Tuesday, December 20, 2011

5 Simple Steps for a Social Media Audit

Social Media continues to be a strong branding tool for recruiting Gen Y. However, when recruiters mention it to Executives they struggle to gain buy in. This article will outline 5 simple steps to conduct an audit and shape your 2012 social media plan to set you up for success in the new year.

Building a business case includes understanding why there is business rationale to using social media and speaking to Executives in the language they understand – dollars & cents. This means building a case that includes targets and ROI metrics. To design your targets, first understand why you want to use social media, audit your current use, and build a case to showcase your plan.

Potential HR & Talent Acquisition Uses for Social Media:

      Recruitment & Promotion
      Employment Brand Management
      Employee Onboarding
      Executive Culture Check
      Knowledge Sharing, Training and Development
      Employee Reward and Recognition

Once you understand the ways in which you want to use social media, start shaping your business case. All business cases have 3 main components:


5 Simple Steps to Creating a Business Case & Completing a Social Media Audit:

1.      Conduct an Audit:
·         Who? Audit yourself & your top 3 competitors
·         What to look for? Understand trends (i.e. which platforms everyone is using) & what hook is being used on each platform
·         Where? Audit  main social media properties (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare) and then integration via widgets of social media into their traditional job sites
·         When?  Do it NOW! Determine a regular frequency to complete an audit (at least every 6 months)
·         Why? Your New Hires & Existing Employees are already talking about you. Be part of the conversation

2.     Determine Metrics to complete in regular Audits to help determine ROI

Examples include: Sentiment, Post Frequency and type, Engagement, Growth and Share of Conversation versus competitors.

3.     Set Objectives

Having targets allows you to measure learnings, mistakes & successes. Many social media objectives are around branding versus always clear applications, interviews & hires. Setting social media targets should be SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely). Ensure you understand ROI and ask the right questions like:  What is the impact of shifting 1/8 of the advertising budget to build a Facebook page? Determine priorities that make sense for your recruiting targets and filter distractions.

4.     Work Your Plan

Remember as you work on your plan that you must:
·         Have a regular presence on social media sites
·         Listen and adapt ongoing as social media sites are always changing
·         Set monitoring and reporting standards for your organization/department
·         Assign responsibilities
·         Seek support & increased education with: internal departments and external resources  (tool kits, consultants, contractors)

5.     Work Smart

Use tools to work efficiently and effectively.
      Determine Content Mixture and Themes for each Platform
      Develop Regular Communication Calendar
      Automate Activities with Tools: Excel, Social Mention, Hootsuite, Google Reader, Crowd Booster

Good luck in evaluating your current social media activities and in building a 2012 business case for increased investment in graphic design time and recruiter time. With regular activity you can drive increased hires from this tactic.

Remember that social media is only one piece of a successful Gen Y recruiting strategy and must be used in conjunction with strong on campus branding and a strong Employment Value Proposition. Good luck!

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

How Companies use Social Media for Recruiting

Are you as a company on trend in using social media to find the perfect candidate to join your team? Find out what your competition is using!



Credit: Mashable - http://on.mash.to/mXWPGR

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Tips for Employees with New Managers



This post builds on last week's article setting up new managers for success.  Many look to their new manager to set the tone for a working relationship. It's also very important for new employees to be open, build credibility and want the new reporting line to work. Here are some tips if you have a new manager.

For an Employee with a New Manager:
There is comfort in having worked for a manager for a period of time – they know the way you think, they have trust in your abilities, they know the best way to coach you. How do you start all over again?  It’s a scary time but also a great time to grow your skills and be challenged by a new perspective.

Tips:
-          Come in open minded. Your new manager is going to likely operate differently, seek to understand their perspective. Don’t make snap judgments.
-          Ask Questions – this is tied to not making quick decisions or judgments. Ask questions to seek understanding about changes your new manager is making if they aren’t giving you the rationale/background.
-          Deliver results - delivering results with a great attitude is the best way to will build your personal credibility with a new manager.
-          Speak with your current manager about the transition they are completing with your new manager. If you had an open relationship with your previous manager, you can help shape this discussion by highlighting key things that really work in your current relationship
o   If your current manager is unable to have a transition with your new manager, take matters into your own hands. Put together a “get to know me” email with your job description, org chart of your team (if applicable), previous performance review, and current targets/goals. Book time with your new manager to get to know each other and walk through your current work load and goals.

