Maria Vasserman | TalentEgg Trends

Author: Maria Vasserman (page 1 of 2)

Unique Experiences to Develop Your Future Talent Pipeline

As we’ve already mentioned in this Guide, students are looking for more meaningful ways to connect with employers beyond the typical career fair. What better way to showcase your workplace culture than providing unique opportunities for students and grads to get involved? These experiences will help to develop your future talent pipeline in a rewarding and effective way.

“I think continuing to engage students and coming up with more creative campus engagement strategies will definitely help [organizations]. Try something new, show students what their lives at [your company] would be like. Bring employees, bring execs. Show students why they should choose you.”
– Mallory Thompson, Western University, 2019

TalentEgg has partnered with some amazing organizations that have created initiatives for students and grads to get involved – from challenges to volunteering and everything in between. In our survey, students and grads said that they are looking for opportunities for professional development and growth, with 71% saying the most important thing they’re looking for in a career is gaining job experience and building their future career path.

For example, we partnered with Data VizArt (DVA), powered by Deloitte, Tableau and CIBC, to raise awareness of their data visualization competition that gave students an opportunity to work in a team, present their solutions in front of executives and win a grand prize of $3000! TalentEgg’s Blitz Campaign that DVA used to promote their challenge included Leaderboard, Big Box and Wallpaper ads, as well as social media promotion, custom editorials and email blasts to best reach our audience.

This challenge gave students a chance to network with potential employers, develop essential analytical skills and be a part of something outside of the classroom that directly impacts their careers.

Big Box Ads: DVA

Another egg-citing way for students to not just develop their skills, but also meet top Canadian employers face-to-face is CEOx1Day. TalentEgg is a proud partner of this program, created by Odgers Berndtson, which provides students the opportunity to shadow an influential CEO of a leading organization for one day, experience what their workday involves, get advice and build long-lasting connections. CEOx1Day gives students an opportunity to apply in-class learning to a real world situation, equipping them with the tools and skills to start building their careers. TalentEgg supports the CEOx1Day program with promotion to our student and grad job seekers with our Blitz Campaign across our social media channels, online advertising on our website, editorial success stories on our blog and email blasts during the application period.

As a part of the application, eligible third or fourth year students have the opportunity to complete an online leadership assessment and receive a personalized report from Hogan Assessments. The report provides feedback on leadership skills, like relationship building, goal setting and strategic thinking, to help the students understand and identify their strengths and weaknesses to build their potential. In addition, all semi-finalists are considered for an interview with McKinsey & Company for a summer internship or full-time placement.

Creating a way for students and grads to participate in a fun, competitive challenge will attract young talent to your organization and give them an opportunity to “show their stuff’ in a demonstrative way. Not only will providing these opportunities create fun, engaging and memorable ways for students to learn more about your organization, it also enhances your employer brand and reputation. At TalentEgg we are here to help you produce and execute your student Challenges and promote it to top candidates across Canada.

Custom Editorial: CEOx1Day

Wallpaper, Big Box and Leaderboard Ads: HOEM on Jarvis

Continuous Learning is Your Talent Magnet

April 20, 2020 / Maria Vasserman / 0 Comments

The primary task of the Talent Acquisition professional is to attract, engage and recruit top talent, right? But once they land the job and join your organization, an equally important task is to keeping current employees engaged and fulfilled. Why? Because happy employees become brand ambassadors, and unhappy ones create negative reputation for your organization, making the entire talent attraction challenge even more difficult.

In an increasing number, young candidates are looking for more than just a pleasant work culture. They desire growth and development as a fundamental component of a positive workplace culture. In our TalentEgg Survey, 67% of high school students, 72% of post-secondary students and 73% of early-career professionals said that building their future career path, gaining experience and having access to professional development are the most important things they’re looking for in a career. Moreover, when two employers seem equally appealing, 28% of post-secondary students and 27% of early-career professionals agreed that career path and growth would be the deciding factor for them.

