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The Sodexo Social Recruiting Story with Arie Ball [Video Interview]

Marion Muller — Tue, 15 May 2012 10:04:35 +0000

We recently had a great chat with Arie Ball, who is VP of Sourcing and Talent Acquisition at Sodexo - a company which is the shining light in the world social recruiting.

In this interview you’ll get an exclusive insight into the Sodexo strategy on social media when it comes to sourcing, mobile, employer branding and talent community management.

Arie’s top three tips to any company wanting to embark on a similar social journey are:

Understand what your company presence online is already, what is being said about it.
Define what you are trying to accomplish and build, whether it’s sourcing, employer branding or talent community.
Identify what platforms you want to start utilising based on your goal

Interesting takeaways from the Sodexo success story:

All recruitment properties online are connected (including mobile), the company has built a talent community of 300,000 people to date
Strong internal recruitment and employment branding has resulted in the majority of hires being attracted through the Sodexo career website
Candidate traffic visiting the Sodexo website has grown 530% which is attributed to their social media and digital strategy
Sodexo hire ‘less than a handful’ candidates per year through external staffing agencies
47% of successful candidates have used Sodexo’s social platforms to help them prepare for their interview
Time-to-hire at Sodexo has decreased by 8 whole days from 2007 to now
Quality of hire has improved year by year
Hiring manager satisfaction has increased year over year, it’s currently 4.63 on a 5 point scale (it was under 4 when they started measuring)
Sodexo’s cost of hire is roughly half of SHRM’s industry benchmark
Recruitment costs have been reduced by $300,000 annually and it has allowed the company to hire social media community managers

Be sure to check out our case study on How Sodexo Does Social Media for Recruitment and Employer Branding.

Here’s the blog post about the employee complaint on Twitter that Arie mentions.

And our apologies about the picture quality of this interview, we hope you enjoyed it in spite of this and feel free to share your reactions below!

The Sodexo Social Recruiting Story with Arie Ball [Video Interview]

LinkedIn for Recruitment Briefing at APSCo M Squared [Slides]

Jorgen Sundberg — Fri, 11 May 2012 11:16:31 +0000

Here’s a LinkedIn for Recruitment briefing presentation I delivered at APSCo and M Squared in London this week. My brief was to talk about the bigger picture as in stats, why people use LinkedIn, the future AND to throw in some tips and tricks there.

It’s a challenge to squeeze lots of content into a briefing but this was my attempt which stimulated a good conversation around how agencies use LinkedIn and social media in general.

If you are interested in learning more about LinkedIn for Recruitment professionals, have a look at our LinkedIn for Recruiters Masterclass at Covent Garden.

Any questions, just tweet us or ping an email.

LinkedIn for Recruitment Briefing at APSCo M Squared [Slides]

How Ernst & Young Use Facebook to Recruit Professionals [Case Study]

Marion Muller — Tue, 08 May 2012 09:31:53 +0000

We’re sure you’ve heard of Ernst & Young, it is of course one of the largest professional service firms in the world, headquartered out of London. Ernst & Young is one of the “Big Four” accounting firms, along with Deloitte, KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

What you may not know is that they are very good at recruiting talent via social media and in particular Facebook. We have decided to take a look at what makes their social recruiting strategy special and to see what we can learn along the way. Let’s start with the biggest network of them all, Facebook.

Ernst & Young Strategy: the Career website

The E&Y career website is welcoming and well-designed to help people find exactly what they’re looking for. Instead of having a career page talking only about the company, several categories are clearly available, giving E&Y the opportunity to communicate in the most personalised way depending on who they are targeting.

Whether you’re a student / recent graduate, an experienced worker or an executive, E&Y choose to talk to you directly in order to answer your specific questions/needs. This strategy gives a lot of clarity and also shows the diversity of the company in terms of employees.

Before going into social media, one of the most important thing is to define how you will choose to communicate and then make it coherent everywhere. One company, one message. That’s what E&Y did by following the clear targeting of its career page.

Facebook Recruitment

Ernst & Young is mainly focusing on Facebook to reach students and graduates; it’s the best place to target the young professional demographic. The Facebook Career page was created as early as 2006. Its strategy was immediately oriented towards students and graduates, the goal was to build a relationship early on with them, to get them to learn more about the company and its career opportunities. The page currently has 86,839 “likes” and is growing by the day.

People can directly engage on the Facebook wall with the E&Y team, discovering the company’s values in a fun way through photos and videos at the same time.

Here again, the strategy is to answer every target’s question. Each tab gives more information about E&Y, whether you’re experienced or a student. For example, under the student tab, Q&As are available to answer every question a student/graduate may have, along with tests and videos. Through a direct approach, the company puts a face to their unique job experience, explaining more about the “Intern Experience” for example.

The page is a real open window of how it feels like to work at E&Y and therefore what the company is looking for in their candidates. It’s both about attracting potential recruits and making sure the right people apply. Ideally the best people in the marketplace will have a look here and recognising themselves in the company spirit.

