Known most notably for his fantastical creatures with fanciful names that featured throughout his fabulous rhymes, Dr. Seuss (aka Theodore Geisel) was also a political cartoonist, screenwriter, painter, sculptor and illustrator for several advertising campaigns. He won many awards for his various literary and entertainment projects, including a Pulitzer Prize in 1984. But to my knowledge and research, he never appeared to have written any job advertisements.

While this may not seem all that surprising to you – to me it seems a shame, because he had such a mastery of persuasive language. I’m sure he would have had candidates ‘off to Great Places’ with the same gusto that he’s had children reaching for his books for over 80 years.

“… be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray or Mordecai Ali Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places! Today is your day!”

He persuaded children to try new things, to use their imaginations and to aspire for greatness. And aren’t these the same motivations we should want to inspire in our candidates in our job ad copy to get them to click that all-important ‘Apply Now’ button?

“Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.”

So, if you want to write job ads that consistently persuade candidates to make up their minds, here are the 5 Dr. Seuss inspired tips you will need to succeed.

1. Don’t be sloppy – write rhyming copy

“Congratulations!

Today is your day.

You’re off to Great Places!

You’re off and away!”

It’s one of the most engaging and memorable qualities of any Dr. Seuss tale, that comic and lyrical anapestic tetrameter that introduced us to a Cat in a Hat, a Fox in Sock, and Sam and his Green Eggs and Ham.

I’m not saying your whole job ad has to be written in verse, but why not open the copy with an engaging rhyme?

Known as the Rhyme-as-Reason Effect, it’s been shown that when just two words or phrases within a statement rhyme, people are more likely to remember it, and they’ll find it more likeable, trustworthy and persuasive.

2. Repetition, repetition, repetition

“You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.”

Here Dr. Seuss repeats ‘you’ in a way to add poetic effect to the prose. He also goes on to repeat the themes of ‘brains’ and ‘feet’ across several of the first few pages of the story. Reinforcing the importance of not only your intelligence but of your actions for reaching great achievements.

Repeating keywords or phrases makes key themes and arguments more memorable to your audience.

Studies have found that the more an audience hears a message, the more likely they are to believe it is true. But before you get all copy-paste happy, this repetition is only effective when people are paying less attention. So, a bullet point list of role requirements that repeats the same thing over and over won’t be convincing anyone. Instead, use repetition throughout the copy to reinforce the impact the role will have within the team, organisation, or greater community.

3. Personalise your copy

“You’re on your own. And you know what you know. And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.”

Dr. Seuss commonly wrote his stories as direct conversations with his readers, using the second-person address to great effect to draw his readers into the stories – even making them the leading character like in the above.

Ditch phrases like ‘the successful applicant’ or ‘the incumbent’, this third-person phrasing creates a distance between you and the reader, making the role you are describing feel like it’s for someone else and unattainable.

By using phrases like ‘you will…’ or ‘your role will…’  you can build a more optimistic and intimate relationship between you and your candidates, allowing them to more clearly see themselves in the role. Another tip is to mention ‘you’ (candidate) at least as often (if not more) than you mention we/us (the employer).

4. Write in plain English

“You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace…”

Yes, I’m sure you’ve heard this tip before. But as we now know, repetition will make it all the truer.

Dr. Seuss actually wrote The Cat in the Hat as a challenge to create a story using only a list of 225 words that first-graders should be able to recognize. Green Eggs and Ham used less than fifty of these easily recognizable words. The lesson here is how successful plain English can be.

Research shows that even highly literate readers prefer plain English because it allows them to understand information as quickly as possible. And the more specialist their knowledge, the greater the preference for plain English. So, no matter how technical the role you are advertising is, using plain English will give you a greater chance that the most qualified candidates will get through your ad and want to apply.

5. Be a little bizarre

“And will you succeed?

Yes! You will, indeed!

(98 and ¾ per cent guaranteed.)”

Reading about fantastical creatures like the Whos, and bizarre notions like Green Eggs and Ham are all part of the magic of any Dr. Seuss story, but he also used simple surprises like the above to delight his readers – I mean where else would you read about a 98 and ¾ per cent guarantee?

