A look at how the largest health authority in the country branded its recruitment campaign
When it comes to recruitment, the workplace can be — and should be — a competitive advantage for an organization.
Many jobseekers have evolved and are looking beyond just the job description and compensation. They also factor things like corporate values, social responsibility, employee involvement and work environment into their decision.
HR can meet the needs of potential candidates — and get a better fit with new hires — by looking at recruitment and retention plans from a fresh perspective. By combining the existing disciplines of communications and marketing, an employer can create a recruitment program with a unique employer brand.
There are three keys in branding recruitment:
•Capture staff attitudes. The employer brand should originate from what current employees think, feel and believe about working for the organization. By doing so, new hires will have an on-the-job experience that meets their expectations. Confidential employee research is the best way to gather this information and reviewing information obtained through exit interviews is also valuable.
•Make sure the corporate culture is in order. If there are aspects of the employment relationship that are impeding an organization’s ability to attract and retain quality employees, they need to be addressed. There is no point in marketing the corporate culture if it doesn’t exist in the first place because credibility is the key to making it work.
•Devise a marketing plan. Capture the strongest advantages of the workplace. If an organization knows its strengths as an employer, it can craft effective messages that will appeal to prospective employees and ring true with current staff.
HR professionals need to think about the messages employees are getting at every point communication touches staff from attraction through orientation and into day-to-day operations.
The brand should be displayed in recruitment advertising — whether online or in print — in job fairs and employee referral programs. Orientation materials could include corporate videos, welcome books, workshops, codes of conduct and location tours, all pushing the same message. Corporate branding messages should also be part of all internal communication vehicles, such as intranets, benefits materials and newsletters.
The idea of employer marketing becomes even more pressing with a potential labour shortage and what that could mean for employers that find themselves competing to attract — and keep — the best and the brightest.
One of the best ways to learn how things might be in the future is to look at sectors already dealing with acute labour shortages. Health care is a prime example.
In British Columbia, the former North Shore Health Region — which encompassed North Vancouver and West Vancouver — realized a few years ago it was competing with other regions for employees and needed a unique selling proposition.
Research revealed nurses in the region were passionate about taking care of each other, that the organization was big enough to be a significant player and support its employees’ professional goals, but small enough to have a family atmosphere.
The recruitment materials prepared as a result of the research captured what employees had identified as the main appeal of this employer: the idea of a small, friendly, full-service hospital. The health region used a combination of newspaper advertisements, posters and pamphlets. The posters, used at job fairs, were so well received and beautifully designed that many students took them home and posted them on their walls.
Pat DeCoursey, an employment consultant with the health region at the time, said the marketing messages were picked up by prospective employees and even other recruiters.
“I had calls from candidates who specifically mentioned they had the impression our region was a nice place to work,” said DeCoursey.
But the health authority had to go back to the drawing board in late 2001, when the provincial government collapsed about 52 health-care delivery organizations into six regions. The North Shore Health Region’s facilities were included in the formation of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH) — the largest health-care service provider in Canada.
From an employer marketing point of view, that meant starting over with a clean slate. The only immediate identifying characteristic of the newly formed health authority was its size, which is not a particularly compelling selling feature on its own.
Vancouver is a well-known and popular place to live. The VCH region also included the less well-known communities of Richmond, North and West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Sechelt, Gibsons and Powell River, which offer a rich variety of lifestyle options.
VCH decided to position the size and scope of the organization, and the ability to provide health-care workers with multiple choices both in career options and lifestyle, as its competitive advantage. The messages included, “No matter what kind of community you like to live in, or what kind of job you’re looking for, VCH will find the perfect place for you.”
While normally an employer branding exercise starts with research, it’s not uncommon for organizations — particularly in the health-care industry, where financial cutbacks and public scrutiny of spending are common — to not be able to sign up for a complete research program.
In VCH’s case, the organization commissioned a recruitment presentation to be delivered on CD-ROM that could be used in a variety of ways, including at cross-Canada job fairs.
The production of the CD included interviews with nearly 100 employees across VCH’s geographic area and across disciplines. The information gathered as a result of these interviews was similar to what would have come out of employee focus groups and four strong themes emerged — all of which supported the “perfect place for you” tagline.
Don Livingston, vice-president of employee and customer engagement for VCH, said employer marketing has proven effective.
“The messages are credible because they are based in research with our existing employees,” said Livingston. “They have resonance and they’re enough to make prospective employees feel excited about what our organization can offer them.”
Gail Pickard is director of employer branding and communications for Midlyn HR Communications, a West Vancouver, B.C.-based firm specializing in recruitment and retention marketing strategies. She can be reached at (604) 926-2987, [email protected] or www.midlynhrc.com.
