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Mark

Mark has over 20 years’ experience working with clients on how their brand, technology and the web can help them attract, engage and retain the best talent. And he is still going strong. He's worked with some high-profile brands, delivered some award-winning projects, met some great people and had a lot of fun along the way. Oh, and he has a dog. Ted. He’s always on LinkedIn. He’s probably more recognisable than Mark is.

Jul 03
Love0

Our little story, part two. New direction, new identity and a new home

By Our little story

That Little Agency | Our Thoughts | Our Little Story Part Two Image

What an interesting 12 months it has been. And a good opportunity to recount our little story, part two. Today sees the end of my incubation partnership with ThirtyThree as they release me back into the wild. And not a moment too soon as I’m hungry and ready to go. Having their support for the past 12 months has been invaluable. It has given me the opportunity to talk to a number of leading talent acquisition professionals on what they are looking for from an agency and shape our offering around their actual needs.

This combined with the support from the NatWest Entrepreneurial Spark programme has seen me pivot the business a little. No longer are we trying to offer all things to all clients, we’re actually focusing on what employers are looking for and playing to our strengths. And those strengths are:

  • Employer value proposition (EVP) definition
  • Employer brand (or more accurately recruitment identity) development
  • Careers website design, development and delivery
  • Employer and recruitment marketing (including social media)

Having a clear focus on what we want to do has meant that we are able to more successfully articulate our offering as a business. We offer tactical support to talent acquisition, resourcing and recruitment professionals.

While we’re always looking to build long, beautiful and highly effective relationships with our clients, we’re also equally happy delivering a single one-off project. What’s more we’re not too precious about where in the creative process we come in. If you’ve already defined your EVP then our creative team can use that to deliver a meaningful recruitment identity. If you already have an employer brand, we’re happy to work with that as we develop your careers website and recruitment marketing. But then again, if you’d like us to do the whole lot – then we’d probably love you forever.

This clear focus on what we do, enabled us to develop a purpose for That Little Agency:

“We bring great people and great companies together.”

It’s a simple purpose, but one that will shape everything we do. From this came our values. And then finally our own value proposition:

“Every employer has a story to tell. We’ll help you tell yours.”

Of course our guiding principles haven’t changed. We still offer insight-led solutions, creative thinking and digital expertise. And remain a great bunch of people to work with.

So that’s it. Our little story, part two. And as we start the next chapter, we’ve moved into a new home. A converted bank, complete with a safe for a meeting room and a place for Ted. Of course. So let’s see where the next 12 months take us.

Need a little help?

If you feel that you’d like some help, support or even a little chat around defining your employer value proposition, developing your employer brand or any aspect of your talent attraction strategy just drop us a line. After all, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

May 02
Love3
Compelling job adverts | Our blog | That Little Agency

A little guide to writing a successful job advert

By Content marketing

Be honest, is this you? You’ve done the hard work. A candidate has found your job advert either on a job board or on your careers website. You’ve got them. They are yours for the taking. So what do you do? You deliver them an uninspiring set of bullet points all about what you are looking for. What an opportunity missed. All because you simply cut and pasted the job description onto the site and failed to think about what the candidate was actually looking for.

Now I appreciate that you may be short on time and needed to get the advert live as soon as you could. But I truly believe that by taking the time to write a compelling and inspiring job advert you will end up with better quality applications. And that is worth the extra thirty minutes you’ll spend on it. And we hope that this little guide to writing a compelling job advert will help.

Assume nothing

According to The Candidate Experience Awards, 48% of applicants have no previous relationship with your company. Some may not have even heard of your company when they see your job advert. So start with knowing the basics: who you are, what you do, what makes you special and why they should want to work for you. We are going to weave this into the advert.

Make your job searchable

If you want your job advert to be found, then you need to make sure that your job title is something that people will search for. Avoid words like ‘Ninja’, ‘Guru’ or ‘Jedi’. Stick closely to industry standard terms that you know job seekers will be searching for.