To keep things fresh, the company organises competitions on Facebook. A good example of that was the Prize-Tagging competition run on the Careers page. Not only do the winners won great prizes for themselves, but the university with the most entries won £10,000 for their student unions and expert advice from E&Y on how to invest it (keg parties are not allowed by all accounts). Here’s how it looked like on the UK Careers page.

This is a great example of how to attract students and get them interested in the company, its activity and its job opportunities.

Recruiting on Twitter

On Twitter as well, Ernst & Young’s goal is to be relevant to its audience. Several accounts have therefore been set up depending on what content is shared. General news are shared on the @EYnews Twitter account. People who are following @EY_CareersUS, or @EY_CareersUK can stay connected to career opportunities. Twitter is the perfect way to get people interested in seeing more of E&Y on Facebook, Youtube or their website and therefore drive more traffic to those other platforms.

If we look at the students/graduates strategy, other accounts are set up: @EY_StudentsUK and @EY_Students. This is of course strictly for internships and graduate jobs.

This distinction is again a unique and targeted way to reach the right audience. Finally, in the US, a campus hire is tweeting about is job at E&Y through another account, @EYStaff, promoting the real daily job experience there.

What we can learn from E&Y

Target your audience to reach them effectively: clearly identify the profiles you are looking for.
Don’t be boring on social media: stay fresh and try to get people involved in a creative way (Facebook contests are a good example).
Be coherent in everything you do: from your career page to your Twitter account(s), show consistent conversation so that people are not confused and your message is clear.

Hope you enjoyed and please share your thoughts on this in the comment section below!

How Ernst & Young Use Facebook to Recruit Professionals [Case Study]

How To Do Culture Branding Like Rackspace [Case Study]

Adriana Costello — Fri, 04 May 2012 11:52:52 +0000

Based in San Antonio, TX, Rackspace is an IT hosting company that has become ‘the service leader in cloud computing.’ Now with over 4,000 employees, known as ‘Rackers,’ the company has been widely recognised for their unique use of ‘Culture Branding’ as a way to portray the true essence of what it is like to work for Rackspace.

What is Culture Branding?

Culture Branding is the brilliant invention of Michael Long, Head of Culture Branding at Rackspace. Long defines Culture Branding as ‘the acts and efforts behind sharing an authentic picture of what it truly means to be a part of our team.’ This involves using tools like blogging, photography, cartooning and video to ‘document, share and celebrate’ the Rackspace culture.

While it is tempting to compare the concept of Culture Branding to that of Employer Branding, the two are actually quite different. Long recognises an Employer Brand as a static concept, unable to fully capture the vibrant culture of Rackspace. While a great Employer Brand can show the world that your company is a great place to work in general, Culture Branding is the best way to attract the specific kinds of people who will fit within your organisation.

Long’s aim is not to attract ‘the best talent,’ but to attract those individuals who are the best in terms of fit within the Rackspace culture. These are the people who are likely to be the most engaged, and they are the individuals who will make longer lasting contributions to the organisation. Long believes that retention is the best indicator of how well an organisation marries its culture with recruitment and hiring.

The Racker Talent Website

RackerTalent.com is the culmination of the Culture Branding efforts of Long and his team. This is the place to go to learn about Rackspace as a company, the people who work there, the Rackspace culture and career opportunities. The People page of Racker Talent is where you can learn about Rackers’ Core Values and their commitment to ‘Fanatical Support.’ You can also watch a video that details a day in the life of a Racker.

The Culture page has more videos and blog posts written by Rackers about what it’s really like to work at the company. There are 28 different bloggers from 4 continents covering topics such as Core Values, Rackers themselves, Service and Strengths. The most recent Racker Talent video, ‘Get Your Awesome On!’ already has over 5,800 views.

Culture Branding Results at Rackspace

Just two years after launching the Racker Talent site, Rackspace is already seeing astonishing progress in the form of measurable results. Visits to the company’s career site have jumped from 12,000 a month in 2010 to 100,000 a month in 2012. The Culture Branding team has even demonstrated that their Culture site is the top source of job candidates in terms of both quantity and quality, with an astounding 60% rate of hire. People who visit the Culture page view 3 times as many pages on the Rackspace site, stay for twice as long, and are 70% more likely to land a job with the company.

Build Your Own Culture Brand

If you’ve been inspired by the success of Culture Branding at Rackspace, here are some tips for building a unique Culture Brand for your company:

Get in the trenches! Michael Long began his Culture Branding journey at Rackspace by focusing on the Rackers themselves, with the aim of helping Rackers share their personal stories in their own voices. Last year, Long embarked on a ‘Rackspace Walkabout,’ which involved travelling around to spend time with Rackers in different locations, across different work groups.

