Our thoughts4

I quite like an awards do. Even more when you win. And so when our friends The Royal Horticultural Society picked up the gong for ‘Best development of an employer brand’ at the Firm Awards 2023 we were cock-a-hoop. I am really proud and pleased to head up a multi-award-winning agency. But there seems to be so many ceremonies around now at the moment that their value is often being questioned. But I can’t help enjoying them. Those moments when hopes and dreams are realised – or dashed. And no, I’m not just talking about whether I can still fit into my dinner suit or not.

So do awards matter? I’ve spoken to clients who’ve won, been a judge at a number of awards and been fortunate enough to collect a few myself across the years. I think they matter and I know clients do too. Yes, on the face of it they are a great night out but what they represent goes a lot deeper.

They’re good for clients

Clients put a lot of faith in their agencies and frankly, they take a lot more risks than they used to. When I started as a copywriter at TMP Worldwide in the late 90s we still lived in a world of print advertising. There was this interesting new thing called the internet but, if you were a recruitment manager, you pretty much spent your budget the same way you always did. Local press. And no-one ever got fired for that?

As we all know, it’s a completely different landscape now. Candidate behaviour has changed hugely and with it, the way we engage with them. Creative and media solutions are not as cut and dried as they used to be, which takes me back to risk-taking. If a print campaign failed to hit the mark, there was always the next one. But today, a careers website and the development of the employer brand is a big commitment – and requires a lot of trust from the client. So when a resourcing manager has put their case to their board and seen it deliver a genuine benefit to their business benefit, I think that they deserve their moment in the spotlight.

Breaking our duck

Back in 2018, when Hastings Direct asked us to support them in the development of their employer brand and new website they really did take a risk – especially as we were just a ‘cheeky young start-up’. So, when we picked up the ‘Best digital communication of the employer brand’ gold award at the Employer Brand Management Awards 2018, we were delighted to see their leap of faith rewarded.

People love to be recognised

While winning awards raises a client’s profile, it’s also hugely satisfying for a resourcing team. As Heather Kitto, Head of Resourcing at NFU Mutual puts it, “An award win is a symbol of recognition, for the individuals, the team involved and for the company. As an employer it helps broaden the understanding of your organisation the work you do and your strategy.” Which is why we were delighted to see them pick up the ‘Outstanding impact transformation and change’ award at FIRM Awards 2021. And the ‘Best careers website’ awards at the S1 Jobs Awards in 2021 AND 2022. Well done.

And Emma Issitt, former Head of Resourcing and Talent at Toolstation, feels the same way. “Knowing that you are doing something well or even doing something different always spurs me on to do more! My biggest pride is taking the team to awards ceremonies and seeing the look on their faces if they win. It’s priceless.” So it was brilliant to see them pick up the ‘Best development of an employer brand’ award at FIRM Awards 2020.

They’re good for agencies

Just as awards represent recognition for clients, they hold the same kudos and value for agencies and can bring a strong commercial benefit too. That’s because awards can help employers identify which agencies are doing some of the best work and helping their clients attract talent. And a list of recent awards is a common request in RFPs too – so, they are naturally good for business development as well as client retention.

They are also good for retaining and attracting our own talent. Winning, and being recognised for being creative and ambitious to win more awards, attracts and engages the best creatives and client management – just as clubs with champions league aspirations attract the best players.

From our perspective at That Little Agency, awards give us the platform to not only gain recognition from clients and our friends in the industry, they are also a huge confidence boost to us as a new start-up. While I value every award I’ve won in other agencies, there was something very special about arriving back in Bristol at 2 am holding an award with That Little Agency embossed on it. We must be doing something right!

They’re good for the industry

Awards are not just about the winners either, there’s a shared learning benefit too. All agencies can benefit from seeing the level of work being put forward. Awards raise standards so, for those agencies that were runners up or considering entering in the future, it’s worth looking at who won and why – and learn from what they did differently.

You only have to scan the award categories to appreciate how much our industry has evolved over recent years. From ‘Best diversity and inclusion strategy’ to ‘Best on-boarding strategy’; ‘Health & wellbeing’ to ‘Technology innovation’; and ‘Events and experiential’ to ‘Use of social’.