Open conversation & transparency will work well on both sides to create a strong relationship. Good luck!

Have you recently had a new manager? What do you think they did well to support you? What do you think you did well to set your new manager up and make them look good? Reading the above tips, what would you have done differently?

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Tips for New Managers



With fast paced moving companies, reporting lines often change due to realignment of departments, promotions or general business needs.  Change creates natural trepidation but also hints at great possibilities. Reporting relationships take time to build from both a manager’s and a direct report’s perspectives. This week’s blog post is for a manager with a new direct report & next week’s will be for an employee who has a new manager.

For a Manager with a New Direct Report:
Getting to know your team is a big challenge. You want to create quick wins and not steamroll new reports with big changes right away. These tips will help you gain credibility and build trust.

-          Listen first. Seek to understand procedures, strategies, organizational charts, and roles/responsibilities of your new team. As a new manager, you are likely eager to make your mark in your new role. First seek to understand why things are done a certain way before barging in with changes.
-          Ask questions - understand what your team thinks works well, how processes align to goals, and ask what they would change. If your team agrees on priorities they are more likely to buy into such change. 
-          Create transparency – talk to your team about your goals/mandate and what you are trying to achieve so they can be part of the solution.
-          Get to know your team – your people are your greatest asset to create quick wins in your new role. Potentially use a questionnaire that they fill out and then book time to review it together. It’s a way to have a little fun, get to know them professionally and start to build a personal relationship. I often use something called a management contract to start this (read here: http://bit.ly/gOr24X). You can ask things like: favourite coffee, morning or afternoon thinker, and then things like strengths, growth opportunities, personal goals, what they like in a manager, etc… Using this to facilitate a conversation can get you going on a great foot right away.
-          Transition from past managers - If you are taking on an employee from another manager within the same organization, book time to do a proper transition. Ask them to share previous performance reviews and tips for management.
-          Talk about your management style – just like you want to get to know your new team, they want to get to know their new manager. Talk about tips for working with you, the working environment you like to create and your plan for the team.
-          Have regular team updates – book a bi-weekly or monthly meeting with your direct reports to discuss your findings, recommended changes & the team’s progress. This will help you create buy in and overall transparency and be viewed as a leader who is creating team work right from the get go!
 
For those who have recently moved into a new role managing a new team, what do you think about the above tips? What helped set off your new relationship for the better and what do you wish you had done differently?

Stay posted for next week's post on tips for employees with new managers.

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Students: Building Your Personal Brand For A Career In Sales And Marketing

Marketing and sales students – this post is just for you!



With leaves changing to fall colours, many companies have been hitting campus with gusto to find the best seniors for upcoming internships and new grad jobs.

The competition on campus between employers is getting hot as the economy picks up and companies’ hiring numbers increase. A shift is starting, where students will have more power as the number of jobs available increases; however, we aren’t quite there yet. As a student, it is important to play a lead role in choosing your first job out of school and selling yourself to your employer(s) of choice.

Your personal brand

You need to build your personal brand as a sales and marketing student because potential employers want to see that you can apply the basic principles of marketing. If you can’t sell or market yourself, why should they trust you to market or sell their products and services?

First, do a branding exercise to understand your unique value to a future employer. Think about how you present yourself both in person at company campus recruiting events or interviews, and in online spaces.

Things you should evaluate include:
·         How you dress
·         The language you use
·         How you can showcase specific accomplishments
·         How you come across to employers – do you seem credible/real?

Your personal brand - online

Your online personality should mirror how you come across in person. Ensure that, if your future employer seeks you out on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook, there is consistency in the things you say you are knowledgeable about or roles you played in extra-curricular activities.