Many jobseekers have evolved and are looking beyond just the job description and compensation. They also factor things like corporate values, social responsibility, employee involvement and work environment into their decision.
HR can meet the needs of potential candidates — and get a better fit with new hires — by looking at recruitment and retention plans from a fresh perspective. By combining the existing disciplines of communications and marketing, an employer can create a recruitment program with a unique employer brand.
There are three keys in branding recruitment:
•Capture staff attitudes. The employer brand should originate from what current employees think, feel and believe about working for the organization. By doing so, new hires will have an on-the-job experience that meets their expectations. Confidential employee research is the best way to gather this information and reviewing information obtained through exit interviews is also valuable.
•Make sure the corporate culture is in order. If there are aspects of the employment relationship that are impeding an organization’s ability to attract and retain quality employees, they need to be addressed. There is no point in marketing the corporate culture if it doesn’t exist in the first place because credibility is the key to making it work.
•Devise a marketing plan. Capture the strongest advantages of the workplace. If an organization knows its strengths as an employer, it can craft effective messages that will appeal to prospective employees and ring true with current staff.
HR professionals need to think about the messages employees are getting at every point communication touches staff from attraction through orientation and into day-to-day operations.
The brand should be displayed in recruitment advertising — whether online or in print — in job fairs and employee referral programs. Orientation materials could include corporate videos, welcome books, workshops, codes of conduct and location tours, all pushing the same message. Corporate branding messages should also be part of all internal communication vehicles, such as intranets, benefits materials and newsletters.
The idea of employer marketing becomes even more pressing with a potential labour shortage and what that could mean for employers that find themselves competing to attract — and keep — the best and the brightest.
One of the best ways to learn how things might be in the future is to look at sectors already dealing with acute labour shortages. Health care is a prime example.
In British Columbia, the former North Shore Health Region — which encompassed North Vancouver and West Vancouver — realized a few years ago it was competing with other regions for employees and needed a unique selling proposition.
Research revealed nurses in the region were passionate about taking care of each other, that the organization was big enough to be a significant player and support its employees’ professional goals, but small enough to have a family atmosphere.
The recruitment materials prepared as a result of the research captured what employees had identified as the main appeal of this employer: the idea of a small, friendly, full-service hospital. The health region used a combination of newspaper advertisements, posters and pamphlets. The posters, used at job fairs, were so well received and beautifully designed that many students took them home and posted them on their walls.
Pat DeCoursey, an employment consultant with the health region at the time, said the marketing messages were picked up by prospective employees and even other recruiters.
“I had calls from candidates who specifically mentioned they had the impression our region was a nice place to work,” said DeCoursey.
But the health authority had to go back to the drawing board in late 2001, when the provincial government collapsed about 52 health-care delivery organizations into six regions. The North Shore Health Region’s facilities were included in the formation of the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority (VCH) — the largest health-care service provider in Canada.
From an employer marketing point of view, that meant starting over with a clean slate. The only immediate identifying characteristic of the newly formed health authority was its size, which is not a particularly compelling selling feature on its own.
Vancouver is a well-known and popular place to live. The VCH region also included the less well-known communities of Richmond, North and West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Pemberton, Sechelt, Gibsons and Powell River, which offer a rich variety of lifestyle options.
VCH decided to position the size and scope of the organization, and the ability to provide health-care workers with multiple choices both in career options and lifestyle, as its competitive advantage. The messages included, “No matter what kind of community you like to live in, or what kind of job you’re looking for, VCH will find the perfect place for you.”
While normally an employer branding exercise starts with research, it’s not uncommon for organizations — particularly in the health-care industry, where financial cutbacks and public scrutiny of spending are common — to not be able to sign up for a complete research program.
In VCH’s case, the organization commissioned a recruitment presentation to be delivered on CD-ROM that could be used in a variety of ways, including at cross-Canada job fairs.
The production of the CD included interviews with nearly 100 employees across VCH’s geographic area and across disciplines. The information gathered as a result of these interviews was similar to what would have come out of employee focus groups and four strong themes emerged — all of which supported the “perfect place for you” tagline.
Don Livingston, vice-president of employee and customer engagement for VCH, said employer marketing has proven effective.
“The messages are credible because they are based in research with our existing employees,” said Livingston. “They have resonance and they’re enough to make prospective employees feel excited about what our organization can offer them.”
Gail Pickard is director of employer branding and communications for Midlyn HR Communications, a West Vancouver, B.C.-based firm specializing in recruitment and retention marketing strategies. She can be reached at (604) 926-2987, [email protected] or www.midlynhrc.com.