These categories recognise that the work we produce is now part of a marketing and branding industry every bit as creative as what some might call ‘consumer’ marketing. Indeed, as choosing a career is one of the biggest decisions anyone could make, I’d say ‘employer’ marketing is every bit as important – well I would, wouldn’t I?

What awards also help us do is showcase how, as an industry, we are raising the bar. Collectively, our work is inspiring clients to push boundaries and, in so doing, feel more confident in taking those risks. When clients are prepared to trust us to create the messages that help them connect with their best talent, they also give us the platform to create more award winning work to develop their employer brand. And the more creative our output as an industry, the more we’ll attract the best talent ourselves.

Missing out

Having focused our business around a handful of key services, we typically only enter the employer branding and careers website categories of the major awards. And our hit rate is pretty good. We have an 80% conversion rate from entry to nomination. Why? Because I think our clients have a great story to tell. And we tell it pretty well. But I have also spent a few uncomfortable nights having to fake a smile and clap enthusiastically as someone else’s name is read out.

“But remember, it is better to have nom’d and lost then never to have nom’d at all.”

I once even whooped in the wrong place as the letter T in TMP Worldwide was read out. That was awkward.

Award winning. My final words on this … honest

Ultimately, the real award is helping clients achieve their goals and seeing people who have put their faith in you become successful. As Bridget Kearns, former Talent Director at Hastings Direct describes it “Hastings Direct and That Little Agency make a fantastic partnership. They are great ambassadors for the work we do and have effectively and creatively brought to life our employer proposition. We are delighted with our award-winning employer brand.”

Personally, I believe the very best work is a combination of a great initial idea, a bunch of talented people who all want to deliver something special, and a brave and ambitious client. And if we can have some fun delivering it, all the better. And remember, not all work can or will win awards, some of it will just be well thought out, highly targeted and ultimately effective pieces of employer marketing. You don’t always need a gong to tell you that.

Need a little help?

If you feel that you’d like some help, support or even a little chat around your employer brand, just drop me a line. After all, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea, a biscuit and a Zoom call.

A new vacancy comes in and what’s your first thought? We better start looking for some candidates, right? But chances are you may have already met a couple of great ones the last time you advertised for this post. The ones who almost got the job. It would be lunacy to start again from scratch, wouldn’t it? Then why do we keep doing it? A lot of questions, I know. But this is something that I feel passionately about.

As a talent acquisition specialist, much of your work goes into candidate attraction and engagement where the focus is often on the latest roles to fill. We get that. But we think there’s a really powerful case for a process that manages the candidates you didn’t hire – at least not this time. Before you start the whole candidate journey again, you could save a lot of time, as well as doing your employer brand no harm at all if you build a candidate relationship management strategy. And not just for those who came so close. Those that didn’t make it to interview stage at all will also have a view of your process.

Meeting candidate expectations

You’ve created that brilliant candidate experience from the initial point of contact right through to the point of interview. But sadly, not everyone gets an offer, despite how good they might be. And it’s the ‘what happens next’ part that can either prove how strong your employer brand really is – or serve up a damaging case of underwhelm. Nothing will destroy an employer proposition, brand or reputation quicker than a bad candidate experience. We’ve all heard these horror stories. “The questions were rubbish and I didn’t feel I had the opportunity to shine.” or “The interviewer was distracted. Always looking at their phone. Don’t bother going to work for them. It’s a terrible organisation.”

These experiences feed directly into how candidates view your employer brand. According to research covered on LinkedIn, nearly 4 in 5 candidates (78%) say the overall candidate experience they receive is an indicator of how a company values its people. What’s more, research by People Scout found that nearly half (48%) of candidates did not receive feedback on their last application. And of those who did, 38% stated that the comments they received weren’t helpful.

You can put a value on the damage caused too. We’ve shared this one before – and probably will again. Research by Virgin Media found that poor candidate experience was potentially costing them £5.4 million a year in cancelled subscriptions.

