Branding for Influence with LinkedIn & CEB

Branding for Influence with CEB & LinkedIn

Who’s in the room?
Most Popular Most Endorsed
Earliest Adopter Most Connected
Ana Rosa
Alonso
Shane
Hicks
Sanjay
Razdan
Charlotte
Johns

9.00am: Introduction & Welcome
9.15am: Branding for Influence with Thomas Handcock,
Practice Leader at CEB
10.15am: Open Discussion & Break
11.00am: Influential Employer Branding on LinkedIn with
Aoife Morehead, Talent Brand Consultant
12.00pm: Close
Agenda

CEB Recruiting Leadership Council
Branding for Influence

A Framework for Member Conversations
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When we bring leaders together, it is crucial that our discussions neither restrict competition nor improperly share inside information. All other conversations are welcomed and encouraged.
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© 2014 CEB. All rights reserved. RR0433514SYN
Moving from Appeal to Influence p. 1
Focus Branding on Critical Talent p. 12
Create Messages That Consult p. 17
Build a Network of Brand Influencers p. 24
CONTENTS

2014 EMPLOYMENT BRANDING EFFECTIVENESS SURVEY
Organization Survey
We interviewed more than 80 recruiting and branding executives and
thought leaders and surveyed nearly 2,000 recruiting staff from over 100
organizations globally to assess the impact of branding activities on the
quality of applicant pool.
Labor Market Survey
We surveyed nearly 4,700 passive and active labor market participants
from 15 countries globally to assess the impact of branding activities
on high-quality and low-quality potential applicants’ likelihood to apply.
Participating Organizations
Partial List
Participating Organizations
Partial List
1

Moving from
Appeal to Influence
2

Poor-quality applicants lead to…
…poor quality of shortlist
…low quality of hire
…more new hire turnover
…reduced new hire productivity
…lower business unit profitability
Between 2011 and 2014,
applicant volume rose by
33%, but applicant quality
remained low. Trend in Application Volume
Median Number of Applicants per Open Position
Average Quality of Applicant Pool
Percentage of Applicants for a Given Position Who
Are Considered High Quality (Likely to Become High-
Performing Employees) by the Recruiter
2011 2014
30
40
n = 572 (2011); 977 (2014).
Source: CEB 2011 Candidate Rules of Engagement Survey;
CEB 2014 Employment Branding Effectiveness Survey.
Source: CEB 2014 Employment Branding Effectiveness Survey.
28%
High-Quality Applicants
The Corporate Brand Effect
Organizations with well-known
corporate brands have 43% higher
application volume than those with
lesser-known brands, but applicant
quality is virtually identical.
PROBLEM 1: HIGH VOLUME, LOW QUALITY
3

PROBLEM 2: NEW TALENT NEEDS STRAIN BRANDOrganizations are under
increasing pressure to attract
new types of talent, and
employment brands struggle to
keep up.
■ As organizations globalize at an
unprecedented rate, they enter labor
markets where they are unknown or
perceived differently than they are in
core markets.
■ As more organizations diversify their
products and services, Recruiting
must hire people with skills their
brands were never meant to attract.
■ Even when talent needs remain the
same, recruiting must still evolve its
employment brand to attract new
generations or people who can help
drive a culture change.
New Mind-Sets
Percentage of Organizations
Undergoing a Cultural Shift “Our business has been underperforming for
years, and the brand is a big driver of
our shift to a culture of innovation.”
Head of Recruiting
Technology
36%
n = 90.
New Generations
Percentage of Organizations Forecasting an
Increase in Hiring Volume from Universities “Most of our workforce will retire soon, but
millennials don’t know who we are.”
Head of Recruiting
Insurance
2011 2014
49%
66%
n=45 (2011); 47 (2014).
Source: CEB 2011 Recruiting Forecast Survey; CEB 2014 Recruiting Forecast Survey.
New Skills
Projected Percentage of Growth in
US Employment, 2008–2018
“The talent we need for our biggest
growth area isn’t attracted to our
corporate brand.”
Employment Branding Director
Consumer Products
All
Occupations
STEMa
Occupations 19%
10%
Source: Robert D. Atkinson and Merrilea Mayo, “Refueling the U.S. Innovation Economy,”
The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation, December 2010.
a
STEM stands for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
New Locations
Percentage of Recruiters Attracting Candidates in
New or Different Labor Markets
Compared to Three Years Ago
“Since our business is still emerging in India,
it is hard to find candidates who
are proud to work here.”
Employment Brand Manager
Retail67%
n = 1,044.
New Types of Talent Needed Employment Branding Challenge
4

YOUR CURRENT GOAL: A MORE APPEALING BRAND
Elements of Today’s Typical Employment Branding Approach
Most organizations focus
employment branding efforts on
becoming better known as a
great place to work.
■ Many organizations have applied
marketing principles to their
employment brands to be as
appealing as possible.
■ The typical organization creates a
core brand with universally appealing
messages that sell the most
compelling aspects of the
organization and communicates
those messages through the most
popular channels.
■ When combined, these elements
lead to a “branding for appeal”
strategy.
Core Brand Focus Messages That Sell Channel-Driven Outreach
Core Brand
Customized Brands
“See our career
opportunities.”
“Be challenged
every day.”
“Our culture is very
collaborative.”
Choosing the appropriate overall brand
theme is rated the #1 most important
branding activity by recruiting and employment
branding leaders.
The average organization expects
to increase use of 6 different
brand channels this year alone.
64% of organizations focus their
brand messages on positive aspects of the
organization’s EVP.a
Branding for Appeal
Promoting the organization as a great place to work
Employment Brand:
The perceptions the labor market
has about an organization as an
employer
Employment Branding: The
efforts employers take to manage
labor market perceptions of the
organization
n = 74 (Core Brand Focus); 1,044 (Messages That Sell); 31 (Channel-Driven Outreach).
Source: CEB 2014 Employment Branding Effectiveness Survey; CEB 2014 Recruiting Forecast Survey.
a
Sixty-four percent includes respondents who strongly disagreed, disagreed, or somewhat disagreed that their employment branding messages emphasized the negative aspects of working at their
organizations.
5

