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Tag: employer brand (page 1 of 14)

Meet Our New Director of Partnerships and Operations: Rachel Evans

We are delighted to welcome Rachel Evans to the TalentEgg team. As the Director of Partnerships and Operations, she brings a wealth of experience in talent acquisition, recruitment marketing and employer branding. We interviewed Rachel to learn more about her experience and how it can support emRachel Evans At TalentEggployers and career educators.

Q: Why did you decide to join TalentEgg?

What attracted me most was the critical role TalentEgg plays in connecting tomorrow’s workforce with great employers and the support TalentEgg offers employers to extend brand awareness, reach, and connection with students and those early in their careers.

I was also a previous client of TalentEgg, working as a recruitment marketing advisor with Shell Canada, where I led talent attraction for students and new graduates nationwide. My experience with the TalentEgg team was exceptional, and the company’s growth has been impressive. While TalentEgg started many years ago as a job board with digital advertising, the company has grown to offer comprehensive employer branding and talent attraction services, enabling employees to use TalentEgg as an extension of their campus recruitment teams.

Q: Can you tell us more about your background in employer branding, recruitment marketing and talent acquisition?

As mentioned, I led recruitment marketing for Shell Canada, and I have had the opportunity to participate in employer branding and talent acquisition throughout my career as a marketing professional. I recently came from the talent acquisition industry, where I led marketing and communications for a technology company that enabled talent pools. In that role, I was a speaker on employer branding best practices. I consider recruitment marketing no different than traditional B2C marketing, with the product being the career within the organization and the consumer being the student/new graduate. Applying tried and tested marketing principles to talent attraction is quantifiably better than not adopting these best practices.

Q: Why is employer branding important now more than ever?

Employer branding is essential as businesses recover from the pandemic. Many employers stopped or scaled down their employer brand and talent attraction spend, which has resulted in reduced brand awareness among students and new graduates. With Boomers leaving the workforce in unprecedented numbers, organizations have a significant gap to fill. In a hyper-competitive talent attraction landscape, the only way to differentiate your organization is with a strong employer brand and presence in the market, intersecting young people with where they are physically and digitally.  

Q: What are your plans to support TalentEgg’s partners?

I am excited to support employers with their talent attraction strategies and employer brand to help connect them with great students and new graduates. I see a significant opportunity to partner collaboratively to extend existing services, including co-marketing and branding initiatives during campus events that show institutions are committed to connecting their students and new grads with employment opportunities.

TalentEgg also has a suite of e-learning courses that may be of interest to all of our partners. These professionally produced courses teach soft skills needed in the workplace that are often lacking in young people. These courses are incredibly cost-effective and could be an excellent addition to the services already offered by post-secondary institutions and employers struggling to close this gap within their workplace.

Q: How can TalentEgg’s partners (employers, career centers, career educators) get in touch with you?

Reach out anytime by email at: rachel@talentegg.ca connect with me on LinkedIn! I look forward to working together!

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

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

Wallpaper, Big Box and Leaderboard Ads: HOEM on Jarvis

Wallpaper, Big Box and Leaderboard Ads: HOEM on Jarvis

Doing Good Never Looked So Great: Why Your Employer Brand Needs CSR

In recent years the prominence of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown to become a core activity of most businesses, but why is it so important for you as an HR professional? CSR initiatives helps build your company image within your community, but it also improves your employer brand and helps to attract and retain top young talent. Showcasing your CSR initiatives as part of your employer brand is more important now than ever, as a growing number of students, new grads and early-career professionals actively seek out a caring culture in potential employers.

In our 2019 TalentEgg Survey, an astounding 90% of post-secondary students ranked social responsibility as important to very important, for a company to be involved in, and that’s 15% more than last year! You may be thinking: “Egg-cellent, my company has several CSR initiatives.” But it’s not just about participating in CSR initiatives. It’s critical that you effectively communicate your involvement to your target demographic and help them connect the dots between your commitment to community and your commitment to employees.

TalentEgg’s blog, “The Incubator”, provides various career-related articles to help students, new grads and early-career professionals navigate their way from school to work. Our range of topics cover everything from the importance of volunteering to different companies’ involvement in their communities.

We also work with employers to write custom editorials and produce videos to showcase their CSR initiatives to help them reach our audience of young and passionate job seekers. In 2018, we worked with Mercedes-Benz Financial Services to create a custom video about their changing corporate culture with a focus on collaboration and community work. The video follows employees spending the afternoon at their local food bank. Cindy Voskuil, an HR Business Partner at Mercedes-Benz says: “It gives you a sense of pride to see that your work actually wants you to go out and take you away from work to spend your time giving back to your community.”

Providing these volunteer opportunities for employees is also a vital part of engaging and retaining your talent. Our survey found that 81% of high school students, 75% of post-secondary students and 64% of early career professionals volunteer. An additional 65% of total survey respondents currently don’t volunteer but want to, they just don’t have the time or don’t know where to start. Providing your employees with these volunteer opportunities as a part of their work shows your commitment to not only your company values, but also your employees’ values and their development. 37% of survey respondents state that having an employer whose values match theirs is an important factor in choosing a potential employer.

“I think it’s awesome to give employees volunteering days (that are also paid). You sometimes forget to volunteer because it’s usually unpaid work and some people can’t afford to do this, but the fact that companies specifically want their employees to volunteer is awesome.”
Mallory Thompson, Western University, 2019

Are you searching for opportunities to get your employees involved but aren’t sure how or where to start? TalentEgg has various partnerships to specifically guide and encourage students, new grads and early-career professionals to volunteer. Our sister company CharityVillage is Canada’s most popular career resource for the nonprofit sector. We work with CharityVillage to curate our volunteer opportunities directly from their site and tailor them for our audience. We also work with our sister company Bmeaningful, that features purposeful jobs in the social good sector and provides helpful resources to help people connect purpose with their paycheque.