The bizarreness effect refers to our tendency to more easily remember information that is strange, unusual, or “bizarre” over mundane facts and figures.

Using noticeably different words to stand out among the more common phrasing used throughout all job ads will make yours more memorable. You don’t necessarily need to start making up wacky job titles – but try stretching your thesaurus skills to find stronger verbs and more unusual and evocative descriptions of the role.

Dr. Seuss inspired everyone from six-year-olds to NASA spacecraft engineers and left behind a gigantic legacy of genius and imagination. And while job ads might not be at the top of this legacy, (or even anywhere in the middle) some simple elements of his genius can be applied to help you write more persuasive and memorable job ads – 98 and ¾ per cent guaranteed!

The post How Dr. Seuss can help you write more persuasive job ads appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Talent Chooses You has been referred to as the “the roadmap for the next hiring revolution” and “the new bible for the employer branding practitioner and the novice alike.” 

Let’s pretend you are selling tacos. Or doughnuts. Or toothbrushes. It really doesn’t matter. These things are cheap items, maybe costing a dollar each. So you set up a stand or cart and hawk your wares. Anyone who walks up with a dollar in their pocket is a viable customer, and your job is to convince them that your item is worth the dollar to them. Perhaps it will give them more than a dollar’s feeling of satisfaction to eat that taco. Or it will crave that sweet tooth in a way they’d be willing to spend two dollars. Or that brushing will keep them from needing costly dental work down the road. Either way, your item has value, and they’d be a fool to reject it. The conversation is about value conversion.

Which is fine. This is typical commerce: I have a good or service to sell, and I will sell it to whoever can pay for it. You have a dollar. I have a taco. Let’s make some magic happen! Your goal in this space is to replicate this transaction as many times as possible. Having sold the taco, you look to sell another. You are rewarded for selling lots of tacos. Becoming the best taco salesperson is a game of quantity and nothing more. 

In this process, do you ask your buyer if they have a college degree? Did you confirm that they have a reliable mode of transportation? As you are both in the same place, you don’t wonder if they live close enough to you. But are they certified to eat a doughnut? Do they have at least five years’ doughnut-eating experience? Can they provide names and contact information for three people who can confirm they know their way around a doughnut? How many different varieties of doughnut can they discuss with confidence? Hmm…I see a gap of three months in which you were not eating doughnuts. Can you explain that gap?

Have you ever heard of someone saying they only had one doughnut and were going to sell it to the “best” customer? The one who was a cultural fit to the mission of your doughnut?

Of course not. That would be insane. Again, you have a doughnut and they have a dollar. To quote comedian Mitch Hedberg, why do we even need a receipt? This transaction is completed. It doesn’t matter if they don’t have a work visa, a degree, or can pass a drug test.

Dollar. Doughnut. Done.

But when we’re hiring, we aren’t selling doughnuts or tacos. We’re looking for a specific person to do a specific job. We wonder what school they went to, what other jobs they’ve had, and what the outcomes of their work were. We immediately reject them if they don’t have enough experience. We reject them because they don’t “fit.” We reject them because they were arrested and tried for fraud. We reject them because someone was just a little bit better. 

Hiring isn’t a game of quantity, because we’re generally filling one role and we want the best possible person to take that job. We want one person, so we seek the best person.

“We live in a world driven by quantity, and blindly applying marketing and sales techniques designed for quantity to a model designed for quality is a disaster waiting to happen.” 

This seems prima facie obvious, but it is the difference that underlies all hiring and differentiates it from almost any other kind of profession. It is foundational to everything and what differentiates employer branding from every other kind of marketing and branding in the world. The rest of the world is looking to bill more hours, sell more time, build more widgets, train more people, take more cases, fix more pipes, and take on more clients. We live in a world driven by quantity, and blindly applying marketing and sales techniques designed for quantity to a model designed for quality is a disaster waiting to happen. 

If you’re selling tacos and you sell a million tacos, you’re getting a raise. You’re getting a bonus. They’ll put your picture on a wall above the words “Salesperson of the Year.” 