BRANDING FOR APPEAL ADDS TO INFORMATION
OVERLOAD
How Applicants Learn About Employers Today
Relative Influence of Information on Applicants’ Decision to Applya
In today’s information-rich labor
market, appealing employment
branding adds to the amount of
unhelpful information applicants
receive.
■ Potential applicants have access to
an unprecedented amount of
information to inform their application
decisions.
■ When applicants look to
organizational communications to
decide where to apply, appealing
branding tells them that many
organizations are great places to
work. Rise in Amount of (Low Quality)
Information from Other Sources
Source: Robin Dunbar, “The Social Brain Hypothesis,” Brain 9(10), 178-190; Stephen Wolfram, “Data Science of the Facebook World,” 24 April 2013, http:/ /blog.stephenwolfram.
com/2013/04/data-science-of-the-facebook-world/; LinkedIn, http:/ /www.linkedin.com; Glassdoor, http:/ /www.glassdoor.com; CEB Q4 2013 Global Labor Market Survey;
CEB Q3 2013 Global Labor Market Survey.
a
Organizational communications includes the organization’s careers website, social media presence, and job postings. Information from other sources includes friends and family, current and former
employees, news stories, etc.
n = 708.
Impact When Organizational
Communications Brand for Appeal
Core Brand Focus
Universally appealing branding themes go unnoticed when
experienced en masse.
Messages That Sell
Similar selling points across employers make them
indistinguishable from each other.
Channel-Driven Outreach
Broader presence augments the same unhelpful
information for applicants to consider.
130% Growth in number of contacts
available to the average applicant since 2006
35x The exponential growth of LinkedIn users
since 2006
22x The exponential growth of Glassdoor
membership since 2011
45% Employees who admit to being less than
honest when telling friends and family what it is like to
work at their organization
20%
Organizational
Communications
80%
Information from
Other Sources
n = 5,410.
6

MORE INFORMATION MORE INFORMED
Applicant Uncertainty About Where to Apply
More Skepticism
Applicants struggle to make the
right decisions based on the
information available to them
about and from potential
employers.
■ Applicants are more skeptical about
the appealing things employers say
about themselves and, consequently,
less confident about where they
should apply.
■ Applicants in high-demand
segments are even more skeptical
of employers, yet they are more
likely to know which employers to
consider, which suggests high-
quality applicants are being
heavily targeted.
“Compared to three years ago, I am more
skeptical of what employers say about
themselves.”
“If I wanted to leave my current employer, I know
which other employers I would consider applying
to.”
Less Confidence
61%
Agree or
Strongly Agree
31%
Agree or
Strongly Agree
n = 4,663.
a
n = 5,412.
Source: CEB Q4 2013 Global Labor Market Survey.
b
■ Applicants in Emerging Markets: 66%
■ STEMa
Talent: 61%
■ Millennials: 65%
■ Applicants in Emerging Markets: 43%
■ STEMb
Talent: 31%
■ Millennials: 35%
7

PERSUADE THE BEST, DEFLECT THE REST
Strategic Employment Branding Shift Required Today
Branding for influence gives
applicants the trusted guidance
they need in today’s information-
rich labor market.
Branding for
Appeal
Promoting the
organization as a
great place to work
Branding for
Influence
Giving applicants
trusted guidance to make
better decisions about
whether to apply
Key Trade-Offs of a Branding for Influence Strategy
Influential Brands Help Applicants Make Better Decisions By…
Awareness of
the Employer
Attention to the
Employer
Perception of
the Employer
Consideration
of the Employer
Application
Submission
…focusing their attention, rather than increasing
awareness, in an environment in which it is easy to
identify potential employers.
…driving consideration of fit instead of improving
perceptions, because employers want the highest-
quality candidates to apply while dissuading poor-
quality candidates.
Source: CEB analysis.
8

THREE STEPS TO BRANDING FOR INFLUENCE
Giving applicants trusted
guidance to make better
decisions about whether to
apply
1
Customized
Brands Focus
2
Messages That
Consult
3
Messenger-Driven
Outreach
Core Brand
Customized Brands
“Check out
this company that I
didn’t know hires
for…”
“Your work helps
achieve our mission
by…”
“Given your
interests, I think the
right job for you will
be…”
Branding for Appeal
Promoting the
organization as a
great place to work
Core Brand
Focus
Messages
That Sell
Channel-Driven
Outreach
Core Brand
Customized Brands
“See our career
opportunities.”
“Be challenged
every day.”
“Our culture is very
collaborative.”
9

