Bairdyblog

Crrrunch! There goes our livelihood

Recession. (Booo!) It's the most obvious issue affecting employer marketing today, particularly in the UK where everywhere you look projects are getting back-burnered, agencies and clients are facing redundancy and you can't turn on the TV or internet without seeing Robert Peston. (Say what you will about him, he's having a good war.)

As background, I found this on YouTube. It's a proficient explanation of what the Credit Crunch actually is. (It's also part of a burgeoning genre of cheaply animated expository films that are often quite brilliant. Very de nos jours - intelligent and creative but with zero budget.)

So where does global financial meltdown leave creativity in employer marketing? The short answers is that it screws it entirely - let's not complicate the matter. And I've been racking what's left of my brain to think of what those engaged in the field can do to improve their lot. What follows may be a skinny little effort, but it's all I have, and share if you know better than I.

• Many clients will use the downturn to re-examine their existing supplier relationships. They'll probably be looking for cheaper agencies (fair enough) and opening up previously closed rosters in order to auction for best-price on upcoming projects. Creatives in agencies should be working hand-in-hand with business development to make the most of whatever opportunities they can find - particularly with reference to sectors that are likely to be most resilient over the next two years.
• Existing clients will still need to recruit, even when they're making redundancies elsewhere. Make sure you know exactly what the best low-cost/no-cost channels are, and strongly suggest that they are used. Many clients will find it hard to justify using consultants for common-or-garden roles at the moment, so make it as easy as possible for them to move into direct hiring.
• Organisations will need to keep remaining employees engaged during the downturn - those left in organisations will see colleagues getting axed and will probably have to do more work as a consequence of those colleagues leaving. So ask yourself: what do you really know about internal comms? can you act as a credible expert? Could you explain the the rules of good internal comms?
• Look at the collateral that has fallen down the back of your client's corporate sofa. Is there value to be had in revising it? The budget for the web site might have been ditched, but what about looking at the job specs, induction packs and internal job boards?
• Can you instigate a conversation between HR and Marketing (or Brand) in which they discuss sharing budgets to achieve mutual goals?
• Failing this, go to night school and learn hairdressing, pawnbrokery or funeral direction.

More light-hearted japes soon.

Ingenuity gives Paddy more Power

Unless you're into betting you might not know much about Paddy Power, the Dublin-based bookmakers. Maybe you've stood on a high street stroking your chin and wondering whether 'Paddy Power' is an actual bloke called Paddy. Maybe you've seen their relentlessly risque advertising (example below) or read that they're often in conflict with the ASA and animal rights organisations. (Their Spanish site takes bets on how many ears will be taken off in bullfights.)

 

But take a look at the Paddy Power sites and you'll discover they're more robust a proposition than you may have thought. Recruitment-wise, they have a vanity URL (www.workwithpaddy.com), a graduate recruitment scheme, links to a Facebook page and most interesting of all, their 'Our Experience' section.

I don't think I've seen one of these before. It's basically a list (with logos) of the companies Paddy Power has hired people from. It's a pretty illustrious list, as it happens - Accenture, Google, Yahoo!, Innocent Drinks, Channel 4, and more.

Why's it there? They say it's to help us understand we don't need experience of the betting industry to apply. But I think there's something more to it than that: they rightly suspect that many people will be sniffy about joining what they perceive to be a chain of shonky Irish betting shops, and this is a nifty way of pointing out that the team behind them is actually a pretty classy outfit.

Find out more about their 'funny and often controversial' product advertising here.

Your meatballs need you

Just came across this fella for the Swedish Armed Forces. It was made by DDB Stockholm and it's a funny little thing.

It follows the standard procedure for all armed services/police/intelligence recruitment by setting 'tests' intended to indicate your suitability for the services. (Precisely what roles are on offer - Field Marshall? Spudbasher? - are unclear.) Obviously, standard procedure dictates that the 'tests' aren't actual tests but merely games to give some idea of the desired competencies, attract people virally and generally add engagement to otherwise dry proceedings.

