Okay people, aren't we asking way too much of recruiters? Source, outreach, schedule, interview, provide a white glove experience and don't forget about creating, distributing, and engaging on original and genuine content. Wait, content?
Well, on this week's Cult Brand podcast Chad and Julie bring employer brand veterans Chloe Rada and Allison Kruse to discuss practical recruiter enablement tips and tricks. From winning hearts with data to filling minds, equipping hands, and winning hearts.
You're welcome!
TRANSCRIPTION SPONSORED BY: Disability Solutions partners with our clients to build best-in-class inclusion programs and reach qualified, talented individuals with disabilities of every skill, education, and experience level.
ATAP INTRO (0s):
This podcast is in collaboration with the Association of Talent Acquisition Professionals, also known as ATAP. If you are a talent acquisition, professional, who wants to help advance the TA profession, visit atapglobal.org and learn how to become a member today.
INTRO (18s):
Hide your kids! Lock the doors! You're listening to HR’s most dangerous podcast. Chad Sowash and Joel Cheeseman are here to punch the recruiting industry, right where it hurts! Complete with breaking news, brash opinion and loads of snark, buckle up boys and girls, it's time for the Chad and Cheese podcast.
Chad (44s):
Yippee Ki-Yay! Welcome to another episode of the Chad and Cheese Cult Brand Series. I'm Chad Sowash with our featured brand and marketing expert, Julie Calli! How's it going Julie?
Julie (58s):
Here. Happy to be here.
Chad (59s):
Excellent too. I got to say I loved our last episode, Super Pumped Hiring, with Andrew Levy. What a great guest.
Julie (1m 7s):
So many great stories.
Chad (1m 8s):
I know. Right? Who do you have in store for us today? And what are we talking about?
Julie (1m 13s):
I'm excited to have two leaders in the space that do global TA and operations and employer branding in this industry. So I'm excited to have Allison Krusez and Chloe Rada join us today.
Chad (1m 29s):
Nice, nice, welcome ladies. Welcome to the Chad and Cheese podcast. We're Cheeseless today. So you're lucky.
Chloe (1m 35s):
Well, thank you. And I appreciate that. Joel, intimidates me a little bit.
Julie (1m 40s):
No cheese as long as we have wine.
Chad (1m 43s):
We've already met the middle-aged white male quotient for this podcast. So no worries, Julie, today, we're talking about recruiter engagement slash enablements. What I mean, what does that mean? Can you help me out here?
Julie (1m 57s):
Yeah, I think this is a great topic. You know, Chloe and Allison had had a conversation that kind of sparked us on this topic and it's really something that more companies are starting to pay attention to. I think in recruiter, enablement, you know, we think a lot about recruiting and marketing, being two things that live together that are also very relatable to sales and marketing. So I I'm very happy to have our guests joining us today. Who've been hands-on in the field.
Chad (2m 27s):
Let's learn more about them. Let's learn more about them. So Allison you go first, give us a Twitter bio about you.
Allison (2m 34s):
All right. So here it is. Animal lover, travel enthusiasts, wine drinker, scuba diver, brand nerd.
Chad (2m 41s):
Ooh. I want a party with her. I'm a scuba diver. I like the wine, definitely liked to travel. Yes. Okay, Chloe, it's your turn. You've got to one up that go.
Chloe (2m 51s):
Okay, here we go. Passionate lover of the arts, the outside world, deep conversations, food trends, and also known as Maverick.
Julie (3m 3s):
Okay. Goose. We're going to talk about recruiter enablement, a great subject and I'm really interested in getting Allison and Chloe's thoughts, but I think the audience would probably want to start with understanding what is recruiter enablement.
Chad (3m 19s):
I would, yes.
Chloe (3m 20s):
Sure. It really simply. It's just like the practice of providing TA professionals, the people that Allison and I work with the closest as our stakeholders in the recruiting team, our recruiters, but getting them like the tools they need to be effective. So that could be understanding processes or the education on the technology, or most importantly, awesome content that's going to convert candidates.
