Category Archives: Recruitment

A guide to the future of recruitment, new trends, emerging technology and tips on the interview process.

The one crucial element that makes a great recruitment video.

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The use of video within recruitment has taken on many forms over the past few years. Organisations have been experimenting with adding them to job ads to provide more context about the organisation, video resumes and even when interviewing which is something that Barack Obama did recently on Google+ when he answered questions in a virtual interview.

But today we are going to look at what makes a great recruitment video from an organisations perspective.

Is it…

  • Budget?
  • Cast and crew?
  • Skills of the editor?

In my opinion all of those are irrelevant. Whilst having all of those factors will make a good video there is one thing that will take the video from good to great.

Authenticity. At the end of the video you want the potential candidate knowing more about what the company is really like, what the culture is like & self-selecting whether or not they want to pursue a career with you.

Because at the end of the day isn’t that why you film a recruitment video. To help attract not only the best talent but the talent that really want to work for you.

Let me know your thoughts on this recruitment video filmed by some of their employees recently.

 

So if you’re thinking of filming a recruitment video I’d suggest that before you think of budget, camera equipment and whose going to edit it and focus your energy on this question. What does our company stand for and how do we demonstrate that to potential candidates.

IKEA Australia Case Study – Now this is how you recruit!

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Welcome to 2012 readers! It’s going to be a big one. You might have heard (read here) that I’m no longer fully working in the HR space anymore… It’s ok though, because I’m still going to be writing cutting edge HR & Recruitment articles & I’m still consulting & speaking in the HR Space!  

Now you may laugh at this cartoon, I know I did, but when you’re looking to hire employees that live & breathe your brand then it’s essential to ensure that your recruitment process identifies who will be a brand advocate & great hire. Now I’m not saying that every single person in the world has to find a job that aligns with their values & beliefs. Sometimes you need a job that pays the bills or is a stepping stone (I’ve had both).

But I’m here to showcase the worlds leading organisations & forward thinking HR & Recruitment practices so that everyone who reads this blog will feel inspired & motivated to go find jobs & projects that they truly care about. That’s why I’m showcasing the latest effort from IKEA Australia.

IKEA, you either love or hate the place. Those of us who love it (like I do) will order the catalogues in advance, highlight the living daylight out of the catalogue & then go around in circles for a day trying to find everything to brighten up your flat, apartment or McMansion.

So if I was the head of HR at IKEA & had been tasked with find a couple of hundred new staff then I’d be wanting to talk to & interview as many of those brand advocates & fans as I could. So how could they have done this?

Ask if they’re looking for a job at the registers?
Pro: After realising how much they’ve spent they might consider taking on a second job. 
Con: Slows down the transaction.

Or they could have done this. Which in my opinion is ingenious.


Pretty neat huh? Let me know of an organisation you know who looks to hire their biggest fans.

#TruAustralia

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Bill Boorman has blown up the traditional conference and thrown away the rule book. His TRU events have become a global phenomena. TRU is now truly global with unconferences having taken place in the United Kingdom, Holland, America and most recently a couple of weeks ago in South Africa and attracted about 220 attendees. Topics are deconstructed and conversation goes where the discussion flows, which is sometimes onto a completely new topic. The focus is purely on the audience. The audience are active participants, there’s lots of discussion, debate, sharing of ideas and opinions, and getting off one’s seat and moving around.

The Recruiting Unconference (#truAustralia)  

The first ever #TruAustralia comes to Melbourne next Friday. To get more people to experience an UnConference and have more concurrent tracks running, Bill has dropped the Un-price to AU$150 +GST – which in my opinion is the best value for money professional development you can buy.

How would I know? Because I led a track at #TruLondon in February this year alongside online megastars Laurie Ruettimann and John Sumser. It was an incredible experience. I learnt more about the industry and the profession in those couple of days then I did in three years at university. The networking opportunities were the best I’ve experienced to date due to the nature of an UnConference and I’ve made life long friends from the experience plus did I mention the fact that I spoke at a conference in London!

