morethan justspin

bulletin 12
spring2012
morethan
justspin
Recruitment branding,
communications and the Sex Pistols
We’re guessing the Sex Pistols’
seminal ‘I am the Anti-Christ’ is
rarely mentioned in HR presentations.
But then Northgate’s Marc Bertrand
is clearly not your average HRD.
Marc is relatively new to Northgate
and admits that a year ago, after
taking a call from a headhunter,
he rushed off to brush up on his
knowledge of the payroll systems
industry and began thinking of the
Soon afterwards, and slightly bemused,
he found himself in Darlington,
working for a vehicle hire company.
And that was the first sign for Marc
that Northgate’s brand recognition –
never mind its employer branding –
might need some work.
best way to negotiate Milton Keynes’
Continuing with his musical theme –
famous roundabouts.
and striking quite a chord with the
audience, who clearly remembered the
80s only too well – Marc admitted that
Marc Bertrand, HR Director – Northgate Plc
when he arrived, Northgate’s digital
offering was stuck in the vinyl age.
outsourced recruitment • search & selection • careers website development • response management • exit interviews • outplacement
whatthe
delegates
thought:
morethanjustspin
continued
Caroline Kitcher, Group HR Director,
There was no web presence, no employer
Having previously worked successfully
Guoman & Thistle Hotels: “…so what
branding, no joined up recruitment
with RBR, Marc Bertrand contacted
I will take from tonight is the thought
strategy or candidate management.
them to set up the Northgate
that I really need to get our Marketing
Resourcing Centre. They recognised
Director together with HR. We need to
a need for step change in the brand
think about the look and feel of the site.
Despite this, Northgate was – and
is – a thriving, cash-rich business.
But no one knew this, not least
so RBR introduced partners Chatter.
We have no corporate presence in the
potential employees. Marc identified
“Digital plays a very important role
UK, so it’s hard to attract people into
four priorities: to tell the world who
in employer branding”, partner Paul
the business. I realise now that we
Northgate is, and how they differ;
Ainley told the audience, going on
really need to engage with marketing
to attract great candidates, to provide
to share one of his favourite quotes,
on this project.”
a fantastic candidate experience and
from Amazon founder Jeff Bezos:
to control payroll costs.
“We knew what we wanted, but
we’d no idea how to fix it”.
And that’s where ResourceBank (RBR)
“A brand for a company is like a
reputation for a person. You earn
a reputation by trying to do hard
Claire Silvester, HR Director UK,
things well”.
Vector Aerospace: “I really liked Marc.
He is an inspirational HRD with real
and branding and communications
Richard Pearson introducing the HR Directors’
experts Chatter came in.
Forum in May, held at the IoD in London.
charisma – I hate to say it, but HRDs
are normally a bit boring, a bit
corporate. Marc was using ‘Sun’
language tonight, not corporate speak.
He’s an energy fountain – I’d buy into
anything logical he suggested. I like
that he doesn’t have a silo approach.
He knows you need to think about
other departments, such as IT.
The issues he’s facing are those you
face when you join any new company –
we inherited an organisation from the
civil service, where it was a case of
you already know someone who works
here, we’ll hire you.”
outsourced recruitment • search & selection • careers website development • response management • exit interviews • outplacement
Geoff Hall, Head
of HR Retail,
World Duty Free Group: “Tonight has
Jane Perks, HR Director, The
made me think that we need more
White Company: “There is a link to
extensive links to social media. We
the careers page on our main website
have a social media policy, we have
which is kept up to date with current
our own Facebook page and we are
comments and images. The transition
starting to use Twitter and LinkedIn –
from a Brand site to a careers site
but we don’t want to put all our eggs
must be seamless for the user and
in one basket. I’d say we were testing
Brand integrity must be maintained.
the water.”
