Leveraging your social media channels effectively enables candidates to gain an authentic snapshot of your organisation and culture, and provide deep, interactive content experiences. But using social media to enhance your employer brand requires some strategic planning. 

Choose your channels wisely

Your organisation can’t be all things at once, so why try to be across every social media channel? In boosting your employer brand, choose the channels you are most likely to reach your target talent demographic. Here are some statistics to keep in mind. 

Although the latest statistics show that Facebook (the most-used platform in Australia) has 15,000,000 users per month, the top demographic of users (6,100,000 of them) are actually users aged 25 to 39. This is compared to 4,100,000 users who are aged 40 to 55. 

Another popular platform for recruiters, LinkedIn (which actually sits at number seven on the most-used list), also produces some interesting statistics. Out of the 5,500,000 monthly active Australian users, the largest user group are those aged 25 to 34, and over 57% of the total user group are women. The highest difference between male and female users also occurs within people aged 35 to 44, where women lead by 310,000.

Create a content plan and post consistently 

Build content with your employee value proposition (EVP) in mind. Your employee value proposition (EVP) should be succinct, honest and authentic (two attributes social media users value highly). You are then more likely to make a lasting impression on passive and active job seekers alike. 

Because employer branding is on ongoing strategy, create a content plan that regularly incorporates employer branding content. Content ideas could include:

• Employee quotes
• Profile stories 
• Organisational events
• Awards nights 
• Pictures of your real team members. 

(Tip: use social media scheduling tools to make content-sharing quick and easy.) 

Be consistent in the execution of your employer branding social media strategy. Brands that post employer branding content sporadically (just like employers who only put ads out when they have a position to fill) often struggle to create a robust talent pipeline. 

A continuous stream of consistent messaging will keep your employer brand top of mind for potential candidates. 

Research has shown that nine out of ten candidates would apply for a job for an employer with an employer brand that is actively maintained.

Careers and values videos

Employer branding videos are fast becoming a critical recruitment marketing strategy. Not to mention, incorporating visual collateral and recognisable brand markers, like your logo and brand colours, also boosts your employer brand. In fact, a recent study found that people are 44 per cent more likely to engage with brands that post videos or images than brands that don’t. 

Sites like Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat are all heavily video-focused, and YouTube in particular (number two on the most-used list), is incredibly popular with around 15 million Australians visiting the site every month. Interestingly, YouTube has also displaced Facebook as the platform of choice for Generation Z – with 89 per cent of Australians aged 14 to 27 visiting the site in an average four weeks.

However, video isn’t just about getting candidates excited about your employer brand. It can also bridge your content gaps through storytelling, and ideally, cover a wide range of topics in formats that are most likely to resonate with your audience. This means going beyond just employee testimonials in order to build an authentic employer brand, by offering real insights into the life of your organisation. 

Empower your people

The power of referrals and word-of-mouth reviews can’t be underestimated, and there are no better advocates for your employer brand than your current, satisfied employees. Potential candidates also want to read content from real people, and employee-generated content is a powerful way to boost your employer brand, promote to your values, mission and benefits.

Encourage your team members to like, share and re-tweet social content, which not only keeps them informed and engaged, but increases the reach of your employer brand. Your employees have a number of connections on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook (to name a few) that can take your brand awareness to the next level. You can even encourage your team members to generate and share their own content! (Tip: it’s a great idea to share and promote social media guidelines or a branding pack to help your employees build their personal brand and get the most traction from their content.) 

So … how do know your strategy is working? 

The strength of your employer brand can be challenging to measure, however there are a few metrics that can help. These include: 

• • Tracking the growth rate of your channels over time, and comparing the growth rate before and after social campaigns are launched.

• Promoting candidate-centric social content and keeping track of how many interactions you receive in comparison to other content to create benchmarks and inform your strategy. 

• • Using and tracking UTM links with URL shorteners on social media to your website, in your call to action statements. 
  • Tracking the volume and percentage of website traffic from social media using Google Analytics.

