The Ladders ad: Decent concept, terrible execution

Posted February 12th, 2011 in blog_news, For Employers, For Job Seekers

I first saw this a few weeks ago, and keep meaning to write about it:  The terrible new ad for The Ladders job board.  If you haven’t seen it, take a look:

Normally I’m a big fan of ‘irreverent’ ads like this, especially when they’re mostly designed for the internet.  With so many messages coming at all of us every minute of the day, sometimes you need something a little offbeat to cut through the clutter.

But this…no.

If I’m an ambitious 30-something who’s serious about my career, are badly-dressed, not-particularly-attractive people sliding around on boardroom tables really reflective of my aspirations?  More importantly, if I’m an employer with serious jobs to offer, are the candidates in this video the ones I’m going to find appealing?

Now, I have no problem with sexing up the whole job search process – after all, looking for a job is a lot like dating.  But The Ladders is supposed to be for the ‘elite’:  It positions itself as the place to go when you’re looking for a $100k+/year job.

(The #1 comment on this video is “That mature in the blue dress is hurtin for a squirtin.”)

We made the Profit W100 – again!

Posted October 17th, 2010 in blog_news, For Employers

They say you shouldn’t toot your own horn, but it’s hard to resist…

Profit Magazine has announced the PROFIT W100 Canada’s Top Women Entrepreneurs 2010, and we’re very excited to announce that Virginia Poly has made the list for the second year in a row!

The W100 is an annual ranking of the top female entrepreneurs in Canada, based on company size, growth rate and profitability of the business(es) which they own or of which they are significant stakeholders, and in which they have or share chief decision-making responsibilities.

As President and Founder of Poly Placements, Virginia was recognized in the 2009 PROFIT W100 list.   And in 2009, Poly Placements was ranked #6 on the Profit Hot 50 Canada’s Emerging Growth Companies.  Launched in 2006 – out of a spare bedroom – Poly is now the fastest-growing recruiting company in Canada.

(We’re in pretty amazing company, too.  Check out the stories behind some of the other W100 women, like grandmother Gabrielle Chevalier, who heads North America’s largest video-game distributor, and Lise Watier, who heads the high-end cosmetics company of the same name.)

Thanks to all our clients, candidates, employees – and everyone else who’s been a Poly Placements supporter over the past 4 years.  We couldn’t have done this without you!

Is your office lobby costing you A-list candidates?

Posted September 9th, 2010 in blog_news

“You never get a second chance to make  a first impression.”

There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that we all make decisions about people based on appearances and a few short minutes of interaction, and that many hiring managers make hiring decisions within the first 5 minutes of the in-person interview.

Your office lobby is the first place candidates ‘meet’ your company in person.  What kind of first impression is it making?

The minute they walk in the door, they’re imagining themselves in the job

Interviews go both ways:  The employer is thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to have this person working here every day…”, while the candidate is thinking, “I wonder what it would be like to come to work here every day…”

So the minute a candidate walks through your door, they’re looking around thinking, “Would I like to come here to work every day?  Is the prospect of spending 40+ hours a week in this environment appealing?  Would I ‘fit in’ here?  Do I really want to pursue this opportunity, or does the thought of walking into this lobby every day fill me with despair?”

What message is your lobby sending to potential employees?

Here’s the lobby of Google Zurich:

This lobby says:  ”We’re creative, non-traditional, and interesting – and we’re successful enough to be able to spend money in our surroundings.  Sure, you’ll probably end up spending a lot of time here – we work a lot – but you won’t mind, because it’s so much fun and we’re all so invested in our work!”

Now let’s look at random clinic office:

This lobby says:  ”We’re serious.  We’re so serious that we don’t believe in having a personality of any kind between 9am and 5pm.  We think that spending a lot of money,time or energy on our surroundings is frivolous.  Hey – this is a workplace, not a funhouse!  We believe competency is more important than innovation.”

If you were an A-list candidate with 2 job offers, which one would you choose?

We’ve picked 2 extreme examples here, of course:  Hardly any lobbies or offices are as consistently appealing as Google’s, and it’s entirely possible that the photo of the ‘boring’ office was taken just after they’d repainted, and they hadn’t yet had time to replace the signage and decor.

But it’s worth thinking about.  Go take a look at your lobby, and try to imagine it through the eyes of someone who’s never seen it before.  Is it an accurate reflection of your organizational culture?  Your brand?  Is it likely to be appealing to your ideal new employee?

Today’s candidate is tomorrow’s client. So you might want to return their call.

Posted July 19th, 2010 in blog_news

Most of us tend to think that the ‘C’ in ‘CRM’ stands for ‘Client’. For those of us in recruiting and HR, however, C also stands for ‘Candidate’ – and we need to do a better job of remembering that.

It’s a good idea to treat candidates the same way you would clients (i.e. returning calls and emails promptly, being friendly, responsive and enthusiastic when speaking to them, making them feel like a valuable asset rather than a headache-inducing annoyance, etc.) because it delivers referrals, increased word-of-mouth, improved recruitment brand awareness – not to mention that having positive interactions with people all day makes working a lot more enjoyable for everyone.

However, if you find all that touchy-feely, brand-building, positive-interaction stuff a little flaky for your taste (and it’s true that it can be hard to measure), there is one real solid reason you should put the ‘Candidate’ in ‘Candidate Relationship Management’.

Click here to read more. Why not read the rest and then click on the Retweet button?

Current employees don’t know you’re hiring? Your recruiting costs just doubled.

Posted July 16th, 2010 in blog_news

Word-of-mouth is the single most effective way to get consumers to try a new product or top talent to apply to your organization.  Leveraging current employees to help build word of mouth can cut your recruiting costs in half.

word of mouthSo, your organization needs to fill 32 junior/intermediate roles in the next 3 months, but your recruiting department consists of 2 juniors and an intern who are already working 50 hours a week.

Click here to read full post