Things like LinkedIn recommendations are very valuable, especially with LinkedIn launching a new student profile option.

In sales and marketing, future employers will likely perform a social media search on their top candidates – think of this as a “reference check.” Make sure that you hide information that future employers don’t need to see (e.g., Facebook photos) and remember that social media is PERMANENT. 

Your personal brand – in person

For in in-person events, network and showcase your personality as well as your interests and skills.

Marketing and sales is a lot about a “fit” in being personable, believable and coachable. When I interview for entry-level marketing roles, I look more for a strong personal impression than wide sales/marketing experience – I can teach you how to be successful, but I can’t teach you how to think critically or have personal credibility.

I want you to highlight your interests, where you think the industry is going, recent highlights at my specific company, and why you believe you fit the company culture. Show you spent some time researching my company online, even talking to past interns or employees, and understanding our culture.

Don’t treat every networking session, interview or online application the same. Most recruiters are very open to telling you the unique parts of their company, so talk to them and ask for a follow-up prep call prior to an interview.

If you don’t meet a recruiter on campus, reach out to them via LinkedIn. Recruiters will highlight great candidates’ applications if you wow them. Consider this reach-out like dating – you only have one opportunity to make that perfect impression that might lead to a relationship (or in this case, a fantastic career)!

Students: As I am now a regular contributor to TalentEgg.ca (Canada's leading job site and career resource for students and new graduates), I will be featuring monthly articles written specifically for students on my blog. I would love your thoughts on what you want to hear about! Please comment below to drive future articles.

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Inspiration in Books: Building Trust



For those who know me well, I often describe myself as a bit old school when it comes to reading. As a bit of a geek at heart, I love the library and my kindle is almost always close at hand. Old school doesn’t seem like it goes with someone who is so active in social media – does it?! I balance staying up to date with regular blog reading, internet searches, online newspaper articles & then some old school paperback books. I typically have 2 books on the go at all times: one a good “beach read” to relax my mind after a busy work day & one a work inspirational book to help me think differently.

I just finished Steven M.R. Covey’s The Speed of Trust. As son of Steven R. Covey, (think The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People), he has a great background in organizational effectiveness and leadership. He states that“trust is the hidden variable in the formula for organizational or personal success” and uses the formula:
“(S x E)T = R  OR ([Strategy times Execution] multiplied by trust equals Results.” Trust is thus a function of character and competencies. Covey highlights that leadership is getting results that inspire trust. It is equally about the HOW and the WHAT. By using the right “how” that empowers direct reports or colleagues you establish trust and increase your ability to get results faster time and time again.

This book was inspiring as it spoke about the 4 cores of credibility: Integrity, Intent, Capabilities and Results. It outlines that understanding these key core skills will then allow you to demonstrate them through 13 behaviours that increase your ability to gain trust.

I’m currently moving into a new role at work & reading this book came at the perfect time. Half of my current team is continuing to report to me and I’m gaining a new USA based team. Learning how to create trust in a new team cross border is a challenge that I am up for. I won’t give away all of the tips from Covey’s book but will highlight some of the behaviours he values that I believe are key in having new direct reports. Creating transparency, delivering results, giving credit where it is due, clarifying expectations & listening first all hit the highlights. If you are going through a career change, a promotion, are managing a new team or have a new manager, understanding how to build trust will set you up for success. Empower yourself with education – look online & don’t be afraid to be a little old school & actually pick up a recommended paperback every once in awhile.

Cheers & happy reading. Do you like book recommendations? I’m considering adding a monthly hot read feature to my blog. Reading any great business or personal development books right now? Would love some recommendations myself!


Quote Reference: The Speed of Trust: The One Thing That Changes Everything by Steven M.R. Covey

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Steve Jobs = Apple's Employment Brand

Steve Jobs’ death rocked the world this past week. He dropped out of college after only 1 year & co-created one of the most innovative brands in his parent’s garage in his mere 20s. He followed his heart & focused on what inspired him versus fumbling his way through what he “should do.” Not only was a he a leader that people fought to follow but he created an atmosphere of innovation and doing things differently at Apple. Steve Jobs personified Apple and its employer brand of innovation, leadership, and credibility.  Apple’s employment brand is strong yet they barely publicize what working at the company is like versus some of their major competitors like Google or Microsoft.