What better reason then for a process that treats all candidates with the respect their application deserves – whatever the outcome?

The 90 day factor

Here’s another reason why you really need to keep a dialogue with those candidates you almost hired. A recent HR Grapevine article claimed that around 30% of new starters leave within 90 days. Yep, those perfect hires don’t always work out. It might not have been the right culture for them, the job may not have met their expectations. It happens. The easiest thing to do would be then to fall back to those that narrowly missed out because they are likely to be a very good fit. And if you’ve got a good relationship with them, you don’t have to go through the recruitment process again.

Building candidate relationships – and positive experiences

There could be many ways you classify your candidates, but we’ll keep it simple here with three categories we can all relate to.

Those you’ve hired – your gold medalists

These people made it all the way through, received an offer and joined. But don’t make the mistake of believing acceptance of your offer is the end of the candidate experience. As with any purchase, buyers can change their mind. The 90 day factor presents a powerful argument to effectively extend the candidate experience into an on-boarding process that lives up to (or exceeds) the expectations set during the hiring process.

Your gold medalists are settling in. It’s a time to build relationships, build a strong sense of belonging and help them feel they’ve made the right decision. Keep a one-to-one dialogue with them. Build a relationship between the hiring manager who will be their peer and they will probably admire, and the recruitment manager who has maybe a direct recruitment relationship with them. Make sure you maintain that, particularly within the first six months of the hire. Ask yourself what can you do to present the best version of working for you?

Interviewed but not appointed – your silver medalists

They were the people who probably would’ve got the job if there hadn’t been the gold medalist – the person you hired. An ideal candidate in so many ways, but perhaps you only had one role. You may have wanted to hire them both but just couldn’t. They may not have been hired but there’s no need to be completely out the loop. If they’re a really good candidate it’s a good idea to maintain person-to-personal contact with the hiring manager and maybe the recruitment manager. You could arrange a follow-up meeting and talk them through where they fell short and maybe give them potential areas of development for things that you’re looking for in the future.

Another ‘keep in touch’ tactic could be sending them to a hidden page on your careers website that has further careers information and also have the link to register for job alerts. It’s a similar approach to keeping a relationship with customers, but just applied to candidates.

Not invited to interview – your bronze medalists

For people who didn’t make it to interview, the ideal solution is a low touch piece of engagement that still helps these unsuccessful candidates. This might be a page with resources to help make their next application more powerful. Or even listing things that you might have been looking for as part of their application. It’s about relieving any pain of not getting shortlisted for that job just a little bit. You are saying, “Here’s some advice, further details about us, register for job alerts and we’ll let you know as and when we’ve got vacancies available.”

If you are an organisation that offers products, could you offer them a discount voucher that encourages them to engage with you consumer brand. It means that, not only are you avoiding impacting your employer brand, but you’re avoiding it impacting on your consumer brand as well. They might not be a potential employee, but there’s no need to lose them as a customer.

Thoughtful rejection and feedback

The rejection side of the recruitment process is the least rewarding for a recruiter. No one wants to give bad news just as much as candidates don’t want to hear it. But it’s something you just can’t disregard. You may receive applications from hundreds of candidates but each one has a very personal view of their own, thoughtfully crafted application. They deserve some meaningful acknowledgement and very negative opinions can form if this doesn’t happen.

How you give feedback or send rejection emails will vary depending on the role they’ve applied for, but we think there are some fundamentals they need to contain. It’s a nice touch to recognise and thank them for the time and effort your candidate has invested in their application. And, as we’ve covered above, giving them some helpful content that improves their chances and overall employability can turn a negative into a positive.

Finally, if you have the time to do this with the thought it clearly needs, you could offer feedback on their interview performance. What did they do well, what areas could have been better, the questions they might have anticipated etc. Give some specific examples they can take away and draw upon for next time.

The story behind the image

For those of you who don’t remember the 1988 Olympic 100 metre final. Ben Johnson smashed the world record and the field in an awesome display of speed and strength. Of course, a failed drugs test stripped Johnson of his gold medal and promoted Carl Lewis and our own Linford Christie to gold and silver medals respectively. See it pays to keep in touch with the runners and racers as you never know when you may need to replace someone.

