Your Recruiters Could be Killing Your Brand.

A close friend of mine landed the job of her dreams last week. Competition was fierce, the testing process was exacting and the interviewing process connected her with very impressive representatives of the firm.

Yet when the offer package came, there was a significant typo, which could have translated into several thousand dollars of unintentional income to my friend.

Of course my friend pointed out the error, and new docs were drawn up but something sad happened in the interim. (What do you do when the cover letter has a typo?) A bit of tarnish on the brass ring.

There are many phases in the recruiting process including

Advertising
Sourcing
Pre-Screening
Interviewing
Preparing for the New Hire
Offers and Regrets

How your recruiters (internal or external) handle each part shapes impressions, positive or negative of your brand.

If your brand is about Delivering the Wow (Zappos), then I want to be just as wowed with the recruiting process as I am when my shoes arrive. (I was.)

Your brand beats through everyone. If your internal team needs a primer or reminder, call BRANDEMiX to schedule me for your next internal meeting.
Crown included.

Your Digital Employer Brand

Reputation Management in a Digital World

According to a study conducted by Microsoft earlier this year, 70% of surveyed HR professionals in U.S. (41% in the UK) have rejected a candidate based on online reputation information. Don’t be surprised, but your candidates are doing the same thing.

In recent years, in most industries (healthcare and IT notwithstanding), the rise in unemployment created a temporary truce in the war for talent, as layoffs abounded and many non-business-critical positions were put on hold. That is slowly changing now, as corporate payrolls are increasing and jobs are being added.

That’s why it might be a perfect time check out your company’s digital employer brand. Pressed on time? Don’t worry. Technology coupled with sophisticated search engines has made it easier than ever.

Just type “working for [company]” into your fav browser and see what comes up. Chances are, you’ll see something from Jobvent at the top of the list. Further down, you may find surprising insights from Glass Door, Yahoo Answers or Vault.

Want to play more? Try putting in the name of your toughest competitor and see what you find out. Put together a play book for recruiters on how to sell against all your competition. Use the intel to re-sell employees on why they belong with you.

If want to delve deeper, LinkedIn can be a huge help. Do a search by your company name. Not only can you find current employees you’re connected too, but they’ll also show you past employees, new hires, and the most popular profiles. If you’re looking for brand ambassadors, there they are.

On the competitive side, call a past employee of your competitor. Find out why they left and what they think of your company as an employer.

Dick Tracy would be in heaven.

You can also opt to go with a no-work-involved investigation- sign up for Google Alerts, Trackr or Social Mention. Then the information comes right to your Inbox. (Or call BRANDEMiX- this is routine for us- it's part of the research we amass to create authentic employer value propositions.)

Online reputation management is becoming big business, as companies look to track what’s being said and measure the success of their social media marketing strategies.

In a simpler time, employee conversations ended at the water cooler, but today they’re flowing around the world. HR and recruiters need to be part of the dialogue.

Keep the conversation going at Your Digital Brand

Your Digital Brand

The Art of Cultivating Awareness, Likeability and Relationships online.

According to a February LinkedIn study of over 1,100 corporate recruiters, half of those in the US are nervous that competitors are learning to use social networking and social media more effectively than they are.

While many reading this may be dismissive of that fear- I understand and defend it.

Presenting a unified, authentic brand over a variety of new media requires a real strategy, a thoughtful examination of goals and projected outcomes (fans, followers, leads, applicants, sales) and true culture change. Organizationally, you may not be sufficiently staffed or aligned to be creative, collaborative or most importantly consistent. And unlike a magazine article or newspaper ad, digital failures can be forever.

I invite those interested in this topic to continue the discussion and become members of a new LinkedIn group: Your Digital Brand.

Uniquely poised at the cross section of technology and marketing, Your Digital Brand invites members to share stories of success in cultivating awareness, likeability and relationships online.. Business owners, human resources professionals, CMO's and CEO's are encouraged to enjoy learnings from the outliers of the digital world.

As the silos between employee, customer and shareholder have dissolved, it has become a business imperative for organizations to create a unified message that is both authentic and differentiated. And while social media marketing has a very low barrier of entry, I contend that the bar to excellence is still very high.