Telecommuting – Tapping into the hidden talent pool

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Marissa Mayer, President and Chief Executive Officer of Yahoo!, has been in the news recently for making a significant change to the Yahoo! corporate culture by eliminating the option for employees to work from home or telecommute.  Many of Yahoo!’s employees joined the company based on their flexible telecommuting policies and, as could be expected, a large portion of these employees revolted because of the decision.  While the case of Yahoo! is the most high profile example of the debate surrounding telecommuting currently, other businesses and organisations sit on the other side of the fence and wholeheartedly support employees who wish to work remotely.

In Australia, the Federal Government is encouraging workplaces to investigate their options for telecommuting with Senator Stephen Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, spruiking the benefits of telecommuting including lower costs, higher productivity, increased workplace flexibility, reduced impact on the environment and, importantly, expanded supply of skilled labour.

This increase in the supply of skilled labour is particularly important to employers across the country.  For every difficult vacancy that goes unfilled, there is a vast, untapped talent pool of candidates with the skills you need to grow your business who are not currently in the job market because of the (perceived or actual) lack of flexible working options.

How can you tap into this hidden talent pool?  The first thing you’ll need to do is make sure that your vacancy advertising explicitly mentions telecommuting or working from home.  If you’re using keyword optimised job boards such as Seek or CareerOne, ensure that these keywords are in the Short Descriptions and Search Result Title.  This will ensure that candidates who search using the keywords ‘telecommute’ or ‘work from home’ will find your vacancy quickly and easily.

Don’t forget to market the benefits of telecommuting to your potential candidates.  While using telecommuting as a keyword will boost search results for candidates exclusively looking for telecommuting opportunities, other candidates who are interested in your vacancy because it suits their skillset will still appreciate the flexibility that your organisation offers their employees.

There are also numerous benefits your organisation will enjoy by offering telecommuting to employees.  Peter Walton, Chief Executive Officer of Infoxchange and an outspoken advocate for telecommuting, often mentions the reduction in staff absenteeism, improvements in employee morale and the significant reduction in annual staff turnover.  Infoxchange employees performing call centre roles from home have less than 10% annual staff turnover while annual employee turnover in a call centre can be as high as 80%.

Telecommuting isn’t for everyone and it isn’t for every role but, if you’ve been struggling with a vacancy, it might be worth your consideration as an option to expand that reach into the candidate marketplace.  If you would like to learn more about developing a targeted recruitment advertising campaign that spans multiple advertising channels and widens your reach into the market, call Employment Office at 1300 366 573 and ask to speak with your account manager.

Have you missed the Twitter Boat?

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Effective employer branding

As the war for talent continues to intensify, the need to attract and retain top performers remains key to business success. By distinguishing yourself from the competition, promoting strengths and confirming values you can ensure that you will stay ahead of the game and become an employer of choice during both recession and boom times.

Your employer brand is the image of your organisation as an employer and place to work as perceived internally and externally. The benefits of having a right employer brand and conveying it effectively are many-fold. Data from “The Economist” suggests that effective Employer Branding can bring tangible benefits, including a 20% increase in the pool of potential workers, a four-fold increase in commitment among employees and a 10% decrease in payroll costs.

Employer branding is clearly becoming a critical tool to retain and attract the best employees. As a result, companies are using many tools to build and develop their employer branding strategy. A recent study showed that social media (80%) is one of the top channels used for employer branding. Social media is not just a tool to deliver a message; it’s a conversation between you, your employees and the wider market.

Social media

With social media being such an important tool for building a successful employer brand, it’s surprising to see how many Australian companies are missing out on one of the most powerful forms of social media – Twitter.

The two giants of social media are Facebook and Twitter. Facebook has over 1 billion users and Twitter an estimated 500 million users with 400 million tweets every day. Although Facebook remains the most powerful form of social media, Twitter has many advantages especially in relation to brands and companies. For example, 49% of monthly Twitter users follow brands and companies compared to just 16% of social network users overall.

However, it appears that Australian brands are missing the ‘Twitter Boat.’ A recent survey looked into how 100 Australian companies are using Twitter and found 87% of brands surveyed have no presence at all.

Twitter is a free tool that has global reach. It allows you to not only maintain current relationships, but also to create new connections, exchange ideas and gain inspiration. Done correctly, Twitter Marketing can lead to positive exposure for your business. It’s a simple tool that can also boost your visibility on search engines.

Jump on board

With millions of Twitter addicts all over the world and the number of active users increasing by 900% in the past year, it’s essential that companies take advantage of this social media platform.

Twitter works best when it is used in conjunction with other marketing tools including other social media. Here are our top 3 tips for using Twitter:

  • Inject some personality and stand out from your competitors – Twitter is about social connection not direct marketing, so make it personal and relevant
  • Use Tweet Deck to schedule Tweets and save time
  • Engage staff- one way to increase your Twitter following and to lighten the Twitter load is to engage your staff.

So if you want to attract the highest caliber workforce, strengthen employee engagement, reduce workflow turnover and maintain a sterling reputation among your stakeholders then take advantage of the power of Twitter.

Job seekers are looking to their smartphones for their next career opportunity

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With smartphones becoming an integral part of people’s lives, it’s seems that almost anything can be done from the comfort of your mobile.  It has become an additional technological limb that people use to play games, keep updated on news, and even search for their next career.

US Technology research firm, IDC has predicted that users will access the internet on mobile devices more than desktop computers by 2015. More smartphone users are searching for jobs on their hand-held devices due to the accessibly of the internet at any time and any place. (Weber, 2013)

With the increase of smartphone users job hunting on their phones and tablets, employers are starting to develop mobile versions of their career websites, creating apps with interactive career content, and simplifying job applications which can be easily completed at any time. Australian employment website, SEEK found that mobile visits to their website have doubled since 2012, with their iPhone app reaching over 1 million downloads since its launch in April 2012. (Osborne, 2012)

The advantages for employers in mobile recruitment are the convenience and immediacy. Smartphones offer the same speed and capability as a computer, but with almost unlimited accessibility and the ability to respond instantly, which can give recruitment higher and faster responses. Mobile recruitment can also target particular candidates at a lower cost (compared to traditional advertising).

Potential candidates are also using their smartphones to search for careers on social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. This helps companies target potential candidates with skills that match their opportunities. Companies who contact potential candidates through these mobile social networking websites are more likely to get a higher and instant response.

Employers are taking advantage of the smartphone users who almost depend on their mobiles, in particular younger candidates. With companies competing for younger technology-savvy candidates, mobile friendly recruitment campaigns can make a company stand out to younger smartphone job seekers who are browsing on the go. If a company doesn’t accommodate for mobile viewing, they are losing the opportunity for younger candidates to research and apply at any time and any place.

Mobile recruitment can also target those workers who might be casually exploring their career options in their spare time. Some workers who may be already employed might go online and search for other potential options while sitting on a bus, or waiting for a plane. Having an effective career website which is accessible on smartphones can help engage those potential candidates who may not be searching for work at all.

Even with the increase of smartphone users utilising their mobiles to search for their next potential career, there’s still a small percentage of companies who have made their recruitment process mobile-friendly. Mobile career website, iMomentous found that only a third of Fortune 500 companies have mobile friendly career portals. Not having smartphone friendly websites may disadvantage companies as they are missing out on those technology-savvy potential candidates who could possibly be looking for career opportunities while on the move. (Newman, 2013)