In short

Candidates are naturally focused on their experience, the hundreds of other applications you may have received aren’t their concern. You have the challenge of creating a process that feels personal while dealing with volume. The gold, silver and bronze categories are broad brush descriptions of scenarios where it will be beneficial to have candidate relationship strategies in place. It needs to be as positive as it can be for everyone, no matter how far along the candidate journey they went.

Need a little help?

If you feel that you’d like some help, support or even a little chat around building 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 Zoom call.

I love an awards night. I really love it when we win. Which is why when in June at this year’s Firm Awards, we picked up the ‘Best supplier partnership’ for our work with NFU Mutual, I was over the moon. I was last seen around midnight brandishing two bottles of champagne topping up random glasses waxing lyrical about how great my client is. I was as happy as a skunk. As elated as a lord. As delighted as a newt. I woke up the next morning having lost all dignity… and the award. Although, it has since been found. The award. Not the dignity.

Self-praise is no praise at all. So unexpected praise must be the best

Traditionally, we only enter awards that are focused on employer branding, careers websites or recruitment marketing. Entering this category was the client’s idea. They are so proud of the work that we’ve done together that they wanted the partnership to be recognised. We started to collect examples of the work – employer proposition, careers websites, films, social media strategies, referral programmes, brochures, even newspaper adverts. A lot of really lovely work. But even more they started sharing with us the impact of the work we’d been doing together. Real results. And then some direct feedback from the team saying some genuinely nice things. And using the word ‘partner’.

And that got me thinking …

The word partner is thrown around a lot in our industry. After all, they’re the client and we’re the supplier. But our relationship with NFU Mutual is probably as close as you can get. But why? What is it about this relationship that really works? Is it that we’re honest, transparent and great to work with? Obviously. Is it that we’re creative in our thinking, precise in our execution and deliver on time? Mostly. Is it that we’re good at what we do? Probably.

It is all of that. And more than that. They can see the value we add to their team. Where we take all our knowledge, experience and creative thinking and apply it to their unique challenges. To understand the problem, talk it through and find the solution together. Challenging each other. Seeing the problem from all angles. Understanding any potential obstacles or limitations. And celebrating successes.

As Heather Kitto, Head of Resourcing, says, “We were looking for an agency that would be a true partner. That would help shape our strategy, build our profile, challenge us where needed and help us deliver a best-in-class resourcing service. We knew from the moment we met them that the agency we needed was that little one.” Thanks Heather.

A good match

There are some very clever people in the Resourcing Team at NFU Mutual. They’ve got market-leading knowledge, a huge amount of experience and many war stories to tell. And they work hard. We’ve been fortunate to share their transformation journey. From offering an agency-led recruitment service to where they are today, a full-service direct resourcing team. A transformation that saw them pick up the award for ‘Large recruitment team of the year’ on the same night. Incidentally, they didn’t lose their award.

We know that NFU Mutual took a real punt on us. We were only three years old when we did our first piece of work for them. What followed was a pitch, a pandemic and a couple of years supporting them as they shaped and launched their ‘Target Operating Model’. Two years later we’re sharing the same stage for a couple of awards that highlight what we’ve achieved together. I shouldn’t have been on the stage for their award really. But by that time, I was as pleased as a boiled owl and there was no stopping me.

Heather again, “Working with That Little Agency has truly changed the external face of NFU Mutual in the employment market. The employer branding work has led us to exceed all our KBI’s and resulted in demonstrable cost savings. They are a business in their own right, but they operate as an extension of our team. A true partner approach.”

They make us a better agency

This isn’t just true of NFU Mutual. It is true of all our clients. Each employer has their own unique set of challenges. Their own pain points. Our job is to understand what it is that keeps them awake at night. And help them think and work their way through it. We even bring recruiters from different businesses together, offering them a platform to share their experience, offer new perspectives and help shape a solution. And with each piece of work, we as a team learn something new and have another story to tell. Clients support our development as an agency as much as we support their growth as a team. And that’s as close as you’ll get to a partnership.

