alstin communications

The usual state of business is typically “I need it the way I want it and I need it yesterday”. We’re all in a hurry and that doesn’t leave a lot of time for mistakes that need correcting. On the graphics end of business, many of the problems I run into are preventable on the front end, provided our clients understand what we need and why we need it.

Though you might be tempted to grab your company logo or great photo on your home page from the web to be set into a design for a printed piece, the truth is that very few (close to none) of the files that you can pull off a web page (72 pixels per inch) are going to have enough pixels for print work (250-300 pixels per inch). On top of that, part of putting images on the web means making the file size as small as possible. This means graphical compression in the form of jpeg or gif files which result in lower resolution and loss of detail when printed.

In other words, I’m begging you not to pull files from the web (or Word docs for that matter, though that’s another story)! If you find yourself hunting and hunting for that image you need to provide us with and the only one you can find is online, the end result will look like somebody made a mistake or didn’t know what they were doing. That’s not a reputation anybody wants!

The best thing you can do is spend some time before the rush is on, hunting down nice high-resolution files – usually someone on the marketing team will have them, or know where to get them. That will help your job run more smoothly and look a lot better.  Just make sure that whatever image you provide is one that you have the legal right to use. That sounds like a good Topic #2!

Let’s face it, the HR marketing budget is usually a lean one. It’s often been a key factor in my “being creative” on projects for my clients. Now that we are in the midst of a hard-hitting recession, the need to do more with less has never been so true.

Take a quick look around your office, the department’s waiting area or the space that you use to interview potential hires. There’s most likely some real potential to:

• Make a statement to potential new hires about the people who work for your organization
• Bring your employment brand home to current employees
• Provide a real sense of community for all, which is so important to retaining good people

These are posters that Alstin created for Maidenform’s offices.

These are their real employees. The same employees that inspired their brand’s core message that touts Maidenform as a company where you can “BE” your best. The taglines on these posters read:

Being an Engineer = A Drive to Problem Solve

Being a Bra Designer = A Dream Realized (This particular woman always wanted to design for intimate apparel. Working for this iconic brand really is her ultimate dream job.)

Being a Research Design Engineer = A Passion to Innovate

When people can see themselves in the job they are applying for, they know it’s right for them. And when employees see their efforts respected and admired in the halls of Human Resources it means a lot. And it all can be done inexpensively with a quality print job set in a picture frame. Making a big impact without a big budget can be done and we’ll continue to regularly spotlight some great examples right here on Alstin’s blog.

A good part of my daily activities focuses on analyzing data – the ROI from an SEM campaign, career site traffic patterns, landing page metrics, ratio of views/clicks/applies to determine job posting performance, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love crunching numbers and seeing what comes out.

The only area where it’s often very difficult to get good data – data you can use to make tough decisions, I’ve found is “Source of Hire data.” In my experience, very few companies (no matter how big or small) truly know where their hires come from. Frequently, I’ve seen clients rely on Source of Hire data reports from their ATS to make decisions about how to spend their recruitment budget.

Makes sense right? But how do you ensure the data is accurate? And what happens when the data is at best confusing or at worst – completely inaccurate. Recently, I assisted a client with delving deeper into their application process and how their ATS was set up to track sources of hire. After meeting with their ATS Account Manager, we discovered a slew of things that were creating inaccuracies. So, what areas would I recommend any HR/recruiting staff to look at “under the hood?”

1.) Automate your Source of Hire identification. Point A: You might as well label the “self select” option as “useless” because job seekers are notorious for selecting inaccurately (clicking on the first source on the list or what they “think” you want them to select). Point B: In this Web 2.0 world, job seekers are probably touching various points on the Internet (LinkedIn, a big job board, Google, Indeed.com, blogs, tweets, etc.) to find out more about your organization – asking them to choose “one” source is bound to be inaccurate.

2.) Analyze your Source of Hire definitions (aka Source List options) and be sure they are updated to ALL the sources you are using (ie. LinkedIn post; a Facebook fan page, etc.)

3.) Use unique URLs in all media placements that include your now squeaky clean Source of Hire definitions (ie. A very basic example: http://ATS.company.aspreq#&source=SOURCECODEHERE! (yes, I’m shouting this out – it’s that important!)

4) Verify, test, verify, test – make sure your unique URLs are working & train your team to use tinyurls to shorten for other placements offline. We all know GI = GO, so don’t put garbage in your ATS anymore. Verify the data coming through on the back end, run reports frequently and troubleshoot areas/questions.

5) If your ATS has a tracking capability to follow “applicants” as they navigate through your application process, analyze this data. What is your drop off rate from the ”click to apply button” to “completes application process?” If it seems high (and it most likely will be) you really need to review your application process and streamline it to its shortest possible length.

6) Update all links on your corporate site that direct traffic to your career site as a defined “source ID.” These links will help you identify who came through directly from your corporate site vs. going to another site(s) first. (#6 isn’t fool proof at determining which hires originated from the corporate/careers site, but identifying this traffic as a “source” is better than not identifying it at all.)

7) Establish an Onboarding Questionnaire that asks the newly hired employee where they heard about this opportunity. Enable a new hire to insert info/data in the “Other:” field. Heck, allow them to tell multiple sources or their story of “how I got hired.”

8.) Use your ATS’ email templates!! This could be another post/discussion all together. ATS email templates are your friends! Design them, use the personalization capabilities, send graphics, links, promote your employee blog, email a monthly newsletter, etc.

With your sparkling clean Source Data, your reports will certainly be able to tell you where your recruiting budget should be allocated. Next step: a Media Plan/Recruiting Goals based on facts not anecdotes.

Welcome to the inaugural post to Alstin Communications’ blog! Here you’ll continue to find an objective view of the recruitment advertising and employer marketing landscape as well as an accessible window into what’s happening inside the halls of Alstin – be it new products and services we’re developing, conversations with our clients, solutions to common HR issues, or a snapshot of how our “a-team”, the Account Execs, Interactive department and Creative staff, weave their magic. There will be new posts everyday.

Since blogging is a casual, conversational manner of presenting information we hope you’ll find our blog to be both informative and fun to read. And as with all Web 2.0 tools (that we hope you’re using for recruiting, but if you’re not please let us know how we can help!), interactivity is key. We’d like to hear what you have to say. So, please consider this a forum for you to share your thoughts on our posts, ideas on any topics you’d like to see covered, or anything that’s on your mind. Thank you!