Chad (3m 45s):
Awesome content that's going to convert candidates. We see so much content that's out there, but it's not awesome. How do you create awesome content and what distinguishes awesome content from that really crappy content that we're used to seeing?
Allison (3m 60s):
I can take a stab at that. So I would say that the awesome content has to be candidate-centric, meaning it's not company-centric. It's not look at us we're so great! We're this and that, but it's really framing up the employee experience or your EVP through the lens of the candidate. Always thinking what's in it for me. Why should they, and like a sea of countless options when it comes to a new job, a new company, why should they choose you? And I think with recruiter enablement, it's equipping TA to really express that EDP that is in a personalized, localized way for what matters most to that candidate.
Julie (4m 39s):
Yeah on a recent show, we talked about EVP and like it's important and it's value, but then what do you do with it? Right. Like we know what your value points are, what kind of things are you providing the recruiter that help enable them?
Chad (4m 53s):
And how do you massage the message, the narrative around that? I mean, that's pretty key, right?
Chloe (4m 59s):
Yeah. I mean, I've done it successfully using storytelling because people trust people more than people trust brands. I, you know, I've run brand channels. Allison has run brand channels before, and it's really hard to get that engagement level up from an owned channel. Why not leverage your people, your people's story and voices to really kind of pull through that internal employee experience because it's like turning things outside in, right. Or inside out, showing what it's like to work inside in order to attract outside.
Allison (5m 32s):
Yeah. And, I mean, it takes daily work. You know, it takes a big effort, because sometimes you might run into obstacles like, well, you know, employees are not used to speaking about their employee experience or, you know, the culture or the career opportunities. Like they're not used to being able to freely confidently talk about that on social media. So I feel like there's a lot of change management that happens to, to just, you know, give them that inspiration and that encouragement of like, Hey, no, it's okay. Like we want you to lift up your voice and talk about, you know, your experiences good, bad and ugly because that's real, you know, people can cut through the crap, they understand what's marketing messages and what's real.
Allison (6m 13s):
And so I think for an employer brand professional, that's at the heart of what they do is just guiding and coaching and inspiring and just, you know, letting employees know like, Hey, it's okay. We want you to do this.
Chad (6m 26s):
Well, that's not the norm though. Right. I mean, for years, there's, we've always thought about mitigating risk, but I have to say the best TikToks I've seen when it comes around, like a brand are from Costco. And there's a manager that actually just jumps on, starts talking about benefits and like Q and A, from candidates. And it's so genuine and it's so revealing. Right. It's amazing. But how do you as a brand shed that risk? Right and really dive in?
Allison (6m 60s):
That's hard, I think it's in some companies, some industries, I think it's harder than others, you know? I mean, I've been at some companies where that is okay. Like that is okay to just, you know, shed that and go and do that. I've been at other companies that are really highly regulated and very nervous about having people just do that and having, like the thought of doing TikTok, scares people, you know, like at some companies where they're like, oh no, no, no, like TikTok, that's not for us and we're not going to do that. So that's really where, you know, the ability to influence to win the hearts, you know, to be like, Hey, this is okay, let's just try it, let's call it a pilot. Let's see how we do, like, it's going to be okay.
Allison (7m 41s):
And that's hard. I mean, harder in some places than others. Chloe, have you found that to that? Like, just, it just depends on like, your employer's culture, you know, of how hard that is.
Chloe (7m 54s):
Yeah, absolutely. So we're right in the middle of pride month right now, and a big topic is inclusivity. How are you feeling supported and how do you belong at an organization? And what does it look like to different individuals throughout the organization? So forming partnerships with your DE&I, or other stakeholders to kind of help understand, you know, what the commitments are from the company level, but then talk to the actual employees that are feeling that, that are feeling supported and let's hear about their story, cause they're all unique and a lot of times there's a lot of heartfelt moments that come out that, that tug at the heartstrings that really is creating that desire for candidates to want to join an organization where their employees feel so supportive.