Invite everyone to contribute content to your Culture Brand. Culture Branding is not a job to be done solely by a handful of individuals. An authentic Culture Brand must come from the efforts of people from all over the organisation. By encouraging a variety of different employees to write blog posts about their own unique experiences, for example, Rackspace is better able to present a true impression of their culture.

Share authentic employee stories. People who are interested in your company culture want to see more than photos of employees and generic videos about your company values. One of the best ways to present your Culture Brand is by sharing the unique stories and experiences of individual employees. Rackspace does this in a variety of ways, one of which being a series of blog posts by Rackers sharing real-life examples of the company’s Core Values in action.

Understand culture as a dynamic phenomenon. Organisational culture should be seen as an active, evolving entity – it is alive. This means that the task of Culture Branding can never be ‘complete.’ Long is constantly roaming through the Rackspace offices in search of new elements of the company culture to share. In one year, he snapped over 26,000 pictures – just to give you an idea of the magnitude of his efforts. Effective Culture Branding requires ‘real-time engagement’ with the people, artefacts and events that make up your company culture, and it is crucial to always be on the lookout for new inspiration.

Social media is only a method, not an end in itself. Culture Branding is about telling stories in different ways, whether that may be YouTube videos, blog posts or tweets. The point is that you have to get the purpose and message right long before you even consider which social media channels to use.

For more on employer branding, check out how tech giant Intuit Do Employer Branding and Recruitment on Social Media [Case Study].

Adriana Costello is a writer for Link Humans and a student at the London School of Economics in the MSc Management and HR programme. She also blogs about HR and Social Media for Jumpstart:HR. Adriana has a BA in Psychology and a BSBA in Business Administration from Boston University. Connect with Adriana on Twitter: @AdrianaTereza.

How To Do Culture Branding Like Rackspace [Case Study]

The 4 Keys to Successful Blogging [Tips & Video] #smlondon

Bernardo Donkor — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 01:28:22 +0000

This month’s Social Media Meetup took place on Tuesday 24^th and the theme was “The keys to successful blogging” with Marko Saric, a London-based blogger who runs one of the world’s top 50 blogs – HowToMakeMyBlog.com – and Jorgen Sundberg.

Some background information

The meetup started with some interesting background information about Marko Saric. Not only is he a semi-professional blogger, he is also a music enthusiast and a big fan of heavy metal band Metallica. Originally from Denmark, he is the face behind one of the world’s top 50 blogs, HowToMakeMyBlog.com, a blog about blogging for budding bloggers up to intermediate-level bloggers. He’s currently a social media manager for PartyGaming and he’s in charge of driving traffic to the website using social media.

With his years of experience with his blog, Marko shared with the audience 4 keys to successful blogging.

Key #1: It’s the content that makes all the difference.

A blog is like a platform, and as such it’s the content that you put into it that makes the difference. There is currently so much bad content online that people are just bored and tired of endlessly looking for great content. If you create content, make sure you create something memorable, something that educates people.

So how can you write great content?

Marko shared 7 tips on how to create great content:

Be original and credible: don’t settle for an amateur design. Create your own design for your blog or invest in a professional designer. Be original but most importantly be credible. Don’t be afraid to show your face and put your name on display; make sure you have your contact information on your blog for people to contact you.
Put your personality in your blog: your content is a way to tell people who you are.
Create catchy headlines: your visitors will decide whether to read your blog post or not by taking a glance at your post title. Create “how to” posts, list posts – they’re easily scannable and they’re an easy way to break down long posts.
Be concise: make sure that your content is easy for your visitors to consume. You can do so by following these suggestions:
split your text into shorter paragraphs,
use lots of wide space around your paragraphs,
use links to relevant posts or subheadings,
use bullet points or number lists.

If you’re looking for an alternative to text, consider using other type of content, such as pictures, videos and infographics.

Stand out: publish something that stands out, put your own opinion, do something for people to come to you.
“Namedrop”: use popular names in your blog, whether it’s people or brands (as long as it’s relevant). Google will pick this up and it will drive people to come and read about it.
Post regularly: for the first 18 months try to blog three times a week, every week. This helps build a momentum and a regular audience.

Key #2: Attract visitors to your blog.

Creating great content is just the first small step of having a successful blog. Promoting content is just as a valuable.

How can you promote your blog and its content?

Create connections using social media (especially Twitter) proactively every day.
Connect with other bloggers – read their blogs, comment, share their posts and leave a link to your blog.
Choose the right domain name – this is extremely important, as picking the wrong name can have a negative impact on your blog. Choose a domain name that uses targeted keywords relevant to what your blog is about. In that way, search engines can drive more traffic on your blog. That is why people who use their own name as their domain name often struggle to get traffic when they start blogging.

This leads us to SEO, which Marko doesn’t put much emphasis on. This is because, as he said, it’s not something that we should worry too much about. As long as we concentrate on putting out great content, Google and other search engines will find your blog.

