Your HR brand is what you do, not what you say

As part of our rebranding of HR we were asked to come up with a new name for our Human Resources department. Can you guys help me with your suggestions to rename our department?

I don’t want to pick on the person who posted this, so I won’t name them, but I had to laugh when I read it. Call it the Pit of Despair. Call it the Confluence of People and Happiness. It doesn’t really matter as much as what you do.

Is the HR brand at your organization built on words? Is it built on fancy titles and exciting descriptions that include “ROI, strategy, and metrics?”

Or is it built on actions? Is it sitting on a strong foundation where your staff members know that you are working your tail off to make the organization better?

Here’s a tip. Spend less time thinking on how you can change the department’s name (and keep doing the same old things) and more time on how you can change what you’re doing to have a larger impact on the business and its people.

And if you want a funny name, the Humor Resources Department is a good one!

HR Brand-Words vs Actions is a post from: UpstartHR

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AKA: How to use employment videos for social recruiting

Social recruiting is discussed often, but one of the lesser mentioned facets is video. While many companies know it’s something they should pursue, they don’t know how to be successful. Below you’ll find some ideas to pursue in the area of employer videos. Just a quick word of warning, I’m going to be technical at times, because the subject warrants it. However, I’m happy to help if your organization is looking to make a move into the video arena.

First off, you want your videos to be found when people search Google, right? That’s where search engine optimization comes in. It’s a methodology for getting your videos indexed in a way that makes them easy to find by searchers.

Five tips for Video SEO (search engine optimization)

1. Make the video something people want to share (more detail on this below).
2. Don’t dilute your videos by posting on multiple sites (YouTube, Vimeo, Viddler, etc.).
3. Titles, tags, and descriptions are useful when uploading and posting videos online, but backlinks to the videos (with relevant keywords in the anchor text) are more important for search engine rankings.
4. YouTube is the #2 search engine in the world and the #1 for videos. Use that to your advantage.
5. If you’re using WordPress as your content distribution platform, create a video sitemap and submit it via Google Webmaster Tools. Every little bit helps!

Now, let’s elaborate on #1 above. That’s usually the first question people have: what do the videos need to be about? Well, there are several ways to go with that, but I like to think of two kinds of people when considering these types of video: customers and potential job candidates. Think about what they would like to know about your company and give it to them!

Five ideas for your employment video content

1. Interview employees and ask what they do and what they like about the job, dept, or company
2. Get staff members to discuss the culture and how that affects what they do.
3. Ask employees to talk about their favorite benefit/perk that you offer.
4. Film the fun, unique events that make your organization special.
5. Create content that is outward facing and valuable to your industry. Hint: if you’re providing thought leadership and value at a level that entices competitors to link to you, then you’re on the right track.

This list certainly isn’t all-inclusive, but it’s a great start to generating ideas that would specifically benefit your company.

Thinking about creating some employer branding videos for your company and looking for some help? Feel free to contact me if you’re looking for assistance. 

Employment videos: how to get traffic (and candidates) is a post from: UpstartHR

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Blogs. They are everywhere, and their numbers are growing by the hour. Lots of companies are being encouraged to blog as a way to market themselves and reach candidates, but it’s a sad fact that most corporate blogs are terrible (84%, in fact). They are filled with press releases and other one-way communications that are not helpful in building a community or encouraging conversation. Let’s remedy that.

I’ve been meaning to write this post for a long, long time now. While I haven’t had the opportunity (yet) to write a corporate blog, I have been writing this blog for over a year and a half. In the past 15 months, I’ve also been writing my SHRM chapter’s blog as well. I’m by no means an expert, but I’ve learned a lot and made enough mistakes to see what works and what doesn’t.

It’s all about authenticity and value

If it reads like a press release, people won’t be interested. Press releases have their own place, but it’s not in a blog. Content from a press release can be used in a blogging context, but it needs to be as a sidebar or commentary item, not the main fare.

