Why do you use PR?

PR is an effective way to get our brand out further. We recognised that in order to build our brand and communicate with publics we wouldn’t have reached [...]]]> For some recruitment businesses the decision to undertake PR can be a hard one. Recruitment is hugely results driven and ROI is easily measurable. PR is different and can take some time to see results. This month we speak to Lucy Heskins from webrecruit about the value of PR.

Why do you use PR?

PR is an effective way to get our brand out further. We recognised that in order to build our brand and communicate with publics we wouldn’t have reached otherwise, PR needed to be a key part of our strategy.

The Web has helped us to push out our messaging much quicker than had we opted for just traditional methods such as print. Whilst these are still extremely useful, the likes of online magazines, newsletters and blogs have helped us tenfold to distribute our messages.

Increasingly, it’s also important for reputational management. By issuing a statement on our website or answering questions in real-time on Twitter or Facebook, we are seen to be much more responsive to our publics.

How do you measure ROI?

PR, for us, takes a drip-feed approach; it’s a slow burner that helps to promote our services over time.

We measure our ROI in many different ways. The most straightforward way is to record the number of features and comments at the end of the month, as well as talk to our customers to find out how they learned about us. Google analytics is also important too, as is the number of visitors to the blog/website after a release has been published.

With our increasing use of social media, however, we find it goes much further than this. We are able to track who re-tweets us, shares our content and comments on our blog – all important metrics that enable us to increase our brand awareness.

What would your advice be?

PR is a crucial part of the marketing communications mix, it allows you to manage your brand and communicate with audiences you may never have thought possible. Many people associate PR with getting column inches in the paper. In fact, the Web has enabled anyone to publish and voice opinion on virtually any subject, and the tools are in most cases, free-to-use.

I strongly suggest to anyone considering using PR to jump in straight away, learn about the different distribution methods and identify where your target audiences are. Of course this can take time, and you may not always have the resources, but it is an activity worth investing in that will ultimately differentiate you and your business.

So, over a week ago we started posting out adverts for three graduate recruits to come [...]]]> We’ve read a lot of news stories lately saying that levels of graduate unemployment are high; it’s difficult to get a job as a graduate; or there are no opportunities out there for recent grads etc. In response to this, and as an organisation looking to grow and bring in new skills, we thought we would target the graduate audience with some new job opportunities.

So, over a week ago we started posting out adverts for three graduate recruits to come and join the BlueSky PR team using various graduate jobs boards, expecting a barrage of CV’s and applications. But to our surprise, the response has been lower than we would expect. So where are all the PR grads?

Now it may simply be that graduates no longer use jobs boards to find a graduate scheme, or even that students are too busy with their exams and coursework at the moment to be applying for jobs; or none of the above. All I know is that this is a fantastic opportunity (or three!) for someone who really wants to get stuck into the PR industry and develop their skills so shouldn’t be ignored.

And as the newest member of the BlueSky team I can certainly vouch for this. In the few months I have been here I have had access to some fantastic opportunities to develop my skills and really be part of an amazing team. So if this message in a bottle reaches any of you graduates out there, why not send your CV to vickie@bluesky-pr.net for your chance to become a BlueSky PR team player.

Interested? Check out the full Job Description on our Join Us page.

So what is the industry doing wrong – well according to the survey, end [...]]]> I attended an APSCo members meeting last week and one of the items under discussion was a survey of 173 end user clients of APSCo members undertaken by Innergy.  The survey, ‘Raising the Bar’ asked a number of questions around the reasons for using recruiters, what they wanted to see from recruiters and how they viewed them.  The results of the survey showed that most organisations viewed recruiters somewhere between toleration and disgust. Hmm.

So what is the industry doing wrong – well according to the survey, end user clients want recruiters to:

• Provide innovative  pricing models
• Be more customer led
• Employ better people
• Provide technical solutions
• Be better communicators

That got me thinking – surely good recruiters would be doing all that anyway?  But this was 173 organisations –  a not insubstantial number.

The meeting then moved onto a client panel – and here’s where I got a real shock. The subject under discussion was:  ’How can recruiters help you attract and retain people with the right values and cultural fit for your business’.  The panel included Greg Allen Head of Recruitment for Nokia who said that when his organisation organised a briefing  session and round table discussion for all PSL agencies  on Nokia’s culture – what good looks like – what sort of  people they are looking for – in fact all the things that would make the recruiters job easier – half the agencies didn’t bother to show.  I was genuinely shocked.

What are you doing to enhance the client experience?

However, as someone who has been involved in recruiting for our own organisation over the past few weeks, I have been quite literally gobsmacked at the poor level of effort, courtesy and basic communication skills displayed by applicants.  We hear lots of stuff about how we need to really engage [...]]]> I have read many articles and blog postings about the candidate experience – hell I even wrote one myself bemoaning the bad service candidates get in terms of engagement and feedback.

However, as someone who has been involved in recruiting for our own organisation over the past few weeks, I have been quite literally gobsmacked at the poor level of effort, courtesy and basic communication skills displayed by applicants.  We hear lots of stuff about how we need to really engage with Generation Y – but have we gone too far? Do Generation Y now  feel that they have to make no real effort?  And is that one of the reasons that graduate unemployment is currently so high? Are we creating a whole generation of people who think that they can just sit back and wait for the ever so eager employer to find them within their ‘talent communities’?