So if you want to defend the country of IKEA, sauna and Ulrika, what's the drill? For a start, you need to listen to some dour martinet barking instructions at you, seemingly through a bucket. (Sometimes he takes the bucket off and whispers at you, just to throw your concentration. They're snidey like that, the Swedes.) You never actually see him, just hear his instructions, making him the only Non-Corporeal in the Swedish army. (Ta-da.)

You have to complete some reasonably challenging tasks that concern multi-tasking, memory, concentration and something else. (Can't remember what; I stopped concentrating.) All in all, an intriguing mix of the Krypton Factor, Asteroids and Simon. Goes on far too long which should be a lesson for us all - unless they're also secretly testing perseverance, and just not telling us. Which would also be snidey.

Anyway, Swedes are the theme of the week. This job board, which was reviewed on Cheezhead, has some pretty ambitious objectives, if a less than ambitious budget for design. But I can't quite work out if it's charming, or just tiresomely try-hard in an Innocent type way.

The Best Ever? (Pt II)

Just watched some recruitment films from the LAPD (that's Los Angeles Police Department, in case you've never been to the movies). There's so much testosterone flooding through my system I can hardly type.

If all LAPD means to you is the Rodney King atrocity back in the nineties, then it would appear it's time to reconsider. Because now, seemingly, joining the LAPD is exactly the same as being in your favourite, late-night, deliciously high-octane cop show.

Look at the web site and you'll feel them playing with your head, making as many entertainment references as they can, macho-ing on about TV and Hollywood's LAPD obsession and the importance of taking a 'front row seat on life'. The films themselves follow the pattern of film trailers, with visual and verbal references to the likes of 24, The Wire, Hill Street Blues, and more.

Yes, the idea's been done before, but probably not as well. And probably not in widescreen.

The production standards are pretty breathtaking - helicopters, aerial shots, roads closed for shoot-outs and a legion of pro actors. (Not the LAPD principals, though - Pablo P. Vita and Cassandra Britt Nickerson play themselves.) Wait until the animated logo comes up at the end - that alone possibly cost more than the totality of your last graduate campaign.

Still, do you feel excited? Do you feel engaged by the drawing on of shared cultural references? Do you feel impressed by its formal mimicry of the high standards of contemporary entertainment? Do you want a large popcorn with that? Course you do.

What's your story?

If you haven't been following it, the bloke in the YouTube clip below is Daniel Evans, a 38 year-old pool cleaner who's just made it to the live finals of ITV's X  Factor. 

Play the clip and you'll see that Danny looks fine, sings well and seems like a nice fella. What he isn't is a superstar in waiting. So why have the producers put him through at the expense of other, more talented candidates?

It's largely because (although they won't admit it) Danny lost his wife last year just after the birth of their daughter. And this makes Danny prime real estate in terms of story. People are both intellectually and emotionally engaged with him, and so are interested in how his flirtation with fame works out.

It's another example of the power of story. Which begs the question: how are you using story for your candidate attraction campaigns? (By story I mean narratives that engage readers, maybe using characters and certainly 'plotlines' that develop.)

When you think about it, most recruitment marketing doesn't use story but talks about static elements. We discuss fixed values, precise benefits packages and value propositions that may be striking but have no real dynamic, or movement, to them. Sometimes it's far better to - excuse the cliche - talk about the journey or story of which the employee will become part: mentally cast them into a moving picture about what they'll do and how they'll advance during the course of their role.

Specifically, this could be a story about skills development and consequent promotion; more likely it will involve a dramatic exploration of the vision and values. In other words, a decent narrative about how precisely the employer will, with the help of the new recruit, positively impact the world.

Incidentally, my money would be on third-favourite Laura, whose slightly unscrubbed appearance puts me in mind of Amy Winehouse. Only a little - very little - less mad.

An Age of Innocents

As Ri5 reports, the list of nominations for the National Online Recruitment Awards is out this week, and they place their particular attention on the Best Employer Site category. These are pretty well what you'd expect and much of a muchness - corporately toned, nice white space, sensible navigation, diversity aware. Arguably the only problem you'll have is telling the difference between Marks and Spencer, Vodafone and Mitchells and Butlers. Although how the dreadful GCS Recruitment effort, typos and all, got through is beyond me - I suppose the scheme hasn't been that well publicised.