Chloe (8m 38s):
So I think, you know, that's one way to mitigate the risk is to partner with your MarComms and your DE&I department to understand, you know, what is the company stands and how can you take that? And turn it into and, you know, attract a piece of content to enable the recruiters then to share in addition to, you know, their outreach, right? This is outbound recruiting that we're doing here with this compelling content.
Chad (9m 6s):
Julia, I want to hear more about this from you, because from my standpoint, I have a gay son, but still I'm a middle-aged white dude, right? Cisgender white dude, all I'm seeing are rainbow logos, really. And I'm not seeing a lot of this real deep down emotional feeling and embracing of a community. Now we do see like Pepsi and Bubbly's, these newest like ads and whatnot, which are amazing around safe spaces. But I think that's not the standard. What do you think we need to get? How do we get to a standard of feeling that open?
Julie (9m 41s):
Well, you know, a big term that's being used right now, you know, the community is that rainbow washing. There's a lot of companies that want to portray that they are inclusive so they put up their rainbow logos for this month And then that's the last you'll hear of their inclusivity. I loved hearing Allison and Chloe share how you need to empower recruiters with content, right? If you're going to be providing them storytelling and messaging. And I love the bring in the real examples of the employees and what their stories are. I think Disney's a great example of this right now. Their campaign for this month is Disney 365.
Julie (10m 21s):
They're inclusive every day of the year and not just pride month. And it's followed by an entire statement of their commitment, all the activity that they're doing and how that is pertaining to the entire year and not just in this month. So that's an example of a company saying, here's our story. Here's a message. Here's our commitment, our promise, how we're following through with it. And you can check in and follow up about this throughout the entire year.
Chad (10m 47s):
That's great content. It's amazing not to mention that demonstrates what the company, hopefully what the company is all about. So Allison and Chloe, how do you actually empower recruiters to start using this message? Because you're giving them the ammunition. How do you actually help them use it?
Chloe (11m 4s):
Well, Allison, I think this is a great opportunity for you to talk about your grassroots advocacy program that you started way back when.
Allison (11m 13s):
Yeah. Yes. So at a former employer, we did not have like an employee advocacy platform. Cause I think that's my first thing. My first response will be like, well, technology can help with that. You know, with an employee advocacy platfor, you know, you have a team of admins or whatever, and you're sticking in content. And then with a couple of clicks, you know, employees can share it out on their social. Well, if you don't have that, for whatever reason, you don't have the budget, you're not there yet to have that technology. I just started doing it using Outlook. So I just started this program at my last employer where we were, you know, pre-writing LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter posts, and would attached, you know, an image with a link attract, link, whatever, but we would just email it out twice a week.
Allison (12m 0s):
And so people knew every Tuesday and Thursday morning they would get their shareable content and then they would, you know, send it out on social media if they choose to. Within that program though, we also made sure we had kind of continuous education to talk about the importance of sharing content. So what's the benefit to you? How does it amplify your personal brand? How does it make you more successful in your role? And then how does it help our employer brand as well? And it was, it became very quickly, it became our most powerful marketing channel that we had across paid media and owned media. Like it was the most powerful thing and it was just emailing content, twice a week.
Julie (12m 39s):
I love that. You have a couple of things in there. I heard that helped make it really successful. One, you had a predictable cadence to it so people knew what to expect and you delivered on it. And the other is, you've told a story to the people you needed to share the why as to why it was beneficial to them. I think if people know why and what they get out of it, they're willing to do more.
Chad (13m 4s):
I agree, a hundred percent. One of the things that we're having problems with though in recruiting is somebody to focus on telling that story and generating content that's real and authentic content, right? You don't have in many cases, the actual resources to do those types of things. So what do those companies do other than provide resources?
