Disclaimer: I’m not a recruiter, so take this post for what it’s worth. I do, however, like to think of myself as a pretty good marketer. And what is recruiting, if not sales and marketing?
I just got back from ERExpo in Boston. Kudos to David Manaster and his team of merry conference-makers. I really enjoyed myself and met some very interesting people.
It’s always nice to rub elbows with the people who are actually making recruiting happen, the challenges they face, and the tactics they love.
Of the most popular methods of sourcing candidates discussed at the conference, it was the in-your-face, guerrilla tactics that seemed to be all the rage.
Stories of utilizing the Web to hunt down the world’s best and brightest, hijacking competitors’ employees by crashing their company events, and worshiping cease-and-desist orders all received warm receptions from conference goers and industry leaders alike.
Guerrilla marketing tactics are popular with many because they are seen as creative and progressive. "Success by any means necessary" has always been a hit with the Americans.
That said, consider the following:
- Pop-up ads work.
- Spam e-mails work.
- Telemarketing works.
- Junk mail works.
No marketer would refute the above points. The problem is the trade-off.
Are you willing to add pop-up ads to your Web site if it means 75 percent of your users will be turned off to the point of no return? Most would not trade a few extra bucks at the expense of dragging your brand, your sales and your traffic numbers through the mud.
So I think the question should be asked: Isn’t that exactly what in-your-face, hardcore guerrilla recruiting tactics do?
Is it worth the extra 10 percent in new hires to potentially create negative perceptions of your company? I think it’s a question recruiters and the highest level of a company’s brass should consider.
Would all that energy be better served by creating employment experiences that were remarkable? Hearing that somewhere is a great place to work from a third party or someone you trust is far better than hearing it straight from the mouth of a recruiter or an advertisement.
Google didn’t have to scream at the top of their lungs that they had the best search engine on the planet. They built it, word spread, and the rest is history. Their employment brand enjoys similar success.
Creating remarkable experiences is the key to building successful companies and products. Employment and recruiting should be no different … at least in my I-don’t-recruit-for-a-living opinion.
Popularity: 2% [?]
October 3rd, 2005 at 1:36 pm
Cheese-
Enjoyed meeting you in Boston – perhaps the next time one of us will bring along a voice recording instrument…
You are so right in believing that building a remarkable experience is at the core of recruiting. It it more than just “would you be interested in learning about an opportunity that is superior to your current situation?” which many believe is all that is needed to catch a fish.
Consider the entire spectrum of what makes a recruiting function: Strategic planning, organiational impact, processes, systems, and metrics. For each to be remarkable requires an incredible amount of work – and perhaps even a reengineering in one’s mind about what remarkable truly is (considre adopting the Buddhist’s beginner’s mind for this one).
Think about the impact on the customer in every step of the recruiting process, in every technology dollar spent, in every metric used to measure results, in every discussion with internal leaders, and in every plan created to achieve goals.
Remarkable is a long, hard road.