10
40
70
LARGE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF INFLUENTIAL BRANDING
Quality of Applicant Pool by Organizationa
In Ascending Order
Shifting from appealing to
influential branding quadruples
the strength of your applicant
pool.
■ At organizations that
brand for influence, 43% of
applicants are considered high
quality—compared to
28% at organizations that brand
for appeal and 24% at
organizations that do not
manage their brands.
n = 1,044 recruiters.
a
The percentage of applicants for a given position who are considered high quality (likely to become high-performing employees) by the recruiter.
43%
70%
10%
24%
28%
QualityofApplicantPool
On average, branding for appeal increases
applicant quality only slightly, from 24% to
28%.
Branding for influence drives a much bigger
increase in applicant quality— to 43%, on
average.
Average
Organization with
an Influential Brand
(Giving Applicants Trusted
Guidance to Make Better
Decisions About Whether to
Apply)
How to Read This Chart
The blue line represents each of the
100+ organizations we surveyed,
ordered from left to right based on
its average quality of applicant pool.
The three labels along the bottom
represent the average organization
that does not manage its brand, the
one that brands for appeal, and the
one that brands for influence,
respectively.
Average
Organization with an
Unmanaged Brand
(No or Ineffective
Management of the
Employment Brand)
Average
Organization with an
Appealing Brand
(Promoting the
Organization as a Great
Place to Work)
1.Branding for Appeal 2. Branding for Influence
2
1
10

BUSINESS IMPLICATIONS OF BRANDING FOR INFLUENCEBranding for influence creates
significant downstream and
monetary returns.
■ By moving from branding for appeal
to branding for influence, the
percentage of your applicants who
are high quality can increase by
54% (from 28% of applicants being
high quality to 43% being high
quality).
■ This increase in applicant quality
translates to 22% higher quality of
shortlist and 9% higher quality of hire,
holding everything else constant.
■ Higher-quality hires are higher
performing and less likely to leave,
leading to returns from business
unit profitability and turnover cost
savings, which reach millions of
dollars at a typical organization.
Source: CEB 2014 Employment Branding Effectiveness Survey; CEB 2013 Selection Effectiveness Diagnostic; CEB 2012 Global Recruiting Effectiveness Survey.
a
The percentage of applicants for a given position who are considered high quality (likely to become high-performing employees) by the recruiter.
b
Organizations with influential brands spend an average of US$1,509,211 annually, whereas organizations with appealing brands spend an average of US$1,467,725.
a
Quality of shortlist is measured based on hiring managers’ responses to the following question: Thinking of the most recent position that you filled, on a scale from 1 to 10 (10 being
best), how would you rate the quality of the candidates you interviewed?
d
Quality of hire is defined as the new hire’s current and likely future effectiveness at completing his or her individual tasks, contributing to others’ performance, and using others’ contributions to improve
his or her own performance. See the Appendix for more detail on CEB’s quality of hire definition.
By Shifting from Branding for Appeal to Branding for Influence, the Typical Organization Can See…
Greater quality of
applicant
poola
from a 3%
average increase in
branding costsb
22%
Higher
quality
of shortlistc
54%
Higher
quality
of hired
More high-
performing
new hires
Lower
new hire
turnover
Increased
business unit
profitability
Turnover
cost savings
9%
2.5x
23% US$1.4
million
US$2.7
million
Note: See the Appendix for details regarding all calculations.
11

Create Messages
That Consult
Focus Branding on
Critical Talent
Build a Network of
Brand Influencers
ROADMAP FOR THE PRESENTATION
12

INFLUENCE REQUIRES DEEPER CUSTOMIZATION
Applicant Perception of Brand Influencea
by Degree of Brand Customization
Deeply customize branding to
each talent segment to influence
applicant decisions.
■ Surface-level branding
customization is insufficient to help
applicants make better decisions
about where to apply.
■ Potential applicants need to
experience deeply customized
employment branding
that clearly relates to their
background, skills, and values.
n = 3,772.
a
Applicant perception of brand influence is a measure of the extent to which applicants agreed that the information they learned before applying to an organization helped them decide whether they
would succeed there.
ApplicantPerceptionofBrandInfluence
Degree of Brand Customization
100
50
0
Surface-Level Customization Deep Customization
Less customized employment branding recycles standard
branding initiatives throughout the organization.
Sample Initiatives:
■ Promoting messages from the core brand that align with each
segment’s EVP preferences
■ Pushing out segment-specific content to central career
channels
■ Including profiles of employees from different talent segments
on the central careers website
More deeply customized employment branding engages each talent
segment with relevant details about the employment experience.
Sample Initiatives:
■ Crafting new messages and content that reflects each segment’s
work experience
■ Creating targeted microsites and social media profiles that align with
segment-specific channel usage
■ Training different employees from within each talent segment to
champion the employment brand
13

MEETING TALENT NEEDS BY MANAGING A
PORTFOLIO OF CRITICAL TALENT BRANDS
Thomson Reuters’s Portfolio of Critical Talent Employment Brands
Instead of focusing all efforts on
its core global employment
brand, Thomson Reuters targets
brand messages directly at
critical talent segments.
■ Thomson Reuters creates a brand
blueprint based on core EVP
messages rather than creative
attributes, such as logos and taglines.
■ Using the brand blueprint as a
guide, Thomson Reuters creates
sub-brands for target segments,
rather than just “dialing up” global
brand attributes.
■ Thomson Reuters determines which
communication channels should
carry which messages by assessing
the channel’s audience and the
current hiring needs of
the organization.
Brand Blueprint
■ Work that matters
■ Careers without boundaries
■ Flexibility to perform
Source: Thomson Reuters; CEB analysis.
1. Create Brand Blueprint
2. Define Sub-Brands for
Critical Segments
3. Tailor Communication
Messages
Content
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
Sales
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
Campus
■ Diversity
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
Diversity
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
Emerging Markets
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
■ xxxxxxxx
Technology
■ Working on innovative
products
■ Perfecting technical
expertise and skills
■ Using tools and
technology to find the right
work–life balance
Job Fair
14