Chloe (13m 28s):
Well, they hire people like, you know, myself and Allison to come in and to set up these programs, right? Yeah. There's so many great pieces of technology and tools out there now to capture these answers in the form of a question over video and share them out and on your job descriptions on your social pages on your career site really easily, but you actually need that project manager right to come in, to work with the it governance, to work through all that red tape, because both Allison and I have been in very highly regulated organizations where, you know, we have to get a blessing upon blessing before we actually implement something. So I think you need somebody that's able to walk through that create, you know, Allison said, change management, take a page out of change management, make sure identify who's going to be impacted who you need to inform, who needs to be part of the program.
Chloe (14m 22s):
Involve the employees managers to let them know, Hey, this is also an opportunity for you to recognize your top performers and let them know, Hey, you might be featured on our social media channel. And one of the coolest things that I saw just recently happened with this type of approach is, you know, you tag that individual you're featuring, and then all of a sudden, naturally you get that person's manager chimwing and on LinkedIn or whatever social channel you get that person's coworker, maybe a past coworker seen Julie, you were so great to work with. I love how you led that project. And you know, you're one of my favorite hiring partners, for example. So it creates this really organic and natural engagement, which is really what you're going after.
Chloe (15m 5s):
And that's really, what's going to help you, you know, drive more visitors to your website, to your careers, to your jobs, and then eventually to, you know, becoming candidates and applicants.
Allison (15m 16s):
Yeah. I love what you said, Chloe, about culture and like seeing the engagement with managers and recognizing, you know, their team members or whatever. That's one of my most favorite things about it too. And you know, there's technology out there for sure. And it's a range from very expensive to free. And I'll give an example of a free way to do this, like a actual, like just tactical way, that's been really successful this past year. What, I did for a couple of different initiatives, like for example, global TA day, employee appreciation day was another. And then we're having a global appreciation week at the end of this month.
Allison (15m 57s):
And it was pretty simple, but like, it works really well. So anybody listening can do this. First, like I went into Canva, you can get a free Canva account or pro we actually are moving to enterprise in a couple of weeks, but you make a graphic. Then you go into PowerPoint, go under slide master. You upload that graphic to the back end of that slide. And then you have places where you could add text and add, upload an image, or upload a photo or whatever, have instructions on what people should do. And then bam, give your whole company access to it. And they can use it for like welcoming new joiners, you know, new hires.
Allison (16m 38s):
They can, you know, share a promotion announcement, whatever a thank you. But it's like the self-serve templates that, you know, we all know how to use PowerPoint, even if you're not that good at it, it doesn't matter. It's a couple clicks, but it's keeping things on brands, keeping things scalable, but also like giving it in the hands of somebody that, Hey, I don't have to know how to use Canva or something else. I literally just need to know how to use PowerPoint. And I'm good.
Chloe (17m 3s):
Ooh. Great pro tip.
Chad (17m 3s):
So yeah, but am I using my mobile phone video to be able to upload this? How do I get the actual, my embedded message into PowerPoint?
Allison (17m 14s):
So the PowerPoint is saved on like, you know, one driver, whatever. So anybody can just download a copy of that PowerPoint to your desktop. And then you just say, Hey, you know, I want to recognize Chloe, is it okay if I use your LinkedIn profile picture, Chloe? Great. Thank you. So I'm going to take her LinkedIn profile picture, save it to my desktop. And then with PowerPoint, I'm going to just click on where the photo will go. And then bam, Chloe's picture is uploaded to my PowerPoint slide. Then I can type whatever message about Chloe and how she's so wonderful. You know, on that side. I then saved the slide as an image, as a PNG. Then I can use that PNG wherever I want.
Allison (17m 54s):
Internally, I could upload it to LinkedIn, whatever.
