HR Company Branding Themself

The fastest-growing human resources technology company many have never heard of is having its own challenges attracting technology talent, and has begun a recruitment advertising campaign.

It’s very early in the branding-advertising effort by Cornerstone OnDemand, one its CEO Adam Miller says will involve social media, and has already involved 18 employees running the LA marathon with company shirts on, partly to raise the firm’s profile.

Los Angeles is a massive, sprawling (the 37-mile drive home tonight from the Cornerstone conference took me a mind-numbing 3 1/2 hours) metropolitan area of about 13 million, but it’s not a magnet for tech talent like Silicon Valley is. (This despite a growing number of tech firms — including some in the HR field – that are setting up shop and calling the tech community by the monicker “Silicon Beach.”)

The value proposition for Cornerstone OnDemand candidates is multi-fold. It includes the chance to be at a hot, growing company in one of the hottest areas of technology (human resources); and opportunities to advance (25% of the company’s employees were promoted last year). Perhaps most of all, the ad campaign is aimed at making people aware of a company that most people in LA don’t even know of in the first place. ”Not all cool tech jobs are in Silicon Valley,” Miller says.

Cornerstone OnDemand this year launched a “recruiting cloud,” entering into the one part of talent management where it had thus far had the least presence. Miller says about a dozen companies are purchasing the technology, some mid-size, some quite large. This “cloud” was a “good first release,” he says, but this summer, upgrades including a way to manage offer letters will, he says, make it “extremely competitive.”

via: http://www.ere.net/2012/05/16/fast-growing-hrrecruiting-tech-company-trying-its-own-employment-branding/

How Many Hires Can Facebook Provide?

It may be worth $100 Billion, but just how many hires will Facebook get you? Just this week, General Motors confirmed it was cancelling $10 Million worth of ads on the site because, said the Wall Street Journal, it found they “had little impact on consumers.”

The article arrived like a bombshell, coming just days before the IPO. It set off all sorts of debate in the marketing community — and beyond, of course — as experts weighed in on both sides. Rival carmaker Ford even jumped in, firing a shot on Twitter saying, “It’s all about the execution. Our Facebook ads are effective when strategically combined with engaging content & innovation.” Remember that part about “engaging content & innovation.”

For recruiters, this is more than just an interesting sidebar to the stock sale story; which, is opening (but won’t stay) at $38 a share, giving Facebook a market value of $108 Billion. Rather, the General Motors withdrawal raises anew the whole issue of the effectiveness of social media recruiting, and Facebook specifically.

How long is this social-networking site's lifespan expectancy? We have seen from past attempts such as MySpace, just how quickly a fad can grow and expire.  An AP-CNBC poll found 46 percent of respondents believe the site will fade away over time, replaced by something else. (43 percent believe it will survive.) Surprisingly, among its young adult users, while 51 percent say it will stay around, 35 percent say it won’t.) It only seems that it's a matter of time until some bored kid comes up with a new and improved way to hit the media and social networrk with a new and updated outlook on social networking.

The AP-CNBC poll found 57 percent of users never click on a Facebook ad. Employers haven’t much experimented with banner ads on Facebook, though they have spent on SEO and Google’s AdWords. An average click-through rate for an AdWords campaign is about 2 percent. Some rates can be considerably higher, depending on position and subject.

Recruiters who put at least some marketing dollars into improving their position on search engine results pages (SERP) can expect to get the highest click through rates of all. Slingshot, an SEO company, says getting the top position on a Google SERP gets you a click through rate averaging 18.2 percent.

Monster Advertises New Social Connections

Think of it as a Facebook-connection for job-seekers and employers alike. Almost a year after launching BeKnown, its Facebook-based business network and competitor to BranchOut, Monster is now enabling its network members to see who they know at companies offering jobs on Monster.com.

IT'S SIMPLE: Job seekers searching Monster are invited to “See who you know.” A click pops up a list of their BeKnown connections who work at that particularcompany. Those not already on BeKnown get an invitation to join, needing only a Facebook login. So what if you do not have a Facebook account (as some of us out there shockingly do not); yet again, simple: create one.

The advantage for job seekers is obvious. Getting inside a company with a personal connection and recommendation is so far superior to merely clicking the “Apply” button that it makes the latter only a little better than buying a lottery ticket. For employers, the advantages aren’t quite as obvious, but they are there. For one, employee referrals are generally better qualified, so it helps the cream rise to the top. It’s also an opportunity for Monster clients to use their employees’ connections to reach better candidates, something that Jobvite has now been doing for years.

There's got to be a cost, right? WRONG-O! This feature is absolutely free! A win-win for job-seekers and employers alike.

A Suitor for MONSTER.com!

Monster CEO and Board Chairman Sal Iannuzzi said, “At a certain price, anything’s for sale.” As to the buyer, Iannuzzi told Bloomberg it is less important and he said at the time, “The real issue is we know we have value, and we know we can go around and look for opportunities to get that.”