But if you’re “selling” jobs and you get a million people to apply, you’re getting fired. 

Applying great, clever, or even genius-level marketing thinking won’t solve recruiting and hiring, because they are so different. Tennis, golf, and billiards are all played with round balls, but you can’t switch one ball for another and pretend it’s the same game. 

This difference isn’t academic. It is an industry built on a very different foundation to almost everything else we know and do. But embracing this difference is the beginning to solving your hiring problems.

Talent Chooses You has been referred to as “the roadmap for the next hiring revolution” and “the new bible for the employer branding practitioner and the novice alike.” Unlike any other employer brand business book, it is designed from the ground up to be a call to arms to and for talent acquisition to see a better way to hire. One that doesn’t put candidates and recruiters on opposite sides of a fight. And unlike other books, it literally was designed to not make any money, so James is now selling it at cost (he isn’t making a cent on sales) to ensure it gets in the hands of the people who are looking to start their own talent strategy revolution wherever they are. Get your copy now.

It’s possible that the stories are true and that a radioactive recruiter bit born-marketer James Ellis years ago. All we know is that James Ellis has become a well-known podcaster, writer, speaker and consultant in the growing employer brand industry. He’s done everything from putting a public Fortune 1000 brand on his back to building a 19-person employer brand activation team within the biggest recruitment marketing agency in the world. What drives someone to write, podcast, speak and work so obsessively towards revolutionising the recruiting and talent industry? Coffee. Yes, he would like another, thank you.

(Listen to thetalentcast.com podcast here!)

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We’re being swamped with mixed communications, from free webinar invitations to opinion pieces about how to juggle remote working, and mixed news messaging, which can make it tough to determine what’s true and what’s not. This has an enormous impact on how we need to manage the perception and communication of our employer brands.

Employer brands never sleep and, if anything, they’re now in the spotlight! Employees, the talent market and consumers are watching what action organisations are taking to manage and accommodate their most valued resources through this pandemic. 

Effective communication is key both internally and externally. In fact, it’s the glue that will preserve employer brands from fragmenting! HR is front and centre in this crisis. 

The organisations that take deliberate action with consistent, relevant communication, interacting and engaging with their remote workforce will be successful in navigating this situation. 

Employer Branding requires collaboration between leaders. 

As I place an optimistic lens over our current situation, I highlight that now, more than ever, HR and employer branding leaders cannot be held solely responsible for their people driving business continuity and still preserving their employer brand. 

Teamwork is essential. HR leaders must leverage critical partners in their organisations through internal communications, corporate marketing and communications, training and development, transformation officers, IT and the like. That being said, I’ve distilled the most fundamental priorities leaders should be paying attention. 

1. Use ongoing, clear and constructive communication

In monitoring virtual teams, regular, concise, clear and constructive communication is of the utmost importance to building trust and sustaining employee morale. Recruitment leaders must utilise their internal communication partners to assist with the often confusing government and media communications, translating it appropriately to employees to help them understand how new changes will affect them personally, while simultaneously keeping them updated regarding applicable daily health and safety news.

2. Support hiring managers

If you are hiring right now, operational managers at the forefront are often peoples’ first point of contact. For hiring managers to recruit effectively, they need to receive ongoing up-to-date workplace policy changes, understand what support is available for their employees and be properly trained to communicate this effectively with their teams. Leaders don’t like to communicate if they don’t have answers. Therefore, partnering with them, giving them guidance and training assist them in fostering a positive employee experience.

3. Issue transparent communications on COVID-19 management

Conducting weekly update meetings through online video platforms like Zoom, Teams, WebEx is a given, especially if you have interstate or international offices. Communicating best practice and facts about how your organisation is managing operations in light of the crisis is essential, using the utmost transparency and clarity about how deliverables are being met.

4. Maintain employee engagement

Being proactive in delivering answers to employees’ questions regarding their health, wellness and finances, without them having to search for or ask will earn you brand credibility and loyalty.

5. Routinely focus on mission-critical issues

Leaders need to establish a routine and cadence when setting up meetings and stick to mission-critical issues, actions plans, deliverables and dates.