• Setting up goals in Google Analytics to measure specific actions your incoming users are taking.

Building your employer brand via social media is crucial for organisation success and should be an intrinsic part of your overall recruitment marketing strategy. Not only are potential candidates checking your social media activity regularly, but so are your current employees!

A robust employer brand provides valuable insights into how your organisation treats employees and what it would be like to work with you. So don’t be left behind in the digital dust. Start building your employer brand and tracking results consistently. 

How important is your employer brand to your organisation? Do you find it difficult to stand out from your competitors when it comes to attracting talent? Share a comment below and continue the conversation on LinkedIn.

With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014. 

Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.

The post How to leverage social media to amplify your employer brand appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Programmatic recruitment is the use of data-driven technology to automate, manage and optimise your recruitment advertising process. It enables recruitment advertisements to be seen by the right candidates on the right digital platforms at the right time, which not only saves you time and money but benefits employers, candidates and job seekers alike.

There are four key components to programmatic recruitment – big data analytics, recruitment advertisement targeting, dynamic budget allocation and bidding, and campaign optimisation. 

1. Big data analytics

Big data refers to data sets that are so large and complex that traditional data processing software cannot deal with them. Using big data for recruitment takes all the guesswork out of advertising your job openings and offers insights into how, when and where to post a job to maximise your candidate quality and cost-of-hire. It can also minimise the time it takes to fill the position.

Developers are leveraging big data in machine learning, the ability for a computer to build trends in data, and ‘learn’ without being programmed. It can identify trends and job seeker patterns over time based on user ‘data points’ including location, time of day, type of job site, candidate experience, and the type of jobs viewed. It can also analyse online behaviour, including the number of user clicks to improve how algorithms work and how candidates are targeted.

Organisations are leveraging predictive analytics from machine learning, using historical data to analyse trends and make predictions about the future – it’s the epitome of a recruiter’s crystal ball! 

2. Recruitment advertisement targeting

Programmatic advertising uses job classification technology that combines a comprehensive taxonomy of skills, job types and synonyms with sophisticated natural language processing (NLP) algorithms. (Just in case you need a buzzword brush-up, taxonomy refers to a related term scheme of classification and categorising.) Basically, it allows you to interpret the context and accurately classify recruitment advertisements to predict performance and create targeted recruitment campaigns.

In data-driven recruitment, it refers to skills, job titles, synonyms and common search terms for the job. It’s used as the basis for job matching and classification. In simple terms? It’s a job description decoder. 

NLP involves the interactions between computers and human or ‘natural’ languages, in particular, how computers can be programmed to process and analyse large amounts of natural language data. So for example, when you refer to a job description as a ‘Chief People Person’, your technology will recognise that you mean ‘Head of HR’. 

3. Dynamic budget allocation 

Determining how to allocate your recruitment advertising dollars effectively can be a daunting task. Dynamic budget allocation is an auction-based approach where you buy or sell impression-level advertising inventory based on real-time competitive bids for the impression.

The most effective programmatic recruitment platforms use intelligent algorithms and predictive data to automatically manage your spend and cost-per-click (CPC) rates per job and per site to get the best return on investment. 

Performance-based recruitment advertising strategies use pay-for-performance technologies including Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), and real-time performance monitoring to increase recruitment advertisements performance and gain return on investment from your recruitment spend. It lets you understand what you’re paying for. 

4. Campaign optimisation

Programmatic recruitment is not really programmatic if it lacks ongoing campaign optimisation. Our few tips on how you can achieve this are: 

• Tailor targeting. Continue to develop precise and relevant marketing strategies that will enable you to reach your target market/s. 
• Maximise messaging. Ensure your ad copy reflects your employer brand, and is succinct, engaging and informative. 
• Track timing. Use data and metrics to gauge when and where to post a job and what the optimal frequency and recency should be.
• Leverage learnings. Monitor your competitor activity and trial different mixes of active and passive channels to maximise your visibility and return on investment. 