What does this mean to you? It is practically a win-win. When you invest in your employees’ continuous learning (either in-house or outsourced through post-secondary programs, online courses, trainings and seminars), you demonstrate your dedication to their development, engage with them in ways that are meaningful for them and you get more qualified and well-rounded team members. Young employees will also appreciate your company’s commitment to their growth and will be more loyal as a result.

“I think setting up new employees with a paid training session or program when beginning their jobs is a great way to teach them the skills they may lack.”
Mallory Thompson, Western University, 2019

“Specifically assigning new employees with mentors is a very good idea, since it allows employees to have a relatable yet knowledgeable person to turn to for growth and development.”
Christine Mitry, McMaster University, 2020

But increasingly we hear from employers that the number one deficit they see in young job seekers is demonstrated soft skills, or core competencies. While many students have been focusing on their grade point average and the technical skills they gain from their degrees or diplomas, they are sorely lacking in the soft skills necessary for success in the workplace. Soft skills like communication, critical thinking, problem solving, team building, are increasingly in short supply among young job seekers – indeed, many employers perceive so-called soft skills as the critical skills for success within the workplace. Even if a job seeker might have them, career educators and employers struggle with how to sensitize the young candidates to the necessity of developing and demonstrating them to potential recruiters. Increasingly, students are aware they need additional training to successfully make the school to work transition and flourish in the workplace. Many of the students and recent grads that we surveyed believe that they need additional training/education to excel in their careers. 68% of high school students are interested in online courses for skills training and 88% of post-secondary students believe they need additional training to launch their career. Among early career professionals, 61% have taken additional training/certificate programs, an astounding 94% are interested in taking additional training and certificates while 33% say they think they need technical skills training and 77% say they needed additional training once on the job.

Lifestyle Editorial

TalentEgg is here to help develop your current employees and also ensure that the candidates you hire are trained and eager. With our new eLearning platform at TalentEgg University (TEU) we are proud to launch this fall, a series of certification courses designed in collaboration with top elearning professionals and clinical psychologists to train young people how to develop and practice those critical soft skills in such high demand by employers. With TEU certificates & badges, candidates can include on their CV and their online profiles, demonstrable proof they were able to successfully complete their soft skills training that shows their commitment to learning and being successful in their career. We help students and recent grads polish their people skills, develop emotional intelligence and fill in the gaps in their core competencies. When they apply through TalentEgg, you can rest assured that these candidates are the best of the best.

In addition to providing learning opportunities for young employees at your organization, you can also sponsor a Career Guide on TalentEgg! Career Guides are highly popular among our users who want to enhance their understanding of a specific industry and choose the path that speaks to them. You can help them do just that and position your organization as a thought-leader in the industry in the meantime!

Reach out to us to find out more about our eLearning Platform and Career Guides sponsorship.

Stop Ghosting Your Candidates and Other Recruitment Pet Peeves

April 6, 2020 / Maria Vasserman / 0 Comments

It’s no surprise that having a positive candidate experience is beneficial to your employer brand. So why are so many candidates having negative experiences during the application, interview and hiring process? In our 2019 TalentEgg Survey, we asked students, grads and early career professionals what their biggest pet-peeves about the recruitment process are. Their answers may not surprise you – you may have been in a similar situation yourself! We’ll be sharing how to avoid these recruitment mishaps and ensure your organization is always seen and spoken about in a positive light when it comes to recruiting.

Overwhelmingly the number one complaint from job seekers came down to communication (or lack thereof!). Many felt that there was either too long of a gap between the application process and hearing back about a decision, or many times not receiving a response at all. After all, no one likes to be “ghosted”! Ensure you have an automated message (at the very least) to give candidates a sense of where they are in the recruitment process.

Social media makes it easy to share information, especially negative experiences. When a candidate feels they’ve been treated poorly during this stressful and nerve wracking time, they remember the companies that went above and beyond to make their experience positive, even if they didn’t end up getting the job.

Another pet-peeve among young job seekers was the lack of human touch during the application process. Even though AI can be an efficient part of your recruitment strategy, be mindful about how you’re integrating it into your process. Is it at the expense of a positive experience or potentially letting a superstar get buried underneath the digital mountain of documents or algorithm data?