Key #3: Make your visitors come back

What should you do after you get new visitors? Give them a reason to come back. This can be done in a number of ways:

Enable sharing options in your blog posts: by doing so, visitors can easily share (and save) your content. Don’t overload them with too many sharing buttons: just include the most targeted ones.
Post good-quality content: if your visitors see that you post good-quality content, they will be motivated to return.
Enable email subscriptions: this will not only notify your readers of any new content on your blog, but it will also serve as a reminder to check out your blog.
Create a presence on social media networks, especially Twitter and Facebook. However, don’t use it just to get new visitors. The number of new visits and other similar statistics is what Marko calls “soft numbers”: they’re an indication, not the only thing to focus on.
Focus on a goal – what would you like your readers to do for you? Set a goal and monitor daily what are you doing to achieve that goal – focus and be strategic on your blog.

Remember: spend 50% of your blogging time on creating content, and the other 50% on promoting your blog.

Key #4: Manage your time wisely.

Many people have unrealistic expectations on their blogs. Don’t worry if you think your first blog post is not up to standards – it usually isn’t anyway. Don’t let that deter you from carrying on. Don’t let your early blog posts discourage you, but rather use them to help yourself, to better yourself and to improve your blogging skills. If you feel like it’s taking too long to see some results, don’t worry – it generally takes at least 6 months before you can see some real results. Remember: blogging is a marathon, not a sprint.

Question Time

To conclude, Marko gave the audience a chance to ask some questions. Here are the questions and answers in a nutshell.

Q. I’m thinking of moving from Blogger to WordPress. Which platform do you think is better?
A. I’m currently on WordPress using a self-hosted domain, but I’ve used Blogger as well. The main difference is that, with Blogger you’re just renting your blog from Google, whereas with a self-hosted domain you have the flexibility you need to do whatever you want with your blog using WordPress. Hence, I’d recommend the latter.

Q. What is the easiest way to have people retweet your blog – any particular hashtags I should use?
A. Hashtags are an easy way out to get your post noticed. Just push any blog updates to Twitter, but don’t be too pushy with your followers. If you want you can just give small hints about new blog posts, to encourage people to have a look at your blog for all the details.

Q. Which domain is the best to use: .net, .com, .org, .co.uk or others?
A. If your aim is to target a bigger audience, then by all means choose .com, as it’s global. However, if your main target is the UK, then choose .co.uk. The same applies to any other country you’d like to target.

Q. Should I keep my blog separate from my main website?
A. Keeping them separate is generally a bad idea. The good thing about WordPress is that you can incorporate your blog with your website, so there is no real reason to separate the two.

Q. Can I use Facebook to blog?
A. You’re limited on Facebook. Evaluate your goals, your targets, how do you want to blog and where. Facebook might work for you, but if you’ve got a bigger scope then it’s best to have your own domain and have full control. Besides, depending on your privacy settings, Google might not index your content on Facebook, hence stopping potential visitors from finding you.

Q. What do you think of Posterous as a blogging platform?
A. Choosing Posterous as your platform of choice is a personal preference. However, it does have its own limitations compared to other platforms.

Q. What is the best way to encourage people to comment?
A. Don’t push people to comment – it will happen when the time is right. What matters is making an impact with your blog posts – people will either hate you or love you for what you write, and that will cause a reaction from them, which often results in comments. You could also simply ask your visitors to comment: ask questions, run competitions, interact with your readers. However, don’t focus too much on comments – they will come eventually.

Q. What refers more traffic to your blog?
A. Google – it helps you if you have great content, great links and a great domain name. Don’t rely on Google alone – make sure you use various social networks as well to drive traffic to your blog.

Q. How can I make my website stand out if the topic of my blog is a very popular field (e.g. football, art)?
A. You have to do something unique, something that sets you apart from other blogger that write about the same (or similar) topic. Be original, have something others don’t have, and put your own spin to what other people use on their blogs.

Q. What social media tools do you use the most?
A. I try not to use social media too much. I’m on Twitter and Facebook, and I use Tweetdeck and HootSuite. However, I don’t spend too much time on them. Having said that, I particularly like HootSuite for its ability to update multiple social media profiles at once.

Q. What is the minimum commitment I should put in my blog?
A. Start by blogging 3 times a week, writing not more than 300 words per post. You don’t even have to write posts every time, you can use other media as well, especially infographics.

Q. How can blogging help you get a job and get promoted?
A. I got my current job through my blog – the head of marketing of the company I work for saw my blog and contacted me. Give your best through your blog’s content and present yourself in the best way possible, but allow people to find you – so include Twitter, Facebook links and email. Don’t want to be contacted though – be proactive and find the people you want to connect with.

Q. When is it the best time to monetise from your blog?
A. Make sure you decide on whether you want to monetise your blog or not from the very beginning, have goals and targets set in mind before you create your blog.

