Original blog post by Neil Harrison, Head of Employer Branding & Insight at TMP UK click here>

The publishing of graduate recruitment expectations for the coming year always makes for interesting reading and this year’s High Fliers’ report is no exception. From a distance, all looks rosy, with employers anticipating an across-the-board rise of 6.4% over the number of graduates they took on board in 2011. Some improvement on the cataclysmic 18% drop in 2009. One of the figures that really caught the eye was the public sector forecasting an expansion in their graduate hiring of a staggering 21.9%. This against a backdrop of headcount reductions and recruitment freezes within the sector.
 

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Breaking the shackles of the past, dealing with the now & planning for the future
                                                                                      
Firstly one must acknowledge and pay homage to the hundreds of writers and commentators who over the decades have given their opinions and theories in the countless books and articles on the subject of managing people; you could probably step all the way to the moon on the various publications on offer.

Alas one would have to say a great deal of that material (with a few key exceptions) is less relevant in our world today; from advice on strategy to various forms of leadership it simply does not apply to the conditions we now are experiencing. Whilst it would be displaying a degree of arrogance to virtually “throw the baby out with the bath water”, many of those principles advocated can be put into question.

I raise the proposition that we are deluding ourselves that we have the challenge of leading and managing people in hand and that there is no real need for decisive action on strategic thinking and innovation. There is certainly a lot of discussion and hyperbole from many quarters about the subject but there is little evidence of sustained action by large sections of the business communities to address surely one of businesses and our nation’s most crucial issues. I speak from a position of having conducted hundreds of interviews over the past ten years with various stakeholders, the chorus of dissention growing louder as the various issues have emerged.
So why do I believe this is so?

The last decade has in many ways become more defining than any since the end of hostilities of World War II; the changes outlined below have had such a fundamental effect on the psyche of people throughout the globe. These changes have caused a major shift in how people think and act regarding their roles in business and society.

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Winston Churchill was visibly upset during a meeting with Josef Stalin during WWII. Churchill had just learned that a family friend had died. He apologized to Stalin for being carried away by the death of his friend while the Russian people were losing millions during the war.

“The death of one man is a tragedy,” Stalin remarked. “The death of millions is a statistic.”
Stalin understood that stories count more than numbers.

Stalin understood that stories count more than numbers.

Stalin was coldly correct. Many of us remember the book and movie about Anne Frank who died in the Holocaust. Hearing about the millions who also died doesn’t have the emotional impact that this young girl’s story continues to have. If you visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., you will be given a “passport” that bears the name and background of someone killed by the Nazis. The creators of the museum understood that the number of deaths is overwhelming, but that individual stories make these crimes more real. (I still think about the Seventh Day Adventist conscientious objector whose background I was given.)

What does this have to do with recruiting and employment?

Lately it seems that the field has become obsessed with metrics. Vendors claim that their dashboard or their tracking method or their search engine optimization technique will build your employer brand. And while all of these can help convey the brand and measure its uptake, they cannot and will not build the brand. Only stories can do that.

To go back to Comrade Stalin’s observation, statistics can quantify your employer brand, but they do not embody it. For that you must have stories about real people in your workplace.

An example of how employers have forgotten this can be found on Twitter. Follow most any employer’s tweet stream and the messages typically contain a job title, location and a short URL linking you to the careers Web site where you can learn more.

In today’s economy, these tweets are bound to attract a number of applicants. But are they the best applicants? And, to be brutally honest, does any recruiter really need more candidates to sift through nowadays?

Far better are the employers who share some of what it’s like to work in the organization, alerting followers to events where they will appear, even admitting occasionally that the poster is having a bad hair day. We can relate to other people and their foibles, and we begin to bond with these people much more than with an anonymous corporate entity that simply spews out the 21st century equivalent of newspaper help-wanted classified ads.

Think of the great employer brands today and what springs to mind are the stories associated with them. Southwest Airlines? You think of the flight attendants who tell jokes during the safety announcements. SAS Institute? The CEO going around at 5:00 PM and telling people to knock off and go home. Starbucks? Read “How Starbucks Saved My Life” by Michael Gates Gill. Apple? Steve Jobs (who, even though he could be a holy living terror, pushed people to do their best work). Ritz-Carlton? “Ladies and gentlemen serving ladies and gentlemen.” You get the idea.

