In-depth IT knowledge, strategic process automation and a bird’s eye view of regional recruitment trends all put Stanley Suen, Director of Recruitment Services for the South China Morning Post in a unique position. We asked his opinion on the changing recruitment landscape and the strategies recruiters adopt to attract the best talent.
Stanley Suen is currently Director of Recruitment Services for the South China Morning Post, and we had the opportunity to ask his view on the changing face of recruitment under the new knowledge-based economy. He confesses that his own career path has been quite volatile, encompassing wide-ranging roles from civil engineering, when he first started working in Canada; to sales and marketing; to e-commerce during the dotcom era. This diverse background has created the prefect platform for Suen in his current role with the Classified Post.
Helicopter view of HR
Able to draw on his industry knowledge and skills, Suen was quick to realise the enormous potential the Internet would have on automation within the modern workplace. He explained, “Managers are able to enhance efficiency, cut costs and achieve more by using the Internet to change how their company operates.” The ability to combine in-depth IT knowledge, strategic process automation and a bird’s eye view of regional recruitment trends, now puts Suen in a unique position. We asked him some searching questions regarding effective strategies that recruiters could adopt to help funnel the best talent into their organisations as the new knowledge-based economy gains momentum.
Recruiters more sophisticated
With the market for online recruitment already quite mature, and Classified Post having a well-established base, we asked Suen, with so many print media publications struggling, why he felt it necessary to have the print media—Classified Post Fuel in addition to the online Classified Post website. He explained that having both platforms allowed the Group to combine the best of both worlds, in order to help recruiters maximise responses to their job postings.
As the economy has developed, HR has become much more sophisticated and so too have the needs of recruiters, who are now much more demanding in terms of targeting specific demographics for recruitment. In recent years, recruiters have also increasingly searched for talent among passive jobseekers, in addition to the traditional pool of active jobseekers.
Suen explained, “The one-size-fits-all approach is no longer effective in the current climate, so we have introduced the print supplement: Fuel. This targets specific markets and attracts passive job seekers, who are not necessarily young, but aspiring managers and leaders with great potential.” Distributed throughout Hong Kong, Fuel has rapidly emerged as much more than a place to advertise job vacancies, is has become a tool to help employers keep their finger on the ‘recruitment pulse’ and a watchful eye on what competitors are doing in the marketplace. In this way, the publication allows recruiters to keep abreast of who is hiring, and where they are spending their money.
Online recruitment
Online recruitment has seen massive uptake by both recruiters and jobseekers and we asked Suen what trends he had witnessed to date and how he thought things would develop in the future. Suen said, “Online recruitment is a mega trend and has continued to grow in all directions. Currently, the industry is looking for a balance of embracing new technology while using traditional methods to target different jobseekers from all tiers.” He added, “The key is using online recruitment and integrating it with other developments, such as social networking.”
This phenomenon is very apparent in the market, and the use of online social media such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to assist with recruiting efforts is well documented. More than ever, employers are now able to obtain huge amounts of information about potential employees simply by searching online. On this trend, Suen commented, “One thing is constant, and that is change. Social media’s role is to connect people, similar to our role in connecting jobseekers and recruiters; however, social media is on a peer-to-peer level.”
Suen added a word of caution for job applicants, “Employers use social media for profiling applicants, therefore jobseekers should be sensible and careful with what is on their online profile as they are creating their own brand.” LinkedIn is one such site which targets more professional audience, and like many social media sites, Suen advised, “It is not a platform, but more of a community. If you are a recruiter or jobseeker with so many different social media, often overlapping, you need to select which is most appropriate for the position you wish to fill.”
Print vs Online
HR managers frequently face the dilemma of whether to post jobs online or in print media. In this regard, Suen offered HR some clear-cut advice, “For companies that are cost conscious, online recruitment is cheaper and it’s real-time.
There’s a weekly pattern, whereby people start looking for jobs on Mondays, so if you can, get your advertisements out then.” He added that it was preferable if HR managers could exploit both platforms, especially if they wanted to differentiate themselves from their competitors.
Exposure in both platforms not only maximises the chances of finding suitable employees, but also allows recruiters to differentiate themselves through recruitment branding.
Recruitment campaign planning
In today’s competitive marketplace and ensuant war for talent, recruiters can no longer simply just ‘place’ recruitment advertisements, they also need to properly plan entire recruitment campaigns.
Suen advised HR, “Be realistic. Every company wants to find the top talent and they are usually difficult to come by. If you are a recruitment manager you need to honestly ask yourself: can we attract the top talent? If not, you need to decide where you are willing to make sacrifices.”
With limited budgets available, Suen suggested that rather than keeping high salaries to attract top talent, HR could instead increase training budgets, provide better offices or enhance staff benefits.
SCMP also offers recruiters advice on job advertisements placed. This is usually on the copywriting—helping them see things from the perspective of the jobseekers, and making suggestions accordingly. Suen pointed out, “We are not HR, but we know what works as we have seen and produced enough advertisements in our lifetime.”
Maximise efficiency
In order to maximise efficiency in recruitment advertising, Suen explained that the specific strategy that HR adopts depends on their objective. He advised, “If you are targeting passive jobseekers, I would suggest using print media and keep a close eye on what your competitors are doing—as whether you win depends not only on you, but also your position in relation to the other market players.”
He added, “It’s about persuasion. If your campaign is strong and consistent possible employees will feel the momentum. Try and avoid the simple homogenous strategy.”
Act quickly
Suen emphasised the importance for recruiters to act quickly along the whole hiring process—in competitive times, when everyone is looking for top talent, this is a key factor.
He cited examples of numerous recruiters who had urgently required staff and advertised for them, but candidates’ CVs, when received, then sat in an in-tray for weeks, usually because the line managers were too busy to screen them. He said, “Respect jobseekers as they will judge you on your frontline services. In the past recruiters had the upper hand and were able to filter out unqualified applicants, however, this is not a suitable strategy when you need to employ somebody urgently.”
Winning
Suen’s parting advice to recruiters was to make greater use of online resources, as they offered greater flexibility in terms of targeting specific demographics. He concluded, “In the end, it’s about winning, building your brand and getting your name out there.”
Paul Arkwright
Publisher
