You Make Me Feel 'Brand New'!

Leading companies recognise the need to develop the best possible team of employees. However, it can be hard to find experienced, skilled people. So how can your company – and your insight team – make sure that you can recruit and retain the best candidates?

• Firstly, you need to build a strong employer brand, and present any opportunities in the best possible light. Your employer brand should be built, nurtured and promoted (just like your consumer brands) so that your organisation becomes an employer of choice. This is important not only at the organisation level, but also at your insight team level. How easy is it for you to find and recruit the best people? Is your team engaged, stimulated and rewarded so that they are all natural advocates who will happily promote your employer brand? (If you need tips on how to achieve this, take a look at last month’s issue.)

• Secondly, you can help the process by effective networking. Is your employer brand something that you think about just when you need to recruit, or are you aware of it all the time? Our relatively small industry offers numerous opportunities to network – at meetings, courses, conferences etc. – both nationally and locally (e.g. regional meetings.) Are you networking with a positive outlook and attitude, and spreading the word that your team or organisation is a good place in which to work?

• Finally, some companies use viral marketing to help with recruitment (e.g. networking before a vacancy arises). One example is Wagamama, which gives a number of business cards to every employee. The company has a high turnover of young employees, due to the way in which it works. However, it encourages everyone to hand out the cards to friends and contacts, with the hope that people who might want to work for the company will get in touch at the appropriate time. This means that it has a steady stream of enquirers, rather than having to advertise continually.