There’s no powerpoint and no presenters, only track leaders. It’s worth attending #truAustralia just to see how amazing an UnConference can be. After attending one I assure you that every other conference you attend will never feel the same.

#SOSU11

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The Australasian Sourcing Summit kicks off today in Sydney. I’m looking forward to hearing from some global thought leaders in this space and to learn more about talent communities and integrating social media into your efforts.

I’m live blogging the two days and you can read all about it here - http://sosu11.posterous.com/

Don’t forget you can follow all the tweets here!

Shift Happens! The HRockstar Career Change Part One

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I’m about to enter my first career transition. I’ve been thinking for quite a while now about the fact that linear career paths don’t exist anymore. Changing technology, changing industries & changing business demands mean that new jobs are created all the time.Thanks to all these changes I now find myself heading down a new and exciting career path.

Come August 2011 The HRockstar is moving away from generalist HR and more towards Recruiting, Employer Branding and Social media campaigns. I’m combining my love of marketing and talent management with technology. I’m also taking on a mix of contract work as well as consulting roles.

In reflecting upon my journey thus far I thought I’d capture some thoughts about my career transition and identify the experiences which have helped shape me.

Who Am I?

  1. My first experience with Talent was as the work experience kid with a team of sports agents at a Talent Management agency.
  2. I’m often found tweeting late at night and early in the morning to stay connected to friends in both the UK and the USA.
  3. I attended my first networking event with hair that went past my shoulders
  4. I consult to young professionals and students about personal branding & differentiating yourself in the job market
  5. I blogged anonymously for years about poetry, music, the arts and literature
  6. I left my first networking event in an ambulance
  7. I’m the AHRI Convenor for the Queensland Young HR Professionals Group
  8. I spoke at the Tru London HR and Recruiting UnConference in February 2011
  9. I landed my first professional job at this infamous first networking event
  10. I started blogging professionally at the end of 2009

All of those events and experiences have shaped who I am as a person. As I head down a new path I’ll remember where I have come from and who has helped me along the way as I look forward to tomorrow with both excitement and anticipation!

Recruitment 2.0 – For the Employer

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With changing technologies comes changing demands. As Apple continues to tell us with each new iPhone they bring out “This changes everything. Again.” I think the same can be said about the way we in HR are looking at recruiting all new staff (notice I didn’t say “how we recruit young gen y candidates!” This applies to everyone).

Candidates are expecting more from potential employers and vice versa. So this week I am going to look at Recruitment 2.0 from the Employers perspective.

A standard job ad in the paper was deemed a viable option only a few years ago. But now, in 2010, candidates are asking for more than just an online ad with a  generic organisational summary and role description. Candidates want to see pictures from the office, video testimonials from the organisations leaders & in some cases hearing from the person currently sitting in the role which was recently made famous by the Replace Brie campaign run by AdCorp.

But if an employer is looking for a certain type of candidate such as a creative genius, technological wizz or the like then you have to use mediums and techniques that will appeal to those specific types. An example of this is the search for the next digital dragon. The St. George Illawarra Dragons have used a combination of facebook, twitter, youtube, websites and their constant PR man Wendel Sailor to hunt down a new Digital Communications Coordinator.

By using all these different mediums The Dragons are ensuring that they are appealing to the best in the business. Because who in their right mind would apply for an IT job that was only advertised in the newspaper? Doesn’t exactly scream ‘we are an innovative IT company’ now does it.

With a shifting job market where candidates can become more choosey about where and who they work for Recruitment 2.0 needs to be put on the agenda. When you consider the cost of hiring a new employee, not to mention the costs associated with hiring the wrong employee, I urge you to stop for a second and think about the specific job you are hiring for and what mediums you should be looking at using to ensure a quality candidate pool.

If you have any other examples let me know in the comments or write a blog post about it and let me know!

In an upcoming post I’ll be looking at Recruitment 2.0 from the candidates perspective.

HRockstar strumming out!