Harness the power of programmatic recruitment and data-driven technology to maximise the impact of your recruitment campaigns. By automating, managing and optimising your advertising process, save time, money and attract the best people to your organisation. 

What are your thoughts on programmatic recruitment? Post a comment below and continue the conversation on LinkedIn. 

With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014. 

Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.

The post Trend alert: programmatic recruitment. What is it and how does it work?  appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

After a long history of relying on subjective tools as evidence of our opinions, most of us today demand some form of data to support our beliefs and strategies. But according to New York University’s Professor of Data Science Andrea Jones-Rooy, this has resulted in data being muddled with the truth, which can have not-so-positive implications for our ability to understand, explain, and improve the way things work.

How reliable is data?

According to Jones-Rooy, “Data is an imperfect approximation of some aspect of the world at a certain time and place. It’s what results when humans want to know something about something, try to measure it, and then combine those measurements in particular ways”.

We know there is considerable value in data, but why use the word ‘imperfect’? In her opinion, data is a “fundamentally human construct” and therefore subject to limitations, biases and other imperfections.

“Data is a necessary ingredient in discovery, but you need a human to select it, shape it, and then turn it into an insight. Data is therefore only as useful as its quality and the skills of the person wielding it”.

According to Jones-Rooy, there are four main ways that imperfections occur in data – random errors, systematic errors, errors of choosing what to measure, and errors of exclusion. Let’s look at them in a bit more detail.

1. Random errors in data

These occur when we measure something and then due to error, dysfunctional tools or equipment, or carelessness in its collection, the recorded data is wrong. An example Jones-Rooy gives is in the area of medical screenings, in particular for cancer. A positive result may suggest we have cancer, however we won’t if a ‘false positive’ is determined by further testing.

“There are lots of reasons this might happen, most of which boil down to a misstep in the process of turning a fact about the world (whether or not we have cancer) into data (through mammograms and humans)”.

On the down side, false positives in a cancer screening can lead to mental health consequences, however they can also lead to more vigilant screening, and a belief that future errors are statistically random and will cancel out over time.

2. Systematic errors in data

These refer to data that consistently appears in data collections at the expense of other data, which can potentially lead to faulty conclusions. According to Jones-Rooy, it can occur for different reasons including who you sample and when. ‘Selection bias’ is a common type of systematic error.

“Medical studies are sadly riddled with systematic biases. They are often based on people who are already sick and who have the means to get to a doctor or enrol in a clinical trial. If everyone who has an Apple Watch, for example, could just send their heart rates and steps per day to the cloud, then we would have tons more data with less bias. But this may introduce a whole new bias: The data will likely now be skewed to wealthy members of the Western world”.

3. Measurement errors in data

These occur when we think we are measuring one thing, but we’re actually measuring something else. An example Jones-Rooy gives in the recruitment sector is when employees turn to data and metrics to make more objective hiring decisions, including attracting top talent.

According to her, it is important to ask yourself if your data is measuring what you think it’s measuring. And even further, why are you measuring data in this way in the first place? Is there another way you could more thoroughly understand candidates? And given your current data, can you adjust your filters to somehow reduce any bias?

For example, when choosing candidates for particular roles, is your preference for those who have a university degree?  Because according to Jones-Rooy, “rather than that being a measure of talent, it might just be a measure of membership in a social network that gave someone the ‘right’ sequence of opportunities to get them into a good college in the first place”.

4. Errors of exclusion in data

These happen when whole populations are ignored in data sets, which can then set a precedent for further exclusion. An example Jones-Rooy cites is the fact that more women in the US die from heart attacks than men, which is thought to be partly due to most cardiovascular data being based on men. Men also experience different systems to women, which can lead to incorrect diagnoses.

Choosing to study something can also incentivise further research on the topic, which Jones-Rooy believes is a bias in itself. This is because it’s easier to build on existing databases rather than creating your own, so researchers often study certain topics at the expense of others. If this behaviour is repeated enough times, then certain groups become ‘defaults’, for example, men are the ‘default’ in US heart disease studies as opposed to women.