Although 50% of early career professionals and 46% of post-secondary students were neutral about Artificial Intelligence being used in the recruitment process, an overwhelming majority complained about feeling like their applications went into a black hole and were frustrated by the challenge of showing the real person behind the CV and getting a chance to tell their story to recruiters.

Introducing our new Talent Candidate Video Showcase! Launching this fall, TalentEgg is the first online career website in Canada that allows young candidates across Canada the capacity to upload their personalized 2 minute video “elevator pitch” and CV to a searchable database for recruiters. These candidate profiles will be available to employers to find the best talent for their organization through easy-to-use keyword search function. By pre-screening and interviewing through our TalentEgg Candidate Video Showcase, you will be able to add a human touch to your recruitment process, while benefiting from optional AI technology and the efficiencies of a digital platform. You will be able to see the real person behind the CV and get the essence of the candidates’ value proposition in their own words in a video introduction that adds transparency and authenticity to the application process and greater insights into the job seeker.

Message top candidates or invite them to submit video answers to additional screening questions, take part in a two-way interview or a panel interview of up to 10 participants. Use our platform throughout your annual campaign for all of your hiring, or sign on for discrete, a la carte services just when you need them.

Other pet peeves that were mentioned were:

Manually filling out applications’ fields when candidates have already attached their resume and cover letter with the same information
Bias in the application and interview process
Unrealistic expectations of years of experience for the posted job

“I appreciate companies that take the initiative to eliminate pain points in their applications after receiving feedback and recognizing redundancy in the application process. It’s crucial that organizations make the recruitment process easy for top talent so as not as risk abandonment because the application is too long and too much effort.”
Aakanksha Sharma, University of Waterloo, 2019

Keep these pet peeves in mind when you and your team are going through your recruitment process. Maybe it’s time for an internal audit and new strategy to keep your organization top of mind with job seekers! Contact us to find out how we can help you hire the best young talent!

New Features of TalentEgg Profile: Candidate Video Showcase

Why It’s More Important than Ever to Connect With Candidates Online

February 25, 2020 / Maria Vasserman / 0 Comments

It’s common knowledge that employers need a web-presence and a digital strategy to promote their jobs and attract young talent. However, simply having a career website that posts job descriptions is no longer enough.

The first component of being online is indeed having a career website with compelling job descriptions and robust employer branding content. This is where you can showcase your eggs-ceptional culture, the benefits of working at your company, and your company’s competitive distinctions as an employer of choice. Your web presence is the primary tool for you to attract and engage young candidates and the go-to place where they will launch their job search. In our 2019 survey, 86% of post-secondary students stated that they look for jobs online (which includes social media as well as websites), which indicates that your online presence is vital to attracting young candidates.

“Having just the right amount of information on the website and it being easy to navigate makes the user’s life much easier and makes the website itself easier on the eyes.” – Saisurutyi Sridaran, Ryerson University, 2021

“In 2019 you definitely need to have a website that is optimized for mobile.” – Mallory Thompson, Western University, 2019

The second component is, of course, social media. It is a highly preferred method of job search and employer research among young professionals (1 to 5 years after graduation). 87% of early career professionals surveyed also prefer to look for jobs online, including social media, and there is a good reason for that. Employers who excel at finding the best candidates tend to have strong social media engagement by having authentic conversations with job seekers beyond the static one way posts. Employers with a strong social media strategy have a human voice and communicate their employer value proposition in a demonstrative way through their employees Instead of telling candidates, “working for us is awesome”, make sure to show candidates what a fun, inclusive workplace culture you have, as experienced by recent hires, who candidates can relate to, in video, Instagram Stories and testimonials, creating a compelling and authentic reflection of work life within your organization.

But each social media platform resonates with a different audience, and matching the content to the best platform for the right candidates can be difficult. Where exactly do students and recent grads spend their time? Our 2019 survey proved once again that Instagram is still king with 59% of high school students, 41% of post-secondary students and 49% of early career professionals preferring that social media platform over the others for employer branding content.

