Corporate Eye

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Archives for 2009

On the Hunt for Passive Candidates

hunting-nobleman-rv

The idea that high-value talent is concentrated among people not looking for jobs has become widely accepted in the recruiting community. And the potential to locate these “passive candidates” is probably the top reason cited for using LinkedIn as a recruiting tool.

So—how true are these propositions? And how does the hunt for PCs relate to the Careers website?

On the first proposition . . . just don’t miss Ronald Katz’s article “What’s So Great About Passive Candidates?” and the brisk discussion that follows it. Some highlights:

  • There is no bright line between the active and passive states.
  • Needing a job doesn’t automatically mean there’s something wrong with the candidate—especially in the present economy.
  • Finding and hiring passive candidates usually costs more. Worth it?
  • The mere fact of current employment isn’t necessarily a good predictor of potential value.

On the second proposition . . . it’s worthwhile to take a second look. Certainly there has been a swarming effect around LinkedIn for recruitment, and definitely it’s related to the passive-candidate hunt. But as LinkedIn increasingly becomes a database for recruiters, there’s no reason to assume that most (or any) people with LinkedIn profiles are “passive.”

And now that LinkedIn is a happy hunting ground, there are hunters aplenty. Although LinkedIn was a secret weapon when Lou Adler offered 10 Great Tips for Using LinkedIn to Find the Best Passive Candidates on the Planet in January of 2008, those were the good old days. By February of 2009, LinkedIn was releasing Talent Advantage, an extensive suite of search-and-woo tools for recruiters and companies.

That said, there’s still some room left for getting creative with LinkedIn—and you can even do it on a budget with PeopleToucher, a clever LI search application. One thought:  There are still some really passive candidates on LinkedIn, in the form of entrepreneurs and self-employed folk who in fact are using LI for other purposes than luring recruiters. In the rapidly changing talent landscape, these hold-outs may offer a new source of energy and ideas for companies that aren’t getting everything they need from conventional hires.

So what’s the connection between passive candidates and the Careers website? Arguably, these are the visitors who may demand the most from your site. Active candidates might love your site if it lists any jobs they can apply for, and ignore everything else while filling out forms and uploading resumes. If there are no applicable job listings, they may leave in a hurry (unless the site provides other rewards, and/or encouragements to stay connected).

But a passive candidate contacted by a recruiter may very well go straight to the company site for a look around. And what they find there could have a considerable influence on whether they decide to pursue the opportunity.

Cause Marketing or Opportunity Marketing for Kentucky Fried Chicken?

There are so many clever and creative ways to utilize your media sources for your corporate marketing campaign that you could essentially never run out of ideas to use. Effective use of your media strategy involves doing things that are unconventional, creative and attention-getting. With so much competition both online and offline for consumer marketing dollars, it’s often a gray place trying to decipher what’s marketing and what’s not. What can sometimes be quite interesting are the things that corporations will do to bring exposure for themselves. I found one.

While I certainly do believe in strategic marketing and in-your-face type of placement marketing, I have to wonder though just what type of marketing this is that Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) has decided to do lately.

The chicken chain has created a type of good-will marketing in the town of Louisville, KY by repairing the city’s potholes. It seems that this was a big problem for the residents of the city, with the potholes causing damages to their vehicles. Not to mention that the potholes were also an absolute eyesore on top of the hazards that it was causing for the citizens. This was a problem that needed addressing and needed to be fixed right away. KFC to the rescue. But whom are they rescuing?  (Full Press Release)

Now what KFC did to help the city in this situation is impressive. Very impressive. The chain fixed the town’s potholes and made the streets smoother and drivable again. They donated their time, their resources and their LOGO to the effort, so that means every time someone passes by one of the repaired potholes, they will have KFC to thank for it. And, they won’t have to wonder who to thank because KFC’s logo will be looking back up at them as a reminder that they are responsible.

There is cause marketing, and then there’s good will marketing. This of course would seem plausible that it would fall under good will marketing because it does in fact impose a feeling of “good will.” But to whose good will is it beneficial?

I personally am more inclined to be impressed and throw my dollars to the subtle and genuine but clever corporate marketing campaign that catches my eye. In other words, don’t try too hard. It doesn’t look so good when things are too “in your face” and you can’t get away from it. Because, I would worry that what if the KFC campaign/good will marketing was such an impressive hit that more corporations wanted to do it to. Then, would streets be inundated with signs, logos and pothole cover with corporate names on them? Will we be able to drive down the street and not see an advertisement plastered across every flat surface? Where is the line drawn or am I over-exaggerating? Is this really not that big of a deal?

Do you think companies corporate franchises like KFC present themselves unselfishly by making such types of donations? Or does it look disingenuous and as a type of “marketing tactic?”

 

http://adage.com/article?article_id=135534

Anheuser-Busch Loses Trademark Battle and Budweiser Brand Name in EU

budweiser_budvarIn a what must be a painful decision, U.S. brewery Anheuser-Busch lost the right to use the brand name Budweiser in the European Union after a long legal battle with Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar finally came to an end.

Believe it or not, this article from Wikipedia does a great job of distilling the story of the highly sought after Budweiser name into a few paragraphs, and this story from Out-Law.com does a great job of describing the most recent legal actions surrounding the battle as well as the final decision.  Unbeknownst to me, this battle has been going on in some form or another since the 1870s.  This is a branding story I am not well versed on, but now that it’s on my radar, I’m finding it to be particularly interesting.

I’d love to hear some more opinions on this trademark dispute.  What do you think?  Take the poll below and share your opinion.  Also, leave a comment and give us some details about why you feel the way you do.  Know of more great resources to learn more about the history of the Budweiser brand name?  Share them in the comments section below. I’d love to read more about it myself.