Some job seekers will browse for jobs by category as opposed to searching by job title, so make sure that you have listed it correctly against the correct category. And while you’re at it why not sense check the categories on your website. Are they clear and intuitive? Are they designed to help a job seeker or just reflect the structure of your business? If it is the latter, we’d recommend you change it.

Lead with the purpose

It is a competitive market out there. Why should someone apply for your job and not someone else’s? What’s in it for them? Great questions and certainly ones that the potential applicant will be asking themselves. So let’s answer them for them. Talk to the hiring manager, get them to answer them for you. Ask them, “Why is this role integral to the success of the team (and the business)?”, “What are we missing while this role is left unfilled?” and “How can the person doing this role make a difference?”. Use the answers to create the introductory paragraph to the advert. Make it emotive. After all, it may be the only copy in the advert they read. Make your first impression a great one.

If you like it, then you should put a salary on it

So few job adverts have the salary on them. Why? Are you embarrassed? Have you even checked that it is competitive? It is really important to a job seeker. It is one of the top things they are looking for. It is how they judge the seniority of the role. More importantly if your competitors aren’t doing it, then by simply showing the salary you have a competitive advantage.

Location, location, location

When job seekers are searching for jobs they already know how far they are willing to travel and so will be looking at specific towns or cities. So be specific with your location. Don’t think that by listing a geographically diverse location your job will appear in more searches and appeal to more candidates – the opposite is true. The clever tech behind job search engines and job boards means vacancies with very precise locations, appear in searches for not just that place, but the region it’s in, as well as the UK.

Writing the advert

A job description is not a job advert. A job description is a legal obligation. A job advert is a beautifully sculpted piece of employer marketing. Think like a job seeker. What do they want to know? How can we make it easy to read on screen? How can we avoid boring them to tears? From the conversations that we have had with job seekers the key is delivering content in an easily digestible way. And that doesn’t mean bullet points.

Use headings

These will help structure your job advertisement. Job seekers are likely to be skim-reading dozens of job adverts in a single session, so give your company the best chance to make an impression.

Tell them about the job

But make it personal. Use language like ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’ as opposed to ‘we’, ‘us’ and referring to the company name. The job seeker is looking at your company and the role is going to have a positive impact on their life. They’re also looking for some idea of where this job could take them. So why not tell them?

Be clear on what you are looking for

Many job seekers want you to describe what a great employee would look like. Be explicit. The right candidate will be able to recognise themselves from your description and should be inspired to apply.

Structuring the job advert

So what does a perfect advert look like? Well, it is likely to vary from job board to job board, so you may want to familiarise yourself with the ones you use most regularly. Find out how their search engines work and how the advert appears in the search results as well as the full advert, and whether they look different on a smartphone.

But as a rule of thumb, we like this structure:

  • Job title
  • Location
  • Salary
  • The purpose of the role
  • About the role
  • About you
  • Reward and benefits
  • About the company
  • Application process
  • Call to action

You could even use these as headings. They will allow the job seeker to quickly jump to the section that they are most interested in.

A simple little check list

So there you have it. Nothing ground breaking. Mostly it’s good old common sense. And I am sure you’ll agree – pretty straight forward. But if that is the case, why are we seeing so many uninspiring job adverts? So, next time you write a job advert, why not ask yourself these questions:

  • Does the job title adequately describe the job? Is it crystal clear to the outside audience?
  • Does the copy tell the job seeker what they need to know? Do we have enough filters to discourage unsuitable people from applying?
  • Is all the information relevant?
  • Are we presenting the company – and the role – in an attractive light?
  • Is the copy clear, concise and appealing? Are we using the words ‘you’, ‘your’ and ‘yours’?
  • Is the application process clear?
  • Would the advert inspire me to apply?

And that’s that, all the elements that make up a well crafted, highly targeted and, most importantly of all, interesting and readable job advert. Feel inspired? We hope so.

Need a little help?

If you’d like to discuss how we could help you write better job adverts or even train your team to, then please get in touch.

