In last week’s article I asked if you really know what your target students want and I talked about the importance of focusing in on their key interests when developing your recruitment messaging. But knowing what your target candidates are looking for is only the first step to developing effective brand messaging.
Once you understand what your ideal target candidate wants, it can be tempting to put it on a sign, a website, and your Facebook page: that’s us! That’s what we offer! But unless you have been re-designing your organization around the interests and aspirations of your future young recruits for many years, this is not likely true. So the next step in developing your key brand message is to understand who you really are. More specifically: what is the value you offer to current and potential employees?
This is essentially what is meant by the terms Employer Value Proposition or, my favourite, Unique Recruitment Proposition (URP!).
As you are likely aware, today’s students are sceptical of the messages they see and hear. So if your recruitment messages are anything less than authentic (or simply even contrary to public opinion), they will fall upon deaf ears; or worse, they will be mocked online for all to see. Discovering who you really are is best revealed by conducting research with your recent hires.
This does not have to be a huge undertaking, but it does need to be done objectively and in a manner which invites honest input. (And, generally speaking, today’s students are pretty comfortable expressing their opinions and pointing out opportunities for improvement). You will want to give them an opportunity to provide both open-ended feedback, which may reveal both strengths and weaknesses you hadn’t considered, as well as ranking-type questions in which they evaluate you on the exact same criteria that was used in the research with potential hires.
Ultimately, your goal is to figure out where the interests of your potential candidates (what they want) intersect with the actual experiences of your recent hires (who you are). In the end, you may find that “interesting work” is your target candidates’ first interest but not one of your strengths. In this case, you won’t be able to base your messaging on this aspect of your employment offering. But chances are that some of your real brand (the truth revealed by your young employee survey) will overlap with the interests of your candidates. This overlap will form the basis of your brand communications.
By the way, if you don’t find some points of strong correlation between the interests of your target candidates and experiences of your current employees, then either your “target candidate” criteria is flawed or your work environment needs to change, or both.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Thursday, May 13, 2010
Do You Really Know What Students Want?
At the Campus Recruiting Forum in Vancouver last week, there was a great discussion about the discrepancy between what students want to know about employers and what employers want them to hear.
Experienced campus recruiters know the importance of focusing their marketing on the “What’s In It For Me?” messages, but they often work with (or report to) colleagues who have different ideas about what is most important. As a campus expert, you have to be well prepared to address this issue or risk running an ineffective campaign.
Part of the problem is that as a concept “What’s In It For Me?” can leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths. It sounds horribly self-centred – and the last thing we want to do is hire young people who care about nothing but themselves. So let’s address this first. First of all, it is important to keep in mind that today’s students are far more active in volunteering and community service than any generation before them. It’s one of the accomplishments that the helicopter parents deserve a pat on the back for. In general, today’s students also have a strong sense of equity and fairness. So, in fact, “an opportunity to do good for others” is actually a very compelling “What’s In It For Me?” message.
So if this is not about appealing to selfishness, what is it about?
Quite simply, focusing on “What’s In It For Me?” is about clearly communicating the things that are meaningful and easily understood by the specific target audience. Like it or not, candidates of all ages are looking for what the opportunity will do for them personally, but different people use different filters to interpret the information they hear. In other words, if you tell me that your company is the industry leader for HR practices, I (as an experienced candidate) will have all sorts of ideas about how that might benefit me in terms of compensation, training opportunities, and career progression. But to a new grad, “industry leader” is much less meaningful. It would be far more effective to clearly spell out exactly what this will mean for them in practice.
Even just a few years into our careers we quickly forget the perspective of a student or new grad. We simply no longer recall what it was like to know very little about the workplace. But simple and clear messaging – without any special lingo or jargon – that focuses on students’ priorities, not your company’s, will be highly effective.
As Isabelle Morin of KPMG pointed out in her presentation at last week’s Campus Recruiting Forum, doing this well requires the right research. Your peers will respect and listen to your argument if you come armed with research that shows exactly what students are most interested in.
Keep in mind that what students appear to be less interested in is not necessarily unimportant. Employers are often surprised to hear that environmental policies and social responsibility do not make the “top 10” priorities. But these things are still important to students. However, they may not be as important AND students may also be sceptical of your messaging on these fronts any way. You must be prepared to address these topics, but very few employers can build a distinctive employment brand on them.