Jobs was not a perfect leader. He had his ups and downs and was so headstrong that he was actually fired from Apple, the company he co-created, in 1985. After his very public banishment, he subsequently founded NeXT (a computer platform) that Apple actually purchased in 1996 and brought Jobs to his role as CEO. Jobs was not afraid of the lime light or telling his career stories including the good, bad & the ugly. He drove trust in Apple as a visionary through his innovative thinking and delivery of consistently doing things differently.  With Jobs’ heroic lose to cancer, Apple needs to build on this legacy and expand their employment brand to overcome the loss of their powerful CEO. Time will tell how they do on this mission.

As a reminder of all of the wonderful things Jobs lead & the things he stood for, please see the below quote about allowing innovation to lead your path to great things. If you haven’t yet also watched Jobs’ 1995 commencement address at Stanford, do so here:



Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition.
~ Steve Jobs



My Final Thoughts: Do you have an inspirational leader within your company? Do you use them to lead your employment branding efforts & set the tone for greatness within your company culture?


Wednesday, September 21, 2011

Fresh Start: New School Year

Hi All
I have been a bit of an absent blogger for the last 2 months as I was launching campus programming in Canada (one internal & one for a client), the USA, China & preparing Russia & Ukraine for launch next month. Not only is it busy with recruiting but I'm moving into a new role as Director Talent Strategies, North America in my day job. Life has been slammed.  Additionally, though I haven't been posting, I've working on a whole new integrated website & new blog site :) Stay posted for more details there!

I taught a Learning & Development session this morning about building your in person & online brand. It regrounded my goals & helped me have a "fresh start" on getting back to my blog.  So cheers to a fresh school year & a fresh start!

What do you want to start fresh on?

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Talent Management 101



Talent Management is a HOT topic. It is really about managing your talent proactively, aligning talent to organizational values and opportunities, and succession planning to keep your top talent happy at YOUR Company. According to Wikipedia (the best definition source) talent management “refers to the skills of attracting highly skilled worked, of integrating new workers, and developing and retaining current workers to meet current and future business objectives.” As the article calls out, “companies engaging in a talent management strategy shift the responsibility of employees from the HR department to all managers throughout the organization.” HR is a lead player in working with a company’s senior leadership team to align on a talent management strategy but ALL managers must then take accountability for developing their direct reports. Thus, training & organizational education is also a key part of a talent management strategy.  Talent management also goes hand in hand with recruiting so you can acquire the right talent to meet your business needs once you create a language to discuss skill gaps or needs. Talent management is increasingly a point of differentiation as happier employees are more productive and it helps you keep your high performers/high potentials happy and not seeking (or being open) to other opportunities.

The economy is picking up and the market for strong talent is getting hotter than ever. Many companies are failing to bench mark their talent, create guidelines for talent management development, and build succession plans for top performers.  This puts your talent at risk when other’s come calling and puts you in reactive mode dealing with counter offers or potentially being too late in the game to keep your high performers.

Here is Talent Management 101

If this is a hot topic for you, please let me know so I can build out further posts on the topic.

Step 1: Determine bench marks for talent.  What are the key pillars involved in each role & at which level to you want each manager (based on title) to be an expert? This is an exercise in itself that takes time.

Step 2: Make a companywide plan on succession planning & create guidelines for promotions, bonus plans, talent reviews, and learning & development.

Step 3: Internal Talent Review. Work with all of the senior managers to bench mark your employees (aka your talent) & identify the top performers/high potential candidates. Ensure that all managers are aligned. There are many tools/processes/templates out there to help you with this process. This should be an executive/senior manager discussion so you can really compare talent from multiple teams and have a consistent evaluation among all employees. Start with your most senior managers and work your way through each level. HR should manage these conversations.

