We recently took part in the 7th TruLondon Recruitment Unconference. We were not sponsoring this time so were able to use the opportunity to take part in a number of tracks and discussions as attendees.
As usual, the event attracted a wide range of Recruitment, HR and Talent practitioners from around the world, with first time visitors from the US and New Zealand, as well a strong European contingent.
Many of the traditional TruLondon themes were discussed – candidate experience, recruiter adoption of social media, best sourcing tools, employer branding – as well as a number of new topics, particularly surrounding content, video and future employment models.
As Tru events tend to be more about the conversation, we’re bringing you a snapshot of our favourite 5…
Jobseekers and Recruiters – do they look in the same place?
We’ve often posed this question here on Insider as it’s a recurring theme in our Quarterly Recruitment Review, and it was apparent at Tru also. There seemed little appetite from recruiters to find out more about how and why jobseekers use various tools, instead focusing on how they aren’t using them to be found. “Recruiters use LinkedIn to find candidates, but candidates don’t use LinkedIn to find work” was one tweeted comment whilst the overall message from one of the sourcing tracks was “If candidates don’t get the basics right how can recruiters utilise innovative sourcing tools? Candidates don’t know how to be found.”
Employee referrals aren’t just about jobs.
The consensus view was that too often referrals are linked to specific vacancies, whereas in a truly social company they should be more about people who will fit with the business. There was much talk about the cash incentives that businesses give, with many suggesting a more fun reward would better help companies to leverage their employees’ networks, making it less transactional.
Make the candidate experience transparent.
Several winners of the UK Candidate Experience Awards were present to share some of the initiatives that they had implemented. It was agreed that this experience was now public (through sites such as Glassdoor) so it would be better for companies to collect their own stats on the candidate experience (from both successful and unsuccessful applicants) and publish these on their career site. It would set expectations and ensure that companies strive to maintain a positive experience.
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Networked recruiters are the future.
Networked recruiters are the future.As usual there was a lot of talk about recruitment agencies and where they fitted in to the future hiring landscape. Well networked, niche recruiters who play a key role within the communities that they recruit for were championed – although the monetisation of this type of working model remains a challenge. More recruiters accepted that social media platforms represent another channel through which to converse rather than one to avoid. As one attendee put it “People coming in to the workforce don’t know a life without mobile and digital. The world is changing and you have to change with it”. The counterpoint however was “Stop spending money on social media training for people who aren’t social! Find the stories internally and the people who love them!”
Let your hiring managers interview you.
This was a discussion more for in-house recruiters and HR professionals, and it was generally agreed that too few companies road test their candidate attraction processes by experiencing it as a candidate would – “Apply for a role at your company; walk in their shoes”. One well received idea was to let each hiring manager interview you, so finding out what impressions they give, which questions they ask and and how they sell the company and opportunity.
If you went to TruLondon7 let us know what you thought of the event and which conversations you enjoyed…