NOT JUST “DIALING UP”
Thomson Reuters’s Segment-Specific Brand Creation Activities
Thomson Reuters creates sub-
brands for target segments,
rather than just dialing up global
brand attributes.
■ Thomson Reuters reviews HR
strategy and workforce plans to
identify talent segments critical to
achieving business outcomes.
■ The company creates distinct sub-
brands to reach the critical
segments.
Define Detail Disseminate Double Check
What
Thomson
Reuters Does
Define the brand
statements from the
target audience’s
perspective.
Clarify the sub-brand
with additional detail
where necessary.
Ensure the sub-brand is
communicated through
relevant channels.
Confirm there is a clear
relationship between the
sub-brand and the brand
blueprint.
Why It Works Using the original brand
blueprint as a starting
point eliminates
unnecessary rework.
Adding segment-
specific detail
maximizes relevance for
the target audience.
Aligning
communication
channels reinforces the
audience’s perceptions of
the brand.
Validating the link
between the global
brand and sub-brand
maintains overall
consistency.
Example for
Technology
Candidates
Work that matters:
Working on innovative
products
Careers without
boundaries: Perfecting
technical expertise and skills
Flexibility to perform:
Using tools and
technology to find the right
work–life balance
The technology blog
includes in-depth stories
and profiles of technology
projects.
Create a technology
careers app.
Boost the mobile
friendliness of the
global careers site.
BRAND
BRAND
Drawbacks of Dialing Up Global
Attributes
When organizations focus on global
brand attributes, they may insert a
segment- specific word (e.g., “work
that matters to technology
employees”) or emphasize the global
attribute in segment- specific
communications. These messages
often do not resonate with the
segment.
Most organizations simply focus on one or two
attributes from their global brand rather than
provide the definition and detail that niche, in-
demand candidates need.
15

Create Messages
That Consult
Focus Branding on
Critical Talent
Build a Network of
Brand Influencers
16

Maximum Impact of Employment Brand Message Type on Quality of Applicant Poola
The most influential brand
messages are competitively
positioned, emotionally resonant,
and drive reflection about fit, but
few organizations use these types
of messages.
■ Competitively positioned and
emotionally resonant messages
increase the quality of applicant pool
by 19%, and messages that drive
reflection about fit increase the quality
of applicant pool by 17%.
■ However, these are the least
prevalent types of employment
brand messages that
organizations use.
■ Brand messages focusing on
authenticity of the employment
experience and alignment with
applicant preferences have limited
impact on the quality of applicant
pool but are the most prevalent.
Aligned with
Applicant
Preferences
Accurately
Conveys Employment
Experience
Driving
Reflection
About Fit
Emotionally
Resonant
Competitively
Positioned
n = 1,092 (maximum impact); 70 (percentage of organizations).
a
Organizations using messages that are competitively positioned, emotionally resonant, and that drive self-reflection have employment brands that are 28% more influential than organizations that do not.
Percentage of
Organizations
Using Each Type of
Message
15% 26% 26% 35% 39%
0%
10%
20%
19% 19%
17%
8%
0%
17
COMPETITIVE, EMOTIONAL AND FIT BASED
MESSAGING MOST INFLUENTIAL

Many organizations brand their
messaging according to
organizational strengths
instead of identifying and
communicating true
differentiators that will set
them apart from talent
competitors.
COMPETITIVELY POSITIONED EMOTIONALLY RESONANT REFLECTION ABOUT FIT
Potential Employment
Brand Message
Perception of Message as a
Strength
Relevance of Message to
Strategic Objectives
Relevance of Message to
Mission, Values, and
Consumer Value
Proposition
Inputs:
■ Internal and External
Focus Groups
■ Best Practice Research
Inputs:
■ Employee Engagement
Survey
■ Internal and External
Focus Groups
Inputs:
■ Annual Report
■ Relevant Business
Strategy Documents
Inputs:
■ Annual Report
■ Relevant Marketing
Strategy Documents
Inputs:
■ Competitors’ Recruitment
Advertisements
■ Competitors’ Web Sites
Our collegial work
environment provides…
High Medium High High
The highly differentiated
work–life benefit is…
High Medium Medium High
You are compensated
based on…
High Medium Low
Low
IDENTIFY TRUE DIFFERENTIATORS, NOT JUST
STRENGTHS
St.George’s Brand Message Effectiveness Diagnostic
Illustrative
True Differentiated Brand Message
Documents and other materials help
populate the Messaging
Effectiveness Diagnostic.
Although the work–life message does not rate highly
against all internal criteria, it is an effective message
because it differentiates the organization from talent
competitors.
Employment Brand Message
Source: St.George Bank; CEB analysis.
A verifiable message that nobody else can say
Source: St.George Bank; CEB analysis.
■ St.George uses a simple
diagnostic to validate which brand
messages are truly differentiated
and focuses branding on these
messages.
Opportunity of Messages
for Competitive
Differentiation
18

POSITIONING ISN’T ALWAYS ABOUT
DIFFERENCES
Thomson Reuters’s Comparative Association Message in India
In a competitive talent market
where it is relatively unknown,
Thomson Reuters India explicitly
refers to the companies it
compares itself to, helping
potential applicants understand
its specific strengths.
■ Thomson Reuters associates
itself with a mix of well- known
brands and industry competitors.
Association with well-known brands and other
media and publishing companies
Financial Overview We are Bigger or More Profitable Than…
19