Q. What do you think about affiliate marketing?
A. I personally think it’s great, as long as you have a product that you like, that works and that you would recommend to others. Show your readers how they can use such product(s) and write reviews about them in a non-pushy way. Affiliate marketing is the one of the best sources to get money from you blog.

Q. How much do you make from blogging?
A. I get enough to have it as my full-time job. I’m quite happy and content with what I do and what I get from it.

My Views

I personally enjoyed this Meetup. As a blogger, I’ve taken quite a few tips from Marko’s 4 blogging secrets and I’m going to use them on my own blog. I’m definitely going to use list posts more often and other forms of media – I’ll start using infographics as well. I will still keep an eye on the “soft numbers” regarding my blog (number of visits, number of new visitors vs. returning visitors etc) to give me an indication of how well I’m doing. However, I won’t let these “soft numbers” distract me from my main focus of writing good-quality content for my readers – old and new.

Here is a video of Marko from the evening:

Were you at the meetup? Or perhaps you followed the event on Twitter? We would love to hear what you thought of it in the comment section below!

And if you’re not a member of the Social Media London meetup group, feel free to request to join the group at the official Meetup.com page, where you can keep up to date with new Social Media London meetups. Check out the Social Media London Twitter page for more info and regular updates.

Don’t miss our next meetup, “How To Boost Your Social Media Influence“ with @AndrewGrill“on 22^nd May.

About the Author: Bernardo Donkor is a blogger at TechLume and a Social Media Executive for Groupon UK. He blogs about social media, technology and startups. He a student at Birkbeck College doing a BA degree in Linguistics and Languages. He can be contacted at bernardo.donkor@me.com.

Social Media London is a community and monthly meetup featuring expert social media speakers, proudly powered by Link Humans.

The 4 Keys to Successful Blogging [Tips & Video] #smlondon

How Aon Recruits with Social Media [Bryan Chaney Interview]

Marion Muller — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 11:47:22 +0000

We recently had a chat with Bryan Chaney, who is the global social media strategy manager at the global re-insurance company Aon. We discussed the recruitment challenges they are facing and how social media is increasingly helping the company acquire the best talent.

From which social networks Bryan finds useful for recruitment and sourcing to his recent results, find out in the video below the top tips he has given in terms of strategy.

Takeaways from the Aon social recruiting experience:

- Convey a consistent message through all your platforms (both internally and externally)

- Define your target audience: who are the people you want to attract and where they are

- Google Plus is a great place for sourcing and contains very fresh profiles

- Aon uses Facebook primarily for campus recruitment

- The company is testing out Pinterest and have listed all their recruiters on a specific board

- If you’re looking for a job, always apply for specific jobs at Aon, you can also join the career community and chat with recruiters and current employees

- Check out Aon’s Career Community, Facebook Page and Pinterest Boards for more.

You can connect with Bryan on Twitter and LinkedIn and please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!

How Aon Recruits with Social Media [Bryan Chaney Interview]

How Intuit Does Social Media Recruitment and Employer Branding [Case Study]

Adriana Costello — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 16:50:41 +0000

Intuit is an American company that provides financial software and services for individuals and small businesses. Known for ‘Going Beyond Innovation,’ Intuit has been widely recognised for keeping up with, and becoming a leader in, the evolving world of social media in online recruitment and employer branding.

Competing for top talent with the likes of Microsoft, Cisco, Adobe and SalesForce has made the company focus heavily on a clear social recruiting strategy.

The Intuit Strategy

The cornerstone of Intuit’s social media strategy is the realisation that the company’s target audience is increasingly moving to social networks outside of traditional career websites.

While Intuit’s career site still lies at the centre of the company’s social media universe, their strategy relies to a greater extent on other networks like LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, ‘where the candidates live.’ Intuit supplements these networks with efforts like blogging and live chats to create ‘buzz’ and ‘conversation’ around their employer brand.

There are over 100 people on the Intuit Global Recruiting Team who contribute to helping the company create a great candidate experience, and Intuit encourages all employees to become brand ambassadors with their ‘Everyone Recruits’ campaign.

LinkedIn Strategy

LinkedIn was the first social network to become part of Intuit’s recruitment and employer branding strategy. Intuit began by taking control of their company page, actively monitoring conversations and adding useful content.

The careers tab of the Intuit company page details new vacancies, provides an overview of benefits and contains interesting videos. The company now has over 20,300 followers on LinkedIn. Intuit created LinkedIn groups for careers and employees, which now have over 6,340 members.

All Intuit recruiters have individual LinkedIn profiles with information that allows jobseekers to engage with the right recruiter.

Facebook Strategy

The Intuit Careers page on Facebook has over 2,200 ‘likes,’ and for good reason. The user-friendly platform provides a wealth of information and opportunities for candidate engagement.

Intuit’s Facebook page serves as a hub for live video chats and wall discussions about technology and careers, videos, job posts and blogs.

