Human Resources

The Marketing Talent Pool – Running on empty?

THE REALITY

Census Canada recently released a report that “Management and professional occupations lead the retirement wave” with 55% of the workforce 40 or older. This is a terrifying statistic and leaves us to question what this will mean for Canadian Business in the next 10 years. Ultimately the traditional way of staffing up an organization (not to mention how we structure these organizations) is going to change. The Y generation is already throwing temper tantrums and demanding better work life balance. So what happens when that 55% retires? Does this mean that the workforce mix is going to change? Historically sticking with one company for life was of the norm. That is certainly not the case in today’s market. Will there be more freelancers and consultants? Will the age of retirement evaporate? Or will senior management be comprised of part timers making full time salaries just so the company can retain higher calibre talent? One thing that is sure to be noticed is that the immediate economic crisis has hiring in check. .. so when hiring is frozen and workloads boom... what does a marketer do to manage marketing resources(MRM)?

AN ALTERNATE ROUTE

What if a corporation knew they had a service that gave them access to high quality resources in marketing that were available quickly to address interim needs of the department to meet demand. This resource would eliminate the need to hire an additional Full Time Employee (FTE) or build additional resources and/or to farm the business to the costly advertising agency. This would in turn positively affect speed to market and address work life balance issues. This is not a new concept.

ACCOUNTING VERSUS MARKETING

The concept of bringing in skilled workers for short term assignments is not a new idea. Companies such as Adecco have made a huge name for themselves delivering generalist / admin temps on an as needed basis. However, when exploring the more senior and professional calibre roles, companies are far more reluctant to entertain temporary employees. The most common objections stem from concerns of the learning curve, because the common belief is ‘their business is so unique’, to more proprietary worries about confidentiality. Both these issues are easily overcome which has been clearly demonstrated by one company who started providing temps to the vertical considered most sacred… Finance. Accountemps has grown to become the largest and most successful financial temporary staffing firm in the world. It has since become very common to see firms that specialize in outsourcing/consulting for IT, HR, Supply Chain/ Operations and Creative services. Marketing however has not been a part of the temp renaissance.

The North American market for the Marketing Staffing segment has been estimated to be worth 1-3 Billion Dollars. The question that arises is if marketing staffing is such a hot service line, why are we not seeing more staffing firms focused on this segment, especially when there is so much depth in variety for the vertical? Marketing is deep and wide particularly within Fortune 500 organizations. Roles range from database management, brand/product management, Marcom, PR and Event Management, E-commerce and Market Research. The list goes on. So what is holding us back?

THE CLIMATE

Challenges a company faces within the marketing organization are far different from 10 years ago. Corporations are experiencing accelerated growth of core brands by expanding products and marketing programs. The explosion of new channels means that organizations more frequently run into skill gaps. Efforts to drive world class productivity limits bandwidth/resources for new marketing programs. Now add the whole Economy and recession fears to that equation. Efforts to find ways to cover surges of work in marketing departments often leads to outsourcing the load to the advertising agency… at a huge cost. This cost is not only monetary. When work life balance becomes compromised an organization runs into attrition risks. One risk is that overworked staff end up burning out and become less productive and take more sick leave. Secondly the reputation of the organization that becomes known as a ‘sweat shop’ has an adverse affect on ability to attract new good replacement talent. This is fast becoming an issue in marketing departments already!

BACK TO REALITY

When a company is striving to create a winning environment that values work life balance what happens when additional full time hires are not in the budget due to a head count freeze? It is becoming clear that out of the box thinking will be needed for companies to survive over the next decade. Marketing Resource Management will be an integral tool keep in mind for your survival kit.

Elevating Revenue: Marketing or Price or Client Experience

As globalization brings competitors from across the world closer and closer together, it is no longer about “lowest price always wins,” nor is it about “best marketing campaign always wins.” Growing any business successfully is only accomplished by attaining and retaining clients. This brings me to my first question: What has the single biggest impact on client experience? The answer: Your employees. To peel the onion back further, one would then have to ask, What has the single biggest impact on employees? The answer: Leaders and Managers.

Happy employees = Happy clients…

Keeping your staff happy keeps them engaged. That brings me to the next question: How do leaders elevate employee engagement? The answer: A leader’s trust is the number one driver of “employee engagement” hence, the well known quote: “people join companies but stay because of their boss.”

So, what is the real role of a leader? A large part of any people leader’s mandate is to create enthusiasm and loyalty. Those two qualities elevate employee experience.

Eight simple questions you can ask of your staff to validate if you are creating loyalty.

1. Do I know what is expected of me at work?
2. At work, do I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day?
3. In the last 7 days, have I received recognition or praise for doing good work?
4. Does my leader care about me as a person?
5. Is there someone at work who encourages my development?
6. At work, do my opinions count?
7. Do I have a best friend at work?
8. In the last 6 months, has someone at work talked to me about my progress?

Nine specific To-Do’s for all People Leaders to elevate employee engagement?

1. Provide Purpose – Make The World A Better Place
2. Inspire Vision – Always earning the right to be your staff’s leader
3. Empower People Whenever You Can
4. Instil Values
5. Listen – don’t tell others what to do
6. Care About Others – Great Servants
7. Collaborate/Build Teamwork
8. Set Tough But Realistic Goals
9. Change transformation

In the end, why would a customer give you their business if when comparing companies you have similar products of similar quality and at similar prices? It is the front-line staff that make all the difference. The solution to elevating sales and revenue is not marketing driven, it is people driven. Spend development budgets in the right places.