Apparently, the social-networking monster (no pun intended), LinkedIn, is considering purchasing the grossly-popular job board/search engine, Monster.com/Monster Worldwide. According to sources close to the situation, LinkedIn and Silver Lake Partners are two of “a broad range of strategic and financial buyers” who are weighing Monster as a potential acquisition target. Now, LinkedIn is only one of many suitors looking to acquire Monster Worldwide. An acquisition by LinkedIn has been rumored as Monster’s stock price continued to produce less than desirable notice. The social network for professionals competes directly with some of Monster’s products (notably the job posting and resume search business) but some Monster’s other technologies like the semantic search product SeeMore and Facebook networking platform, BeKnown might be an attractive piece in addition to an influx new customers.

Ad Shout-Out to Tyler Perry

Just how far would you go to garner the attention of a film maker?

New Jersey-bred, 23-year old Racquel Bailey decided to bring her "close-up" to a large billboard just outside of film maker, Tyler Perry's Atlanta film studio. How much did this extreme shout-out set Ms. Bailey back in the bank? $1,500! That's a bit pricey to hopefully catch the interest of someone with the likes of Tyler Perry. Although, it may be just what he's looking for...no offense to Tyler Perry as a person, but his movies are not all that entertaining. Ah, but who am I? Certainly not a film maker, nor an actor...come to think of it, I'm not even anywhere near famous or interesting myself. BUT, I digress, I do have a voice, and my opinion has been made.

So good luck Ms. Bailey from New Jersey! I think you will have a sure shot in a Tyler Perry film. "Online commenters have generally cheered Bailey's moxie, though the skills on display in her performance reel garnered mixed reviews." (quoted by David Gianatasio) 


via: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/aspiring-actress-spends-1500-billboard-plea-tyler-perry-139725

Would You Hire Him? Someone Did

Bennett Olson, a normal Minnesotan man looking for a job, decided to take his campaigning for a position one step further.

Bennett recently placed his happy-go-lucky, grinning face along with the words "HIRE ME" upon a large digital billboard in hopes of gaining the attention of a potential employer. Lucky for him, this wild idea actually brought on several interviews and ended up landing him a job! He paid $300 to have his ad rotate with others for 24 hours, and during that 8-second flash of his face and website; within a day's time, it seemed to have made a big enough splash to snag a position. Way to go Bennett; now I wonder if that same campaigning would work on government electoral votes?



via: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/minnesota-mans-desperate-hire-me-billboard-actually-works-140177

A Grocery FRESHER Website

If you are familiar with western-states, Arizona, Nevada, and California, then you are probably well-acquainted with the chain of grocery stores populating these great states. Fresh & Easy, which was founded in 2007, has launched a newer, fresher look to its website talking about jobs within the British-owned grocer.

On the Fresh & Easy homepage, not the careers home page — the words “A Great Place to Work” (in lieu of “jobs,” “employment,” or “careers”) will swing you on over to the careers page, which includes videos, a q-and-a about the interview process, a blog, and more.

Fresh & Easy is recruiting employees and interns on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook. Spicing up your company website seems to produce a heavier flow of traffic to your business. Whether it is creating new and improved ads, or even a simplistic yet developed career page; updates are always looked upon as keeping up with the times and an interest in your establishment.


via: http://www.ere.net/2012/02/02/grocer-freshens-up-website/

Effective Employee Referrals? Really?!

They say the way to get places these days is by knowing people. They also say that conversation is better by the water cooler than through emails. This could very well prove to be true, especially in the business world. So who exactly are they and how do they know so much?
Employee referrals are possibly more effective than we are led to believe. CareerXroads now brings forth evidence that hires from employee referrals are under-counted. Over the years we have all accepted that the average number of hires from employee referrals was somewhere in the ballpark of SHRM's 24% (for non-exempt positions) to about a third.

“Referrals permeate the recruiting process more than we think,” says recruiting consultant Gerry Crispin, a CareerXroads, principal.

Big or small, two-thirds of the respondents offer a bonus for every referral hire. Most common (44%) is $500 for a non-exempt hire. One-in-five will pay $1,000 and a few more (28%) will pay that for difficult to fill non-exempt positions.

Interesting concept that's widely happening at many companies. Hmmm, do you know anyone that you would like to refer to your current company? Their just might be a bonus in it for you.


via: http://www.ere.net/2012/01/31/employee-referrals-may-be-even-more-effective-than-we-think/

Aussie's New Military Recruitment Campaign

We all recognize the pop-cultural iconic picture of "Superman" pulling back his "Clark Kent" attire to reveal that super-seal of red and yellow upon his chest, right? Well taking a page from Superman's comics, the Australian defense department has taken a grand step in recruiting reservists with photos such as this.

Advertisments can be found on billboards, magazines, TV, movies ads, newspapers, and not forgetting to mention, their website, which depicts everyday working people lifting up or opening their shirts, revealing the militrary fatigues underneath. By doing this, the site plays up the good benefits, nice travel, personal growth, and community involvement.



via: http://www.ere.net/2012/02/01/aussie-military-launching-new-recruiting-campaign/