Chad (17m 58s):
That's awesome. So one of the things that I love about having these conversations is there are so many pieces of tech that are out there that nobody knows how to use. Being able to make it more practical is what it all comes down to. And, that to me is the best tip of all. Everybody knows how to use PowerPoint. I totally get that. So you've got it set up where it can be used as a template for anybody to be able to go out there and provide recognition to whomever they want. That's pretty awesome. Now, do they send it to you for you to distribute or how would that actually get into kind of like the distribution channels?
Allison (18m 36s):
So I also asked them to tag our LinkedIn company page. So there's like an example. So I say, okay, tag Chloe, also tag our LinkedIn company page. And so when they do on the backend as an admin, I can see where we've been mentioned, and then I can go and respond as on behalf of my company. And I can do that. You could also have them use a hashtag. So, if you tell them to use a hashtag, you could also pick it up that way. So there's ways through like whatever you're doing from a social listening perspective that you can pick up that post and then engage on behalf of the company.
Chad (19m 7s):
Gotcha.
Julie (19m 7s):
So the, you know, I know some of the big challenges that companies face with this is like, they're like, great, great. I am on board. I understand authentic content is what people crave. Let's do it. You can provide the tools. But the biggest barriers I find that people have with, you know, doing employee engagement, is that, one, you have to get people comfortable with creating the content. So you're making it as easy as possible, giving them templates and instructions, but they have to be comfortable with it. And the other big one is then, you know, getting people to share it and put it out there. Do you have any tips on what you would do to help make people feel more comfortable and more confident about sharing?
Chloe (19m 50s):
Yeah, so I think one of the easiest things, is people don't really understand what the company's social media policy involves and just to education on, Hey, what that might be. And, but here's the, you know, it's not meant to scare you off it's to protect you. And so just kind of walk them through, Hey, based on what our social media policy is, here's what you're going to, we were going to recommend you to help you build your personal brand. And here's some examples, as Allison said, of content that we can create for you, to help build that presence, to break through the tight labor market. You know, this is just one, this content is just one way to enable the recruiters, to get them to feel more confident, right? They're very transactional.
Chloe (20m 31s):
And so they, you know, very risk averse at times, right? They don't want to click the wrong button in the ATS and, you know, they don't want to post something inappropriate and violate a policy that's out there. You know, I get scared. I, we all go through that ethics training, you know, at big corporations and that scares the heck out of me, but, you know, I don't want that to preclude me from coming to a conference and attending a vendor dinner, for example, because that's where the best learning takes place. So I think, you know, take, you know, the questions and that out of the equation and just educate on, okay, the policy is here, but here's what you can do. And as you know, we're a brand ambassadors here and we're going to teach you how to be that brand ambassador and it's still adhere to the company policy.
Julie (21m 15s):
I would also hear a lot of people doing things to encourage people, to share more and participate more to game-ify and create incentive. What are your, what are your thoughts on that?
Chloe (21m 26s):
Well, I mean, the recruiters I've worked with are highly competitive. So there are tools that I've used way back when it was Q social. It was, I think, bought by Symphony Talent and it's now a whole different thing. But part of the success of that tool had a whole gamification component to it. They had a leader board. As that program manager I was sharing out from our department who is on the leaderboard week after week and giving them that recognition because they were the ones that were sharing the content that was coming to them in the form of a text message that they can click through. On top of that, gamification that's built into the tool itself.
Chloe (22m 6s):
I created some like fun little rewards week one, week two, as we were implementing the program itself. So, you know, this might've been, oh gosh, I don't, I can't even, I can't even, you, we can't even give gift cards these days anymore, but it was some type of recognition that meant, you know, people like to be recognized in different ways. So it was recognition, whether it be public or private, and some different ways to kind of encourage, you know, this healthy competition.
Chad (22m 35s):
You had said that recruiters, which I agree are really transactional. I think a lot of that has to do with the systems that are in place. They have a lot of admin process, you know, minutia that they have to dig through. So the question is, do we increase enablement and engagement? If we finally start to re-engineer our processes and enter into the age of automation.