6. Obtain ongoing employee feedback

Welcome ongoing internal employee feedback and schedule real-time, regular pulse surveys. Proactively assess the “heartbeat” of your organisation to overcome the current challenges.

7. Gauge preferred communication channels

Be aware what communication channels your people prefer and test if they’re conducive to the current situation. Video channels, where your people can see and hear you speak, seem to be trumping emails and intranet. Decide what subjects should be communication through which medium. 

8. Humanise remote work environments

To boost morale, change behaviours and maintain team collaboration by setting up virtual coffee sessions, sundowner virtual gatherings or fun quiz competitions. Humanise it by including kids, pets, etc., as many people miss face-to-face connection through phsyical distancing. For example, check out what Spotify is doing through reinforcing their values and prioritising wellbeing. 

9. Remember, you don’t need to have all the answers

There’s no rulebook and you might not have all the answers. (For example, we’re witnessing company announcements, such as from Edcon, who admitted having limited liquidity.) Leaders need to be transparent, authentic and brutally honest when communicating with your people. You’ll gain far more support and understanding through honesty and transparent vulnerability. 

10. Consider cost-cutting measures

News articles are highlighting how organisations are taking cost-cutting initiatives to maintain business stability without haemorrhaging layoffs (for example, initiatives from big brands such as Macy’s and Gap).These include:

• Requesting employees to take an unpaid leave of absence (the most common measure companies are pursuing). Reframe the stigma attached to unpaid leave by referring to it as a sabbatical
• Revising compensation structure and delaying increments (freezing salary-increases, bonuses, overtime, payments into other funds)
• Encouraging employees to seek part-time jobs to supplement their income
• Implementing short work weeks to save costs
• Leveraging training opportunities 
• Identifying and optimising eager talent who are ready to step into new job roles and projects
• Creating a time bank where employees are paid for working reduced hours, but agreeing these hours will be utilised in the future;
• Implementing executive or leadership pay cuts and wage freezes to reallocate cash flow to prevent layoffs. 
• Seeking government support.

Covid-19 has accelerated and shaped the new world of work. Many thought leaders have predicted we won’t return to our normal working environments. This will fundamentally shift how we position our employer brands and value propositions as we look towards the future and attract different roles and skillset (which we’re already witnessing via Glassdoor). We’ll need to revise our current workplace environment to engage and interact with our people differently and endeavour to retain loyal team members who have stuck by our sides as we navigate these extraordinary times. 

Celeste Sirin is the Managing Director of Employer Branding South Africa, a consultancy that focuses on assisting companies to build and market their employer brands in order to attract, engage and retain talent. Having worked within the recruitment industry for many years, running her own recruitment marketing and response management agency, she has first-hand recruiter knowledge, having to recruit best-in-class talent across various industries. A recent contract saw Celeste engaged with the SA Team of Universum Global, a data-led employer brand research company, in sales, facilitation and marketing to national and multinational key accounts.

Celeste’s mission lies in defining and driving the essence of employer branding and the fundamental importance of companies adopting it as a business imperative.

The post 10 tips for using your employer brand compass to navigate uncertain times appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

To help you better manage your remote employees, we’ve gathered our top four tips on how you can improve your remote working arrangements for everyone involved. 

1. Communicate clearly and more often 

One of the biggest downfalls of managing remote employees is the lack of communication. Without the in-person interactions we often have in an office setting, it can be difficult to find time to effectively communicate with your employees or share relevant information with them promptly. So to combat this, make sure to set up at least weekly catch-ups with your entire team, and one-on-ones with each of your employees. 

But, if you have important updates or information to share with your team, don’t wait until your next catch-up or one-on-one. Just as you would pull your team into a quick meeting in the office, message your employees to see if they are available for a brief video conference. Keeping your team informed and in the loop as much as possible will be greatly appreciated by your employees and help them stay motivated and excited about their work, especially during a challenging time.