A few examples:

• The applicant that I interviewed– a good degree, good A level grades and relevant work placement experience. When asked what had appealed to her about the role, she answered: “Dunno really – I just thought I could do it!”
• The applicant who, during a telephone screening interview, asked our Account Manager:  ”How old are you? Yousound really young!”
• The graduate  applicants ( and I’m not talking about just a few) whose covering letters and CVs are so full of spelling mistakes it makes me want to throw my hands up in despair at the current state of our education system. One was actively seeking a “roll in pubic relations.”
• The applicant who e-mailed me to say that he thought his experience would be of interest to me and directed me to site where I could find out more about him. I didn’t bother – because he couldn’t be bothered to sell himself.

Am I just a grumpy old woman?  Is there something I’m missing? Is it too much to expect applicants to make some effort to engage with ME?  What do others think?

I was listening, as usual, to the Radio4 Today programme the other day as I was getting ready for work.  I had risen with a feeling of positive anticipation for the business year ahead.  We’d had to work harder than ever in 2010 but our turnover and profit were up on 09 and our work pipeline was looking good with a number of new retained contracts being signed.  And then on comes the grim reaper himself  Robert Peston ( who I am convinced really works for the [...]]]>  

I was listening, as usual, to the Radio4 Today programme the other day as I was getting ready for work.  I had risen with a feeling of positive anticipation for the business year ahead.  We’d had to work harder than ever in 2010 but our turnover and profit were up on 09 and our work pipeline was looking good with a number of new retained contracts being signed.  And then on comes the grim reaper himself  Robert Peston ( who I am convinced really works for the CIPD).  There then  ensued a diatribe of  depressing predictions – pay squeezes, pay freezes, job losses, VAT rises, unemployment increases. Then I came into work and read the cheery  CIPD Annual Barometer Forecast and wondered if we should all just go home. I am so bloody bored of it all.

And do you know what? This sort of endless  banging on and on about the negative just breeds a what’s the point attitude.  I know personally of at least three graduates with good degrees who think it’s pointless looking for a job because they feel there arent any.  Makes my blood boil!

Yes it’s tough out there but what are we supposed to do – just go back to bed and put our heads under the covers?  

And then a little ray of sunshine  poured into my black day – another prediction and this time positive – and from a group of people who hopefully do really have their  fingers on the pulse – and the evidence at their fingertips –  the holders of the purse strings – Finance Directors. 

In my job search experience I have come across some great consultants – they have listened and understood exactly [...]]]> I am new to working within the recruitment sector but getting here hasn’t been the best experience, and I have to admit that it left me feeling somewhat negative towards recruitment consultancies. However since working at BlueSky I have met a lot of highly professional individuals within the sector, who are already changing my view that maybe recruiters aren’t all bad.  

In my job search experience I have come across some great consultants – they have listened and understood exactly what I want, then fixed me up with a good interview. However, the majority I have encountered, in both small and large agencies have been terrible. Without naming names, I have found some consultants to be rude and pushy.  They haven’t read my CV properly and they don’t listen which results in them contacting me about jobs that are of absolutely no interest to me and completely unsuitable. Here are just a few examples:

• ‘The salary is £10k less than your current wage – I think you should go for it anyway.’
• ‘The job is in Norwich – I think you’d be great for it – would you relocate from Aylesbury?’
• ‘The job is for a finance officer, I know you have a degree in marketing and pr, but I’d like to put you forward for it.’

Since leaving university, I’ve never been without a job and I’ve never been desperate enough to take any old position. So  the number of inappropriate opportunities I’ve received along the way has got me quite used to saying ‘no’, which I have found out is not a word accepted by all recruiters. One wanted to put me forward for an interview, ‘an opportunity I’d regret if missed’. The role wasn’t for me so I said no… several times. After speaking to a pushy consultant I was passed onto an even more relentless manager who informed me that if I didn’t go they wouldn’t help me in my search any more. I’ve never spoken to them since!

And it’s not just me – a colleague of mine relayed the sorry tale of a consultant asking her to change her CV so that her skills would fit a position they were trying to fill! The consultant guaranteed the interview, but the fact that my colleague didn’t have the required skills and wouldn’t be able to do the job didn’t even cross their mind!

This is why I get wound up with some recruiters; do they really realise what they are doing or how they are coming across to candidates and clients? In my experience, I can only think of 1 or 2 consultants out of about 10 who were professional and really had my interests at heart.

If I’ve had a bad experience with a recruiter then I will tell others not to use them. I’m sure that goes for a lot of people, including clients. Word of mouth is a very powerful tool, and now with social media you can reach millions!

I know you shouldn’t tar all recruiters with the same brush, and I know there are some good recruiters out there; this is just the view I have gained from my experience over the years.  And having got stuck into reading various recruitment blogs since I have started at BlueSky, it seems I am not on my own.  Andy Headworth in his recent blog post advises recruiters to:  ‘Look back at yourself through the eyes of your candidates’

Wise words indeed!

And why are we so interested in journalists? Because much of our time is spent in taking the knowledge inside our clients’ heads and turning it into written interesting, authoritative material [...]]]> Might you be interested in working in PR if you could spend a big proportion of your time writing about interesting stuff and dealing with intelligent, informed people? If so, perhaps we should be talking! We’re looking for new people to join us – ideally with a background in journalism.

And why are we so interested in journalists? Because much of our time is spent in taking the knowledge inside our clients’ heads and turning it into written interesting, authoritative material for publications, both print and online, around the globe – precisely what you’ve been doing in your career to date.

We work hard and we deliver a great service (or at least that’s what our clients tell us). But we also believe in work/life balance. Which is why we prefer to be based in rural Hertfordshire than the middle of the big city down the road.

Ok that’s enough rambling. Why not tell us more about yourself and what you’re looking to do? Simply email a short summary and some examples of your work to Adrian Barrett at adrian@bluesky-pr.net.

We look forward to hearing from you!