How is data used in recruitment?

In its simplest form, recruitment data is gathered from your current and prospective employees and used to garner key insights. These insights can lead to ‘datafication’ (which is the transformation of data into new forms of value), and you can leverage it in a variety of ways. These include designing better processes and making more effective decisions, to better understanding your job candidates, employees and the organisations you’re competing with.

Using advanced analytics including using predictive methods can also give you insights into why things happened, and what will or should happen in the future. So for example, analysing a candidate’s data and comparing their attributes to what’s needed in the current workforce, can help you identify the best ways to attract top talent who stay with their employers for longer.

So … is data still worth leveraging?

In terms of the value of data in recruitment, the leveraging of ‘structured data’ alone (like employees’ personal information and employment history) is not sufficient. You should use it in combination with ‘unstructured data’, which includes things like emails, survey data, social media posts and photos, videos and audio recordings, because over time, the ability to analyse it will become more and more critical to the recruitment industry.

It’s also worth remembering that the value of data management doesn’t come from ‘completeness’ or ‘effectiveness’, but from you being able to understand its limitations.

As Jones-Rooy summarises, “Just as we want to analyse things carefully with statistics and algorithms, we also need to collect (data) carefully, too. We are only as strong as our humility and awareness of our limitations. We should not just ask what does it say, but ask who collected it, how did they do it, and how did those decisions affect the results?”

What are your experiences with using data for your recruitment strategies? Share a comment below and continue the conversation on LinkedIn. 

Sources:

Quartz – July 2019

Digital List Magazine – March 2019

With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014. 

Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.

The post The pros and pitfalls of data-driven recruiting appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Universum has just released its WMAE report for 2019, where it surveyed students from the world’s 12 largest economies who provided insights on their favourite employer brands, preferred industries and their career goals. So … grab a coffee, sit back and prepare for some game-changing insights!

Preferred Industries

According to global figures, male business students are now most often choosing financial services careers, whereas female business students are choosing careers in management and strategy consulting over others. The banking, media and advertising, auditing and accounting and E-commerce sectors are also among the top 5 choices for surveyed business students.

Over the past 10 years, the biggest gains in terms of the preferred industries for male and female business students have been in E-commerce (ranked number 6 compared to number 22 a decade ago) and real estate (rising 11 points over the last 10 years). Conversely, a career in fast-moving consumer goods has dropped from number 12 to number 24 over a 10-year period.

Women and men in the IT and engineering sectors have showed marked differences in industry preferences, with automotive industry careers at number four for men and number 10 for women. However, careers in industrial engineering and manufacturing, software and computer services, and aerospace and defence were all in the top 5 choices for both male and female IT/engineering students.

In terms of the last 10 years, the big winner has been in the software industry, which has been the top career choice by a large margin, rising from seventh to first place. The aerospace and defence sectors have also gained popularity, possibly due to increased excitement about engineering innovations that are changing the fundamental fabric of our society.

“The trends we’re seeing are driving the increase in interest in E-commerce, the automotive and tech sectors. In fact, each of them is embracing new technologies at a fast pace and technology that is working very hard at addressing the growing need for flexibility at work, work-life balance, celebrating fun at work and D&I as key elements of their culture.” Claudia Tattanelli – Chairman, Strategic Board at Universum

Top 10 World Most Attractive Employers

In terms of employer brands, this year’s rankings saw far greater movement compared to previous years, although Google did preserve its top spot as the World’s Most Attractive Employer (WMAE) for business students. Ernst & Young (EY) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) both gained ground this year – EY has remained in the Top 5 over the last six years, possibly by redefining its talent acquisition approach, particularly in relation to attracting people from STEM (science, technology, maths and engineering) backgrounds.

In 2019, three of the top 4 WMAE spots were occupied by Big Four firms – EY, PwC and Deloitte, and of those, Deloitte gained the most ground, moving from seventh to fourth place since 2013.

