TM - March 2008 - (Page 24)

recruitment & retention assessment & evaluation compensation & benefits performance management learning & development succession planning ment strategies to reflect this and highlight any development opportunities available in their working environment. Contomanolis said today’s graduating students are far more interested in a company’s culture, work-life balance and development opportunities than their predecessors. “You really hear a lot from students about this whole idea of work-life balance. Students are saying: ‘It’s really about the lifestyle I want, and work is part of that lifestyle,’” Contomanolis said. “They’re far more sensitive than their predecessors have been to things like, ‘How much flexibility do I have over my workplace, the times I work, the nature of the projects I’m involved in.’ How do I pus from sponsoring events to offering to provide guest speakers or panel presentations.” Martin McDonald, a recruitment consultant with HR outsourcing firm TWC Group, believes that with the current high level of competition, companies can’t just keep going to their 10 key schools. “We’re not skimping on quality,” he explained. “We’re going to hire the best of the best, but to find the best of the best, we can’t just fish in the same ponds where we’ve always been. We have to cast that net a little bit wider. That’s a big difference from eight years ago, four years ago, even one and a half years ago.” Tech-Centered Recruiting Outlets On-campus recruiting still is ranked as one of the most effective recruiting tools tied with company internship programs, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ Job Outlook 2008 survey. balance my job with the kind of lifestyle that I want?’ Students are more willing today than in prior generations to make some of those tradeoffs on location, certain types of employers, even dollars if a different kind of (work) scenario better meets their lifestyle.” Competition Is Heating Up College students’ academic and personal lives revolve around the computer and more specifically the Internet. Each visit to their dorm rooms lead to a perfunctory checking of e-mail or instant messaging, not to mention frequent Facebook and MySpace visits. Hiring managers must consider how best to harness these modes of communication for recruitment. “More companies are talking about creating social networking communities for their candidates,” Contomanolis said. “Imagine if you will a group of students who are applying for a job with an employer, and that employer is setting up a social networking community for those candidates to be able to interact with people in the corporation.” The bottom line is companies need to be visible on the Internet if they want to attract recent college graduates. “There’s definitely an effort to make Web sites more appealing and attractive. You can think of it as just pure marketing, whether you are marketing a position at the company or you’re marketing your product,” said Jeff Benrey, CEO of Trovix, a confidential online career service that uses search technology to match job seekers with companies. “Obviously, the ability to put images and video and talk about benefits and what life [is] like at XYZ Company are all things that are good pieces of information. I think companies are creating profiles on Facebook and maybe MySpace just to have a storefront online about the company, but you have to remember these young graduates know all about marketing. They know what marketing means, and they know that the Facebook profile about Company X [was] sponsored by the corporation, so they’re going to take it with a grain of salt.” Research indicates there is a great job market for students, but it’s not great for companies as wave after wave of baby boomers begin to retire, leaving marked skill and leadership gaps in their wake. Because there is more competition for top candidates, hiring managers have to be more creative to fill vacancies, and they have to recruit on every type of platform. “[Employers] are trying to connect more and become visible with student groups,” Contomanolis said. “They may be using student ambassadors to help identify students that they think may be a good fit; they are having alumni come back to campus to represent the organization; and they’re willing to look at different ways to increase their visibility on cam- 24 March 2008 talent management magazine www.TalentMgt.com http://www.TalentMgt.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of TM - March 2008

TM - March 2008 Editor's Letter Contents Human Performance - The Paradoxically Gifted Leading Edge - Reverse Engineering: Shifting Focus to HR's Cause Learning Connection - Sharing Talent On the Hunt for Talent Unlock Employee Motivation Through Personality Testing HR Crucial to Executive Compensation Process Downtown Management: Surfing May Not Be Slacking Think Tanks Aid Government in Talent Management Creating Consistency: Enterprise-Wide Succession Plans Battle Retention Deficits With On-Boarding Sunbelt Rentals: A Mid-Level View of HR From the Trenches Butterball: No Chicken When It Comes to Talent Management Advertisers' Index Editorial Resources Full Potential - Choosing Change

TM - March 2008

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