By Michelle Boyde

Do you work in a recruitment team or a rejection team? It’s possible that you have not considered your role in this light before. Many employers decline far more candidates than they ever hire. The world’s most popular employers will always have to deal with declining large numbers of candidates. However, due to the impact of the global economic crisis, employers of all sizes, from small start-ups to multinational conglomerates are facing the issue of declining candidates in large numbers. Today’s rejects are possible future lateral hires and potential customers or business partners – do your processes protect your employer brand against this threat? Read the rest of this entry »

“Attractive employers stimulate their staff to perform in a manner that benefits the company as a whole as well as the respective individuals themselves”, says Anna Eliasson Lundquist, CEO and owner of Kvinnokompetensen in Sweden.

Read the latest feature article  in the Universum Quarterly by guest writer Anna Eliasson Lundquist.

Her tips to leverage human capital

• Personal development is a prerequisite for corporate development.
• Fostering human development takes time and resources, but invariably pays off.
• Companies that inspire their staff to dream by investing in their prime asset – human resources – earn a far more generous return on that investment.
• Anyone who is genuinely allowed to develop within their company is certain to become a willing and effective ambassador for that organisation.

Per Håkansson, web executive and entrepreneur, talks about how companies can think about the return on investment for employer branding via social media (Universum Quarterly, Issue 2, 2010).

First and foremost, he asks employers to define their strategy, set goals and define metrics to ensure that they are meeting their objectives. The old business school adage “what can be measured can be improved” is also true for social media campaigns and activities, he explains.

In order to do this, however, he advises companies to listen in on the conversations and get an understanding of what matters. Firstly, companies should be able to answer these two important questions:

1) What are your users saying about you across the Web?
2) Where is your audience and how do they use social media?

However, he advises companies to identify goals without using social media first. “Identify visitors and conversation rates before you make your communication social”, he explains. “This will give you a clear starting point to evaluate the results of different campaigns and conversations”.

To measure your activities, Per suggest three types of metrics
• Web metrics: track behavioral data like visitors, referral sources, usage of content, geographical origins
• Social metrics: track fans, followers, comments, retweets, buzz
• Business metrics:  track conversion and sales rates, successful recruits