Sustainable Solutions Series Edition #5: Social Media

How can you utilise digital to attract and retain talent, rather than by simply raising salaries?

In response to recent Labour Market Statistics, this series will offer some examples of ways in which recruiters and employers can keep well resourced during periods of low candidate availability. In this, the fifth in our series, we explore the value of recruiting via social media.

Recruitment magazine The Recruiter advised that word of mouth is the most effective way of promoting your business and products, but social media can take it one step further. As we know, we must take advantage of this channel as candidates become more digitally adept; 15 million people in the UK are on LinkedIn, the recruiter’s main platform, so if you promote your company and your employer brand via social media, it will not only reach more of your target audience, it will also establish you as a modern, adaptable business, in tune with the rhythms of communication of today. Currently, 29% of candidates now use social media as their primary tool for job seeking, and 92% of companies use or plan to use social media for recruiting. In the face of these numbers, recruiters need to take advantage of this tool.

By recruiting and promoting your employer brand via social media, you can make the most of:

• The best way to reach passive candidates
• An easy way for candidates to communicate with your company using a medium they’re comfortable with
• An accessible resource of information
• Access to the new online generation, who will become your future customer base
• Personalising your business by giving it a voice
• Reducing time-to-hire
• Increasing both the quantity and quality of applications
• Increasing staff referrals
• … and it’s mostly free! Of course, premier membership of networks such as LinkedIn requires a fee, but the world of social media is probably the quickest way to post new jobs to thousands of potential applicants without paying a penny.

Consistent, attractive social media activity takes time to build and maintain, but as your online presence grows and develops, you can sit back and allow social ‘sharing’ to do its work. Social media, as an alternative method of attraction and retention to just raising salaries, has proved to be one of the most successful strategies. A company is often judged as a potential employer by its online presence; the efficiency and consistency of your online activity reflects how the business operates on all levels. Businesses should not underestimate how much their online profile says about them; if we weren’t meant to judge a book by its cover, it wouldn’t have one.

Want us to do it all for you? Call our Client Services Director Steve Phillips on 0117 312 6767 or steve.phillips@resource-management.co.uk who will be able to offer you a social media solution tailored to your specific needs and style.

Face-to-face in the Facebook age; the multifaceted concept of modern networking

As a result of technological advances and networking’s reputation as a pivotal tool, it can be argued that the UK has become a ‘networked nation’. We develop and maintain networks socially and professionally and both have become part of the fabric of modern society. 

‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know’

A phrase familiar to most and brings to life the relevance of ‘access’. Information, interactions events and groups are all examples of things individuals can gain access to as a result of (or to develop) networks. Through mediums such as Twitter, you can gain access to most people’s location, playlists, opinions and even converse with them directly. The interesting conflict is that on one hand, the innovation and adoption rate of technology means we have never before had so much access to people and information; yet networking is also thought by many to reinforce elitism and ‘tight circles’. 

London in the 1980’s embodied a fairly closed and elitist network, as there was little diversity in the nature of those running the big banks and large firms. These individuals mostly had prosperous backgrounds and attended Eton and Oxbridge, until Margaret Thatcher’s ‘big bang’ opened the city up. These ‘old networks’ were limited and rigid, as if you surround yourself with similar people, the chances of innovating and considering the wider impact on stakeholders is greatly reduced.

Times have obviously changed, but elitist and restrictive elements of networking still exist. Whilst the techniques and resources for networking are technically available to everyone, many still refer to an un-democratic ‘old boys club’ culture in many networks, where jobs go to friends and family and Directors have similar backgrounds and socialise in small silos. Background is especially relevant, as many suggest that private schools can act as a springboard, instilling a networked mind-set into pupils who often utilise this to maximise or exceed their potential through networking. 

Businesses and society must become better at encouraging networks

So how can (and why should) we ensure that everyone, not just society’s elite, adopt a networked outlook? London Business School Professor Lynda Gratton claims that “if you’re well connected, the ideas flow more quickly and you are much more likely to innovate... [in the future] easy jobs will be outsourced or undertaken by data algorithms/robots. What’s left is the hard stuff and that needs innovation and creativity". Julia Hobsbawm (Founder of Editorial Intelligence) adds that “we need to bring knowledge into organisations, because the outside world is ahead of them. We need to rebalance that and bring the outside, and it’s oxygen of ideas, in”. She also warned of “marzipan Managers”, scared to venture outside of their daily role. 

In addition, to ensure that ‘state school’ pupils also adopt this networked way of thinking, mentors and networking advocates should undertake visits to promote the benefits. These schools should also attempt to interact with their community as much as possible. Studio schools are a great example, as they place a great deal of emphasis on work experience and projects with local businesses and organisations. 

The merit of face-to-face interaction

A final consideration is the importance of face-to-face interactions. These are often proven to be the most effective, and real world and cyber networking can co-exist without cannibalising each other. Facial cues and expressions make communication much more effective; after you have met face-to-face, non face-to-face interactions are improved as people feel they understand their recipient and their personality more thoroughly.

Networking is more than just coffee shops and conferences and the UK, both as an economy and a society, should attempt to instil a networked way of thinking into our future generations.

Sustainable Solutions Series Edition #4: Home Grown Talent

How can you nurture and develop your entry-level workers, rather than simply attracting new talent by raising salaries?

In response to the recent Labour Market Statistics, this series will offer examples of ways in which recruiters and employers can thrive during low candidate availability. In this, the fourth in our series of articles demonstrating how you can manage the dwindling talent pool, we explore the value of home growing your talent.

Promoting from within and investing in Learning & Development can root your business in experienced and engaged employees. In particular, investing trust and time in young employees who are just beginning their career has numerous benefits, developing those with the potential to grow into key business leadership positions.

The benefits of nurturing young talent are:

• The opportunity to shape entry level workers into just what your organisation needs. New starters offer your employer/employee relationships a new start; they have comparatively few preconceived ideas of how they should do their job and are willing and keen to learn.
• Taking on and nurturing young talent encourages loyalty to your organisation.
• You can enjoy the immensely rewarding feeling of fulfilment in seeing someone you have nurtured grow into a valuable and independent member of the organisation.
• It reinforces the importance of learning within your organisation.
• Instigating a culture of development vastly improves your employer brand.
• Establishing this culture will create an environment in which, as Forbes put it, ‘employees can seek out challenges where they can develop without feeling like mistakes will set them back in their career or jeopardize their job’.

Of course, organisations are understandably wary about this approach, but ‘despite the considerable financial risks of investing in employees when they could then simply up and leave, advocates such as Sir Richard Branson promote that a company should ‘train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to’.’

In the next edition of Sustainable Solutions, we explore the uses and benefits of social media, demonstrating how you can utilise the digital world to attract and retain talent.

Resource Management’s parent company Resource Solutions Group (RSG), in association with The HR World, facilitated a round table debate in September, entitled ‘The Myth of Talent Management’. The white paper following this round table will be released in November. In the meantime, please help yourself to previous white papers, free to download!