Employer branding crucial in recruiting the best talent

Tags: Carl Camden | employer branding | recruiting | talent

Written by Kathleen Tan

Friday, 11 September 2009 11:36

In the war for talent, employer branding can give companies a critical edge in recruiting and retaining the best talent. In fact, it should be made a management priority even in a downturn, said Kelly Services, Inc CEO Carl Camden.

Nasdaq-listed Kelly Services, with revenues of US$5.5 billion (RM19.25 billion) last year, is one of the world’s leading companies in workforce management services and human resources solutions, providing employment to some 650,000 temporary staff annually. It offers a comprehensive array of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing as well as consulting services.

Citing findings from Kelly Services’ recent white paper, Building a Strong Employer Brand, Camden said employer branding does not cost much. “The best form of employer branding is employee-directed — it costs very little to empower and enable employees to support your employer brand,” he said in an interview in July on a visit to Kelly Services’ office in Kuala Lumpur.

According to the white paper, an employer brand earns its credibility when it is built virally through employees who believe in it. “The more you have to proclaim something to be true, the less likely it is,” he said.

A recession where “there seems like there’s nothing you can afford to do”, is the perfect time for management to prove their worth. “Anyone can make good investment decisions in a good market but the question is, what do you do in a tough market,” asked Camden.

More often than not, when management cites cost as an excuse not to do employer branding, they are actually uncertain of whether they are willing to spend the time and energy on it, he said.

“Part of employer branding is to understand what makes you a desirable employer as the new generation emerges. In building an employer brand, the actions of a CEO count, and the younger generation expects his actions to count — they expect to connect, talk and interact with their management,” he said.

Sometimes, it takes very little effort for management to connect with the employees. Camden recalled an incident when he received an email from an employee expressing her disappointment that no one had wished her on her wedding anniversary. He subsequently called and wished the employee. Touched by his gesture, the employee told others about it and even publicised it on her Facebook account.

“The younger generation changes what it means to be a corporate leader. They believe that they can email their CEO and expect a reply. If there’s something wrong, they’ll let me know,” he said.

At Kelly Services, Camden is connected to 10% of his employee base, almost all of whom are under the age of 30 — via social networking site LinkedIn. According to Kelly Services website, the company has about 8,900 full-time employees worldwide.

Camden believes that CEOs are not putting in enough effort to be connected to their employees. Referring to a survey of Fortune 500 firms in the US, Camden said less than 20 out of the 500 firms had CEOs who are in LinkedIn, and an even smaller number on Facebook.

“If you talk to a typical management on how they run their time, they have scheduled appointments from 8am to 5pm. It’s a question of time and knowledge,” he said, adding that he kept blocks of days unscheduled to be able to respond to employees.

CEOs who are not technically adept in social networking can enlist the help of their employees to generate ideas. “But it has to become a priority,” said Camden.

He added that the problem with many large organisations is that arrogance or pride in their company’s size and product brands cause them not to pay attention to their employer brand.

“I come from a generation where companies believed that if you were big and an institution, everyone would want to work for you. They fail to realise that the current generation of those aged 30 and below prefer to either work for a company that is lesser known or to start their own companies,” he said.

“The war for talent is over — talent has won. If you talk about sports teams, teams are judged by the talent of the players they have. Companies are defined by the talent they draw in and if you’re a CEO that cares about the future of the company, there is nothing more important than having the best talent in the world,” he said.

This article appeared on the Media & Advertising page, The Edge Financial Daily, Sept 11, 2009.

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