In my first two articles, we looked at some significant challenges to early talent engagement in APAC. Whilst these might feel dire, the good news is that technology has the power to offer a helping hand with providing this crucial personalised messaging. Indeed candidates expect organizations to use modern approaches to provide this to them. Contributor Samir Khelil, Far East & APAC Director – OLEEO.
- Get your EVP right – be clear on your Value Proposition and repeat it consistently across team members and mediums. Know why candidates are interested in your organisation, but also make sure you know which candidates are right for you.
- Deliver it straight to your candidates at the right time – use technology to provide tailored and stage specific content relevant for the stage of the process they are at (interview tips before an interview …). Document and share each interaction with candidates. Acknowledge those conversations by playing them back to candidates when it matters the most, using mediums they use.
- Ongoing mutual qualification – the recruitment process is getting longer. There is huge potential to use the time during the ever increasing recruitment cycles to constantly qualify candidates and make your business stand out against competition. Focus your time and energy on candidates where the fit is mutual. Constantly learn from them, and make sure they constantly learn from you.
- Co-ordinate teams, and then focus on building a trust-based relationship over time – each interaction is an opportunity to learn from students. Making sure this learning is shared across the team, and most importantly have it acknowledged during subsequent interactions. Gen X and Y want trust and honesty. This is not something one can build in a day. A consistent message will however go a long way.
- Make it a win-win – Candidates will only remain engaged if they feel they are getting something out of the relationship. Gen Y and Z have in common that they love learning…the recruitment process is a great opportunity to do just that. Whether you are selected or not, you will learn about yourself, and at least get the opportunity to do better.
- Make it easy– once again, technology can provide students with a single platform, a lifeline if you will, which will be the single portal they can go back to from the 1st interaction (on or off campus), through to internship, and to full time hire. Make your offering easily understandable to potential candidates, and guide the ones requiring support to identify which career path is right for them. Make it fun by using gamification tools out there to bring a nice change of pace to the standard recruitment approach.
- Innovate to identify the best talent early – it is difficult to talk about recruitment technology these days without using the “AI word”. Chatbots are gradually entering the recruitment market and cover range of activities from application support to automated shortlisting. Organisations in the US already leverage WCN Intelligence tools to predict their top 30% hires from their application form…enabling them to focus on closing those candidates when their competition are still screening applications.
- Strength in numbers? – if you think that getting competing organisations to recruit together may sound counter intuitive, think again. Oleeo works with PWMA (the Private Wealth Management Association). PWMA have been tasked by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) to help promote Wealth Management in Hong Kong. In order to tackle Talent scarcity in the region, PWMA had the great idea to get local Private Wealth Management actors to band together to create a 2 year apprenticeship program. The program is promoted via joint events The program is a huge success with great students response, and 13 different organisations (including UBS, Credit Suisse, Bank of China…) all working together to promote their industry, and in the process to attract candidates they could not have reached by themselves.
