Employer branding | TalentEgg Trends

Category: Employer branding (page 2 of 30)

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

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

March 16, 2020 / Stephanie Davis / 0 Comments

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

TalentEgg Trends

Today’s Talent, Tomorrow’s Leaders

Category: Employer branding (page 2 of 30)

Unique Experiences to Develop Your Future Talent Pipeline

Continuous Learning is Your Talent Magnet

Stop Ghosting Your Candidates and Other Recruitment Pet Peeves

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

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