So what do students care about? Before I give the general answer based on our research, I’d like to make it clear that we find different answers depending on the target “top students” an employer wishes to attract. The list is different for MBAs than it is for undergrad business students; it’s also different for engineers, arts grads, and computer scientists. Again, if you want to spend your marketing dollars well and maximize your chance at connecting with the candidates that best fit your organization, you need the most pertinent research.
For most students, however, we find the same priorities near the top of the list: interesting work, great people to work with, job security, and work-life balance. The list probably doesn’t surprise you, but I am always intrigued that students make “great people” such a priority when I know so many experienced workers that took decades to realize the real importance of that.
Some are surprised to see “job security” on the list and attribute it to the recession. Certainly this became a higher priority recently, but stability has been very important to graduates for many years. Yes, they may be seen as job surfers but that has a lot more to do with workplaces not measuring up than it does with young people being disloyal (and we have plenty of research to back that up). In this economy, employers have to be prepared to talk about security and stability – after all, your new hires will be buying houses and having families soon.
And finally, it’s worth understanding that “work-life balance” to a new grad may not mean the same thing as it does to you. For one thing, most students are used to working much harder in school (concurrent with a part-time job) than most readers of this article likely did. But also, their highly programmed lives mean they have many interests outside work that they will continue to pursue (including the company sports teams and fund raisers you’ll want them to lead). For them, work-life balance is first and foremost about flexibility. The majority of new grads are women who may want plenty of time to raise families one day (not to mention fathers who may want the same). They also don’t see the logic of spending an hour in rush hour traffic when they can easily work from home until the traffic clears. And they would love the flexibility to take an extended holiday (even if they have to earn the time through reduced pay or extended over-time).
Communicating on the frequency on which your target candidates are listening requires research and carefully listening. It also may mean making a convincing case to your colleagues and providing them the information they need to support you. You can learn a lot more about these subjects at the Campus Recruiting Forum coming to Toronto and Chicago next week (www.CampusRecruitingForum.com). I hope to see you there.
Experienced campus recruiters know the importance of focusing their marketing on the “What’s In It For Me?” messages, but they often work with (or report to) colleagues who have different ideas about what is most important. As a campus expert, you have to be well prepared to address this issue or risk running an ineffective campaign.
Part of the problem is that as a concept “What’s In It For Me?” can leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths. It sounds horribly self-centred – and the last thing we want to do is hire young people who care about nothing but themselves. So let’s address this first. First of all, it is important to keep in mind that today’s students are far more active in volunteering and community service than any generation before them. It’s one of the accomplishments that the helicopter parents deserve a pat on the back for. In general, today’s students also have a strong sense of equity and fairness. So, in fact, “an opportunity to do good for others” is actually a very compelling “What’s In It For Me?” message.
So if this is not about appealing to selfishness, what is it about?
Quite simply, focusing on “What’s In It For Me?” is about clearly communicating the things that are meaningful and easily understood by the specific target audience. Like it or not, candidates of all ages are looking for what the opportunity will do for them personally, but different people use different filters to interpret the information they hear. In other words, if you tell me that your company is the industry leader for HR practices, I (as an experienced candidate) will have all sorts of ideas about how that might benefit me in terms of compensation, training opportunities, and career progression. But to a new grad, “industry leader” is much less meaningful. It would be far more effective to clearly spell out exactly what this will mean for them in practice.
Even just a few years into our careers we quickly forget the perspective of a student or new grad. We simply no longer recall what it was like to know very little about the workplace. But simple and clear messaging – without any special lingo or jargon – that focuses on students’ priorities, not your company’s, will be highly effective.
As Isabelle Morin of KPMG pointed out in her presentation at last week’s Campus Recruiting Forum, doing this well requires the right research. Your peers will respect and listen to your argument if you come armed with research that shows exactly what students are most interested in.
Keep in mind that what students appear to be less interested in is not necessarily unimportant. Employers are often surprised to hear that environmental policies and social responsibility do not make the “top 10” priorities. But these things are still important to students. However, they may not be as important AND students may also be sceptical of your messaging on these fronts any way. You must be prepared to address these topics, but very few employers can build a distinctive employment brand on them.
