to manage their own time ultimately means less time wasted. It provides the employee with the autonomy they need to ensure they are healthy and motivated.

Reduced absenteeism

Employees who are less stressed are less likely to become unwell, ensuring they can continue to give their all to the job. According to research, “work-related stress, anxiety or depression accounts for over half of all working days lost due to ill health.”

It goes to show, taking care of your employees pays off in the end. Having happy employees can affect everything from company profits to your company culture and employer brand. In this candidate-driven market, it is of prime importance for companies to ensure their workplace policies are attracting the best talent in the market.

So, increase employee satisfaction and retention rates and increase your productivity rates by enabling your employees to manage their own workload. By trusting your employees to manage their time, you will cultivate a culture of trust and honesty. This will, in turn, result in loyal staff and low turnover rates. Ultimately, there’s everything to gain and nothing to lose by implementing a flexible working policy in your workplace.