Allison (23m 1s):
I think automation could help relieve recruiters, you know, have some of those processes so that it does open up capacity to, you know, do more creative things and create content and go out on a limb and learn something new. But if they're bogged down with a lot of administrative tasks that could be automated. Yeah, sure. You know, I think anything that could relieve them of that, where they could refocus, you know, some of their time, because what I've found is that recruiters do want to do that. They do want to use the brand, you know, they do want to express the brand and they want to do that. But, you know, they don't really know how, and they just need to learn, or they're nervous, like Chloe said, they're nervous that they're going to do it wrong somehow, you know, they're going to do that wrong.
Allison (23m 43s):
And so I think like sharing success stories, sharing best practices that also helps build confidence. Cause I have found like a lot of times it's a confidence issue.
Chloe (23m 53s):
I mean, I also think like one great example is like automate your, where your jobs are being posted out to. Right on the operations team or even the branding branding team can help assist with that, to understand where you should be advertising your jobs, how you should be optimizing those job titles. What day of the week you should be posting. You know, create, you know, put some automation around that, use some programmatic. If, you know, that's where, so you can, you know, better spend your money, right and get the clicks where you need to get the clicks. All of that. I think, you know, that is a form of automation and that's definitely, that'll take the guesswork out of what the recruiters need to do, allow the systems to do that and create those partnerships and create that type of a program on your end from an operation standpoint to alleviate some of that.
Chad (24m 40s):
So why are we there yet? We've had the technology forever. It makes more sense, from the standpoint of being able to target, knowing when to target, knowing how to target, where the jobs go, all that stuff systems know better because they understand, you know, job seeker behavior. Why aren't we there yet? It just blows my mind.
Chloe (25m 1s):
I think it comes down to education and reeducation and they're all of our, you know, we were just at Unleash and what we learned is that we're all kind of shaping the future of work from an automation, a technology standpoint, there's iterations of tools coming forth. You need somebody at the helm to kind of understand and implement that for you. But then also, Hey, if you're releasing a new enhancement, that's like kind of come in with your core system, like you got to share and educate your team. What does this mean? How is it going to help me find, you know, my silver medalists in my ATS, for example. And I think that piece is crucial, is missed a lot, is that reeducation.
Chloe (25m 42s):
And so, you know, you can call it reeducation, you can call it re-skilling, whatever, whatever, but you know, there's, you know, there's platforms out there like Social Talent will help with the, you know, it's a learning platform to help with those re-skilling. When I was at Sedexo, we were trying to create a whole hub on training for recruiters, anything for leveraging the CRM to, you know, training their hiring managers on candidate experience. And so I kind of guess go back to like education and training. There's still a need there.
Allison (26m 14s):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, no, I agree. I mean, I think for me, that is one of my top four priorities this year, is training, is ongoing training. And so creating guides or job aids, holding workshops, you know, having hands on trainings, things like that. But it's also reiterating the importance of that to leadership when you need to have like, Hey, we, we need to carve out time. We need to make sure that we are allowing time for TA to learn, you know, because if we're just bogging them down and they have 50 million wrecks on their desk and no time for ongoing learning, we can't then expect that they're going to be learning and doing this and expressing our ECP and creating content and doing all these things.
Allison (26m 59s):
So it's also, again, it's that change management and influence, of like, Hey, no, like I'm going learning up-skilling this is critical. It's crucial. And we have to pave the way and make it happen. Otherwise it's not going to happen. You know?
Chad (27m 13s):
So here's a quick question around video, there are now platforms that are out there and they're going to actually fairly simple platforms. I've used a few of them where you can enable your employees to make video, right. So that they're creating content and that's all pushed back into your dashboard. And then you can use that to create content. Question, are companies, are they ready for that? Are they ready for any employee to just start shooting them videos? Not to mention, how do you think you could manage that if you just got a huge influx of content, is that a bad or a good problem to have?