2. Make sure everyone is aware of what is expected from them

It’s important to remember that working from home can mean different things to different people. While some may choose to work the same hours they normally would in the office, others may want to work different hours, such as starting later in the day and ending later, or vice versa. If your remote working arrangements are open to flexibility, let your employees know that they can adjust their working schedule if needed, but that they need to inform you of their new hours. But, if you need your employees to be online during specific hours, make sure they are aware of that. By being clear and upfront with your employees about what is expected from them while they work from home, you can avoid any misunderstandings which could cause extra stress or anxiety for your team. 

3. Set clear boundaries 

When working from home, it can be difficult to separate your work life from your home life—especially if you live in an apartment or don’t have a home office. For this reason, it’s important to set clear boundaries with your employees about when they can and cannot reach out to you, and vice versa, ask them to also let you know what times of the day they are available. Make sure both you and the rest of your team adhere to these, meaning avoid message your team or schedule any meetings outside of their working hours and discourage others from doing so. Without having clear boundaries with your colleagues and employees, you could find yourself working or being online all day every day, which can lead to you burning out.

On the other hand, it’s also important to set clear boundaries with your partner, kids, roommates, and other family members you may be living with. Let them know that even though you are home, during your working hours you will be busy and should not be disrupted for casual chitchat – natural as that may feel in a household setting. It can also be helpful to avoid doing any household chores during your work hours. Try to keep your work and home life as separate as possible to ensure both you and your employees are getting the most out of your remote working arrangements. 

4. Encourage non-work-related virtual interactions

Working from home for an extended period of time can be a challenging transition, especially for your employees who have never worked remotely, or only did so occasionally. Today, this is further compounded by an increasingly stressful and uncertain global climate. To help keep your team motivated, try and schedule some non-work related virtual interactions. Things like a weekly virtual get-together for lunch where teams can discuss favourite movies or T.V. shows they’re binging at the moment, a monthly virtual happy hour, or even taking a virtual meditation or yoga class together could help keep your team’s spirit and morale up. 

There’s no doubt that working from home can bring many benefits to your health, career and work-life balance. But suddenly finding yourself in a remote working situation can leave employees and employers feeling a little lost and unmotivated. To help both you and your team transition into a remote working environment, make sure to implement these four tips to ensure you are getting the most out of your employees, even when they are not in the office. 

With more than 15 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Jay Munro has worked in a variety of roles in agencies and job boards, from consulting and recruiting, through to leading the product development of new sourcing technologies. As an Employer Insights Strategist with the Indeed Employer Insights Team, Jay pairs platform data with industry trend analysis to share Indeed’s story and bring the value of the company’s programs and solutions to life.

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On 24 February 2020, Katherine Johnson, one of a group of black women mathematicians at NASA and its predecessor who were celebrated in the 2016 movie “Hidden Figures”, died at the age of 101. She was the mathematician who broke barriers at NASA. 

Bruce Anderson, writing for LinkedIn’ Talent blog states, “The sky was never the limit for Katherine Johnson. Instead, it was merely the starting point, the playground for a 33-year career as a brilliant mathematician for NASA, where she helped put astronauts into space, into orbit, and ultimately on the moon. Katherine, one of the cohort of African American women portrayed in the best-selling book and blockbuster 2016 movie “Hidden Figures,” died this week at 101. Actress Taraji Henson, who played Katherine in the movie, wrote on Instagram: “You ran so we could fly!!!”

“Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted on LinkedIn: ‘Katherine Johnson will be remembered as a skilled mathematician and pioneer in her industry, but to me and many others, she will be remembered not just for her contributions to the early years of the space program, but for how she helped NASA evolve into a more enlightened organization. Her legacy is a powerful example of how one individual can act as a catalyst for change and drive meaningful impact in their organization and in society broadly.’”

“As Black History Month nears its end in the United States and Canada, it’s worth considering Katherine’s remarkable journey. For HR leaders, her story underscores that the business case for diversity isn’t just about driving more revenue and profitability; it’s about accomplishing things that right now you’re only dreaming of. For recruiters, her story is a reminder of how critical a single hire can be and how a truly exceptional employee by necessity can’t be like everyone who already works for you.” 