We’ll leave the final word to Kenny Graves, Head of HR, “Our relationship with That Little Agency has been critical to the development of our employer brand. Enabling our candidates to see what it’s really like to work at NFU Mutual. The team have taken the time to understand us as a business, spent time in all our offices and have translated our proposition to the appropriate targeted audiences. They have the creative ability that has enabled us to attract great candidates which deliver value for our Mutual members.” Shucks.

That’s it

No call to action. No sales pitch. Thank you for your time.

It’s been a very interesting week. There’s no doubt that the comptetition for talent is greater than ever before. According to the ONS, UK vacancies climbed by 35% in Q3 taking open roles to over one million for the first time ever. So it comes a no surprise that employers are looking for support in building their employer brand and developing their careers website. And that’s good news for us, because that’s what we do. But how do you start? And that, my friends, is the rub.

In the last week we’ve been approached by teo fantastic businesses to support them with the development of their employer brand. I won’t name any names, but their approach was very different. And it’s important to note that both were driven by their procurement teams. We were also very flattered this week to be described by a client as being ‘true partners’ to them. That made me particularly pleased because that’s how we want to be seen by all of our clients.

So it surprised me when a two year long conversation with employer one resulting in an anonymous email carrying the login details to a procurement portal and a spreadsheet to complete. My heart sank. But my mood improved when I recieved another email from employer two simply asking for a quick chat about their employer branding project. Something to get excited about. One of these approaches screamed “we’re choosing a supplier”, the other “we’re looking for a partner”.

Choose a partner, not a supplier

Firstly, please understand that this article comes from a good place. The return of the market could see the return of some bad practices. And nobody wnats that. It is also useful to remember that we don’t sell widgets and we don’t maintain machines. We offer support, value and partnership to your resourcing and talent acquisition teams. We share our intellectual property. Our experience. And trying to articulate that on a spreadsheet of hourly rates is virtually impossible. Where’s the opportunity to highlight the value we can offer? And while I understand that the spreadsheet is a great way of comparing apples to apples. I actually want to tell you why our apples are different – and possibly – better.

And so this week I declined the invitation to submit a proposal to employer one. And told them why. I also had a great 30 minute conversation with employer two. Who told me that they were doing initial calls with potential suppliers to get a better understanding of the market. From there they’d invite a small number of agencies for a chemistry meeting. Following this they’d develop a short list of three agencies and invite them to submit a proposal. A clear and transparent process. And one to get a little bit excited about. And the opportunity to demonstrate our value.

So I thought it might be nice to pull together some thoughts around how to identify a potential partner, and get the best out of them during the selection (or even procurement) process.

A polite note to procurement

All the agencies in our sector are brilliant. All of them. Full of talented people doing great work with clients. Some may have particular strengths, but on the whole they’re all brilliant. And can all deliver the project that you need support on. But we’re also busy. Don’t forget our existing clients are also experiencing the same challenges as your business. And we’ll always support them first. We’re not alone in having picked up some interesting clients during the pandemic. All of who needed help and support which we happily offered with no need to go through a long, drawn-out procurement process. So, please take the critique we’re going to give in the spirit of trying to make this better – for you and us.

Pitching by spreadsheet

Sending out a mass, impersonal invite to all the agencies under the sun and asking them to complete a request for information form on your procurement portal is a dreadful way of developing a shortlist of agencies. Are you only interested in the agencies who are willing to ‘jump through hoops’ or ‘dance, monkey, dance’? I’m sure we’re not alone when we say that none of our best client relationships started this way. Yes of course we’ve had to submit costs, provide details on insurances and business processes, but only after we’d all agreed that this could be a relationship that works for everyone.

And remembering that we don’t sell widgets and we don’t maintain machines, I am often bewildered by some of the questions we’re being asked. And I am so tempted to answer them honestly …

Q: Please name the three key competitors to your company in this market sector.

A: No. This is your job. Why should I help you make your shortlist of people to talk to? Some you may not have even considered. Do your due diligence.