In terms of the World’s Most Attractive Employers, reputations have changed across employer brands in 2019 among IT and engineering students. Google, Microsoft and Apple all maintained their Top 3 WMAE rankings from last year (in that order).

However, General Electric (GE) has moved down the list significantly (perhaps due to stock fluctuations and hence employee layoffs), while Amazon, although ranked at number 10 this year, may be hitting its limits. It achieved high rankings in countries like France and India, however is losing ground in others, particularly in China. This may be due to escalating trade wars with the US – these are driving a rise in nationalism among Chinese students who are showing a growing preference for careers with national companies.

Career Goals

According to this year’s WMAE report, the top 2 career goals for both business and IT/engineering students is a work/life balance and to be secure or stable in their job (in that order). In fact, in terms what is known as having a ‘future-proof job’, is rising on a global level. 53% of US students reported this as a priority, which goes against many of the stereotypes that typify Gen Z and millennial employees.

Both groups of students also see being ‘entrepreneurial or creative/innovative’ and ‘being competitively or intellectually challenged’ in their Top 5 priorities.

In terms of differences in priorities, business students considered being a leader or manager of people as a priority, while IT/engineering students thought that ‘to be dedicated to a cause or to feel that I am serving a greater good’ as important.

Other trends emerging from the World’s Most Attractive Employers report this year are the increase in the acquirement of further skills in order to grow students’ careers and a waning interest in international careers. The second statistic may be because as a whole, multinationals have not been performing as well as their domestic peers and multinationals are the companies most likely to offer students careers abroad.

“While many of the top global employers continue to retain their dominant position in our rankings there are a lot of underlying changes in the qualities young talent are looking for that every company needs to pay attention to. We continue to see an increasing demand for employers to clarify and communicate their core purpose, and provide an outlet for entrepreneurialism. We also see a growing need for multinational companies to highlight their local strengths, and not rely too heavily on their international status.  We continue to live in a highly connected world, but also a world in which small can be beautiful, and local identity and diversity holds a growing appeal”. Mats Röjdmark, Chief Executive Officer, Universum.

Brand Attributes

In this year’s survey, roughly one in two respondents chose ‘higher future earnings’ as the first priority in terms of a company’s brand attributes, regardless of whether they were studying business or IT/engineering. However, it’s important for employers to understand that higher salaries need to work in combination with other priorities, including non-pay benefits. Secure employment as well as professional training and development is another top consideration for both business and IT/engineering students.

“One in two respondents chose ‘higher future earnings’ as the first priority in terms of a company’s brand attributes.”

In terms of differences in priorities in the WMAE report, IT/engineering students also showed a preference for innovation, and what that means exactly is explained in Deloitte’s Global Human Capital report.

“In a 21st-century career, the individual and his or her experiences take centre stage. Instead of a steady progression along a job-based pathway, leading organizations are shifting toward a model that empowers individuals to acquire valuable experiences, explore new roles, and continually reinvent themselves.”

“Nearly half of the people we surveyed would entirely rule out taking a job with a company that exhibited the top three negative employer brand factors, regardless of any pay increase. Even a 10% raise would only tempt 28% of them to join such a company”. Harvard Business Review

Young Women At Work

Organisations in traditionally male-dominated industries have been working hard to attract more female employees and this year’s World’s Most Attractive Employers statistics show their efforts are paying off. The banking industry has climbed six spots over 10 years among female business students and more significantly, the software and computer services industry jumped 23 spots over the same period.

It’s clear that top companies are dedicating significant resources to recruiting for diversity – which includes hiring women into under-represented roles and fields. 85% of HR leaders in the WMAE report say it’s a high priority for their organisations.

However, there are still some hurdles to overcome. According to US Bureau of Labor Statistics data, women make up only 20% of senior leadership positions within the financial services sector. In the US engineering sector, only 22% of the 7.4 million IT jobs are held by women, and 40% of women who work full-time in scientific fields leave their careers or go part-time after the birth of their first child. 

Preferred Communication Channels

And how do the 245,000 business and IT/engineering students surveyed like to be communicated in terms of learning about employers?