What type of content should employers post to attract maximum attention? You might have guessed it already, but video is still king as the medium of choice, and it’s popularity is only increasing. 82% of high school and 69% of post-secondary respondents prefer to engage with videos for career-related information on all platforms and media channels.

TalentEgg Talks: Live with Mercedes-Benz
Financial Services (Instagram and Facebook Live)

The main area of concern when it comes to social media is getting around tricky social media algorithms to ensure your audience is seeing your content. While we can’t fully predict algorithms, which are constantly evolving, we know that the more your audience engages with your content, the better it performs. Moreover, Facebook and Instagram are well known to favour video content and showcase it to more users on their platforms, so it’s truly a win-win. With our less text-focused content for those who like getting visual information, we are shifting how we deliver your brand messaging. We communicate your values by producing videos, hosting live Q&As with representatives of your organization in a simulcast video on Facebook and Instagram (TalentEgg Talks LIVE) and creating Instagram Stories. In other words, we’re bringing your employer messaging straight to the target candidate! Be exactly where your young talent pool is – on Instagram, and engage in an authentic way through Instagram Takeovers and TalentEgg Talks LIVE Events. The great value-add is that if your existing social media followers aren’t Gen Y and Z, we can help you build out that audience on your own social media channels. The video recording also makes great content for your Employer Profile on TalentEgg and can be repurposed and re-edited by TalentEgg for short video clips on social media to continually refresh your feed with snappy, well packaged video shorts.

Even though video is king and social media is rising, direct email remains a strong medium for the delivery of career-related information among students and recent grads. The convenience of receiving targeted job alerts in the candidates’ inboxes, the ability to customize which content reaches them, and the ease with which the job seekers can find emails tailored to their needs, all attribute to email’s continued popularity. Our research indicated that 60% of post-secondary and 52% of early career professionals prefer email communication for job postings, indicating that while candidates like learning about employers on their smartphones and social media, they still prefer to actually apply to jobs from their laptop. With our ability to personalize and create custom email blasts for our clients, we’re targeting your employer brand message directly to students and grads.

Year after year, our Incubator blog is an invaluable resource for students and grads who are hatching their careers. Our custom editorials highlight various features of your organization to amplify your employer brand and connect with our audience. In our 2019 TalentEgg Survey, we asked what type of content students and grads wanted to read about and they overwhelmingly connected to editorials that were easy to read in Q and A format, enjoy resume and interview tips, day-in-the-life stories about young relatable employees and appreciate interviews with recruiters, interns and co-op students from your organization. Many of these topics provide an inside look into the company’s culture – exactly what our respondents care about the most. Every demographic we surveyed said that the most important thing they look for in an employer is positive and friendly company culture (92% of all respondents, including high school students, post secondary students and grads, and early career professionals).

Managing a company’s reputation is another important task. 68% of post-secondary students state that negative company culture or workplace, bad online reputation and negative candidate experience are the most important factors when turning down an employer. That is exactly why it is so important for companies to tune into the social conversation about their brand, create a positive candidate experience, and highlight their engaged and inclusive employee culture!

94% of students believe that it’s somewhat to very important for employers to have a strong online presence. This includes your social media presence and website usability. If students can’t find what they are looking for easily and in an engaging way, they are on to the next thing. We know that students are busy with school, work and social lives, and if they need to search in multiple areas or click through multiple pages, you’ll likely lose their attention. That’s why our custom employer profiles are a one-stop place for job seekers to learn more about your company, as well as explore jobs and events. It’s also a great place to post your employer branding videos, social media clips and editorials.

Testimonial from a student: TalentEgg helped me obtained numerous information regarding the internship opportunities with your all-in-one platform.

Keeping all of these factors in mind can be very overwhelming, especially during a busy hiring season. TalentEgg is here to help. With our trusted and talented team of writers and account managers, we can help you craft and execute your employer branding strategies to attract the best of the best in campus recruitment and beyond. Visit talentegg.ca and keep reading this guide to find out how eggs-actly we can assist you on this journey.