Doing the basics well

In the US, USD 50 billion is spent on earning the loyalty of customers each year. How much does HR spend on earning the loyalty of candidates?

HR Magazine recently went along to #TruHongKong, where HR professionals and CEOs gathered to share their experience on some of the challenges faced by HR departments and simple adjustments that can be made to stay on top in the world of ever-changing HR processes and procedures.

Jidi Guo, Marketing Manager, Maximum Employment Marketing Group, Shanghai kicked off the discussion on mobile recruitment posing the question, “The candidates are ready, are we?” From H1 2012 to H1 2013, mobile web-traffic grew 125% while desktop web-traffic grew a mere 12%, according to findings from BrightEdge, Enterprise SEO firm. Furthermore, job searching is one of the top five searches made on a mobile device. With this in mind, HR needs to make some major adjustments in order to evolve with the times, adopting suitable technologies to effectively engage and retain talent. 

Are we ready?

With mobile devices simplifying everything in our lives, the increasing expectation is that everything should be simple, easy and efficient. We love simple and tend to avoid people, processes, and technology that complicate. When it comes to job searching on our mobiles, that expectation remains the same. However, searching for a job on a mobile device can be a real effort when faced with non-user-friendly mobile sites and inadvertently discourages many applicants.

Doing the basics well

The general consensus across the board is that we need to go back and evaluate how effective we are in terms of the basics. We’ve seen some abysmal recruitment marketing strategies; take the QR code promotion for example, a QR code job-link to a job application that connects you to a non-optimised mobile career site. This is a poor approach to engaging the talent market. Another trick most companies are missing is the power of data; many firms have a simple job application system in place, with no method of harnessing and utilising the valuable data captured. As HR departments we need to be slick and efficient with the basics. Mobile-optimising a career site and having basic data-capturing tools to further develop and engage top-talent are further simple adjustments that can be made to enhance the possibility of securing the best candidates.

Do candidates really matter?

Jarred King, Co-Founder, e3 Reloaded took the discussion down the route of ‘candidate experience’ challenging common HR practices when it comes to recruiting new employees. In the US, USD 50 billion is spent on earning the loyalty of customers each year. How much does HR spend on earning the loyalty of candidates?

Why don’t we treat candidates like royalty?

The response is often because we don’t have the time or budget and in some cases, the view that candidates should be earning their way into a job and therefore their journey into the job is irrelevant. However, according to King, to attract the best we need to be the best—and that means treating candidates like kings and queens. “Royal treatment attracts royal employees and HR needs to adopt a proactive approach in terms of the candidate experience. Roll out the red carpet, use the executive suite for interviews, ensure your candidates are offered a drink” shared King. By taking these simple, cost-effective approaches you are giving yourself the best chance of attracting quality employees. Furthermore, if someone is unsuccessful they will still have something good to say about your organisation. Essentially they have the power—the power of choice—and if their overall experience makes them feel like royalty they will share their experience, which will ultimately enhance the reputation of your organisation, making you more attractive to top-talent.

Additionally, Sergio Sergei Makhmodov, CEO, Daxtra Technologies Asia Ltd shared on the value found in data that can be extracted from CVs and how focusing on getting relevant content from CVs will enable you to make a more informed decision when cherry picking talent. Makhmodov suggested the following top tips when it comes to finding and securing talent:

• A good recruiter will look at the current job of a potential candidate
• Keep track of the source of the CV
• Engage your talent community
• Linking CVs with online profiles is key to staying up-to-date

The global talent community is a closed environment and therefore HR needs to actively engage and network to secure the future talent of the business. If you have a billion dollar project, but have the wrong project manager, you’re wasting your time.