Diversity is more than revenue and profit

Diversity drives revenue growth and profitability, as demonstrated by a growing body of research, including work from respected sources such as McKinsey, Boston Consulting Group, and Bersin by Deloitte. 

“But not many organizations have crafted a vision statement that says, “Make more money.” Most companies want to have a larger impact — to create a transformative product, to deliver service that transcends customer expectations, to be known as the very best at what they do.

NASA’s goal wasn’t to make money; it was, instead, to fulfill U.S. President John Kennedy’s stated ambition of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.”

Studies demonstrate that organisations with a diverse workforce are more creative, more innovative, and more capable of problem-solving. Katherine’s work was critical to both parts of JFK’s vision, the getting an astronaut to the moon and the getting him back safely.

Katherine joined NASA in 1953 and was soon inducted into the agency’s elite Flight Research Division, where she stayed for the rest of her career. She quickly proved indispensable.

“She did groundbreaking work on orbital mechanics that was instrumental to the success of the early U.S. space program. When astronaut John Glenn was nearing the launch that would make him the first American to orbit the earth in 1962, he asked that his planned orbital trajectory — calculated on an early IBM computer — be cross-checked by Katherine. ‘If she says the numbers are good,” he said, “I’m ready to go.’” 

Your next hire could be a catalyst for change

Beyond Katherine’s stellar mathematical work, she also changed NASA’s workplace for both women and people of color.

“When Katherine arrived at Langley, the cafeteria had already been desegregated but the bathrooms had not. While the bathrooms for African American employees were all marked by signs, the bathrooms for white employees were not. Katherine — being well-grounded in geometry —used the bathroom nearest her desk. She initially had no idea that it was reserved for white women. By the time she realized her “error,” she was not inclined to change her ways.

More typically, she was clear-sighted about the changes she was helping to bring about. For example, Katherine was intensely curious about the technology that underlay NASA’s work and she asked her engineering colleagues why she wasn’t allowed to attend scientific briefings.

“Girls” weren’t allowed, she was told. “Is there a law against it?” she replied. It turned out there wasn’t and her quiet persistence won out. Katherine and other women gained access to the agency’s briefings.” 

Continue to seek potential over pedigree

“Katherine Johnson did not have a doctorate or a diploma from an elite school, yet she was NASA’s go-to mathematician for trajectory calculations. Even she, however, might have had a difficult time calculating or even imagining her own trajectory.

“Nearly a century after being born in a West Virginia town that only provided African Americans with education through the eighth grade, Katherine received the Presidential Medal of Honor (2015) from Barack Obama and was present when NASA dedicated the Katherine G. Johnson Computational Research Facility at the Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia (2017).

She helped men reach the stars; now she inspires STEM-loving girls everywhere to reach for them. Her example can also remind talent acquisition professionals to value potential over pedigree and to seek out those candidates whose grit, confidence, curiosity, and humility (“I am as good as anyone else,” Katherine said, “but no better”) makes them think of the unforgettable woman, no longer hidden, who passed away on Monday.”

“They asked Katherine Johnson for the moon,” The New York Times noted, “and she gave it to them.”

Source

The Remarkable Life of ‘Hidden Figure’ Katherine Johnson — and Its Lessons for Talent Leaders

Bruce Anderson 

LinkedIn Talent Blog

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Office managers and CEOs around the country are receiving increasing numbers of applications to allow pets into the workplace. And with the findings of the latest Job Seeker Study revealing that workplace culture is still very important to more than a third of employees, employers need to be taking notice of the growing body of research into the ways allowing dogs into the workplace can benefit productivity and healthy, positive office culture.

What skills can they bring to your workplace?

“I believe my non-verbal communication skills, friendly and approachable demeanour, and ability to really listen and empathise with people will make me an excellent asset to your team…”– Bella’s cover letter reads. 

Despite the wet tongue lolling out of her mouth, Bella’s profile image brings out her warm and intelligent eyes.