Anyway, the clear stand-out of the bunch is for Innocent Drinks, a sparky little site that does a number of things extremely well. For a start, it has:

• A fresh take on Employer Value Propositions (via that Polaroid format )
• Videos of leadership saying important things well
• Clear demonstration of their employment-related awards
• Repeated exposition of their ethicality, sustainability and 'naturalness'
• Attention to detail where other's don't bother- the snail-mail address for sending your CV is 'A Job Would Be Nice, Fruit Towers, Innocent Drinks....'
• A truly refreshing approach to the generation and articulation of employee benefits - in the 'Nice Stuff' section they talk about extra holidays for those who are marrying or undergoing civil partnerships, and cleverly re-brand old ideas such as Employee of the Month (Lord or Lady of the Sash) and birthday treats (Circle of Death)

All in all, an impressive effort. But whoa, let's just rewind for a moment.

It's not that I hate Innocent as such. It's simply that their relentlessly chirpy tone - the look-at-me-aren't-I-cute, Bonnie-Langford-goes-to-California tone - sometimes makes me want to punch Richard Reed and his clan repeatedly in the face with a tramp turd.

Very interesting conversation on this blog about the Innocent brand. Here, professional writers (including the voice of Innocent, Dan Germain) discuss the potential irritability of the brand and suggest that it might (rather like Pret a few years ago) be in need of an overhaul. Commenters from communication agencies report how sick they are of clients wanting to 'do an Innocent' - in other words, adopt the same faux-naive voice as a means of cutting through cynicism and turning them into brands which are loved rather than merely respected or known.

Of course, this has happened a fair bit in recruitment circles.  But like the fellows on that blog say, there's no point adopting an Innocent tone unless (a) the realities behind the brand will support it: management style, internal comms and what the organisation actually does, and (b) you are confident that the vast majority of the population you're addressing won't vomit at the sight of it and decide to put their careers in the hands of grown-ups instead.

Gen Y: Three Recruitment Tips

Now, I'm not really a big fan of all this Gen X, Gen Y, General Zod malarkey.

It seems to me that once you start bandying these terms around then you're likely to assume all individuals within a generation have the same interests and attributes. They don't. Gen Y aren't exclusively MySpacing, YouTubing, FaceBooking treehuggers, in the same way that the eighties generation weren't all mobile-toting, braces-wearing  entrepreneurs who snorted coke in trendy wine bars off the back of Phil Collins LPs.

But there are some tips worth bearing in mind when it comes to recruit marketing to Gen Y. By way of introduction, here's a recent film from the Onion News Network that highlights generational differences in the workplace. (If you haven't seen Onion videos before, you're really missing out.)

Study Finds Young People Remain Apathetic About Office Politics

Office politics? That's not what turns Gen Y on. The slow burn of long-term employment in an apparently socially worthless role is anathema to these conscientious, sceptical speed freaks.

To recruit them, consensus is that it's good to remember the following:

1. Peer networks are the best channel. Gen Y rarely listens to - and even more rarely believes - paid for marketing messages. Rather, it talks amongst itself for personal recommendations (hence the explosion of social networking). If you can use networks, preferably via an evangelist from your organisation who is themselves Gen Y, without artifice or top-down clumsiness, then do so.

2. Worthwhile work is the best message. These people want work that is important to the world. So think about your employee value proposition and what ultimate positive function the product/service of the organisation performs. (How does the organisation make the world a slightly better place?) Also consider corporate social responsibility: explain what you do in this area, but don't exaggerate.

3. Suggest rapid and meaningful advancement. These greedy little Y-ers won't hang around waiting for Buggin's Turn. They fully expect to be leading the organisation by ten o'clock tomorrow morning, or they'll be packing their beanies and heading off somewhere with better prospects. Make sure you tell as good a story as you can about how careers can develop, and at what pace.