Employment Branding: What’s Your Proposition?

In order to attract and retain top talent, a lot of companies often lose sight of the fact that they need to give their company (not just the products & services that they offer) a brand identity. Many fortune companies do a great job at this and have comprehensive marketing strategies in place specifically for recruitment and brand awareness. They spend millions ensuring that the integrity of their organization is communicated through various marketing vehicles specifically designed to attract potential employees and broadcast positive organizational messages.

You don’t have to be a multi-million dollar organization to do an exceptional job at communicating your employment proposition. By considering a few key tactics, you can be well on your way to appearing on one of those “best companies to work for” lists.

Culture.
Prospective employees are interested in more than just a pay cheque these days. They want to know what the corporate culture is like. Is there flexibility, opportunity to grow, career development, employee perks…? Is there an employee lounge with a TV and a Playstation…? Is employee teambuilding big at your organization?

Cultural fit is extremely important to employees, especially well educated ones… They’re not looking for a sweat shop, especially when there are plenty of companies around who believe strongly in work/life balance.

Awareness.
It’s one thing to have a well-kept secret; it’s another to try to get the right people to discover your secret. Brand awareness is absolutely imperative to maintaining an attractive employment proposition in the marketplace.

Engage in marketing, advertising and public relations ventures to increase the perceived value of working for your organization. Advertising your company as a great place to work will ensure that those resumes keep flowing.

Knowledge.
Arm prospective employees with as much knowledge as possible for them to make an enlightened decision about whether your company is right for them. It’s not just about finding the right candidates; it’s about ensuring that the candidates feel mutual about the relationship. People don’t like changing jobs often, and are quite happy to stick around if you make it worth their while.

Simply posting job openings on your website (especially when they are severely outdated) isn’t enough. Why not set up a separate recruiting site? Allow employees to upload their resumes directly to your site. Let them create alerts, letting them know when new positions become available. Set up social networking sites to foster dialogue and create conversations about what it’s like to work for the company. Take out ads, participate in career fairs, partner with recruiting sites. It is things like these that create positive perceptions and valuable word of mouth ambassadors.

Keeping employees happy and inspiring them to do their best, can not only lead to greater profits and increased morale, but it can push the boundaries of possibility and open many new doors.

Video resumes are changing the face of recruiting

More and more, prospective employees are turning to online video services like YouTube in order to attract the attention of potential employers and placement agencies. A search for "Video Resume" returns 1,400 results on YouTube.

Most of the applicants are young, tech-savvy and ambitious. They range from humorous to professional, and from C-level executives to students. The variety is quickly expanding. These applicants have also been taking advantage of various Web 2.0 technologies that complement their efforts. Facebook, blogs, RSS, social bookmarking and other tools have all been used in order to obtain employment.

HirePatrickNow.com is a web site for a young Toronto man who's looking to expand his professional options. It's a simple letter of introduction that he sends to managers after having submitted his conventional resume to HR. Patrick's approach is simple, innovative and effective. Although still in its infancy, this practice is expected to become more common within the next few years. Experts have said that this could be most significant recruitment trend since the introduction of online Job search sites.

The Hunt for Interactive Talent: Call to Action

We need to act. And, we need to act now.

Earlier this week, I was participating at one of the Market Yourself Smarter conferences. Those who attend MYS events appreciate them because they are consistently topical and practical.

The topic of the day was Employers Who Walk the Talk. A few messages came through loud and clear during the presentations and group discussions:

• To succeed, companies must tap into the passion and creativity of their employees
• This generation’s workforce has new expectations from its employers
• Leadership means effectively understanding, anticipating and responding to employees’ needs and expectations

As I was listening to discussions about the employees’ ideal work environment it struck me that if there ever was a group of stakeholders that relied on leading-edge skills from the current and next generation of talented workers, the interactive and digital marketing community is it.

Other CEO’s and Presidents at interactive agencies, web developers and e-marketing shops often ask me how we (at ThinData) are able to consistently attract and retain top talent. They all say the same things: the hunt for talent is consuming much of their time; the talent pool is thin; and, they are spending growing amounts of money on recruiting talent.

And yet, I am not hearing a great deal from the interactive and digital community – the independent firms or the digital arms of the big ad agencies – about this fundamental resource challenge that needs to be addressed with a long-term vision.

There needs to be a plan; one that is developed, monitored and updated.

The interactive and digital marketing community needs a plan that engages universities, colleges, associations and businesses. All of these stakeholders need to work together to identify the skills that are needed now and in the future as well as to methodically and substantially grow the pool of talent.

We need to sit down as a group and identify innovative ways to cultivate the required skills while fulfilling the expectations and demands of a new generation of employees who expect new types of working relationships.

If we, as a community expect to keep pace of growth as we look to 2009, 2010 and beyond…we need to start treating the development and growth of talent as an industry priority. We need to take lessons from other industries that have successfully developed formal apprenticeship and training partnerships with educational institutions across different levels.

If, as a member of the interactive and digital marketing community, you have ever found yourself struggling to find or keep the right person, you have a stake in this issue.

Let’s discuss it in more detail. Shoot me an email at ceo@thindata.com.