Although the trend of bringing pets to work seems may seem like a fad, dogs have been working side-by-side with humans for thousands of years. Canines have undeniable skills in outdoor occupations such as shepherding or hunting, and their instincts for detection have been utilised for uncovering drugs, explosives, cancer, epilepsy, and even forensic tracking. Dogs are capable of learning new skills, of conveying information, and like humans they possess individual personalities and temperaments. So how can these skills transfer to your workplace?

What other factors do you need to take into consideration?

Much like making any new hire, there are many factors to bear in mind when bringing a dog into the workplace.

Research conducted by the Animal Behaviour, Cognition and Welfare Group of the University of Lincoln, identified not only the size and breed of the dog as important factors to consider, but that the size and type of your organisation also play significant roles in the success of bringing a dog into your workplace.

But while not-for-profit organisations were more likely to have employees bringing their dogs to work than educational organisations, all employees who brought their dog to work often had higher rates of vigour, dedication and engagement at work than those who brought their dogs only sometimes or never.

“I have obtained training certificates in obedience, and hold myself to exemplary hygiene and behavioural standards for which the provided references below will attest.” – Bella’s cover letter continues. 

But there’s a glitch. As your eyes flick down to see the details for a puppy preschool completion certificate, you also note the lack of accreditation as an Assistance Animal.

Certain pets with Assistance Animal certifications are required by the Disability Discrimination Act of 1992 to be reasonably considered within a workplace when requested by an employee with a physical or mental disability. However, even those of sound body and mind can reap the benefits from the unconditional love and companionship of an animal.

The Emotional Support Co is a team of specialists that advocate the physical and mental benefits of emotional support animals such as lower levels of stress, increased activity and reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels. Further experimental studies detailed last year in the Journal of Human Relations found that the presence of dogs within a group has a positive effect on the positive emotions and prosocial behaviours of the group, even increasing creativity and the effectiveness of collaboration.

However, while their benefits are undeniable, emotional support animals are not recognised to be carrying out any specific tasks to assist their owners, and as such are not protected by Australian Law in the way an Assistance Animals are. This means the decision to allow Miss Bella into your organisation lays completely in the hands of your organisation’s leadership team.

While the possible health and safety implications of any employees with allergies or phobias need to be considered, so too must the potential improvements to employee engagement, productivity and retention.

Like any potential hire, there needs to be a consideration for not only workplace culture-fit, but culture-add, and Miss Bella may just be the good girl your organisation needs.

Jacynta Clayton puts her degrees in psychology and professional writing to good use at Lightbox Communications, Brisbane. As the Content & Projects Co-ordinator, she helps give organisations a resounding voice to their recruitment marketing and employer branding content.

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“Switching from transactional to emotional. From functional to experiential.”

As Accor states, “Over the past 6 years, Accor has carried out a major shift and achieved a tremendous transformation. In 2019, we wrote a new page in the Group’s history as we brought Augmented Hospitality to life through the guest-engaging promise ALL – Accor Live Limitless.”

This video is a powerful example of inspriring both current and future talent, and consumers alike.

The post Accor’s new identity: Bringing augmented hospitality to life appeared first on Recruitment Marketing.

Gympie is at the heart of a rapidly expanding region in Queensland that stretches from rural valleys in the west, to the Cooloola Coast gateway, to spectacular Fraser Island. The community enjoys rural delights of the picturesque Mary Valley, the history of Gympie and the broad western area, which is home to country festivals and a strong agricultural base. For candidates seeking a good quality of life, the region offers unique opportunities.

Gympie Regional Council is a local government serving the Gympie region. The organisation employs 516 staff who all share a commitment to continuously improving the services it provides to its 50,000 residents, in one of the most diverse locations in Queensland.

With more than fifteen years in the Council, Ros McVicar is currently one of their Advisors – Human Resources.

“I love working in local government; in particular, I enjoy the structure, procedures, policies, complexity and diversity that local government offers. I love the fact that we work with our community at the grassroots level; it’s a more personal level of government.”

Making the switch from the medical industry to local government more than 15 years ago, McVicar joined the Council as an entry-level administration officer, where the HR department was herself and the Manager. Since then, their HR team has grown to 14 strong, and includes Payroll, Workplace Health & Safety, and Organisational Development.