Twitter Strategy

With over 2,380 followers, the @IntuitCareers Twitter account is a channel through which the Intuit posts job openings, interacts with candidates and shares updates about the company and industry.

In addition to the company-wide careers account, individual recruiters at Intuit have their own Twitter accounts. The company’s internal recruiters love to hear from jobseekers on Twitter, and will typically give a faster response to a tweet than an email.

Through an internal Social Media Bootcamp, a six-week programme to mould ‘effective social recruiters,’ Intuit recruiters learn to build social profiles, craft constructive bios and find useful information to post and talk about.

The programme teaches recruiters the importance of sharing valuable content with their networks and not just tweeting about job openings. This is a good social media lesson for most recruiters, it’s about branding and content marketing just as much as sourcing.

YouTube Strategy

Perhaps the most unique aspect of Intuit’s social strategy is their use of YouTube videos, which are a tool for both recruitment and employer branding. The Intuit Careers channel on YouTube has over 55,560 video views, and includes videos about specific jobs, business units and the company’s corporate culture.

Intuit recognises that video can be much more powerful than a standard written job posting. Videos are embedded in Intuit job descriptions and used in emails to follow-up with applicants after interviews.

While YouTube tends to fall to the bottom of an organisation’s social recruitment priority list, Intuit is a prime example of the power of video as part of a successful social media strategy.

One former Disney executive, the target of a recent search for a new director at Intuit, wrote to the company saying, ‘Your website is outstanding, and your video that directly speaks to hiring people who are customer-focused is a best practice’ – a nice endorsement from someone in the know!

Measurement

Intuit understands the importance of measurement as part of their social media strategy. The company utilises both quantitative and qualitative measures to understand what works, and what doesn’t work, in terms of recruitment and employer branding.

Intuit uses quantitative measures to gauge success of their social media sites (e.g., number of followers or subscribers), recruitment results (e.g., number of applicants, interviews, offers and hires), and total investment (e.g., time, monetary cost and other resources). Google Analytics helps Intuit track things like candidates on LinkedIn and referrals to their careers page from various social media outlets.

Qualitative measures are used to assess Intuit’s employer brand through comments, retweets, and perceptions of user experience.

Recognition

Intuit is well aware that social media is only ‘social’ if it is used to have a conversation. Applicants enjoy the fact that Intuit is willing to engage and answer questions, and other groups have taken notice as well. Fortune ranked Intuit as #7 out of the ‘Top 100 Companies to Work For’ for being most social. The Huffington Post named Intuit as the #2 most social company in a list that includes major players like Google and Apple.

‘We constantly engage with our candidates on our social sites. We share information on the culture of Intuit, our innovative technology, and why this is a great place to work. We don’t just post jobs – we engage with our candidates and share information and answer questions.’ – Leslie Mason, Senior Recruiter at Intuit

Looking to the Future

The company continues to explore new social options, constantly looking for fresh ways to improve their online recruitment and branding strategy. To gain more insight about their social ‘customers,’ Intuit talks to applicants to hear what they would like to see as part of the company’s social presence.

Originally used by Intuit as storage space for presentations, SlideShare recently became the company’s 5^th social media channel. Their account now has over 72,600 total views of their presentations about career advice, technology and recruiting. Intuit is currently testing new channels such as Google+ and Pinterest, and utilising innovative tools like QR codes to drive traffic to their sites.

Many thanks to Intuit and Leslie Mason for helping us with this case study. And the recruitment team would like to hightlight that Intuit is expanding globally and currently hiring in the UK. For a list of all job openings, visit www.intuitcareers.com, and obviously feel free to reach out to recruiters on your favorite social media sites!

For another great example of social media strategy at work, see How Sodexo Does Recruitment and Employer Branding on Social Media.

How Intuit Does Social Media Recruitment and Employer Branding [Case Study]

How to Write a Social Media Policy Like Ford, Intel or Coca-Cola [Examples]

Adriana Costello — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 11:18:55 +0000

Writing a social media policy can be like walking on eggshells. It is a potentially overwhelming process with many things to take into consideration, from legal matters to employees’ perceptions of privacy. There are certain best practices to keep in mind when drafting your company’s social media policy: it should be comprehensive, without being too broad, and must be readily understood by all employees. Below are some guidelines and examples to help you get started on writing your own policy.

Does My Company Need a Social Media Policy?

With the increasing use of social media in both our business and personal lives, it is more important than ever for companies to protect their reputations. There are several issues of importance to any company when it comes to social media use, including productivity, privacy, and host of legal matters. Therefore, organisations of all sizes, across all sectors, should seriously consider developing a formal social media policy. At the very least, a formal policy should serve as a reminder for employees to use common sense when it comes to social media, and to remind them that their online activities can have consequences for the entire organisation.