What stories do people tell and re-tell about your organization? What processes do you have for identifying and archiving those stories in order to perpetuate your culture? Could you summarize that body of knowledge into a short phrase (< seven words) that could serve as a rallying cry for your employees (à la “Freedom Begins with Me” at Southwest)?

This concept was neatly summarized by another famous person of the 20th century, Albert Einstein. The physicist once observed that, “Not everything that counts can be counted; and not everything that can be counted, counts.”

About the author

D. Mark Hornung is Senior Vice President at Bernard Hodes Group and leader of the Hodes employer brand practice. Mark has studied and taught branding for over twenty years, starting as a copywriter and later award-winning creative director. In 1995, he joined J. Walter Thompson and was privileged to attend the JWT Brand School in Chicago. Briefly seduced by the siren of the dot com, Mark returned to employment marketing with Hodes in 2003, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He writes the company’s blog, “Hodes Voices” and speaks at conferences throughout the world on his passion, employer branding.

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Why is talent important?

In a knowledge-based and service-oriented economy, competition actually takes place over one key issue: the talent of those involved in the business and engaged in the company’s success.

In the past, the competitive advantage of organizations focused in other factors: capital, financial assets, raw materials, specific technologies, patents or licenses. Nowadays, all the above are no longer barriers to competitiveness, but instead, most are widely accessible. In most businesses, the only driver for competitiveness is talent.

Moreover, talent, understood as the result of multiplying people competencies (what they know and, more importantly, what they can do or even what they can potentially be able to do if developed right) times their level of engagement, is a very rare asset.

Developed economies are experiencing a demographic crisis, in which there are less and less people and at the same time, the educational and professional level of those few is also lower.

For instance, in Spain, the number of young nationals is progressively decreasing from 30% of the overall population to the current 19% and moving towards 14% in the next few years.

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Have you read Brett's new book,  Employer Brand Leadership-A Global Perspective?

The key moments of truth for your employer brand

Companies are increasingly realising that looking at only one part of the employee lifecycle e.g. recruitment, is simply not enough! Employee’s needs and motivators change over time during the course of their tenure. These changes may be influenced by lifestyle factors such as age, gender, experience, qualifications, marital status, stage of life, career aspirations, etc.

Your employer brand strategy must consider the complete picture and leaders need to carefully consider and plan how the employee experience impacts people at each touchpoint across the lifecycle. Smart Executives realise that a ‘one-size-fits’ all lifecycle strategy fails to optimise productivity.  Companies that segment and align the employee lifecycle as part of their employer brand strategy will benefit from maintaining higher levels of engagement, productivity, customer satisfaction and profit!

Where to begin!

A lifecycle mapping audit will identify any gaps in employee experience from pre-hire to re-hire and your future strategy will need to address these gaps to ensure your people policies, processes and systems are working to provide a signature employee experience. In theory it makes good sense, in practice, much work needs to be done as there are many moving parts to join up.  Segmenting and effectively managing the employee lifecycle will require a culture change for many companies.

The fifteen moments of truth

Whilst there will be variances depending on company size, scope and scale, the key ‘moments of truths’ across the employee lifecycle which will require your focus include:

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FOT founder Kris Dunn recently sat down with Kat Drum, Head of Global Employment Brand and Social Media Strategies at Research In Motion, which most of you know as "RIM", the maker of the Blackberry.

We wanted to do this interview because in connecting with Kat, we were intrigued by the passion Kat has for RIM, especially in the face of all the media focus on the RIM product line, the attack on RIM market share by the iPhone and Android product line and all the naysayers who claim no corporate drones will be holstering a Blackberry in two years due to the aforementioned competitive forces.  Additionally, it's always interesting to see kids with blackberry's and wonder what's up with that.