Q: Please give a brief overview of your company’s key customers including how long they have been a customer, what services/products your company provides them and what % they represent of your company’s turnover.

A: Again, no. You’ve just asked us to sign a NDA and honour it. So have our clients. Would you like us telling other businesses about our working relationship with you? I didn’t think so. That said, we will tell you that no single client contributes more than 10% of our income.

The last procurement spreadsheet we recieved had a over 50 such questions. All which could have been covered in a 30 minute call and an email. This process is simply too impersonal for us. Sorry.

And while I am on the subject, here’s another frustrating procurement tactic. Often we’ll ask questions, in an attempt to understand the employer’s challenge a little deeper. This usually demonstrates a particular line of thinking and some initiative. So, why does procurement then offer the questions and answers to all bidders, many of which are then gifted additional information they may not have thought of? Where’s the value of asking the questions?

It’s a ‘beauty parade’

Thankfully, this is a rarity these days. But as I mentioned bad old practices do seem to be returning. So I fear that this may make an unwelcome return too. The issuing of a theoretical brief asking for ‘creative ideas’ to solve a specific problem. Is this really a true reflection of what it will actually be like to work with each agency? Sometimes maybe, often not.

First of all, the brief is meant to be a test of creativity, but the work that comes from it is will lack the required insight. Work should be done on the basis of understanding the expectations of the audience and creating messages against that – rather than the personal preferences or assumptions of the client stakeholder team. So the work certainly isn’t ‘ready to run’. In fact, I would say it would be dangerous ever to run with pitch work. So it has been a waste of time.

And, don’t forget to take a photo of the CEO who has come to the pitch to prove just how important to the agency you are … as that may be the last time you see them.

So Mark, how would you suggest it’s done?

I’m glad you asked. By playing to our strengths obviously. Whether the process is procurement led or not – create your shortlist by asking your peers or people in your network for recommendations. Who do they work with, know and trust? Look at who’s won awards if that’s something that matters to you. We think awards are evidence of a high quality of work but perhaps more importantly, they’re selected by an audience of industry experts who have years of experience.

Check out agency websites and especially the case studies or client stories and ask about the specific results against the KPIs. Visit the links to actual careers websites and see the work for yourselves. Pick up the phone – we all like to talk and you’ll often find out a lot with a preliminary call.  Then invite the agencies you feel comfortable with in for a chat. Tell us the real problems you are trying to solve and see what comes from this. It’s often an opportunity to show a little pro-activity based on more than guesswork, and it’s a good indicator of what it would be like to work with us. Give us a realistic budget and we’ll give you proposals you can actually use – rather than go over the top on speculative pitch work that isn’t fit to see the light of day.

This approach should help you narrow your potential shortlist down to two or three agencies. Maximum. And is much more productive than sending out 20 RFIs. Then, if you do have a pitch, you’ll already have a pretty good grasp of the business and people involved. Also for the pitch, specify at the outset that you want to meet the team you’ll actually be working with. And don’t be afraid to ask for references to help you make a decision.

In short

We’re not saying procurement-led processes are bad. But selecting a partner to support you in the development of your employer brand is not the same as finding someone to supply your stationary or water your plants. In fact, we understand that a procurement-led selection process may even be a corporate or legal directive. But don’t use the procurement portal as your entry point to working with an agency. You could miss out on a brilliant business to work with. And don’t focus on the costs … focus on the value.

I hope that this helps you see the process from the point of view of the agencies. After all, we don’t want to go on strike against the pitching process like the agencies in Belgium did.

But my final word on this is the advice I left employer two with … pick the agency that you think will be the most enjoyable to work with. After all, you’re going to be talking to them on an almost daily basis. The very best work is a combination of a great initial idea, a bunch of talented people who all want to deliver something special, and a brave and ambitious client. And if we can have some fun delivering it, all the better. And you won’t find that information in the column of a spreadsheet!

Need a little help?

If you feel that you’d like some help, support or even a little chat around your employer brand, just drop me a line. After all, much of our best work has started with a cup of tea, a biscuit and a Zoom call.