9 Pieces of Crowd Pleasing Content to Fire Up Your Talent Community
What does matter now is that companies gather together and maintain an active and engaged social community of potential talent – by whatever means necessary – with their business or employer brand at the centre of it, in order that be a potential pipeline for talent – and a key hiring channel within their talent attraction strategy. Talent communities are now being called on to deliver.
The engine of the talent community is the members, but the fuel is content. And if you are to encourage employer centred activity within your community, such as: referrals, inquiries, applications, resumes and new members, you need to fuel the community with crowd pleasing content. And below I have outlined 9 pieces of crowd pleasing content to fuel and ignite your talent community.
1. Jobs and Opportunities
There’s no such thing as passive talent. Studies over the past few years have shown that anything from 60% to 85% of people are planning on searching for a new job at some point in the next year. The idea that a talent community should be a soft sell environment where jobs are not aggressively pushed is a fallacy. If professionals feel your talent community is a place where they can find access to the latest or future opportunities, and sign up to alerts, they’ll return time and time again and be more likely to be self promotional and active. Jobs represent opportunities, change, more money, progression, hope and are the hottest content you can have on a talent community.
2. Exclusive Job Opportunities
Offer job exclusives, that is jobs that will only ever be advertised through the talent community. Alternately, you could create a policy of advertising all your jobs exclusively on the talent community for a week before posting elsewhere. You’ll create additional buzz and excitement which could lead to more applications, referrals and repeat visitors.
3. Competitions, Quizzes and Games
Community members love nothing more than topping a league table. Gamify your talent community and enable the members to take part in industry and profession relevant: quizzes, tests and competitions and rank in league tables to encourage activity, competition and engagement. Have some of your employees take part as community members will be keen to pit themselves against your top talent.
4. Member Profiles
Have detailed member profiles with photos so that community members can promote themselves and differentiate themselves from the other members which will drive self promotional based activity in your community. But, allow people to engage in a discrete manner as well – without completing their profile — as some people simply prefer a little more discretion.
5. Input and participation from influential employees
Have HR and hiring managers participate in the community, as talent community members will value the fact that they have the opportunity to engage with and to promote themselves directly to influential members of your business.
6. Job Whispers/Organized Leaks
People always like to think that they are getting access to secret information that no-one else is aware of. So use your community to put out information about departmental changes, restructures etc…, that could lead to new job opportunities in the future. If members feel your community is a great way to pick up whispers and gossip about future opportunities, it will be very attractive.
7. Lead industry based discussions in a forum
Show thought leadership and engage in industry based discussions by introducing topical discussions and encourage discussion and feedback on the forum.
8. Question and Answer
Allow members to put open questions to the company about HR, Culture, strategies, industry issues and provide open answers and allow individuals to debate and discuss and even co-create. These are all powerful motivators.
9. Employer Branding Promotional Content
Include videos, company news etc… relating to your positive company culture, successes etc… which shows what a great place your company is to be and which constantly advertises your brand. This will help to make people want to work for you.