According to the WMAE report, 68% of business students and 61% of IT/engineering students prefer social media platforms as their number one priority. Employer websites came in second with 55% of both business and IT/engineering students preferring this option. The third most popular channel was career fairs with a 49% business student and 54% IT/engineering student preference. Online job boards came in fourth, with 51% of business students and 50% of IT/engineering students preferring this channel, and number five was employer presentation on campus with 43% of both business and IT/engineering students preferring this method of communication. 

Source:

Universum’s World’s Most Attractive Employers 2019

With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014. 

Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.

The post What we learned from Universum’s World’s Most Attractive Employers 2019 Report appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

How do we feel about remote work?

According to a 2018 survey by Indeed, over two-thirds of Australian employers claim to be open to their employees working remotely. In fact, 92% of employers are taking positive steps, such as investing in technologies like video conferencing to fast track the process.

Two in five employees searching for a new job also think it’s important that companies have a remote work policy, with almost 22% of respondents only considering searching for a new role at a company if it permits them to work from home.

However, 65% of employees say their current organisation doesn’t offer an actual work-from-home policy, which is in contrast to the 68% of employers who say they do. This indicates that while many employers are starting to understand the benefits of working remotely, they haven’t yet reached the level of confidence needed to introduce and communicate a formal policy. 

What are the benefits of working remotely?

 Family commitments and longer commutes are in many instances making the traditional nine-to-five in-office routine increasingly difficult for many Australians.

According to employees who undertook the Indeed survey, the main benefits of working remotely include a better work-life balance, reduced stress, improved workplace morale, and fewer sick days. The benefits to companies themselves include more productive employees, reduced absenteeism and employee turnover, and operational cost savings.

How can the benefits of remote work be maximised?

While more and more employers are beginning to understand that remote working policies could be an effective way to attract workers, this major shift from traditional working practices also requires a shift in workplace culture and a strategic investment in suitable technologies.

A positive move towards more flexible workplaces also involves considering a range of factors rather than just implementing a one-size-fits-all policy. These include:

•     Choosing the right team members. A degree of self-discipline and independence is important for remote work, as is a certain level of trust between employers and employees.
•     Maintaining communication. Adopting processes that assist with team communication like sharing weekly reports and conducting regular update meetings can ensure employees are on the same page when it comes to what’s required.
•     Leveraging technology. Group chat rooms, video conferencing and document sharing platforms can all help keep remote workers in the loop, however new methods of collaborating, including embracing virtual reality technology (VR), can enhance the process even further.

 What is virtual reality technology (VR)?

Virtual reality (VR) is technology that, through the use of a web browser or headset, allows users to access a world beyond their physical sight. Most known for its use in the education sector and in video games, it utilizes 3D and 360° imaging to capture depth and space in a manner similar to the way our eyes do, and it relays the scene for us in an immersive an often intriguing experience.

What are the benefits of adopting VR technology?

When it comes to VR in the workplace and how it relates to remote work, it can drastically change the way organisations conduct training, meetings and how they structure office hours. And because it makes time differences irrelevant, it can also increase efficiency. In particular, it can enhance:

• Training. Employees can undertake training from anywhere in the world. It can also make the process more cost-effective, increase information retention, and in fields that require physically demanding tasks, can provide hands-on training in a safe and controlled environment.
• Communication. Compared to traditional conference calls, VR conference rooms, for example, can be a lot more effective and engaging. VR technology can also improve the way employees meet, collaborate, brainstorm and share content. For example, Facebook is currently working on virtual reality chatrooms platform, known as their Workplace by Facebook, which will allow users to create groups with colleagues and post, comment, video chat and discuss business-related issues.
• Cost savings. Because VR technologies can enhance the ways teams are structured and how projects are completed, savings can be made on travel and office expenses. Plus, virtual workspaces can mean less need for physical space, which can reduce an organisation’s operating costs.

How is it affecting today’s workforce?