Legal Considerations of Social Media Policies for the UK

The Human Rights Act 1998 provides a ‘right to respect for private and family life, home and correspondence.’ Relevant case law surrounding the Human Rights Act indicates that employees have a reasonable expectation of privacy when it comes to separating their private lives from the workplace.

The Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 has implications for the extent to which employers can monitor or record communications that take place through the company’s networks. There are only two conditions under which an employer may lawfully intercept communications: 1) there is reasonable belief of consent on the part of the sender and recipient, or 2) the employer does not have consent, but is acting in order to protect their business, comply with financial regulations or prevent crime.

According to the Computer Misuse Act 1990, it is an offence to use a computer to gain access to data you are not authorised to use. This means employers should not have access to employees’ personal social media accounts.

An emerging issue regarding the use of social media for business is the question of who owns social media accounts and the contacts that are gathered as part of a social network – the employer or the employee? Generally speaking, an employer may not claim an employee’s social media contacts (i.e. LinkedIn contacts, Facebook friends or Twitter followers) when the employee leaves the organisation. It is possible that the answer to this question may be slightly different if the employer, rather than the employee, sets up the account, or if the employee is instructed to create a corporate-branded profile for business purposes (i.e., @CompanyXYZ_John). Regardless, employers who wish to claim ownership of social media accounts that employees use should assert this well in advance as part of a formal social media policy.

A corporate social media policy should be written with these regulations in mind, and should only include those aspects specifically covered by the law. Making a social media policy too broad, violating any rights that employees should have, can be very damaging for an employer.

Creating Your Social Media Policy

Social media policies come in different shapes and sizes. They can either be a small section in your company’s employee handbook or a lengthier stand-alone document. There are some things to keep in mind when crafting your social media policy, including the size of your organisation, company culture and nature of your business. Any well-written policy should be clear and concise, with easily understandable language free from legal jargon.

Key Points to Include in Your Social Media Policy

Introduce the purpose of social media as part of your corporate strategy, be it in terms of marketing, recruitment or employer branding.
Add value – when employees publish work-related social media content, they should provide useful information or insight that is relevant to the business.
Employees should be prohibited from sharing confidential and proprietary information online.
Responsibility for content – employees should know to exercise good judgment and be prepared to deal with any consequences that result from inappropriate actions or statements online.
Authenticity is key – users of social media should clearly identify themselves by name, and when relevant, position and company.
Keep your audience in mind – before publishing any content, employees should ensure they are not alienating readers that may be current clients, potential clients, or past/current/future employees.
Productivity is essential – social media efforts can only be successful if employees find a proper balance between social media and other work.
Remember to keep it simple so that everyone can easily understand the policy.

Example Social Media Policies

Intel has done an excellent job crafting Social Media Guidelines that are easily understood by employees, separated into 3 Rules of Engagement: disclose, protect and use common sense.

Coca-Cola’s Online Social Media Principles effectively convey the organisation’s vision and strategy surrounding social media use for business purposes. Their 5 Core Social Media Values are transparency, protection, respect, responsibility and utilization.

BBC clearly kept the reader in mind when drafting their Guidance for Social Networking. A Summary of Main Points in the form of a bulleted list ensures that employees will grasp the most important elements of the policy.

IBM employees actually helped to create the company’s Social Computing Guidelines, which are continually under review as online social tools evolve.

The UK Civil Service provides a colorful, reader-friendly document titled Engaging Through Social Media, which includes an introduction to social media, guidance for various kinds of employees and resources for further information.

Ford Motor Company’s Digital Participation Guidelines are centred on 5 core principles: honesty about who you are, clarity that your opinions are your own, respect and humility in all communication, good judgment in sharing only public information and awareness that what you say is permanent.

Perhaps the most innovative and ‘user-friendly’ social media policy I’ve seen comes from Edmunds Inc, owner of websites built to inform automotive consumers and enthusiasts. Their unique social media guidelines, referred to as Edmunds’ Rules of the Road, are in the form of a welcoming infographic that provides clear, comprehensive and concise information for employees while successfully representing the Edmunds culture.

Does your company have a policy in place? Do your employees understand it? Please let us know in the comments!

Photo by Robert S. Donovan.

How to Write a Social Media Policy Like Ford, Intel or Coca-Cola [Examples]

4 Reasons Recruiting on Social Media May Be Better than Your Career Site

Adriana Costello — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 17:38:58 +0000

The Internet is changing at a rapid pace, and it is important for companies that wish to remain attractive in the eyes of top talent to adapt their online recruitment strategy appropriately. As the Web becomes a more social place, the traditional, isolated corporate website is becoming a relic of the past. Here are four key reasons why companies should turn their attention outward, focusing more recruitment efforts on communities outside of the confines of their own domain name.

1. Expand Your Pool of Candidates

One of the easiest ways to increase your company’s pool of job candidates is to go to where the potential job seekers are, rather than waiting for them to come to you. Part of your online recruitment strategy should involve spending time on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites that are relevant to your industry. By developing a presence in communities elsewhere on the web, outside of your corporate website, you will be better positioned to engage and attract a greater number of talented candidates.