FOSTER AN EMOTIONAL CONNECTION BY
CLEARLY COMMUNICATING AN ACHIEVABLE PURPOSE
Johnson & Johnson’s
employment brand
clearly communicates an
achievable purpose, thereby
fostering a stronger emotional
connection.
■ Johnson & Johnson conveys how
to achieve its purpose through its
credo, which comprises simple
statements written in clear
language.
■ Johnson & Johnson makes the
achievability of its purpose
believable by personalizing it for
candidates and
demonstrating how employees
achieve it in their day-to-day
professional lives.
Employment
Brand
Challenges
Johnson
& Johnson’s
Solutions
Desired labor market perception: “The organization has a purpose
and I can contribute to it.”
Show applicants
how to achieve your
purpose through clear
communication.
credo
Make your purpose
personal by showing
employees achieve it.
personalized purpose
Desired reaction among high-quality applicants: “The organization has a
purpose I care about, and I can contribute to it.”
Source: Johnson & Johnson; CEB analysis.
Johnson & Johnson’s New Employment Brand
“Be Vital” Attributes:
■ Applicant centered
■ Experience oriented
■ Increased focus on Credo values
How do we help
potential applicants
understand how
they can achieve the
organization’s purpose?
How do we enable potential
applicants to
believe they can achieve the
organization’s
purpose?
20

POLARIZING MESSAGES CAN MAKE FIT (VERY)
CLEAR
Netflix’s Polarizing Culture Statements
Netflix publishes messages
about organizational culture
that will appeal to some
candidates and dissuade
others.
■ Polarizing messages are more
effective than broadly positive or
appealing messages in helping
applicants consider their fit with the
organization.
Sample Online Responses from
Potential Candidates
“I’m a health and safety advisor
within local government (UK).
Those first few slides have stirred
something in me, and I’ve never
wanted to work somewhere as
much as I do at Netflix!”
“Having read this, I wouldn’t want
to work at Netflix, even though I’m
a high performer.” Source: Netflix, http:/ /hbr.org/2014/01/how-netflix-reinvented-hr/ar/1; CEB analysis.
21

STIMULATE SELF-REFLECTION
Goldman Sachs’s Career Quiz
Goldman Sachs’s short pre-
application diagnostic helps
potential applicants consider
where they will fit best within the
organization.
■ Potential applicants respond to a
series of short questions about
what types of projects or activities
they would like to work on.
■ The diagnostic uses the
answers to inform potential
applicants about which types of roles
at Goldman Sachs would be best for
them.
■ The diagnostic is an
informational tool only and is
not part of the formal
assessment process.
Source: Goldman Sachs, http:/ /www.goldmansachs.com/careers/why-goldman-sachs/explore-goldman-sachs-careers-quiz/; CEB analysis.
Question 7 of 14
Tech Turnaround
Your management consulting firm has a new client—a technology
company that has been losing money for several years. Pundits have
written off the company, but your team believes it can help bring the
business back to profitability. What part of this engagement would
you most like to work on?
Performing an analysis of the company’s business and
operations
Researching its competitors to see how they operate more
efficiently
Writing the final report to the client
Your Best Matches
View Top 3 Matches
Executive Office
Compliance
Internal Audit
Legal
Services
Human Capital Management
Operations
Finance
Global Investment Research
Investment Banking
Investment Management
Merchant Banking
Securities
22

Create Messages
That Consult
Focus Branding on
Critical Talent
Build a Network of
Brand Influencers
23

Recruiting is an influential
messenger, but it is part of a
broader ecosystem of potential
influencers who have a much
greater impact on applicant
quality.
■ Recruiting’s maximum impact as an
influential messenger is 8%
compared to the 33% impact other
messengers have.
■ Recruiting must overcome
challenges associated with
empowering different groups of
messengers to optimize the quality
of the applicant pool.
Importance of Different Types of
Messengers, Irrespective of Message
Content
Maximum Impact on Quality of Applicant Poola
Brand Influencers
8%
33%
Recruiting Brand Influencers
General
Employee
Population
Recruiting’s Challenge: How do we better
equip the general employee population to
influence potential applicants?
Brand
Detractors Recruiting’s Challenge: How do we
mitigate the destructive influence of brand
detractors (e.g., disgruntled former
employees)?
Brand
Ambassadors Recruiting’s Challenge: How do we get the
most influence out of our brand ambassadors
(e.g., senior leaders, new hires, formal brand
ambassadors)?
External
Influencers Recruiting’s Challenge: How do I engage
influencers to have the most impact?
n = 1,044.
Source: CEB 2014 Employment Branding Effectiveness
Survey.
a
Recruiting has a 19% maximum impact on influence, whereas
other messengers have a 41% maximum impact on influence.
RECRUITING A SMALL PART OF THE BRAND
INFLUENCER ECOSYSTEM
24

