John Sullivan's Post Today

John Sullivan posted a story today "Making the Business Case to Shareholders--It's Never Happened Before!"...it's a good article. If you haven't read it yet go to: ERE Article.

My favorite part of the article is about branding the recruiting function internally. This is something that I believe whole hardily and most people are just like, huh?..when you bring it up. If your department is truly operating like a business within the business, and you treat the hiring managers like your customers, then why shouldn't you market your services. It's the same as any other business. You want your managers to know the tools that are available to them and create a campaign that makes it clear what your service is about and how to use it.

You also want to invoke emotion within your organization when people think of your group. Do you want people to think of your IT department or accounting and finance departments as more friendly, business savvy or easy to work with then your department--absolutely not! Think about your favorite brands out there and what they represent. The executive team at Harley Davidson was asked once what their brand represented--they eventually came back with..."it's about a middle aged accountant in a boring job who can put on chaps and get on a Harley and feel bad as they ride through town". What is Nike's brand? What kind of emotion to you want your recruiting team to elicit when people think about it.

John Sullivan points out a few ideas to help brand your team. You should also look at how to carry your brand through everything you do. Do your e-mails carry your brand, your programs, etc.

We recently launched a new employee referral program where we wanted to show the more edgy, exciting side of recruiting. We are giving away a Vespa, we did a launch event, supporting marketing materials and carried our brand through then entire event. You would be amazed how the perception of a team, the teams intelligence, status can all be affected through strong brand. It will help you gain the resources you need and get the job done. You will quickly find the ROI when you see how much easier it becomes to get the resources your team needs.