The adoption of virtual reality technologies are no doubt beginning to shape the remote landscape, particularly in many of the current popular telecommuting (at home) job categories. These include: 

• Construction. Architects and developers can clearly map a building site, view potential flaws, and make crucial decisions about size, placement and the use of materials.
•  Education. VR can enhance learning, particularly when it comes to virtual classrooms that can reduce infrastructure costs and provide students with the latest advancements in digital technology.
• Marketing. The emotional nature of buying trends lends itself to marketing strategies that help consumers use all their senses. Digital media and things like holographic images can also entice customers with more immersive sales tactics.
•  Journalism. Immersive storytelling has already been embraced by media outlets like the New York Times, and this use of augmented reality (AR) and VR technology has changed the way we can connect with news stories. Readers can now submerge themselves into the surroundings of ideas, places and individuals, which can increase the impact of what’s being conveyed.

Say hello to the future of our working lives! 

Sources:

Indeed. Report: 68% of Australian employers allow remote working, but attitudes are divided

MYOB. 5 ways virtual reality will change the way you do business

Virtual Vocations. How augmented and virtual reality are shaping the remote landscape

With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014. 

Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.

The post VR technology is here … can I work from home? appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Universum recently released their 2019 report, “Employer Branding Now”, which gathered insights from the World’s Most Attractive Employers (WMAEs), a cohort of the top 100 employers identified by job seekers.

The study involved analysing feedback from over 1600 employer branding professionals from 37 countries and 21 industries, including recruitment and resourcing professionals and HR, marketing, and talent and acquisition managers. Here we look at the top trends gaining traction in the recruitment sector.

Employer branding 

With the increase in competition for top talent acquisition and fears that a talent gap will have negative impacts on business growth, employer branding is regarded as no longer just a ‘nice-to-have’ for organisations both large and small.

In fact, nine out of ten WMAE talent leaders say branding is one of the top priorities, and a study by LinkedIn’s Hiring Solutions Insights Team supports this notion. It concluded that companies that invest in their employer brand are much more likely to see a direct impact on their talent acquisition efforts.

However, brand consistency does not necessarily mean brand uniformity. While many WMAE companies once placed greater focus on consistency overall, now more than half put greater emphasis on tailoring their marketing strategies to different functions and to different countries.

In terms of employee-generated content, Universum’s report also shows there is a trend towards producing visual content on platforms like Facebook, Snapchat and Instagram (the fastest growing), followed by testimonials.

Despite all the hype about the value of digital transformation in this technology-centric age, data-driven approaches, in comparison, have been slow to progress. Although many organisations have access to valuable, targeted data that can attract top talent, many don’t leverage it effectively.

“A degree of brand consistency is always important, but effective engagement with the talent we want to attract also requires us to tailor content to the specific needs and interests of different target groups”. Faye Woodhead, Global Head of Employer Brand & Graduate Programmes, Deutsche Bank

Startup competition

Large companies and iconic brands are increasingly seeing recruitment startups as a major source of competition for top (and young) talent in terms of the key technical and entrepreneurial skills many organisations require.

Manpower’s 2018 Talent Shortage survey confirms this finding – they report that over 67% of larger organisations are reporting difficulty with filling roles. This is particularly prevalent in the IT sector – a report from the International Data Federation estimates that over 30% of global IT jobs will be left open by 2022, as employers compete for candidates with specific digital skills in the areas of AI, blockchain and the Internet of Things.

According to a 2019 PwC CEO Survey, an increase in competition can also have serious consequences for CEOs who fear the talent gap won’t allow them to innovate effectively or reach their growth targets. This has caused a shift in employer brand strategy over the last three years, including an emphasis on ‘innovation’ as a key Employee Value Proposition (EVP) attribute.

Large companies are now focusing on attracting talent who are more inclined to embrace the high-energy, less formal work styles of startups by adapting more quickly to market conditions and by fostering their most favourable qualities. They do this by creating ‘accelerators’ teams designed to boost an organisation’s culture, management techniques and digital capabilities.