Apr 17
Love5
Film in Employer Branding | Our blog | That Little Agency

Producing a compelling employer branding film

By Employer branding

I love a guest blog article. And so when I was recently talking to friend and ex-colleague Nick Price of Working Films around his thoughts on what you should think about when delivering an employer branding film, I was delighted when he agreed to share his top tips and considerations with us in the form of one of our little guides. So, take it away Nick …

It’s all about the story

Film has little impact if it doesn’t have a story. No matter how short the story there has to be a thread and a theme that engages with its audience. In this case it is the story of the people in the organisation and the impact that work has on them and the world around them. It’s about looking beyond the job description and seeing the story of individuals, so people can relate to the job they are going to do and the people they are going to work with.

Show the value of people’s work not just what they do

When I first conducted employee research I would listen to people talk extensively about the real purpose of their role and why it mattered. I had to capture this and communicate it in a strategy that could creatively be presented – first to the client and then to the target audience. But no one else got to see the real views in person – the expression, the context, seeing it in action. That is what can drive a true connection and it is these small percentages that can have a big impact on the true business goals of any employer brand.

If you’re filming wildlife, use someone who understands wildlife

The key to the success of the production is the understanding of the subject. Knowing how to approach it, how it will be used and the key points of interest to identify and show the audience. It pays to work with people who understand the subject. They will know what an organisation is trying to achieve quickly and will be as driven by the content and interest in the people and their work as the art of producing a film.

Really get your money’s worth out of filming

Don’t just make a one-off video. Think about how you can maximise the output from your filming time. A weeks’ filming could not only result in the final piece of film, but also versions for teaser campaigns, support recruitment through to induction, on-boarding and employee engagement work. It is a cleverer and more efficient way of producing film and also ensures that the branding and values that the employee experiences are consistent and inline with the employer value proposition.

Filming isn’t just the moment in front of the camera

Whilst this might appear to be obvious, never under estimate the pre-production in planning and the post-production for editing and approvals. The film shoot might take a day, but pre-production will be at least twice that and editing can vary enormously depending on whether it is a structured storyboard, documentary style unscripted (takes a lot longer but more natural results) or requires significant amounts of grading or effects.

Show the value in the Employer Value Proposition

We all want to be valued and film provides the opportunity to show where this value sits within an organisation. It’s about the value to the individual, its value to the organisation and ultimately how the organisation demonstrates its value and recognition towards its employees. An organisation first needs to identify and understand its Employer Value Proposition. When it comes to communicating this through film it runs deep into the fundamental principle of why someone should do the job they do and ultimately which company they choose to work for.

Film is not just what we see and hear, it’s how it makes us feel

If we think of our favourite films we often talk about how they make us feel. This is important to think about as both a recruiter and employer. Emotion plays a big role in our decision-making and we can engage with candidates and employees on another level if we can affect positively how they feel. It is why film plays such an integral role in employer branding.

Production: It’s not always what you notice, it’s often what you don’t

Technology has made production of video and its distribution much more accessible to organisations that previously would not have had the budget for a full production piece. But there are some important basics to get right to do the content justice:

Sound

Few people will comment on good sound, but most will notice bad. Danny Boyle is quoted as saying that 70% of film is sound. You can address something that visually isn’t perfect, but you can’t disguise bad sound.

Editing

Most people won’t notice a cut in an edit as if they do it’s generally a bad cut. Editing in an employer branding film requires not only knowledge of the subject and an understanding of the themes and objectives for the film, but a technical ability to construct this into a seamless output. These two aspects of editing may sometimes require different skillsets.

Environment

Someone that comes across as relaxed and natural may have been completely the opposite for the first 15 minutes of the interview, but it’s enabling an environment that elicits the natural and most pertinent responses that give the film impact and engages with the audience.

Need a little help?

Film is an incredibly rich media that allows us to reflect an organisation’s values, culture and fit with more purpose than ever before. Working Films has a reputation for showcasing natural and engaging storytelling. To find out more about what they do and who they have worked with, visit www.workingfilms.co.uk or drop Nick a line at enquiries@workingfilms.co.uk.