Allison (27m 51s):
I would love that problem, to have, I think. Sign me up. No. I think it's great. I mean, you're, you're going to have somebody, you know, a brand specialist or a brand team or whatever, I would assume on the back end of that, and kind of choosing where does this particular story or this video sit within our strategy? Definitely it should start with a strategy before we open up the flood gates, but I think it's a great problem to have, I would love that.
Chloe (28m 17s):
I don't think if you build it, they will come flooding in. I think employee, I don't. And honestly, maybe you can do that with like a Google form for like maybe like a testimonial type quote, but not for a video. I think a video you need to actually create the prompts and you need to engage with that person ahead of time, give them some training around the why, and also engage with their manager too, to get their buy in to help them. Right. Because naturally that hiring manager is going to be feeling this tight labor market and you know, they're going to need to be able to retain their own employees as well. So I kind of look at it and take a different approach to that where I don't want a video unless I'm prompting you.
Chloe (28m 60s):
And you've been like, you've been trained to record even given simple video guidance tips to right, like quiet your background, or, you know, what free from distractions or hold your phone vertically or horizontally versus vertically. There's just some simple tips. And I feel people, if they feel like they're more prepared, there'll be less nervous and more comfortable because I hate getting a video and we're just like, oh, they're totally reading from a script. And I can see their eyes moving back and forth and there's no inflection in their voice. And I'm like, I just don't, I don't think I can use it. And then that creates like a negative, you know, like a negative feeling for that employee that recorded it. And then they're probably less likely to record if they weren't properly prepped.
Chloe (29m 44s):
So I'm very like organized and systematic about this.
Chad (29m 48s):
Well, I get that, but we live in the age of TikTok and some of those individuals that you want to be able to actually get content from they're doing it every day. Now, the boomers who are actually leaving and, you know, so maybe some of our us gen X-ers who, you know, we just don't buy into it as much. Don't you believe that first off, if you start feeding them scripts that they're just not going to want to do it because it doesn't feel authentic
Chloe (30m 18s):
Prompts not scripts. Prompts.
Chad (30m 19s):
Still. It seems being able to set this up so that you're getting genuine content and they're speaking their mind as opposed to the company line.
Chloe (30m 28s):
Sure. So there's been an insurgence of positions called like head of employee experience that do just these things right to internalize it EVP. And so they're getting employees comfortable. And with the sharing naturally that's employee generated content, which is a little bit different than tapping somebody on their shoulder. But, you know, PetSmart does a really awesome job at that. Their brand is obviously very easily loved for animals, right? What's not to love about them? But they're sharing, you know, natural stories and then these brand ambassadors like Allison and I are taking those stories and then using them from, you know, within their talent attraction strategy. So I think you're talking more about like that content that you're sourcing and you're seeing, and you're using your listening tools or your hash to, you know, they're using your life at hashtags so that I see where you're coming from on that.
Chloe (31m 14s):
But I do think that starts internally and I don't think companies have done such a great example of internalizing that. And I think Allison, you probably have some really good tips on internalizing a new EVP since that was a very project near and dear to your heart.
Allison (31m 28s):
Okay, let's talk about it. So this is our favorite topic when the two of us are together, we just love to go and buzz on about this. Okay. So when we launched our employer brand, you know, I'm at a 90 year old company, big global company that has never had an employer brand before. When I got here, we launched the brand, you know, soon after that for the first time. And so it was this big journey that took, you know, a year to really go out and evangelize that we have the brands and here's how to do it. And, please help us, you know, express the EDP and bring it to life. And the way that we did that, and I know something that, you know, resonates with Calli, and she's got stories about this as well.