This year we partnered with World Wildlife Fund to encourage students to become Living Planet Leaders @ Campus. The certification provides students with an opportunity to make a difference on campus and in their communities while teaching them teamwork and leadership skills.

We have also partnered with Students Offering Support to help students make a real impact while gaining real-world experience. Through this program students are able to gain leadership skills and vital volunteer experience by leading campus workshops and helping their peers excel in their studies.

It’s eggs-treamly clear that CSR is a must for employers to attract, engage, and retain top young talent. With our customized content and partnerships, we’ve made it easier than ever to connect with students, new grads and early career professionals all through one platform. Reach out to us to find the best way to promote your giving back initiatives and amplify your employer brand!

Partner Landing Page: WWF

COVID-19 and the Workplace: Frequently Asked Questions

Originally posted on March 3rd, 2020 by  at Global HR Lawyers – In A Flash – Matthews Dinsdale

The following provides general guidance to employers in dealing with the potential impacts of COVID-19 on the workplace. All should appreciate that this is a fluid situation and we will continue to update our clients as matters change. For specific issues, please speak with your Mathews Dinsdale lawyer.

Where can employers get regular updates on COVID-19?

The Government of Canada’s Public Health Agency

Infection Prevention and Control Canada (ipac)

Is COVID-19 in Canada?

As of March 3, 2020, COVID-19 has been confirmed in three provinces: British Columbia, Ontario and Quebec.

While the Public Health Agency of Canada expects those numbers to increase, without sustained human-to-human transmission, most Canadian employees are not at significant risk of infection.

Can an employer restrict international travel?

As of March 3, 2020, the Government of Canada has posted travel health notices for non-essential travel to areas of China, Hong Kong, Iran, Japan, Northern Italy, Singapore and South Korea due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

Based on these advisories, employers should restrict business travel to these areas. Should employees travel to these regions for person reasons, they should be advised that their ability to return to the workplace will be assessed upon their return to Canada.

Can an employer stop employees who travelled in an area affected by COVID-19 from returning to work?

Depending on where they have travelled and the nature of the employer’s business, an employer may assess risks in the circumstances, and could restrict an employee from immediately returning to the workplace. For example, an employer who operates a senior’s community will have a dramatically different assessment than an employer operating a warehouse.

Prior to an employee returning to work, they should be asked to confirm that they have no symptoms of illness. Again, depending on the workplace and the risk associated with potential COVID-19 exposure, the employee may be asked to self-isolate even absent symptoms depending on where they have travelled.

Patients with confirmed COVID-19 infection have reportedly had mild to severe respiratory illness with symptoms of fever, cough, and shortness of breath. If the employee has these symptoms, they should seek medical attention and should not be permitted to return to work until they are confirmed by medical testing to either not be suffering from COVID-19 or that they no longer carry the virus.

If an employer holds an employee without symptoms out of work, is there a requirement to still compensate the employee?

This will depend on the circumstances, including where the employee has travelled from, the nature of the specific workplace, alternatives available (i.e. working from home) and any potential collective agreement requirements. While each situation will have to be assessed individually, there will be circumstances where holding an employee out of service, without pay, may be deemed reasonable.

What if an employee has COVID-19 and cannot work?

Where an employee contracts COVID-19 and is unable to work, an employer must grant any applicable legislative leave to the employee, in addition to meeting any sick leave obligations outlined in employment agreements or collective agreements.

What if employees refuse to work because they are afraid of contracting COVID-19 in the workplace?

Employers have a positive obligation to take reasonable care in the circumstances to protect the health and safety of employees under occupational health and safety legislation. Where an employee has a reasonable basis to believe that there is a dangerous condition in the workplace, or that their duties present a danger to their health and safety, the employee may be able to refuse to attend work or perform certain duties.

In the event of a work refusal, the employer must respond in accordance with occupational health and safety legislation, which response will include an investigation into the concerns and, if appropriate, adopting measures to eliminate or reduce the workplace danger. This investigation will, in large part, be based upon the current scientific understanding of COVID-19 and the specific facts in the individual workplace. No reprisal for properly exercising a health and safety right may occur.

Can an employer fire an employee if they contract COVID19?

No. Employers may not terminate an employee or otherwise discriminate against an employee due to physical disability (which includes certain illnesses) under human rights legislation.

What if an employer needs to replace sick employees on a temporary basis to operate?

An employer can hire employees on a temporary basis. An employer may also ask healthy employees to work additional hours, provided the employer is complying with legislative provisions regarding overtime and excessive hours of work.

The time to prepare for such a contingency is now: employers should be assessing how many employees they require to operate effectively and what will happen if a large number of employees are unable to attend work.

Can an employer force employees to work from home?

Whether or not an employer can direct all or a portion of its workforce to work from home will depend on the reasons for the request. For example, if there has been potential exposure to COVID-19 in the workplace, it may be reasonable to request certain employee self-isolate and work from home for at least a 14 day period.

Can an employer close their business due to COVID-19 outbreak?

An employer must ensure a safe working environment. Depending on the situation, it may be necessary to close a business location. An employer’s obligation for providing notice or pay in lieu of notice to employees will be governed by the specific facts of each case.

Do employers have to buy personal protective equipment for employees?

Employers have a duty to provide a safe working environment. If employees run the risk of becoming infected at work, the employer must provide personal protective equipment.

Previous Mathews Dinsdale articles on COVID-19

Workplace Pandemic Plans: What Employers Should Know

Novel Coronavirus: What Employers Need to Know

If you have any questions about this topic or would like assistance with developing and/or reviewing pandemic plans, please do not hesitate to contact a Mathews Dinsdale lawyer.

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