We didn't have to ask Kat to defend the brand.  She did that from the jump, which made us believe in RIM.  Passionate employees and leaders within a company have a way of doing that.  Let's roll the tape..................:

To read the full article please click here>

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Original article published on www.ere.net

Upcoming events on Brett's 2011 Employer Brand Global Tour click here>http://www.brettminchington.com/events/events-list.html

This article provides insights from Brett's new book "Employer Brand Leadership - A Global Perspective?" For full details please visit the publisher's website click here>

The extended version of this article will be published in the Journal of Corporate Recruiting Leadership in August

Culture is more often a source of conflict than of synergy. Cultural differences are a nuisance at best and often a disaster –Professor Geert Hofstede, Dutch social psychologist

One of the greatest challenges facing global comanies right now is their ability to exploit synergies and efficiencies in their global talent acquisition and retention programs. When considered with the fact we are about to enter an era of unparalleled talent scarcity around the world, the role of the global employer brand manager is set to become one of the most critical roles inside global companies.

Global talent acquisition has become increasingly complex. The need for systems integration, understanding of culture diversity, social and technological changes, jobless, uneven economic recoveries in many countries, the threat of declining fertility rates, inequality in global education standards, and the impact of aging populations in many developed economies has created multiple challenges for global companies which show no signs of easing soon!

Leaders I speak with around the world are saying they are running hard to stand still and where previously they could take 1-2 years to research, develop, and implement talent acquisition and retention strategies, the competitiveness for talent is demanding leaders react quicker and more decisively to stay ahead of the competition.

Even top employer-branding companies like Google, Adidas, and Deloitte are constantly seeking innovative ways to source, develop, and retain talent. If that’s what is happening with the market leaders, consider the millions of other companies around the world who have similar challenges. At a global level the problem is magnified to unthinkable proportions and the solutions are going to need a mix of short- and long-term initiatives including collaboration between companies, industries, universities, and governments. There is no benefit to global corporations if leadership talent is in high supply in Scandinavia when manufacturing operations are in India and there is a dearth of leaders with the right skills.

The Reality of Globalization and its Impact on Employer Branding
The social and culture integration brought about through globalization can foster broader understanding and co-operation between employees around the world, and potentially economies of scale in the allocation of human resources, but is it really that simple?

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Original article posted at Hodes Voices

A news reporter was covering the Mercury space program in the early 60’s and was on a press tour of the Cape Canaveral complex. Looking for an angle not covered by the other media, he asked a lone man near the group who he was and what he did.

The man gave his name, said he was a janitor at the complex, and then added, “I’m helping to put a man on the moon.”

Many have heard this attributed to President John F. Kennedy, but there is no confirmation of that. The take-away, however, is that the janitor came to embody the ultimate engaged employee. Even though he never flipped a switch or wrote a line of code, he still saw his job as contributing to the overall mission and was determined to do the best he could to ensure the organization’s success.

In light of the launch of Atlantis on the final scheduled mission of a Space Shuttle, it is fitting to look back upon fifty years of human space travel and its legacy.  NASA and its astronauts gave us Tang, Velcro, Teflon, and memories many of us will carry forever. If you were above the age of reason when Neil Armstrong stepped onto the Moon, you can remember that moment like it was yesterday.

Another bequest from our space program is the example of setting a visionary, inspiring goal and focusing your workforce on its accomplishment. A good example of this is the scene from “Apollo 13″ when NASA engineers must devise a solution for the faltering space capsule using only the parts and tools available on the spacecraft. Friends of mine who work at NASA say that the conference room table the engineers used to hold the parts (it was a true story) is venerated to this day and the story is legendary within the agency. Ask yourself: would those engineers have thrown themselves into that challenge as wholeheartedly if their mission was to “maximize shareholder value” or “develop the next generation of widgets”?

When articulating your organizational mission, look at it critically. Does it inspire people, like “putting a man on the Moon” did? Or is it an amalgam of business doublespeak that basically says, “we’re in it for the money”? If you want your people to give 110%, it helps if they aim high.

As they say at Star Fleet, ad astra per aspera. “To the stars through hardship.”

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(China Daily 06/04/2011 page8)

TV recruitment programs are emerging as the newest platforms for fresh graduates to land themselves a job. Guo Shuhan reports.

While other graduates are still struggling to find a job, Wang Fan, a third-year student at Peking University, has already landed one.

The radio and television broadcasting major got her lucky break on a TV recruitment program Jobs Come Jobs Go, or Zhilai Zhiwang, co-produced by China Education TV and Jiangsu Satellite TV.