Allison (32m 12s):
Is in three parts. So first, it's fill the minds. Second part, is equip the hands. The third part is, win the hearts. And so to express the EVP and to, you know, put it in the hands of people and have them leverage it. And, you know, we all own the brand, do these types of messaging. It starts with filling the minds. And that means like, go on a road show, you know, get out in front of people at different stakeholder groups. Train them, give them guidance, give them all of that. Equip the hands, that's things like make it easy for them to do storytelling, you know, give them templates, give hiring managers talking points when they're interviewing candidates about the EVP.
Allison (32m 52s):
And that is really just equipping people to be a brand ambassadors. And then, win the hearts, that's okay, you know, we're not just for example, we're not just saying, oh, we're such an inclusive company. We're doing storytelling. We're having our employees share stories and when they felt that sense of belonging and that is so much more real and will win the hearts and that study evokes emotion more than just, oh, we're just claiming that we're XYZ, whatever. Chloe, can you tell your story about like winning the hearts with data? I love that.
Chloe (33m 21s):
Oh yeah. So I love to show like how simple using different types of compelling content, how it can increase engagement using data. So even like a simple slide, like when I meet with my stakeholders, okay. You know, kind of, this is the state of what's going on with their recruitment marketing campaigns. But I want to show you one of these posts that you might've done, a recruiter, hiring manager, for example, take a look at your before engagement rates and take a look at your after. I'm like, tell me, do you think your, you know, the compelling content after, like how did that feel to you? Do you feel like that opened up and had an opportunity for you to find better people that would match what you're looking for?
Chloe (33m 60s):
Not only characteristically, but skills. From the skill standpoint as well. So I love to share kind of what's working and what's not what, and I also like to share what has been, you know, what kind of posts grew our social channels, the most, which ones had the most engagement, for example, because then that really makes people feel, oh my God, I went on a limb. I tried this new thing. I recorded a video. I posted it on my own personal brand. And while I really can see the difference, not just from an aesthetic standpoint, but from the numbers itself, it created a better applicant flow. They're not going to have a lot of that data and it is our job to share with them, Hey, what's working and what's not.
Chloe (34m 40s):
And what is resonating? So digging into that data and pulling through, and actually trying to make sense of that data to, for your recruiters, your hiring manager, your directors on the leadership team, even, you know, your SVP and your C-suite too, they want to know kind of what is the content out there that's creating that desire that is winning the hearts of those candidates and helping them convert.
Allison (35m 3s):
Winning hearts with data.
Chloe (35m 6s):
It's data storytelling.
Chad (35m 8s):
Well, I mean, you gotta have facts, right? It's all about the facts
Julie (35m 12s):
I got to say. I absolutely loved that takeaway of minds, hands and hearts, and then the revival of all of it with data. What a fantastic story that is to share.
Chad (35m 26s):
That is amazing, which is why at this point, we're just going to go ahead and we're going to close this up and we're probably come back for maybe a session too, who knows? If we can get a Maverick and Kruse back, but in the meantime, Chloe "Maverick" Rada and Allison Kruse, if people want to connect with you, where would you send them?
Chloe (35m 59s):
TikTok? Oh no, LinkedIn.
Chad (36m 1s):
LinkedIn.
Allison (36m 2s):
LinkedIn.
Chad (36m 3s):
And look for Chloe Rada and Allison Kruse on LinkedIn people. Julie, thanks so much for bringing this amazing cast of crazy Mavericks and cruisers in. Again that's another one in the can. We out.
OUTRO (37m 13s):
Thank you for listening to, what's it called? The podcast with Chad, the Cheese. Brilliant. They talk about recruiting. They talk about technology, but most of all, they talk about nothing. Just a lot of Shout Outs of people, you don't even know and yet you're listening. It's incredible. And not one word about cheese, not one cheddar, blue, nacho, pepper jack, Swiss. So many cheeses and not one word. So weird. Any hoo be sure to subscribe today on iTunes, Spotify, Google play, or wherever you listen to your podcasts, that way you won't miss an episode. And while you're at it, visit www.chadcheese.com just don't expect to find any recipes for grilled cheese. Is so weird. We out.