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Recruiting’s Black Friday – January 3, 2011 – Recruitment Marketing – Black Friday

by Neil Costa on December 22, 2010

Build your Recruitment Marketing Strategy for Success

A few weeks ago, I was up at 4AM holiday shopping for my kids.  It was the first time in my life that I ventured out in the predawn hours the day after Thanksgiving to find a few deals.  Was I prepared? 

Coffee?   Check.
Wallet?  Check.
Shopping madness?  Not so much.

I anticipated chaos on the commercial holiday known as “Black Friday.”  I had visions of shoppers jumping over displays and stiff-arming each other for deals.  Meanwhile, I assumed a sleepy retail workforce would be doing its best to avoid the maniacal shopping public.  What I found was different.  Very different.  Yes, all the stores were open.  But instead of rabid shoppers and zombie employees, I found brands and teams that were in it to win it and others who flopped. 

Here is what I saw at Gap, a winner on my Black Friday:
•    Great offers – 50% off everything before 10 AM
•    A customer friendly environment – many registers open with managers roaming to help
•    A ton of choices –shelves totally stocked with abundant inventory to choose from
•    A focused staff – The guy at the register was incredibly helpful and even did a return for me amidst the rush. 
•    A lively environment – great music created a hip, energetic environment

I asked the employees what time they had to be there to get ready –midnight.  Seriously.  Here was a team that had embraced the growing popularity of Black Friday and knocked it out of the park. 

Now, here’s is what I saw at two total duds on Black Friday: (store names withheld to protect the guilty)
•    Staff was groggy, uninterested and probably unshowered
•    The deals were not impactful, just typical discounts I get every week in emails and flyers
•    Nothing  embraced the moment, it was just another day – boring
•    The music almost put me back to sleep because it was background noise, not part of a plan

The worst part? The stores had the velvet ropes all configured for the massive lines they anticipated, but I was the only one wandering the store.

One company planned for success and got it.  Two others just expected it to happen and failed. 

And this, friends, is where I finally bring this blog back to recruiting.  Ask yourself; are you prepared for next year in recruiting?  You better be because really talented people are going to be looking for jobs in 2011.  For candidates, the flight to safety is over, and the competition for top talent is back on.  This is what makes January 3, 2011 Black Friday for recruiting.

How will you open your doors when the New Year comes ringing in?  Will you have all of your ducks in a row?  Will you have a fresh look?  Will you be positioned to have your employment brand fresh?   The GAP put true effort into making a rocking Black Friday happen.  Do you have all the components to assure you employment brand is in the best possible position for January 2011? 

Taken an inventory of how you are doing on the following areas of digital recruiting:
•    Is your Career Site fresh and ready?
•    Do you have a user friendly ATS?
•    Are you sure your jobs are Search Engine Optimized?
•    Is pay-per-click recruiting on Indeed, Simply Hired & Google part of your marketing mix?
•    Is your Social Recruiting Strategy set for facebook, YouTube & Twitter?
•    Have you invested the time to understand the value of Employer Blogging?
•    Do you know why online video is so important to recruiting?
•    Have you tested out online video interviews?
•    Will you be more innovative as you plan diversity recruiting campaigns?
•    Are you hip enough to have a mobile or experiential recruiting program for campus recruiting?

Feel free to put up the velvet rope if you are knocking all of these out of the park.  Want to do a better job?  Of course you do.  Unsure of how to leverage new technology??  Maybe.  Panicked???  Don’t be.  There’s still time to get in the game.  You just need to plan for success and dive into these new digital marketing channels one at a time and find the right mix for your recruiting goals.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year in 2011.