We find that when people visit our
The ResourceBank team facilitated the
the site, so useability and engagement
development of the careers website
are also key.
with Chatter. The all singing, all
our recruitment channels but have
not yet explored the possibilities of
Facebook and Twitter – however, this
is high on our agenda as social media
dancing site needed to, amongst other
things, ‘feel like’ Northgate, help the
company grow, inform talent about it,
and form a single point of entry for
everything career-related.
is now playing such an important role
This resorted to basic means to work out
in people’s lives and we connect with
how to get what they wanted, with a
them across all forms of media.”
card sorting exercise. What both
organisations were clear about from the
Recruitment has become harder over the
start however, was that the website,
course of the recession, said Paul, pointing
‘northgatecareers’, needed to get
out that not only are there more
across Northgate’s most important
applicants to screen, but that the best
people message – “play your part”.
candidates are staying put, well looked
after by employers scared of losing them.
and feel of the site. The message
and the tone of voice were crucial.
The tone had to be consistent, rather
than jumping up between formal and
informal. It had to remain the same
throughout the application process. It
was a case of making each page ‘sing’.
careers site, they do stay and browse
We certainly use LinkedIn as one of
But it wasn’t all just about the look
A bespoke photoshoot was set up,
featuring staff from across the business,
As part of the ResourceBank managed
Northgate Resourcing Centre the new
site went live on 1st May 2012. That
hasn’t given Northgate enough time for
analytics, but the internal feedback
has been good, and they have already
learnt a number of important lessons,
said Marc.
Firstly, the expertise needed for
recruitment is moving away from HR
to functions such as marketing and
IT. “It’s out of my hands”, he told the
audience, admitting that his role now
was to welcome and work with the likes
of Chatter and ResourceBank.
The experience has also taught him the
value of social media, something that
he freely admitted was his children’s
HR people are not natural marketeers,
with speech bubbles telling their stories.
he went on to add, yet an increasingly
Live vacancies appeared on the homepage
large part of their work is marketing –
as and when posted. Infographics helped
communicating career opportunities,
potential applicants quickly build a
Marc is clearly delighted with the
attracting the best talent and creating
picture of the company they could be
results of his work with Chatter – and
stand-out opportunities for candidates,
working for – never again would anyone
if employee feedback is anything to go
for instance.
expect to be in Milton Keynes…
by, he’s not the only one.
area of expertise rather than his own,
as a way of targeting talent.
outsourced recruitment • search & selection • careers website development • response management • exit interviews • outplacement
news…
The start of this year has been very
busy for the World Duty Free Group and
our recruitment team, with a strong
focus on the 2012 Olympic Games. In preparation for the increased footfall
through Heathrow and other UK airports
there has been a drive to recruit more
Building on our search expertise Sarah Hopkins launched ResourceBank
Executive last year. This new division provides a tailored, bespoke solution to
senior assignments for new and existing clients in the UK and internationally.
This has already proven hugely successful with appointments being made across
a breadth of sectors and expertise including HR, Operations, Communications,
Finance, ICT, Technical, Sales and Marketing.
than 500 permanent and seasonal
This expert, personalised service has benefited by technology innovation
recruits into the business. offering enhanced candidate experience including virtual job briefs and
With new WDFG assessment materials
video interviewing.
the recruits is improving all the time.
The initial programme will involve
large scale internal assessment exercise
monthly feedback sessions to
involving 2,800 employees.
the HR team of Siemens, with
detailed analysis.
A core team will work alongside the
internal HR team at Balfour Beatty
The highly valuable ‘Exit Interview’
to plan, design, communicate and
programme continues to grow
implement a complex assessment
with another prestigious win for
process designed to showcase the skills
ResourceBank. The team will be
We were delighted to be awarded the
undertaking a six month project to
contract to assist Balfour Beatty with a
demonstrate the value of this feedback
with a plan to roll out the service to
all divisions within the UK.
within one of their major divisions.
This is the largest and most complex
project of this type we have undertaken
and will involve team members from
every team within ResourceBank.
ResourceBank Recruitment Ltd, RBR House, Hawksworth Road, Central Park, Telford TF2 9TU
tel: 01952 281900 fax: 01952 291272 email: [email protected] website: www.ResourceBank.co.uk
outsourced recruitment • search & selection • careers website development • response management • exit interviews • outplacement
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