So what do students care about? Before I give the general answer based on our research, I’d like to make it clear that we find different answers depending on the target “top students” an employer wishes to attract. The list is different for MBAs than it is for undergrad business students; it’s also different for engineers, arts grads, and computer scientists. Again, if you want to spend your marketing dollars well and maximize your chance at connecting with the candidates that best fit your organization, you need the most pertinent research.
For most students, however, we find the same priorities near the top of the list: interesting work, great people to work with, job security, and work-life balance. The list probably doesn’t surprise you, but I am always intrigued that students make “great people” such a priority when I know so many experienced workers that took decades to realize the real importance of that.
Some are surprised to see “job security” on the list and attribute it to the recession. Certainly this became a higher priority recently, but stability has been very important to graduates for many years. Yes, they may be seen as job surfers but that has a lot more to do with workplaces not measuring up than it does with young people being disloyal (and we have plenty of research to back that up). In this economy, employers have to be prepared to talk about security and stability – after all, your new hires will be buying houses and having families soon.
And finally, it’s worth understanding that “work-life balance” to a new grad may not mean the same thing as it does to you. For one thing, most students are used to working much harder in school (concurrent with a part-time job) than most readers of this article likely did. But also, their highly programmed lives mean they have many interests outside work that they will continue to pursue (including the company sports teams and fund raisers you’ll want them to lead). For them, work-life balance is first and foremost about flexibility. The majority of new grads are women who may want plenty of time to raise families one day (not to mention fathers who may want the same). They also don’t see the logic of spending an hour in rush hour traffic when they can easily work from home until the traffic clears. And they would love the flexibility to take an extended holiday (even if they have to earn the time through reduced pay or extended over-time).
Communicating on the frequency on which your target candidates are listening requires research and carefully listening. It also may mean making a convincing case to your colleagues and providing them the information they need to support you. You can learn a lot more about these subjects at the Campus Recruiting Forum coming to Toronto and Chicago next week (www.CampusRecruitingForum.com). I hope to see you there.
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Marketing: Quick Fixes, Tactics and Planning
At a workshop last week, I spoke at length about the importance of developing your strategic plan before you venture into developing a marketing plan. The topic was marketing career services to students, but many of the concepts apply to employers recruiting students as well. It is far too easy to venture into implementation without sufficient planning. But doing so really says, “I’m in this for the short haul. I’m looking for a quick fix, not a permanent solution.”
Given all the pressure on people to work harder with fewer resources – and often carry the load from a recently vacated position as well – it is understandable that some may leap at the first opportunity to launch a Facebook page, create a LinkedIn Group, or spend money on a new video production. But the best way to reduce your workload in the long run is to do thorough planning first.
Consider this quote from one of the most respected marketing experts, Philip Kotler: “If the marketer does a good job of identifying consumer needs, developing appropriate products, and pricing, distributing, and promoting them effectively, these good wills sell very easily.”
Hopefully, it’s not too hard to see how this translates to marketing either career education or career opportunities to students. Whether you’re an employer trying to hire or a career services professional trying to engage students, if you do your marketing well, the rest will “sell very easily”.
Notice, however, that he has put the process in sequential order. “Promoting” is the last thing you do before you actually engage the students. And yet we are drawn so quickly to promotions. Ask anyone what strategies they are using to attract students these days and you’ll hear all about contests, YouTube videos, email or text campaigns and so on. But these are not really strategies; at best they are tactics. And they can only even be considered tactics if they come from a well-considered plan. Otherwise, they are just quick fixes.
If you are in it for the long haul, then you’ll go back to the beginning of the Kotler quote and start first with “identifying consumer needs”. In other words, develop a truly deep understanding of what the students you are trying to attract really want. Chances are that this information is not readily available. For a recruiter, attracting “students” as a whole means receiving thousands of unwanted applications. Understanding the needs of your target students requires quite a bit more research.
And next comes “developing appropriate products”. For the career services office these are the specific services that are relevant to meet the needs of each target group you are trying to engage. For employers, this is about developing a unique employment value proposition that speaks directly to your ideal candidate. But of course that requires a lot more than developing the right tagline; it means actually being the right fit for your target candidate. (And if you’re not, then you are either picking the wrong target or you need to become a different kind of employer.)