TURN BRAND ADVOCATES INTO BRAND
INFLUENCERS
How Suncor Enables Brand Influencers
Suncor provides a group of
employees with action- oriented
training and greater visibility to
potential applicants so they can
act as brand influencers, not just
brand advocates.
■ To help employees make the
transition from brand advocate to
brand influencer, Suncor has
created a training session focused
on three influencer abilities: verify,
consult, and navigate.
■ Once training is complete, Suncor
makes influencers more visible to
applicants, thereby helping them
reach high-quality potential
applicants in all channels.
■ Training employees to be
effective communicators
enables them to bring the
Suncor brand experience to
life when interacting with
applicants.
Who are Suncor’s brand
influencers?
■ 150 brand influencers
■ Nominated by business units
■ Usually high performers and
highly engaged
■ Spread across critical talent
segments
■ Mix of job levels
ROI for Brand Influencers
Through devoting one full day to training and limiting their time commitments, Suncor’s brand influencers:
■ Feel more engaged in the organization through the opportunity to help Suncor achieve its goals,
■ Are recognized informally for their participation by managers and leaders of their business units, and
■ Expand their networks by interacting with potential applicants within their industry.
Fit Verification Model
Provide actionable
information about talent needs
so influencers can verify
preliminary fit, even for roles
with which they are not
familiar.
A. Verify The Applicant Will Thrive in Suncor’s Culture
Talent Needs
Suncor’s Values
1. Safety above all else.
2. Respect.
3. Raise the bar.
4. Commitments that matter.
5. Do the right thing.
Action Steps
Surface Behaviors that Indicate this
Value Mentions interest in sustainability
Participates in community service Seeking a
long-term career
B. Verify Whether the Applicant Is in a Critical Talent Segment
Talent Needs
Strategy-Critical Talent Segments
6. Petroleum Geologist
7. Power Engineers in Alberta
8. Women in Leadership
Action Steps
Consider Key Questions about Each Potential
Applicant Is the individual interested in a role as a
petroleum geologist? Does the individual have
experience (work or education) working as a petroleum
geologist?
Consultative Conversation
Framework
Teach brand influencers a
sales-inspired conversation
framework so they can
deliver tailored information
based on applicant need.
Three Stepsto
Consultation
Step 1:
Diagnose Applicant Needs by
Probing Intelligently
Step 2:
Deliver Customized
Messages by Addressing
Preferencesand Concerns
Step 3:
Enact a Plan for Further
Engagement by Providing Next
Steps
Objective of Step
Understand the potential applicant’s
career interests and concerns by probing
intelligently and empathetically.
Connect with the potential applicant
by explaining how Suncor delivers on
their career preferences and
dispelling inaccurate concerns.
Help potential applicants create an
action plan for future engagement with
Suncor.
What’sAt Risk if You Get
the Step Wrong
Teeing up the wrong topics for
the rest of the conversation
Wasted applicant time, effort,
and goodwill if messages
don’t apply to them
Wasted applicant time, effort,
and goodwill if messages
don’t apply to them
Information Provided in
Training to Prepare
Influencers
Guidelines on how to ask probing
questions instead of closed
questions.
Inventory of messages about Suncor
that match different applicant
preferences.
Application information for good fit
applicants and alternate opportunities list
for poor fits.
Consultation Role Playing
Ask brand influencers to
practice interacting with
applicants in different
situations to gain
confidence navigating
difficult conversation
scenarios.
Online Applicant
Engagement
Make influencers readily
available through social
media to leverage the power
of employee influence in all
channels.
Action-Oriented
Training
Greater Visibility
to Applicants
1.Verify 2. Consult 3. Navigate 4. Reach
Source: Suncor Energy, Inc.; CEB analysis.
BRAND DETRACTORS BRAND AMBASSADORS
25

Suncor is in the process of
making influencers readily
available through social media
to leverage the power of
employee influence in all
channels.
BRAND DETRACTORS BRAND AMBASSADORS
26
Background
EXTEND THE REACH OF EMPLOYEE INFLUENCE
Suncor’s Steps to Online Applicant Engagement
Recruiting Sets Clear Boundaries on Social Media Use
Define:
■ Types of information to share, and
■ Types of interactions to have.
2
Recruiting Helps Influencers Upgrade Their Profiles on
LinkedIn
Influencer Profiles Must:
■ Have professional photos,
■ Include “Recruiting Partner” in the title, and
■ Contain a clear description of current role.
1
Influencers Engage in Consultative Conversations with
Applicants
Applicants are more likely to apply once influencers
authentically address applicants’ questions, such as the
following:
■ What is it like to work in northern Alberta?
■ What responsibilities is someone at your level given?
■ Can you give me more details about the project you are
working on?
4
Influencers Identify Active and Passive Applicants to
Connect With
■ Active applicants self-identify and can easily identify
influencers online to start conversations.
■ Recruiting helps influencers identify potential passive
applicants in their networks.
3
Calvin Jacobs
Geologist at Suncor + Recruiting Partner
Calgary, Canada, Area | Energy & Oil
Summary
Senior geologist holding a degree in
petroleum geology, sedimentology, with
over 10 years of oil industry experience in
geological modeling and research and
development.
If you are interested in a role at Suncor or
want to learn more, feel free to contact me.
People Also
Viewed
Advice for Contacting Calvin
Source: Suncor Energy, Inc.; CEB analysis.
104
connections
■ Suncor is currently
conducting a pilot program that
will enable influencers to use
their skills in online channels,
such as LinkedIn.
■ Recruiting will prepare
influencers for online
interactions by upgrading their
profiles and setting clear
boundaries on social media
use.
■ Influencers can then engage with
active applicants who contact
them and passive applicants
within their own networks.
Tips for Keeping the Time
Commitment Reasonable:
■ Allow influencers to decide when
and how often they monitor
LinkedIn.
■ Provide influencers with a
contact in Recruiting who can
help them manage high volume.
■ Make any additional training
available virtually.

