Talent Brand Alliance member call retrospective by Jackie Fogas, Marketing Committee Member and blog editor

As talent brand professionals, we all know how to do one thing very well: pivot. We pivot to hiring needs, to the market’s changes, to our leadership’s evolution as well as the way our business accommodates the industry’s demands. From our experience and observation, talent brand teams are at the frontline of change. 

When the market changes, we take a different approach to hiring. Technology change? Our teams enable the transition with a different approach to talent. When the economy staggeringly shifts like we’re seeing now, unfortunately it requires a drastic pivot to the way we hire, brand, and deploy resources. We are masters of acclimating to new landscapes. At our core, talent brand professionals are agile and adaptable—and we pivot really, really well. Our work during a global public health crisis put this on display. 

What has it looked like for us when businesses abruptly shut down and others required everyone who could to work from home? Many companies saw a decline in hiring. For others it dropped off completely. Some saw a steady rate of hiring but in a different environment and with more cautious candidates. And a fortunate few have been hiring faster than ever. 

For this third installment in the TBA COVID-19 Series of member calls, we gathered talent brand practitioners experiencing these scenarios and managing another pivot. Here are some highlights of our April 17 conversation. The topics of these calls address challenges that we are all going through. (See the end of this post for more details.)

For those companies facing the difficult decision to freeze hiring, there are still things talent brand professionals can do to help candidates and employees navigate the situation. This includes being transparent and upfront about hiring decisions, providing in-process candidates with information, sharing updates when you have them, and offering guidance for next steps.

It’s a difficult feeling for all involved, but providing the frequency of contact, honesty surrounding the situation, and transparency as your primary guide, it can help alleviate some of the stress your candidates might be facing. 

Derek Murphy-Johson: “TA became COVID-only support: how can I find out if there’s a testing facility in my city? My work center is closed, how do I file for unemployment? Anything employees would think of, TA is on the phone and sharing info. We created talking points for employees as well as applicants.”

Jamia Harrison Belton: “We are continuing to hire and put out the message of why we are such a strong company to work for and why we are hiring throughout this time. We also partner with other companies that might be having massive layoffs like hotel and hospitality to say, ‘We support you in this time. We are continuing to hire. Here are some roles that may relate to what you are doing at your current company.’ ”

For those companies hiring less, the situation is similar to not hiring at all but requires a little more balance to engage candidates for the roles that are being filled while managing expectations for the candidates you reject. 

It includes asking questions of how you can redirect interest for when hiring resumes normalcy while accelerating the high-priority roles to help the business accomplish its goals. 

Lindsey Sanford: ”We changed frequency of communication. We have carefully crafted audiences, and some of those need to be kept warm rather than encouraged to apply.”

Chrissy Thornhill: “Last week I looked at our social media, and 60% of our content is COVID related. That content is performing 40% higher than other types of content (award, other career stories). The COVID posts highlight working from home, what employees are experiencing, charity work of the company. The audience really does want to know what it is like to work through this.”

For the anomaly organizations such as Amazon, Walmart, and Target—it’s a new universe of hiring. They’re hiring in a market under pressure with an increase in unemployment, while an interesting comparison of more conservative candidates seeking stable employment. 

Lindsey Sanford: “I work at a cybersecurity company. Our team had to migrate security to a home environment while maintaining a 400% increase in calls because so many companies were transitioning to a remote environment leveraging our VPN. Our global support team established a center of excellence with FAQs about setting up a VPN. They set up a recording to redirect some of the traffic. I would anticipate doing the same thing for candidates to help them navigate the career process—let them know we’re still hiring; there’s a lot of opportunity; you might not hear quickly—answering top-of-mind questions.

Every candidate wants to know what to do to stand out, when they will hear back. The questions are the same, but answers might be different because of the unprecedented amount of calls. The recording could be transitioned in later times.” 

Common Themes/ General Takeaways

• Provide talking points and FAQs for recruiters who are on the frontline with candidates. 

• Respond to applicants, and include as much information about the state of hiring as you can. 

• Adjust the tone, content, and calls to action in automated messages. Make sure the tone is empathetic, not robotic. Offer direct conversations as candidate options.

• Make rejection letters emotional and compassionate. Express appreciation for interest and their time, and include as much information as possible about why they weren’t a fit for the role.

• Communicate status updates to candidates as often and quickly as possible. According to the Talent Board, this is the number one way to improve your experience. 

• Be real, transparent, humble, and human. 

upcoming TBA member calls

For the past few Fridays, we’ve had some really fantastic conversations in our member calls. We’re a community of over 1,000 employer brand and recruitment marketing leaders. No sales, just insights and sharing among global peers. If this is you too, we invite you to attend our upcoming calls. Below are the upcoming discussions in our series. To participate in future calls, join the TBA Facebook Group.  Click here to request to join.

1. Leadership Conversations on Long Term Employer Brand Strategy – featuring Bryan Chaney and Emily Firth (5/01/2020 @ 12pm EST)

2. Community Job Search and Current Employer Brand/Recruitment Marketing Opportunities – featuring the TBA board and entire community (5/8/2020 @ 12pm EST)

3. COVID Relationship Management - host to be announced (5/15/2020 @ 12pm EST)

Jackie Fogas is a story spotter who is passionate about finding and telling meaningful stories. Her career path started at a national lifestyle magazine, meandered through a long season with nonprofits, and eventually led her to the field of recruiting and talent branding. She is a member of the TBA's Marketing Committee.

Bryan Chaney is a global talent sourcing and attraction strategist and a cofounder of the Talent Brand Alliance. He currently leads employment brand for corporate recruitment at Indeed. Bryan has worked in recruitment, technology, and marketing, providing him insights into the marketing of hiring.

Lindsey Sanford currently handles Internal Comms and Employer Branding at Palo Alto Networks. Along with her full-time role, she leads the TBA's Community Committee and oversees the engagement of community members, the membership content and meeting calendar, and drives TBA member value.