Sep 15
Love2
That Little Agency | Employer Branding Agency | Our Thoughts | Mobile Applications Image

Mobile applications and the search for the holy grail

By Careers websites

Right, let’s address this head on. If your careers website isn’t set up for mobile applications then you’re missing out on some talented people. Not only are you ignoring the 45% of job seekers who say that they use their mobile device specifically to search for jobs at least once a day 1, but also Google will be penalising your website in the process 2. It makes sense to make your careers website mobile friendly, so just do it.

The mobile application

But just how far do you take this mobile friendliness? What are the expectations of a modern job seeker? Are they happy just to browse for jobs or do they want to do an in-depth search? And if they find the perfect job do they want to apply there and then? If so, how should we support this? All good questions and the answer as always is … it depends. It depends on your target audience, depends on the nature of the role you are recruiting for and depends on what hiring managers expect from a job application.

Having worked with many resourcing teams in many organisations, I know the blood, sweat and tears that have gone into establishing the recruitment process and the part that the careers website and applicant tracking system play in that. Now those processes may be out-dated, clumsy and designed to meet the traditional recruitment needs of a hiring manager, but they are often deeply engrained within the business. So I can understand the reluctance to throwing them out to meet the needs of a mobile job seeker.

A glimmer of hope

But it seems that we don’t have to. A recent report by Madgex 3 suggests that while job seeking on a mobile is popular, many users don’t trust their mobiles when actually applying for a job. In fact, two thirds of those surveyed have never applied for a job through their mobile, the major concerns being the size of the screen, a lack of a proper keyboard and the difficulties cross-referencing the advert when making an application.

The research suggests that job seekers would much rather save or bookmark an advert to look at (or apply for) later on a desktop. Now while the Madgex piece of research centres on job boards, I am in no doubt that the same is true of careers websites and applicant tracking systems. If not more so. As applying for jobs via job boards could be deemed a transactional activity, while applying via a company’s own careers website is a far more engaged and emotional process.

So it seems that job seekers’ opinion of mobile job applications (m-apply) is viewed with as much distrust as many of the employers that I have worked with. So no need to rip up your 16 step online application process just yet. Phew. But be aware, this could quickly change. And if it does, how quickly could you react to it?

Your online application form

Maybe you should be thinking now about the data you capture in your online application form and whether it is actually helping you identify the very best talent. Are you collecting irrelevant information? Or even worse using a long, field-ridden application form, because simply the act of completing it shows that the job seeker ‘is committed to working for you’. You should be ashamed of yourselves if you are! The wise thing to do would be to tailor your application process to meet the behaviour of your target audience.

Someone’s getting it right!

I know of one call centre employer who saw that over 60% of the traffic to their website came through a smartphone or tablet and so introduced an application process designed to match their mobile audience. Step one was invariable carried out on a mobile and consisted of a simple data capture form. Completing this then generated an email asking the job seeker to complete a second more detailed application step. While there is a natural drop off between steps 1 and 2, the employer has the data from step 1 and is able to contact directly them to encourage them and help them navigate their way through the application process. It is an approach that means that not only are over 60% of their website visits via a mobile device, but so are 60% of their applications.

It’s process that seems to reflect the findings of the Madgex report and maybe the best way to meet the needs of the modern, mobile job seeker and the expectations of the traditional line manager. At the moment.

Want some help?

If you feel you’d like some help, support or even a little chat around your careers website or aspects of your employer brand and talent attraction strategy just drop us a line. After all, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea and a Zoom call.

Sources
1 Glassdoor, 50 HR and Recruiting Stats That Make You Think (2016).
2 Google, Make sure that your website’s ready for mobile-friendly Google search results (2015).
3 Madgex, Job Seeker Behaviour Part 2: Multi Device Applications (2016).

Jul 07
Love6
That Little Agency | Employer Branding Agency | Our Thoughts | Great Blog Image

Producing a good blog image for your careers website

By Careers websites, Employer branding

Good Blog Images for Careers Websites | Our Blog | That Little Agency

The use of a blog or publishing platform within a careers website is pretty common practice now. As companies start to embrace the notion of being brand storytellers it has been great to see resourcing and marketing teams working together to create really interesting content. But the increase in these ‘people stories’ means that there has also been an increase in dreadful photographs to accompany them. And I have seen some howlers.