Create Messages
That Consult
Focus Branding on
Critical Talent
Build a Network of
Brand Influencers
ROADMAP FOR ACTION
27

Appendix
■ Roadmap
■ Action Plan
■ Resources
28

BRANDING FOR INFLUENCE STRATEGY
Statement of Strategy
Improve applicant quality by more than 50% by giving applicants trusted guidance to make better decisions about whether to apply, instead of promoting the organization as a
great place to work.
Rationale for Change
■ Our employment brand is under increasing pressure to attract new types of talent.
■ Applicants look to an unprecedented amount of information to decide where to apply.
■ Appealing employment branding adds to the amount of unhelpful information potential applicants receive, leaving them struggling to decide where to apply.
Twenty-eight percent of our
applicant pool is composed of
high-quality applicants.
Current State:
Branding for Appeal
Forty-three percent of our applicant
pool is made up of high-quality
applicants, leading to 9% higher
quality of hire.
Desired State:
Initiatives
Brand Planning:
Focus Branding on
Critical Talent
Shift from targeting a
wider array of talent
segments to in-depth
customization that
incorporates only the
most important talent
segments.
Brand Outreach:
Build a Network of
Brand Influencers
Focus less on
managing a
channel strategy and
more
on managing
internal and
external influencers.
Brand Messaging:
Create Messages That
Consult
Rather Than Sell
Instead of
highlighting the
organization’s
selling points,
your messages should
challenge applicants’
thinking.
2 31
29

BRANDING FOR INFLUENCE: ACTION PLAN
Imperatives for Best Practice
Action Items
Compare to Your Current Practice
Immediate Action Items
Select three to five only
Brand Planning:
Focus Branding on Critical Talent
Share the Branding for Influence approach with my recruiting team, CHRO, Marketing, and
Communications, etc.
Diagnose our employment branding maturity level.
Identify our most critical talent segments as the main audiences of our branding efforts.
Create our “brand blueprint” (i.e., a list of our core EVP messages, without creative attributes, such as logos or
taglines).
Create a sub-branding process to identify specific messages, channels, and creative attributes for each segment.
Brand Messaging:
Create Messages That Consult
Rather Than Sell
Identify opportunities to differentiate ourselves from other organizations.
Identify opportunities to associate ourselves with other organizations.
Communicate our organization’s purpose with simple statements written clearly.
Demonstrate how employees achieve our organization’s purpose in their day-to-day professional lives.
Highlight non-obvious career transitions.
Emphasize the aspects of our corporate culture that might dissuade some applicants.
Give potential applicants self-diagnostics to see which function or role is right for them.
Brand Outreach:
Build a Network of Brand Influencers
Provide opportunities in which employees can easily share stories about their responsibilities and careers.
Recognize great stories that employees share.
Use a response protocol for brand detractors that prioritizes the most influential detractors and
comments.
Create a holistic strategy to preempt, monitor, learn from, and respond to influential brand detractors.
Teach our recruiters or brand ambassadors a sales-inspired framework to have fit-focused conversations with
potential applicants.
Help our recruiters or brand ambassadors practice consulting with potential applicants in different situations.
Make our recruiters or brand ambassadors “always on” through social media.
30

BRANDING FOR INFLUENCE: RESOURCES
See the Employment Branding Topic Center for these branding resources and more.
Brand Planning:
Branding Strategy Toolkit
Create the right brand strategy that accounts
for your strategic situation and talent needs.
Branding for Influence Business Case
Make the case to brand for influence to your
recruiters and partners in Marketing,
Communications, and HR.
Employment Branding Blueprint
Get step-by-step guidance customized to the
maturity level of your employment branding
activities.
Brand Messaging:
Create Messages That Consult Rather Than Sell
Branding Message Builder
Use this worksheet to brainstorm and evaluate
potential brand messages.
Recruiting Effectiveness Dashboard
Launch this full-service diagnostic to track why new
hires are joining your organization and inform your
brand messaging.
Influential Branding Messages Inventory Refer to
this inventory for 50 examples of brand messages
that give applicants trusted guidance on whether to
apply.
Brand Outreach:
Build a Network of Brand Influencers
Brand Ambassadors Program Guidelines
Use our ambassador program in a box to make your
recruiters, new hires, critical talent, etc., more
influential to potential applicants.
Branding for Influence Playbook
Help your recruiters, HR business partners, and
managers do 10 things to make branding for
influence part of their daily routine.
31

Influential Employer Branding on LinkedIn
July 2015

Agenda
LinkedIn: Our evolution
Followers: Why the fuss?
LinkedIn’s Top 10 Influential Brands: What do
they have in common?
Students on LinkedIn 39
Case Study: GoDaddy

LinkedIn: A global pool of talent
4M+
INDONESIA
3M+
PHILIPPINES
2M+
MALAYSIA
1M+
SINGAPORE
1M+
SAUDI ARABIA
21M+
BRAZIL
115M+
UNITED STATES
OF AMERICA
11M+
CANADA
30M+
INDIA
7M+
AUSTRALIA
1M+
NEW ZEALAND
4M+
SOUTH AFRICA
1M+
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
19M+
UNITED KINGDOM
10M+
FRANCE
7M+
ITALY
2M+
BELGIUM
1M+
DENMARK
4M+
TURKEY
5M+
NETHERLANDS
2M+
SWEDEN
6M+
SPAIN
8M+
CHINA
364M+
Members
worldwide +2 New members per second

LinkedIn
Members
consume
content
6x times
more
than they
do jobs
Rethinking the myths…