Step 4: Coach your managers on how to have conversations with all employees – especially those high potential individuals and take them through template succession plans to determine their 1-3 year plans. Work to have a consistent strategy on getting these candidates additional exposure & opportunities based on their long term talent to truly grow them into your company’s future leaders. Templates, training & education is very important at this step as some managers may be leading high potential candidates but they themselves might be more a “steady Eddie” – also people important to keep happy & developed.

Step 5: When new business is secured or a promotion is justified, ensure that you look to those ready & willing candidates who have the right skills & the right aptitude to move into the role. Base your promotions on fit & talent versus things like tenure.

Step 6: Visit your talent review annually to revisit how you are doing on your strategy & re-evaluate your team’s growth over the past year.

Step 7: repeat repeat repeat. Remember that training & development of your managers & support from a strong HR Talent Manager/Lead is very key to lead all of the change management necessary to properly build & execute a strong talent management strategy. This is different way of thinking and thus this strategy will take time and needs alignment between HR and Sr leaders in developing the organizational plan and managing this change for your organization.

There are many assessments/processes out there to support your talent management strategy. Remember to use tools & research research research! Have a plan & then work that plan.

For those of you with existing talent management strategies, what is working? What have you learned? What would you do differently? For those just starting, how are you doing in your planning?

Below is just one visual example of an important talent management strategy as it should include everything from Acquiring Talent, to Developing, Aligning, & Assessing Talent.


Wikipedia definition of Talent Management: http://bit.ly/oDuhlt
Talent Management Process Example <via Taleo>: http://bit.ly/q3q3hE

Monday, July 18, 2011

Catching Up

Hello Regular Readers,

Thank you for your patience as life has gotten away from me with a crazy travel schedule (4 countries in 3 weeks), work has been busy & my extracurricular activities like volunteering with the TedxToronto event have also picked up... I haven't had a moment (especially my usual quiet Saturday or Sunday mornings) in order to prep my blog posts for the week and thus have been 2 weeks tardy with new updates.

I'm sitting down this evening to really manage my online properties and get back into my busy blogging self.

Thank you for your patience! Stay posted for a new blog post tomorrow - I will be back to my regular authored post on Tuesdays & Thursday's News Days with the hottest stories of the week.

Cheers,
Chelsea

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

"Expert" Article

Thanks to my relationship in guest blogging with a great student career website called Talent Egg (http://talentegg.ca/), I was featured as a Recruiting Expert with advice to Students on Corporate Tours in Tuesday July 12th's Toronto Metro.

Click here to read the article in its entirety: http://bit.ly/nMvzu7

It is an article about how students can stand out on corporate tours and is a build from an earlier blog post that actually received a lot of hits & garnered many comments.  Thank you to everyone for your words of encouragement on this exciting publication!

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Do Unto Others

This is a short blog post with just a note on work/life/living. I work with so many different people from so many different cultures & it always amazes me that the saying "you get more bees with honey than vinegar" is true. Just a reminder that in recruiting new people or in managing existing people you must treat them well & with respect. By doing so you will go further in your career than if you use others as a stepping stone to personal higher aspirations. My belief is that I can only get ahead by driving the success of those under me as I can't be promoted until others are ready to fill my shoes. Are you living by this rule?

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Thursday News Day: Global Campus Recruiting



As per my article on Tuesday of this week, I’m focused on international global recruiting best practices as a theme right now. Despite all of my best searches, the information available online on this topic is shockingly limited. The best article I could find to share is from 2010; however, it does have some strong points that many companies are still not doing half way through 2011 and it is less than 1 year old. Read here for tips & tricks and know I will be working on many more articles on this topic moving forward.

If you have any great articles or resources on global recruiting beset practices, please include them as a comment in the below to share with myself & other readers.

Employment Branding:

 “Global Recruiting in 2010: Trends & Best Practices”
-          Featured on: slideshare  
-          Writer:  Kevin Wheeler
-          Publishing date: Aug 25, 2010
-          Link: http://slidesha.re/dm81lO


Good webinar with a 5 trends & best practices for global recruiting.  Major trends include globalization = ubiquitous mobility, shortages of key skills, recruiting is internet dependent & recruiting remains local. This article includes good statistics, research & recommendations for any recruiting manager building a campus recruiting program.