So I thought I would just share a few tips on how to pull together good blog images for your careers website.

A photo taken on your smartphone will be fine. After all it’s good enough for your Instagram account. Just make sure that you send it through to whoever is publishing your story that you send across the highest resolution version you can. Clue, it’s the one with the biggest file size.

Get someone else to take it. You could send across a selfie, but it never really looks right. The angle is a little weird, one shoulder will always be higher then the other and you can see your extended arm. I am sure you have a friend or colleague who could take it. Don’t be shy.

A selfie stick might work. But why put yourself through the effort and embarrassment? It is easier just to ask someone to help. I am sure your desk buddy can spare you ten minutes.

Always landscape, never portrait. Ever. Full stop. Don’t argue. Move on.

Don’t bottle it and try to substitute a holiday snap instead. Ideally the shot should be taken in the workplace. After all we are trying to showcase your working environment. And if you work outside, take it outside.

Try to frame the shot with something interesting in the background. There doesn’t need to be any detail in the back of the shot, it is just useful to give the image a little depth and texture.

Avoid taking the image against a plain background like a wall. It’s just dull and we can’t do anything to enhance it. A background image gives us the opportunity to sharpen the foreground and blur the background. Which gives a nice effect.

The subject of the image doesn’t have to be staring down the lens of the camera. Sometimes it just feels a little too intense and full on. May be they can be slightly off centre and looking past the camera, to the side or concentrating on a piece of work they are doing.

Don’t zoom in on the subject’s face. There’s no need for an extreme close up. The face is only going to be a small part of the final image. Give them a little space. Especially if the final image is going to be cropped as the designer may need that extra space to crop it sympathetically.

Take a group photograph if it makes the subject feel more comfortable. This works particularly well if the essence of the story is teamwork, collaboration or collegiality – or if they are particularly self-conscious.

A smile goes a long way. It would be great if the subject looks as though they are enjoying themselves at work. After all that is the image that we’re trying to portray. If all else fails, say cheese.

I know that it sounds a lot of effort for an image that is just accompanying a blog article. But bear in mind that your story archive is only going to keep growing and at some point could make up the majority of the images on your site. Set the bar high from the get go and you’ll always have good blog images for your website and also your social media feeds.

Here are a few that I like from Clarks, LV= and the National Trust.

Good Blog Images For Careers Websites Examples | Our Blog | That Little Agency

Jul 01
Love34

Our little story, part one. One man and his dog

By Our little story

That Little Agency | About Us | Ted Beavan

It was always going to take something special to encourage me to say goodbye to ThirtyThree. It was never going to be the promise of more money, better clients or even partnership, because I had them all there. But I started to get itchy feet. Why? During my decade there we had worked with some great clients, delivered some impressive work and picked up a hatful of awards along the way. Perhaps that was the problem. It was a little too safe. So what do you do in a situation like that? Well, the sensible thing. Talk to the boss.

The result was an arrangement that would be good for both of us. I’d have the freedom to set up my own business with the support of ThirtyThree as my first client. And ThirtyThree would retain my services on a part-time basis. Win, win. And so the adventure begins. With a laptop, a mobile phone, a desk in a shared workspace and an idea. A little one.

The idea is to tweak the big agency model. To offer clients a more agile and flexible way to work with the very best people around. I work with clients to design, develop and manage a client’s project or strategy, and call upon a wide network of trusted, talented friends to help me deliver it. An associate enabled delivery method. Something new for our industry.

And so I am going to be spending the next few months seeing if this idea has actually has legs. And I’ll be doing it not only with the support of ThirtyThree, but also the NatWest Entrepreneurial Spark programme. This is an enablement programme designed to help me develop my idea into a full formed, mature business of three years within 18 months. Exciting stuff. And exactly the support I need right now.

And so the adventure begins. Come on Ted. Allons-y.

Need a little help?

If you feel that you’d like some help, support or even a little chat around defining your employer value proposition, developing your employer brand or any aspect of your talent attraction strategy just drop us a line. After all, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea and a biscuit.

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