So, if you’re not just spouting PR stuff from the blog, what do you talk about? Two of my favorite corporate blogs are by MailChimp and EventBrite. I’m not a full time email manager or event planner, but I still subscribe to both of these blogs and read them religiously. Why? They provide a great mix of customer-focused  ”how to” posts, comments on their industry in general, and information about new features (plus how they impact you as a customer). Much of what they post is written to educate readers and encourage conversation.

The main thing: It’s great content that helps every reader, whether they are customers or not.

The root problem

Just like with this huge social media blocking craze we’re seeing these days, companies are hesitant to put their trust in their people. You know, those same people who can go to their homes, the local bar, or a child’s sporting event and talk about the company’s horrible, evil ways in public. But you’re going to block them at work. Doesn’t make sense!

Empower your people to have a real voice and let them make things happen. The more you water down the opinions and strip away the humanity in your corporate blog, the worse off it will be.

Like I said, they can already wreck your company publicly at any time they choose. Giving them a social media platform to share from doesn’t change that fact.

The mechanics

Blogging has a lot of pieces to it, but it’s possible to focus on just a few areas to make sure you are hitting the high points.

• Writing the right types of posts to get links/comments
• Interlinking and other SEO tips to get more views
• Creating an editorial calendar
• Building sneeze and squeeze pages
• And plenty more!

One of the best tools I’ve found to help you learn to cover each of those pieces and integrate them into a powerful blog is the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog workbook. If you really want to get your corporate blog going and make it shine, then I highly encourage you to check out the book. I just found out that if you use ”november25″ as your discount code at checkout, you’ll get 25% off the price, but it’s only good through the end of November. Click here to learn more.

Growing awareness and engagement

In his book Culture Convo, Chris Ferdinandi makes this great point about how to grow awareness and engagement among your audience:

Whether you’re looking to increase the number of people who read your blog, follow you on Twitter, or are your fans on Facebook, the strategy is always the same.

Have conversations worth listening to.

Being an interesting conversationalist – creating fun posts, photos and videos, sharing interesting news and useful insights – is the only way to have long-term success using social media. It’s really that simple.

That doesn’t mean that it’s always easy. Figuring out what your target audience is interested in can take some time. But there’s no magic formula to growing your awareness and engagement.

If you’re a good conversationalist, then your circle of conversation will grow slowly and organically (and exponentially!) over time.

Final thoughts

If your corporate blog sucks (and it looks like about 84% of them do), it doesn’t have to be terminal. Most of the time the situation is not irreparable. Connect with people. Help them. Interact. Learn. And stop shoving press releases down our throats. It’s not working.

Anyone else have a good corporate blog they’d like to plug? Drop it in the comments below.

How to write a corporate blog is a post from: UpstartHR

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Despite the scary “end of the world” talk out there from legal types about how using social media will land your company in a lawsuit, 70% of employers are still searching for candidate information on social networking sites, and approximately one-third search every single time. I’ve talked before about how social media use varies between employers and candidates. Does this mean that the gap is closing? Are more companies trying to research and engage job seekers through social channels? Let’s hope so.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. Is your organization using social tools to reach out to candidates? If so, how?

And if you’re interested in getting started doing this with your own organization, there’s a great tool to help you get moving. Click here to find out more about Culture Convo and see how it can help you to use social media for your employer branding efforts.

Photo courtesy of the Jobvite Social Recruiting Report.

70% of employers perform social search on candidates is a post from: UpstartHR

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My friend Chris Ferdinandi of Renegade HR has been writing a great eBook titled “Culture Convo.” It’s about how to use social tools to talk about your culture and share your employer brand with the world. I was lucky enough to get a preview copy, and I have to say that it’s an amazing tool that you must have. But that’s not even the best part. Before the book launches to the public, Chris is giving away some fantastic free stuff to get you rolling in the right direction. Here’s a snippet of his description…

You’ll learn:

• How to use six of today’s most popular social media channels: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogging, YouTube and Flickr.
• How to get started, what to talk about, and how often to post.
• How to get your employees involved.
• How to measure your success.