“If you were a young, tech-savvy, entrepreneurially minded student right now, would you prefer to join the bottom-rung of the corporate ladder or prefer the adventurous, hyper-growth promise of the start-up sector? I think the answer is fairly obvious, and that’s the primary challenge for the previously go-to, prestigious, global companies right now, since this is precisely the kind of talent they’re looking for.” Richard Mosley
Global Head of Strategy and Advisory, Universum.

Employee Value Proposition

Over 54% of talent leaders cite ‘inspiring purpose’ as the most common Employee Value Proposition (EVP) of 2019, as opposed to traditional job benefits like ‘professional training and development’. This is not surprising given that Gen Z and Millennials are increasingly seeking jobs that are ‘meaningful’ and ‘make a difference to the world’.

Younger talent is also less focused on long-term career development with the one company, but instead looking for more flexible, unstructured career journeys. Employer branding that reflects these trends therefore has an impact – a recent LinkedIn study found younger workers under 40 are over 60% more likely to have their job consideration levels associated with a progressive employer brand.

For WMAEs, 37% of respondents also cited recruiting for diversity as a key Employee Value Proposition (EVP) theme. This focus is due partly to a growing body of data relating to pay inequity, a lack of diversity in corporate leadership roles, and growing evidence that suggests that recruiting for diversity delivers stronger results. This is evident in management consulting firm McKinsey’s “Delivering Through Diversity” study that found having gender/ethnically diverse executive teams positively correlated to higher profitability.

Many companies are also adhering to the notion that in order to support their employer brand, employees must see the organisation as a ‘great place to work’. In 2019, 48% of WMAE brands believe one of their primary employer brand objectives should be enhancing employee advocacy.

“At Adidas, we believe that sport has the power to change lives. We put this purpose at the heart of our EVP and it has continued to provide a strong emotional foundation to our employer brand and the kind of stories we tell to bring our brand to life”. Nanci Hogenboom, Global Director of Employer Branding, Adidas

Artificial intelligence

Perhaps one of the biggest recruitment marketing game changers for companies in 2019 has been in the area of artificial intelligence (AI).

It is vital that large global companies that operate in multiple countries across different departments can predict workforce needs – a difficult task given the number of variables involved. AI has the potential to revolutionise how organisations optimize their employee pool across both locations and skillsets. For example, LinkedIn’s new AI offering helps subscribers detect how competitive certain geographic markets are for specific tech roles.

When it comes to candidate searching and selection, video interviewing is still widely used, however according to the WMAEs, the most popular form of AI-driven technology is now chatbots.

This data-driven technology has the potential to analyse users’ needs and qualifications, propose jobs that match their abilities and if they are interested in a particular job, chat anonymously with a virtual employer to learn more. These technologies can also help employers efficiently sort through applicants’ resumes by providing insights that can guide decision making, and narrow the pool of candidates so they can make a suitable offer.

The challenge ahead

The future challenges for recruiters are far bigger than just HR issues. To become talent leaders, companies must build strong cultures, implement well-crafted EVP’s, and invest in new technologies.

As Universum’s Global Head of Strategy and Advisory, Richard Mosley, says, “Whatever the size of your organisation, the fundamentals remain the same. Employers need to stay in tune with the talent they need to succeed, define and communicate a clear and distinctive employer proposition, and deliver an employment experience that consistently matches their brand promises. These factors … make for an exciting period ahead for those willing to rise to the challenge”.

Source: 
Universum’s Employer Branding Now Report 2019

With a career history of over 20 years in the marketing sector working for some of Australia’s top ad agencies, Kaye launched her own copywriting business, KK Productions, in 2014.

Her client list includes Australia’s largest retail travel outlet, the world’s largest insurance company and one of the country’s top retail stores; she has also written content for a variety of other sectors from recruitment, real estate and educational organisations to health and service-oriented industries. Kaye’s writing experience spans the full gamut of advertising and marketing copy. When she is not immersed in the world of writing, she loves reading, travel and bushwalking with her husband and dog, Barney.

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