Happy reading! Any resources/articles/webinars you can share about global recruiting? What are your challenges? Learnings? Best practices for global recruiting or taking global plans & implementing on a local level?   I would love questions/ideas/thoughts as inspiration for future blog articles.

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Global Campus Recruiting Best Practices

As I’m working internationally this week in Europe, I was inspired to share information about campus recruiting at a global level. As many of my readers know, my specialty is building campus programs & I have developed & successfully run campus recruiting programs in over 12 countries from North America to Asia to Western Europe and Eastern Europe. It may shock you that students around the world essentially want the same things – enjoyment of work, development opportunities, exposure to leadership, work/life balance. Though the cultures of each country influence the practices/students, best practices in student recruiting essentially do work globally. Building the right programming is important to find that perfect new hire!



Though many global companies build management trainee or global recruiting principles, there are some things to keep in mind that work globally & some things to consider in tweaking your programming for each individual market. Read on to find out more!

From my experience, here are some best practices for building campus recruiting programs in multiple countries:
-     Strong employment branding website with information about a day in the life at your company. Remember, your website should ENGAGE with students. Think blogs, twitter feeds, YouTube videos of your office, testimonials etc
-     Key messaging/job offerings that speak to students. Knowing what students want & ensuring your offering speaks to these categories is important. Look to local/nation surveys on student values to build out your messages
-     Campus Ambassadors, students who work a set number of hours per work promoting job opportunities with your company, helping to build your brand on campus & generate referrals.  I have seen this program work around the world. The key factors are training them, have ongoing management & KPI’s (key performance indicators) that they are rewarded for meeting.
-     Referral based programming works! Track referrals to applications & reward based on results.
-     Campus events are so important for building up your brand on campus and recognition among students. Job fairs, information sessions, company presentations, case competitions etc are a great way to engage students.
-     Relationships with Career Centers – Career Centers can make or break your experience on campus. Getting to know your contacts and  educating them on your company’s offering is very important as they will help market your campus events, promote your company to influential students & help you gain access to deans & professors
-     Relationships with Deans/Professors are very important. Guest lecturing in class rooms, supporting with real business cases to supplement curriculum and seeking referrals from influential professors will help gain traction with the right students.
-     Supporting student groups. Find those groups that are part of your target market and work to be a key advisor/support. Do not just provide sponsorship dollars but instead work to provide the group mentors, internships, and/or business advice as this will be a better use of your sponsorship dollars. By spending time with these groups you will get to know the top students you want to recruit for your company.
-     Giveaways are not a key part of a campus program. They are supplementary to educate students on your EVP (employer value proposition) but a cool giveaway is not going to sell a student on applying to your company


 Things to tweak on a country by country basis:
-     Consider Internet Access
o   Some countries outside of Western Europe & North America have limited internet access or slow speeds. Having a length application process that relies heavily on internet access/online testing may decrease your applicants and candidate engagement in some countries. Consider this access to technology when tailoring the application for each country.
-     On Campus activities really differ per campus. Some schools allow for class presentations by other students and some don’t. Know what’s allowed in your country & per campus to meet your KPI’s.  Work with your career center to understand what works best on their campus. Tailor this metric not only by country but also by school.
-     Postering/handouts – many schools internally have different rules about what is allowed on posters or if posters are even allowed to be hung on campus property. Ensure that you allow local offices to determine these nuances before ordering global quantities with a set design.
-     Timing – even within a continent, the countries may have very different calendar years. Your recruiting season in England and Germany are very different as German students don’t go back to school until October versus August/Sept in England. Thus, your timing for applications, interviews and job offers will be sensitive to each country.
-     Social media sites/usage varies per country. Ask your recent new hires what social media sites you should be using!



I hope these tips help you understand what global recruiting best practices work on a global level & what needs to be tweaked locally. Cheers & happy recruiting!