“I was offered an opportunity by Council to become a HR Officer, and Council supported me in undertaking a Bachelor of Business in HR, to further my career direction.  I moved into a Recruitment Advisor role while I was studying, supporting our line managers with their recruitment needs across the whole of Council.”

McVicar completed her degree in 2016 and has since progressed to become the HR business partner for a number of departments including Planning and Development, and Council’s Water Business Unit.

“It has broadened my experience, because I’m not just managing recruitment, but the broader spectrum of HR functions, including performance management, industrial relations advice, the disciplinary process and more.”

Implementing best practice

McVicar has seen the Council’s recruitment processes evolve extensively. In the beginning, their processes required further transparency, so the team needed to implement best practice. They worked alongside their Work Health & Safety team to streamline pre-employment checks such as medical and health checks for candidates.

“That was a massive improvement. We’ve also worked with Organisational Development partners, aligning our training requirements with position requirements; and we’ve identified the qualifications and licenses we need in a more streamlined, efficient way.”

Because of the processes they have put in place, the Council can quickly identify the best people for their roles.

However, they still face a number of challenges. Gympie sits at the top end of the Sunshine Coast and the lower end of Fraser Coast, and from a recruitment perspective, candidates have the choice of lifestyle options across the regions.

“A percentage of our employees choose to live at the Sunshine Coast and commute. Often, it’s not a problem. But for some of our people, the commute can grow tiresome.”

The Council also struggles to compete, in terms of remuneration, against larger metro councils, private enterprises, and the mining industry.

“We can lose qualified and experienced staff to the mines, particularly positions that are difficult to recruit for, such as plant operators or project managers. Other fields that we have difficulty attracting include Planners, Engineers and senior business managers.”

As such, they have to advertise and promote their roles based on Gympie’s rural and coastal locations.

“The Gympie Region has so much to offer, including a welcoming and warm community.  We try to recruit locally, but we also want the best candidate, and that can sometimes mean having to look and advertise outside the region.”

Skills-based recruitment

One of the things McVicar is proud of is their skills-based recruitment, which they adopted at the same time they restructured their recruitment process and partnered with Scout Talent, their Candidate Management System software provider.

“Skills-based recruitment, we find, is a better way of conducting interviews over standard panel interviews, which were not an effective way to recruit field positions in particular. Our skills-based model involves assessing candidates against practical tasks they would undertake in the role. We’ve applied skills-based recruitment across the board for almost every position. Our line managers have found it really effective because it shows us exactly what candidates can do. It’s been really successful.”

The right Candidate Management System (CMS)

The Council has been using their Candidate Management System for a number of years now, and this helps the HR team to work with hiring managers

“Previously, it was a completely manual process. We advertised positions in the newspaper and to our website, and received hard-copy applications at the front counter or via email. Not to mention, we acknowledged every application manually via email!

“Our CMS has revolutionised the way we recruit. We use automation so that when candidates apply online, they receive automatic acknowledgement. It also centralises our shortlisting process.  It’s freed up more time for our HR officers and hiring managers to better spend elsewhere.”

McVicar and the team have done a lot of work behind the scenes to implement improved policies, procedures, guidelines and documentation. They will continue with this work, and are looking forward to refining their strategy to continue to improve attraction and retention.

“Having the right policies and procedures in place means we can offer flexibility to our current and future talent, and we hope this will improve attraction. We also look forward to working on and building our employer brand in the future.”

McVicar is very active in the community and her appreciation for the region extends outside of work. In addition to working for the Council fulltime, she is secretary for the local hockey club and her local hall committee, as well as a support member of the local fire brigade. She also learns guitar.

“I’m a musical person, I like playing the piano and guitar although can’t profess to being very talented at either! My family and I have a property south of Gympie where we raise beef cattle, which can be challenging to maintain during the drought season, but recent rains have helped.”

Does your organisation use skills-based recruitment? Share a comment below. 

Interested in contributing an article or having your organisation featured in Recruitment Marketing Magazine? Contact Susanne Mather at editor@www.rmm.onenazmul.dev

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