43
LinkedIn Employee publishes highly influential post
on our culture, receiving over 1600 views
Brand Appeal:
“Free food, free gym, dry cleaning, massages, cool working environments,
no suits, bright people, private healthcare, childcare vouchers…”

“But mainly because since joining
LinkedIn, I have realised that these are the
ingredients you use to decorate the cake. If
what is under the icing is dry and
flavourless, no matter how good it looks,
you have a very disappointing Birthday
party.”
44
James Batup, Senior Relationship Manager, LinkedIn

45
Brand Influence:
• On interviews - “a refreshingly informal approach”
• On our vision – “Economic Graph”
• On our employment policy – “The Alliance”

HP Thanked 1M Followers in a Unique Way
HP was the first company on LinkedIn to reach 1M followers in 2013. They
celebrated with a blog post, created an amazing infographic, and the story was
shared on Mashable.
47

OF FOLLOWERS ARE INTERESTED IN JOB OPPORTUNITIES WITH THE COMPANIES THEY FOLLOW

MORE LIKELY TO RESPOND TO YOUR INMAIL
FOLLOWERS ARE

OF YOUR HIRES WERE FOLLOWING YOU ON LINKEDIN BEFORE BEING HIRED

Diageo created a custom cocktail to
celebrate reaching 250,000 Followers
55
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMRPOZY0eZE

56
The 2015 10 Most
Influential Brands
on LinkedIn

©2013 LinkedIn Corporation. All Rights Reserved. Confidential – Do Not Distribute
The most effective content marketers reach
customers in multiple ways
CMS integrates your efforts
58
CMS
Groups
Company
Updates
Sponsored
Updates
Employee
Posts
Influencer
Posts

Reach Frequency Engagement
These are the three levers that influence
your CMS
XX
59

Your Content Marketing Score measures within your
target audience, WHO engages with your content
77,266,000 members
2,237 members
Target Audience
Members you would like to reach
(monthly active users)
Content Marketing Engagement
Members who engage with
your content
Global All
Like, share, comment, follow, click
Content Marketing Score
Unique Members Engaged
= =x Multiplier 29Active Target Audience
60

What is a Content Marketing Score?
A score that quantifies and benchmarks
the influence companies have on LinkedIn
A score that can be filtered by audience
A score that is stacked up against a
competitive set
1
2
3
61

Key questions
Content marketing addresses the following questions
I really care about a specific audience.
Are they engaging?
Are people engaging with my content?
How do I rank against my peers?
How influential are my employees?
62

What do these brands have in
common?

OF TOP INFLUENTIAL BRANDS HAVE THEIR
EMPLOYEES SHARING THEIR CONTENT TO THEIR
NETWORKS

OF TOP INFLUENTIAL BRANDS HAVE EMPLOYEES
PUBLISHING POSTS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THEIR
CONTENT EFFORTS

OF TOP INFLUENTIAL BRANDS REGULARLY
SHARE STATUS UPDATES ON THEIR LINKEDIN
COMPANY PAGE
AN AVERAGE OF 12.6 UPDATES PER WEEK

OF TOP INFLUENTIAL BRANDS ARE UTLITISING
SPONSORED UPDATES TO EXPAND THE REACH
OF THEIR CONTENT

Branding for Influence: GoDaddy

72
Step 1: Brand Planning
• Go Daddy Branding Focus:
• Women in Technology

Create messages that consult rather than sell
73
Step 2: Brand Messaging

Create messages that consult rather than sell
74
Step 2: Brand Messaging

Build a network of brand influencers
75
Step 3: Brand Outreach

76
“For many of you, however, the question of “who” you
will be in life is still not answered. This morning I want
to contrast for you the value “who” – you – are versus
“what” – you – are. I want to impress upon you just how
wrong our priorities are between the two – and how
much that contrast in value can (or has) already affected
your life.”

77
“As with consumer technology, it’s clear that
women’s opinions matter deeply to the
success of the small business cloud services
industry.”
“With only 18% of technical roles filled by
women at GoDaddy, we sit only 1% above the
rest of the Bay Area pack. This is nothing to
celebrate.”

78
“My first act as CEO was to completely overhaul our
brand and advertising—dropping the commercials that
women clearly articulated to be objectifying and over-
sexualized for a value prop that emphasizes the
entrepreneurial spirit of our customers, many of whom
are women. The old brand did not represent our passion
for the success of our small business customers and sent
a signal, wrongly, that GoDaddy was not a place that
respected women.”

79
“Another way GoDaddy is working to transform our
technical environment is by balancing as many Agile
development teams as possible with 50% women vs.
sprinkling one or two women per team across all
teams”.

80
Interview with Fast Company

82
In April 2015, GoDaddy made the Anita Borg Institute’s
list of Top Companies for Women Technologists, which
evaluated technology companies on their
representation of women at all levels and year-over-
year trends in recruitment and promotion of women in
the workforce

Tips for starting to build your
Talent Brand Strategy

3 tips when beginning your branding
strategy
1. Get buy in from key stakeholders
 Show visuals of how your brand looks today
 Compare with your peers
 Use addressable market data
2. Identify the business need you are trying to address
 i.e. we are expanding in to a new market, we will lose £X if we do not find the right
people for this project.
3. Agree success metrics upfront
 Very hard to prove success if we never clarified what success looks like from the
beginning

87
So why does this matter
for Recruitment teams?
Because
Content is
proven to drive
bottom line
hiring results

Companies who post at least
1 status update / week on LinkedIn…

Get 40%
more views
to their
LinkedIn job
postings.

Branding for Influence with LinkedIn & CEB

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