Culture Convo is 53 pages of strategic and tactical information, including step-by-step instructions on getting started. You also get a free bonus section featuring interviews with HR and marketing pros at Zappos, Sodexo and DAXKO – three organizations who are leaders at using social media for employer branding!

I’ve been waiting for a while to get a chance to share this with everyone, and it’s finally time to unveil the masterpiece. I already confessed this to Chris, but now I’ll let everyone else know as well. After I finished soaking in the preview copy (as in “I read it twice!”), I started developing some training for my own employer’s outreach people based off of the principles and ideas Chris shares in the book. Simply put: I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Click here to sign up for the free email list (you’ll be glad you did)

Employer branding through social media is a post from: UpstartHR

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There’s been a recent popular news story about a Hooters employee who was basically put on a performance improvement plan for… being fat.

Although I’m not really a fan of the restaurant (their food doesn’t impress me and having women in tight clothing around doesn’t make it taste any better), I found this story interesting for several reasons.

Things to Ponder

• How is this impacting the people who want to work for or eat at Hooters? Probably not very much. Customers want it or the company wouldn’t enforce the rule, and other candidates would have the same type of restrictions, too.
• What impact on her job will all of this publicity have? It seems like it would be similar to a current employee suing the company. Even if they win, there’s no way the employer wants them to stay after the adversarial relationship has been fully plumbed.
• Were these weight control expectations communicated ahead of time? Seems like an uncomfortable topic to discuss before a person even starts the job.
• Is this an objective decision? Do managers actually weigh the employees or just go with their gut (pun definitely intended)?

A quote from a company spokesman in the video tries to clarify that the image/weight control issues are a job requirement just like they would be for someone in the Rockettes or the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders.

This isn’t the first time Hooters has come under fire for pushing the boundaries of a labor law. Back in the 90s they were sued by some guys who thought that it was unfair that the server positions were women only. Since I don’t eat there, I don’t have much of an opinion, but I can say that it would have been rough seeing a guy in the tight shorts and tank top.

Check out the video of the news story below (original link). I find it ironic that the regional manager in the video obviously has a weight problem (although his position doesn’t require him to rely on his looks).

(Subscribers may have to click through to view.)

Hooters-Too Fat for the Job? is a post from: UpstartHR

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Well, it’s been a little while since I dumped off a load of guest posts on you in an attempt to look too busy to post here. I know you’ve been dying to see what else I’ve been up to, so I’ll share them today. I love doing guest posts for my friends. It gives them a day off, and it gives me a chance to connect with a new audience. I try to do them in batches, because it makes things easier for me. It also gives me the opportunity to do a guest post blitz! Okay, maybe it’s not really as super cool as it sounds. I just link to ‘em. But hey, you get to visit a friend or two of mine in the process, so it could be worse, right? Let’s get the guest posts rolling!

Ride for the Brand Simply Lisa

Are you proud of your organization and what it stands for? Could you say that you “ride for the brand?” Check out the link above to see what it all means.

To Free or Not to Free Rehaul

SHRM Connect has been discussed widely in social networking circles in recent months. China Gorman is heavily behind the social networking platform, but many of us think that it’s a waste of time (at least in its current form). Be sure to check out the comments on the post to catch the whole sentiment.

What do They See? Steve’s HR Technology

Is your career site making it harder on candidates to apply than it needs to? Check out this slightly tech-y post on Google’s Browser Size tool.

Not a guest post but still sorta cool…

Shauna Moerke, the HR Minion herself, has moved! Make sure you check her out at her new site. For being from Minnesota, she’s all right.

Would you like to guest post here? Let me know! If you’d like for me to do a guest post for you, we might be able to work something out there, too. Thanks!

Guest Post Blitz #4 is a post from: UpstartHR

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