For career services, “pricing” is an issue: what does “free” say about your services? How can you address this? What do you do to prove that you offer value even if your service is so underpriced? For employers, “price” is about much more than salary and benefits. From a marketing point of view, it is really about the whole package of the employment experience – the workplace, the colleagues, the opportunities to grow, and so on. How attractive are you making that “price”?
And finally comes “distribution”. But remember, we’re not at “promotion” yet, so this isn’t about distributing your marketing message, this is about distributing your service or opportunity. For career services this about determining the right mix of delivery through one-on-one advising, workshops, major events, online, and so on. Clearly this is a major piece of work and planning how you will optimize your resources must occur before promotion can begin. I suppose employers could interpret “distribution” a number of ways: work location (does it appeal to your target candidate?); work-life balance and flexible hours; career mobility; or perhaps something else altogether.
Translating these product marketing concepts to the challenge of attracting students to career development or career opportunities should demonstrate one thing above all: if you want to make it easy to engage the right students with as little selling as possible (and who doesn’t?), then there is a lot of research, planning, and work to be done first. Otherwise, every “tactic” will be at best a quick fix – if that.
Given all the pressure on people to work harder with fewer resources – and often carry the load from a recently vacated position as well – it is understandable that some may leap at the first opportunity to launch a Facebook page, create a LinkedIn Group, or spend money on a new video production. But the best way to reduce your workload in the long run is to do thorough planning first.
Consider this quote from one of the most respected marketing experts, Philip Kotler: “If the marketer does a good job of identifying consumer needs, developing appropriate products, and pricing, distributing, and promoting them effectively, these good wills sell very easily.”
Hopefully, it’s not too hard to see how this translates to marketing either career education or career opportunities to students. Whether you’re an employer trying to hire or a career services professional trying to engage students, if you do your marketing well, the rest will “sell very easily”.
Notice, however, that he has put the process in sequential order. “Promoting” is the last thing you do before you actually engage the students. And yet we are drawn so quickly to promotions. Ask anyone what strategies they are using to attract students these days and you’ll hear all about contests, YouTube videos, email or text campaigns and so on. But these are not really strategies; at best they are tactics. And they can only even be considered tactics if they come from a well-considered plan. Otherwise, they are just quick fixes.
If you are in it for the long haul, then you’ll go back to the beginning of the Kotler quote and start first with “identifying consumer needs”. In other words, develop a truly deep understanding of what the students you are trying to attract really want. Chances are that this information is not readily available. For a recruiter, attracting “students” as a whole means receiving thousands of unwanted applications. Understanding the needs of your target students requires quite a bit more research.
And next comes “developing appropriate products”. For the career services office these are the specific services that are relevant to meet the needs of each target group you are trying to engage. For employers, this is about developing a unique employment value proposition that speaks directly to your ideal candidate. But of course that requires a lot more than developing the right tagline; it means actually being the right fit for your target candidate. (And if you’re not, then you are either picking the wrong target or you need to become a different kind of employer.)
For career services, “pricing” is an issue: what does “free” say about your services? How can you address this? What do you do to prove that you offer value even if your service is so underpriced? For employers, “price” is about much more than salary and benefits. From a marketing point of view, it is really about the whole package of the employment experience – the workplace, the colleagues, the opportunities to grow, and so on. How attractive are you making that “price”?
And finally comes “distribution”. But remember, we’re not at “promotion” yet, so this isn’t about distributing your marketing message, this is about distributing your service or opportunity. For career services this about determining the right mix of delivery through one-on-one advising, workshops, major events, online, and so on. Clearly this is a major piece of work and planning how you will optimize your resources must occur before promotion can begin. I suppose employers could interpret “distribution” a number of ways: work location (does it appeal to your target candidate?); work-life balance and flexible hours; career mobility; or perhaps something else altogether.
Translating these product marketing concepts to the challenge of attracting students to career development or career opportunities should demonstrate one thing above all: if you want to make it easy to engage the right students with as little selling as possible (and who doesn’t?), then there is a lot of research, planning, and work to be done first. Otherwise, every “tactic” will be at best a quick fix – if that.
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