talent management
Socially
Acceptable
HOW IMPORTANT IS SOCIAL
FEEDBACK TO HR DEPARTMENTS?
By Zut-Ying (Sue) Del Valle, CHRP
UNDERNEATH THE SURFACE
Every year, companies spend thousands of dollars on recruitment
strategies and programs aimed at attracting the best talent, reaching
passive candidates and broadening the employment brand recogni-tion
in the minds of potential candidates. After much research and
ever-lasting management meetings, the sales pitch is always the same
regardless of the industry – the employment value proposition, or in
the candidate’s mind, a story of how wonderful the company is and
the things the company is willing to do for them in return for their
service. Unfortunately, all of this information that we provide candi-dates
has been passed through the legal and marketing department,
edited and re-written several times and carefully reviewed by human
resources executives before it is made accessible to candidates.
The truth is that candidates are not overly interested in the well
printed documents; they want to go underneath the surface, and
hear what existing employees really have to say about the compa-ny
– they want the real story without the edits. The 2012 Edelman
Trust Barometer, which surveys more than 30,000 people, found
that “rank-and-file employees have more credibility than chief exec-utives.”
In fact, the report goes to show that there was a 75 per cent
increase from 2011 in the amount of respondents that trust social
media as a place where they might find information about a compa-ny.
This is the end of the “employment brand” as we know it, and the
beginning of a new reality.
Photo by Gonzalo Aragon/Shutterstock
THE BEST COURSE OF
ACTION THAT EXECUTIVES
CAN TAKE WHEN THEY FEEL
THAT THEIR EMPLOYMENT
BRAND IS BEING
MISREPRESENTED IS TO
SIMPLY ASK THEIR PEOPLE.
THE POWER OF A NEGATIVE REVIEW
We do it all the time when making an investment or purchasing
a product. We like the product, we’ve seen the commercials and
read the labels, but we want to see what others are saying first.
As part of our due diligence, we ask our friends, colleagues and
read the reviews before making our way to the store. And yet, af-ter
reading several consistent negative reviews, we feel hesitant to
buy the product or make the investment, thinking to ourselves,
“What if I end up having a bad experience, too?” or we quickly
decide not to buy. We simply do not feel that we’re ready to take
HRPATODAY.CA ❚ MAY/JUNE 2014 ❚ 53