Wang made the cut after surviving a volley of questions fired at her by a group of 18 prospective employers.

As per the program's rules, participants who can convince half the 18 panelists of their capabilities, can land a job in any of the program's 100 cooperating companies.

They include such big names as China's leading portal Sina.com.cn, pharmaceutical company Tianjin Smith Kline & French Laboratories Ltd, BMW China, Starbucks Coffee and accounting firm, PriceWaterhouse-Coopers.

According to the Ministry of Education, the nation's universities will churn out 6.6 million graduates in 2011, which is 300,000 more than in 2010. Of last year's graduates, 600,000 students are still awaiting jobs.

TV programs, such as Jobs Come Jobs Go and Only You, or Feini Moshu, by Tianjin Satellite TV, are emerging as new platforms for graduates seeking jobs.

The two programs, whose broadcasting began late 2010, have attracted not only job-seekers but also university students wanting a taste of real-life interviews and an idea of what employers look for, to make the transition from campus to society as smooth as possible.

They also appeal to high school students wondering which major they should pick in university.

Jobs Come Jobs Go receives an average of 4,000 applications every week. More than 145,000 people follow it on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. Only You has also attracted nearly 100,000 fans.

"Many graduates do not have access to proper career advice and are at a loss when looking for jobs," Yang Jinxing, chief producer of Jobs Come Jobs Go, says. "They have no clear idea of what they want to do or what they can do."

For Wang, participating in the TV program was not just about getting a job, it was more about the experience.

She once thought of becoming a radio station host for entertainment or fashion programs. But the interviewers said her voice was not as good as that of the other prospective hosts.

Wang eventually chose to work as an editor in a media company.

"When candidates are put under the spotlight and bombarded with challenging questions, their strengths and weaknesses are readily exposed," Liu Shuang, chief producer of Only You, says.

Liu further points out that the honest comments from employers can help candidates discover their aptitudes and potential.

Liu Ting, from the employment service center at Nankai University in Tianjin, encourages graduates to take the TV stage. She suggests, however, that participants look at the experience more as a learning opportunity and not care too much about whether they bring back an offer.

But even as more companies want to join the program, there are some who believe a short TV interview is hardly adequate to find the right talents.

However, for jobs such as sales and marketing which involve a lot of interpersonal communication, the TV show can give prospective employers an idea of how the candidates will hold up under pressure - a key requirement of such positions - says Ma Qing, head of human resources in Siemens North East Asia, which plans to hire 300 graduates in 2011.

"We usually have at least three rounds of assessments. But even at the end of that we can't be sure the applicant is 100 percent suited to our company and the job we offer," she says.

Yang, of Jobs Come Jobs Go, says the TV recruitment programs reflect the values of the younger generation. He says that while popular expectations of these youngsters is that they should be ambitious, the candidates just seem to want a stable job and give little thought to career prospects.

Meanwhile, Lin Mu, a fan of Only You, says on her micro blog that, "Sometimes employers may offer a junior position to someone who is not qualified for the job but may be in desperate need of it. It makes me think the working world is not so cold and indifferent, after all".

The blogs of many employers often attract questions from students about what kind of majors and which university they should choose, and which jobs would fit them best.

"If students rely on us to make decisions, they are wasting their time. What we provide is an opportunity for them to reflect on their own situation while watching others' presentations," says Liu Tong with Enlight Media, who recruited Wang Fan and five others.

"Students should try and get a feel of market pulse and one such way is through internships. This will help them find their niche and help them settle into working life quickly," Yang says.

(China Daily 06/04/2011 page8)

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(CNN) -- Faced with a choice between a cash incentive or signing up for a hard day's work, which would you pick?

Shoe retailer Zappos.com is famous for bribing prospective employees to turn down a job offer, on the theory that we should only work in a place we love.

This year, CEO Tony Hsieh is testing whether this kind of corporate culture can work beyond the warehouse of this one quirky online company.

Hsieh is trying to spark a Delivering Happiness movement, named after his recent book, which expands on how, and why, companies who care about their bottom line should make employees feel like a family.

Hsieh made a name for himself at Zappos by prioritizing customer service to an extreme, and his in-house employment policies have gotten at least as much attention.

To read the full article on cnn.com please click here>

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