The comparisons between HR and marketing are growing, HR experts have said during the latest Inside HR Webinar on centralising recruitment. Susan Vitale, chief marketing officer at New Jersey based iCIMS and Daniel Connacher of Euromoney, both spoke of the importance of social media in the recruitment process. Yet, although the use of social media can allow a business to cast a wider net for talent while reducing recruitment costs, it can also be used by candidates to expose a bad recruitment experience.
“Job seeker behavior has completely changed and our candidates are now our customers,” Vitale commented during the discussion. “In the world of marketing if you don’t do things that your customers want, or behave in a way that supports their preferences then you lose your customers.” In practice this means adapting the way jobs are advertised to suit a younger generation that consumes information through smart phones on the go.
“Treating candidates as customers is certainly something that is creeping into Euromoney’s recruitment strategy,” Connacher added. “The way people are dealt with when they are in the office being interviewed has changed. It is a candidates market so we have to impress as much as they do.”
Connacher also spoke about how the use of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) helped Euromoney secure the so called ‘silver medalist’ candidates, applicants who have come a close second to winning a position at the company.
“These people were being lost to the business and they could even end up with our competitors,” Connacher said during the discussion. “If we have spent time with a candidate, and a lot of Euromoney businesses do have a very thorough recruitment process involving quite a lot of contact time, we don’t want that work to be lost and the candidate then to fall back to the start of the process. An ATS system allows us to move those candidates around and it allows managers to see other roles within the company.” This joined up approach to recruitment allows businesses to close the gaps through which excellent candidates may fall.
You can hear the full Centralising Recruitment webinar here: https://www.brighttalk.com/webcast/12443/170861?utm_medium=web&utm_source=brighttalk-portal&utm_campaign=community-live-recorded
Robert joined the HRreview editorial team in October 2015. After graduating from the University of Salford in 2009 with a BA in Politics, Robert has spent several years working in print and online journalism in Manchester and London. In the past he has been part of editorial teams at Flux Magazine, Mondo*Arc Magazine and The Marine Professional.