Image: Flickr

Recruiting 2.0: The New Importance of Community

pg-cinncinati

This post is really about two different types of “community,” but they are closely connected in the evolving environment of Recruiting 2.0. One is the creation of an online community that attracts and nurtures candidates. The other is the use of location and lifestyle information to attract candidates and nurture new-hires.

I started this train of thought when an interesting tidbit about Proctor & Gamble’s new website focused on Cincinnati—about which more in a moment—came along at the same time I was reading some updates from the recent South by Southwest Interactive Festival. Better known as SXSWi, this gathering attracts both a lot of people and a lot of attention (get the flavor with a CNET roundup), and one of the hot topics this year was virtual/online communities, and the management thereof.

If anyone is thinking “What even is an online community?”, there’s a useful explanation/analysis at trusty old Wikipedia. And if anyone is asking “What does this have to do with recruiting?”, there’s an interesting discussion at EXCELER8ion, which explains that many candidates today have expectations of the recruitment experience based not on what has traditionally been provided by companies, but on the type of experience they have become accustomed to on the web.

Those expectations include a variety of factors (such as snappy design, quick performance, media enrichment, etc.) that have already been very influential in the development of Careers sites.  But an additional–and increasingly important–set of expectations has evolved from the connectivity created by social networks, blogs and articles that allow comments, and discussion forums. In short:  Many candidates are accustomed to virtual communities and want to find something similar when evaluating a prospective employer.

Creating a virtual community begins with putting the online part in place, but continues with the care and feeding of participants. The second part is called “community management,” and a new area of expertise has developed to meet emerging needs.  If you want to get under the hood of what a community manager is/does, check out a couple of community manager blogs: community spark and Kommein.

In terms of recruiting, the EXCELER8ion post suggests that a community manager can have several critical functions:

  • As a candidate community advocate, focused on listening, understanding candidate needs, and facilitating social media conversations
  • As an employer brand ambassador, spreading positive views of the company and highlighting opportunities through social media channels
  • As an analyst/evangelist, who can identify needs and issues, and communicate with both technical providers and business stakeholders to facilitate improvements

Now—what about Cincinnati? As reported in the Business Courier recently, mega-company Proctor & Gamble is building a website that will leverage in-depth information about living in Cincinnati to create interest among job candidates and support for onboarding recruits. It also provides an opportunity to showcase the eight P&G facilities in the area.

In addition to what’s on the current version of the site, P&G reportedly will add about 40% more content before a July launch, including features on company hires who have moved to Cincinnati.

Obviously, Proctor & Gamble is making a big investment in connecting candidates and employees with offline community (aka, the real world). So of course I was curious about their Careers site—and not surprisingly, it is feature rich. But not plugged into the 2.0 world! Apparently P&G is starting to develop a social media agenda, though. Read about their kick-off, and we’ll keep an eye on developments.

Twitterers Share Their Micro-Blogging Tips

All you need is 140-characters, and you can see a difference. Perhaps a short daily blurb about business developments and changes is all it takes to make an impact.

Has your company embraced the Twitter craze yet?

No doubt that the Twitter craze has taken the internet by storm, but have you or has your company yet embraced what it has to offer? Or, are you still going to “wait it out” and see what the outcome is going to be? Don’t worry. Many others are waiting too.

A Loyal Following

A social networking force to be reckoned with, it certainly has positioned itself to be an extremely powerful tool for bloggers and corporations, harnessing the power it needs to propel itself to the next level of online marketing. With only 140 characters or less, the Twitter followers have made an impact on the web.

Today while I was perusing my followers and those whom I followed, I was able to glean a wealth of information and great links of information that helps me as a blogger and writer. There are a lot of knowledgeable people on Twitter, many of whom have internet-based jobs and use online tools like Twitter as their point of contact and as a business social tool also. How do you use Twitter? Is it working pretty good for you?

Work=Results

In the world of online trades and transactions, any marketer needs to be able to leverage the power of tools and resources and make it work for them. If not, then we are really all wasting our time, right? I mean, if we don’t take full advantage of every available, applicable resource, then what are we really doing but biding time? Twitter is like any other resource (but I am partial, of course) in that you only get out of it what you put into it. And, if you don’t put much into it, it can’t and it won’t work for you.

Many online marketers will beat their heads against walls, wondering why traditional methods aren’t working for them. They may change business goals even, just to get something to work. Why do that? Why angst? Just (effectively) use your available resources to work stronger and more powerful than just sit idle and do nothing. if you do, things will change and your business will grow. What can you do to make it work for you?

Here is a Youtube video where 100 Twitter share their all-important tips on how they make the micro-blogging platform work for them:

Corporate Values on the Corporate Website

the-philosophers-stoneWouldn’t it be great in these days of gloom to find something bright, a ray of sunshine like a philosopher’s stone to bring businesses together in everlasting win-win situations?

Well, according to Business In The Community (BiTC) there is such a thing: a company’s statement of corporate values.

“A Purpose Beyond Profit”

At the beginning of the month BiTC released a briefing paper entitled “The whys and hows of corporate values”.

At its heart is a list of the benefits a company can reap from having a good, strong set of corporate values.

The actions required boil down to stakeholder engagement.  Employees, customers, suppliers and clients are all much more likely to be loyal to a company which has a clear ethos and understands its position in the wider world.

The paper also has one of the best definitions of corporate values I’ve come across:

It is not a mission statement that describes what task the company aims to fulfil. Neither is it a set of commercial objectives. …. Corporate values are about what the company stands for and how its employees behave. They are about framing a role for the business that gives it a purpose beyond profit. (my emphasis) [Read more…] about Corporate Values on the Corporate Website