Branding: It's Not Just for Cattle Anymore

The New York Times recently highlighted an ad inviting software engineers to join a company whose recruiting brand included a signing bonus of "a years supply of Pabst Blue Ribbon Beer” and a pair of “skinny jeans.”

According to the Times, the hiring managers crowed at their results: Number of resumes submitted doubled. It's seems to me all this celebrating might have been a little premature. 

While this ad generated more leads, the underlying message could be “Only Skinny Drinkers Need Apply.”  My questions about this brand:

• Did new hires arrive with a track record of producing results? 
• What about hidden costs?—Downtime as new hires calculate how many beers they could drink and still fit into their skinny jeans?)
• Were highly qualified candidates put off by the tone of the brand?

Although I was dragged kicking and screaming into developing my own brand —“A savvy HR pro who Brings Practical Insights to the Workplace” —I am now a believer. As a recruiter, I coach companies and candidates that adopting a distinctive brand is key to hiring and being hired in the age of social media.

I helped a Silicon Valley biotech company develop their recruiting brand —“Working with Smart People, Doing Cutting-Edge Work,” The brand grew out of interviews with top performers who said the draw of the company was:

1.     Smart colleagues

2.     Challenging work

3.     No politics and no (what they called) “organizational BS.”

To avoid having this brand backfire by being read  “Prima Donnas and Curmudgeons Encouraged to Apply,” I cautioned the company to include job requirements such as proven ability to work with teams and skill sets associated with product development in its job descriptions.  

Tip: Be Sure Key Job Requirements for Success on the Job Match Your Company Brand!

Legal Experience and Education

Had Enough of Facebook Already? Brace Yourself at Work

What a surprise! The Wall Street Journal reports that "youthful" entrants to the workplace don't like year-end performance evaluations!  Of course that's not a surprise — no one, young or old, likes them.

What is surprising is the introduction of alternative feedback systems specifically calculated to make the social media generation happier. It's certainly not surprising to find instant performance evaluation software looks and feels alot like Facebook.

Just like Facebook, instant feedback software allows authorized coworkers and managers similar  to "friends" to write on your page. Employees can get and give performance feedback to one another at any time.  Comments can be made by selecting  among familiar Facebook icons and badges such as "Thumbs up" or "Like" or "Unhappy Face."  Words, though permitted, aren't required.

The program gives managers an annual report for each subordinate detailing all of the happy and unhappy icons clicked by co-workers. Software allows the comments to be transferred to a performance evaluation form typically used in salary and stock recommendations.

Perhaps I  exaggerate the dearth of business value I find in assigning instant badges and symbols to complex hi-tech employment. Yet I still wonder:

Can we give one another feedback at work on matters more complex than "Angry Birds?" What do you think?