Interview with Navjot Singh, Global Marketing Manager & Recruitment & HR Communication Manager at Shell

By Christopher Van Mossevelde

At the moment there is a lot of talk about the economic downturn. The media reports on a daily basis about the recession.  How do you think this is affecting the graduate recruitment market?

Graduates themselves think that there are not many companies recruiting at the moment, but certainly companies in our sector, i.e. in the oil & gas, as well as leading blue chip companies, in the FT 100 index and Fortune 100, are recruiting. The challenge we face is that we need to raise the awareness that we are recruiting, that there are jobs here today and graduates should apply.
What I do see is that a number of graduates are looking into higher education and postgraduate studies, where they can spend further time extending their studies until the economy recovers.

And what can companies do to ensure that they still remain top-of-mind and maintain an attractive employer image?

Firstly, don’t stop your employer brand activities, make sure you maintain those, otherwise the cost of re-entry if you stop the programme and start again will be exceptionally high. Secondly make sure that your activities are tailored to the current climate, so that in a softer recruitment market you probably need less differentiation. So you should look, for example – do you do advertising? Or do PR? Also look at social media, that’s a good one, like Facebook. Look at routes which reduce your costs but also maintain delivery of quality and timely candidates.

What do you think are the consequences of neglecting ones employer brand activities?

If you neglect your employer brand, the challenge will come that when the market does turn around you will not have the right people, with the right skills, in the right places to actually deliver on your business challenges. If you can’t deliver on your business challenges and deliver on your promises, then you will not meet the expectations of the shareholders, if you don’t meet the expectations of the shareholders, then the value of your company will be impacted adversely. It does have a profound effect on your overall success of the business, both in the short-term and in the long-term.

Due to the current economic climate, many of our clients are talking right now about the importance of developing EB metrics, i.e. measuring your employer branding activities and the return on investment. Do you think this is important and if so, why?

Measurement is really fundamental to see should you invest further or should you reduce your investment, not only in employer branding but in any type of business activity. I think that it is important that when you look at employer branding, you should look at how it supports the delivery of talent into your organisation, whether it’s graduates, whether it’s experienced hires or whether it’s MBAs. I think it’s important to make sure that employer branding activities are efficient and effective and that you have the right tools and processes, but also that it’s competitively positioned from a cost perspective. I also think you need to look at it in terms of satisfaction, with the employer value proposition which you create. You need to ensure that there is a high satisfaction level amongst your staff, that they are motivated and have pride in working for your company. This will create high productivity, which will then lead to a better performing organisation with higher employee engagement scores. Satisfied employees will result in a positive employee high referral programmes, and higher referral ratios, which will allow the company itself to start recruiting talent at a lower cost base, rather than going into the external market place to recruit. So it becomes from another me too brand to an aspirational brand.

We have currently just launched a Universum newsletter and blog and in every issue we feature a section Views from the Top, whereby we ask a set of 5 standard questions to a company.  How do you define your employer brand in one or two words?

We segment our propositions by all the different target audiences. Overall we look for “creative problem solvers” under the headline “Think Further”.

What differentiates you from your competitors?

What candidates tell us, and it’s always important to know what candidates think than what Shell thinks, is that they really regard us as a people learning company. Learning is very strong and inherent in our culture. We develop people. We grow people and we make people successful. We have very strong learning programmes within Shell and you can see the evidence of those, as the alumni that leave Shell to go and take other challenges are now leaders, chief executive’s of other leading companies. Our focus has been on learning and also diversity. Diversity is critical. Over ninety different nationalities we recruit every year. The culture they bring in, the experience they bring in, the knowledge they bring in, you can’t just buy that – it’s something inherent in our culture. In my team, I have over twenty-two nationalities alone and it’s real international experience. I don’t have to travel or catch a flight to experience international working. I’ve got it right here. I’ve got it in my team day-in and day-out, people sharing and providing different views and experiences from different backgrounds into common solutions.

What are you working on right now? What new initiatives have you developed?

Shell has been on a journey for some years now to align, standardize and simplify the overall approach to employer branding. What that essentially means is that when you asked me the question “Why join Shell?” we are trying to ensure that across all our employees, across all our key sourcing markets, that we have a consistent approach in terms of answering that question – consistency for implementation is key. We are looking at bringing our employer brand alive by looking at new channels, by looking at social media, by looking at universities in terms of the presence there, and looking at virtual partnerships well. We understand that candidates are time poor. We have to respect these individuals. We have to respect their views on ethical values, the environment and corporate social responsibility. So we are aiming to bring all those elements together in a virtual environment, where we go look and engage with the candidates, recruit them quicker than our competitors and ensure that we keep them.

How does the talent market perceive you as an employer?

Shell, if you look at our overall recruitment numbers, is a niche employer in comparison to other industry sectors e.g. consultancy. Our business model is to bring in a fewer number of graduate hires than our market competitors but to retain them by developing them and offering challenging career opportunities, and our retention levels are quite high. So when you compare ourselves against some employers who are recruitment hundred’s over graduates every year, we are a niche player. The visibility and awareness which we have is in the niche sectors, so in the sectors which we target, particularly engineering and science, we are definitely top-of-mind in our key sourcing markets. However if you look at general surveys across general markets, especially in markets where we don’t have much of a focus, you will not find us in the top five. But what I would say is that in the sector which matters, in the oil and gas sector, and in our key sourcing markets which we focus upon, we are number one employer of choice. You can’t buy that. You have to earn it.
It’s been a long journey but I think that journey has been set by coming up with an employer value proposition which doesn’t just focus on pay, but focuses on (what Universum has certainly helped us with) the job characteristics, how you can develop talent, how you can develop your brand, and the culture. Those four elements will be a recipe for success. The success we found and experienced over the last five year has been built on developing an effective employer value proposition that works. One wouldn’t set up a business, if you can’t answer the question from potential customers who ask “Why should I buy your product or service?”…..would you?

How has Universum helped Shell with their Employer Brand?

When I joined I was asked to set-up a marketing department within HR from scratch and was asked to put Shell back on the employer of choice map in our key sourcing markets. What we have now achieved is a more data driven decision making approach on not only what Shell requires but what the candidate require as well. Universum has helped us undertake a market capability study and analyse over twenty-two countries, interviewed over 200,000 candidates and from that we’ve been able to understand what does the candidate require, in the different segments whether its graduates, experienced hires or MBAs, and then we’ve been able to develop a proposition and position it which meets those candidates expectations. So we look to ensure that we don’t over sell or over promise but that we meet the expectations of the candidate. I think they’ve done a fantastic job. Without them we would have never have had the success in terms of the strength of our employer brand in the key sourcing markets, or our ability to reduce our unit marketing cost per hire by over 70 per cent. We are still on a journey, but we are now much closer to where we want to be than where we were some five years ago