Perhaps the most valuable group of candidates you can find through social platforms are the passive job seekers – those who are not actively looking for new employment through corporate career websites, but are open to new opportunities. While active job seekers are likely to spend a lot of time on LinkedIn, passive job seekers can still be found participating in group discussions and forming professional connections. On Twitter, you can find both passive and active job seekers who tweet about their field of interest, participate in discussions and interact with other individuals in their industry. Facebook is another great place to catch the attention of potential candidates, with the average user spending nearly 8 hours per month on the site. Every employee can become a recruiter on Facebook by reaching out to their personal networks, and an attractive referral incentive can help this channel become an incredibly valuable recruiting tool.

2. Referral Traffic is Powerful

By building relationships in external communities and solidifying your company’s presence outside of your own website, you can greatly increase the number of people who becomeaware of your brand, see your job postings, and visit your web pages. Having a powerful social presence online can mean the difference between dozens vs. hundreds or thousands of visitors each week.

Consider, for example, a niche island resort that gets 80% of its visitors through TripAdvisor, a social space where customers go to rate, comment on and discuss holiday destinations. Recruiters can similarly take advantage of the power of referrals by targeting relevant, popular online communities. When other people share, promote or discuss your content (e.g., job openings or career development programmes), it not only increases your reach, but also serves to validate your claims, as people may be more likely to trust an objective third party.

3. Improve the Candidate Experience

Job seekers are increasingly coming to expect potential employers to have some sort of social presence online. This could be as simple as a Twitter account or Facebook page where potential applicants can ask questions and participate in discussions about the company or industry. This element of conversation – being able to interact with people both within and outside of your organisation – adds a personal, more human element to the job search process. Familiar platforms like Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn are easy for job seekers to understand, and are more than likely a major part of their daily routine already.

Burton Snowboards has a separate Twitter account for careers with the company, used to post new job openings and interact with candidates who have specific questions.

4. Being Social is Cost-Effective

The great thing about participating in online communities outside of your corporate website is that most of them are completely free. Apart from your time, it costs nothing to create a Twitter account, Facebook page or LinkedIn group, and the time spent building your presence through social channels will be a lucrative investment. Using social platforms to communicate your employer brand and promote careers at your company is one of the most cost-effective marketing strategies out there, and it is an opportunity that every company should take advantage of.

Case Study: Ernst & Young

One example of a company that understands the power of social platforms in recruiting is Ernst & Young. Since 2007, Ernst & Young has used Facebook as a means through which potential candidates can communicate with the company directly. The Ernst & Young Careers page on Facebook allows candidates to ask questions, find job openings and meet current employees. It is a friendly online space that provides an enjoyable candidate experience, and greatly increases the company’s reach to a pool of over 34,000 candidates.

For another great example of social recruiting, see this Deloitte case study.

What benefits have you realised from leveraging external social networks as part of your company’s recruitment strategy? Please share your experience!

Image by Sean MacEntee.

4 Reasons Recruiting on Social Media May Be Better than Your Career Site

How You Can Get a Job in Social Media [Slides & Video] #smlondon

Jorgen Sundberg — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 08:04:59 +0000

This month’s Social Media London meetup featured our friend and social media recruiter Steve Ward of Cloud Nine Recruitment. This means he recruits people to do social media marketing for both agencies and companies around the UK and internationally. Here are some of the tips from the evening:

What defines a good career search…?

Steve listed a number of elements to a good career search and some of them are: standing out, being relevant, staying creative, having the right knowledge, being communicative, have the adequate experience and be suitable for the role and the company.

Really creative case studies of successful social media candidates

Laura Tosney – YouTube campaign
Gareth Cash – YouTube campaign
Sean Fraser – Lego CV on YouTube
Celine Cavaillerie – dedicated job search site
Ulrike Schultz – Twitter campaign @TheLondonJob
Employ Kyle – most creative site ever, got 15 offers. Took a job in New York.

The 4 common denominators of these successful job searches:

Creativity – how is your social backbone? Blog, Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook profiles, what do they say? Are they effective and is the message loud and clear?
Connectivity – who do you need to be connected to? Listen, talk, read, connect, ask, meet, coffees, find industry leaders, comment and share.
Communication – are you talking with the right people effectively? Don’t be afraid, communicate positively, become intately visible, be generous.
Authenticity – be transparent, be honest, be enthusiastic and above all be YOU!

Here’s a clip of Steve’s talk:

And here are his slides:

How to land a job in social media View more PowerPoint from CloudNine.

Be sure to come to the next meetup The Keys to Successful Blogging with Marko Saric on the 24th of April.

Social Media London is a community and monthly meetup in London featuring expert social media speakers, proudly powered by Link Humans.

How You Can Get a Job in Social Media [Slides & Video] #smlondon