Powered By Talent Attraction

Powered By Talent Attraction

04 December 2018 by Justin Rush

Powered By Talent Lite: Talent Attraction

Powered By Talent is Northern Ireland’s only conference series dedicated to a business’s most important asset, its people.  In advance of the main conference on May 22nd 2019, the Abacus Talent Group are proud to present three supporting seminars on ‘Talent Attraction’, ‘Talent Retention’ and ‘Talent Development’.

The first of the three half-day seminars ‘Attraction’ took place at Artola House in Belfast city centre on Thursday, November 29th.  Attended by 70 delegates from more than 50 organisations, the feedback from the event has been overwhelmingly positive, reaffirming the organiser’s belief that talent is top of the discussion agenda.

Despite the remnants of Storm Diana making a big effort to soak the attendees upon arrival, the conversation and mood helped warm those that braved the elements to listen to the presenters.  A short delay, caused by the late arrival of the caterers (due to the weather) meant time was of the essence.  After a brief welcome by the host Justin Rush of Abacus Talent Group, the presentations began.

Powered By Talent: Talent Attraction

Powered By Talent: Talent Attraction

First up, Shane McCusker with ‘A strategy for candidate sourcing’.  Shane is an authority on technology for sourcing and engaging with talent, he founded Intelligence Software in 2003 and has a base of customers across the world using his software every day.  Shane wowed the audience with tips, techniques and Apps that are free to use, and easy to implement.  Shane definitely gave the most walkaways from any of the speakers.

Key messages that the audience took away included:

  • Search with Boolean strings in Google, even if you use LinkedIn as your primary sourcing tool.
  • LinkedIn is a fraction of the size of Facebook and has less regular usage than facebook
  • Facebook is a valid source of data to identify top talent
  • WhatsApp and Instagram can be used to identify potential candidates too
  • Record what you do with any potential targets

Next was Peter Craven with ‘Building your employer brand: The science of storytelling’. Peter is a Chartered Institute of Marketing Ambassador, Creative Director of Blue Sky Video Marketing and Founder of the ‘Future of Marketing‘.  Peter outlined his tried and tested formula to harness the power of video, it engages audiences with strong messaging and unavoidable calls to action.  Peters style of delivery was a hit with the audience who all were keen to know what works? Especially with the Millennial/Gen Z audience.

Key messages that the audience took away included:

  • Be genuine and honest in what you portray
  • Accountants are doomed!!! Marketing Managers are safe!
  • Create some tension in the story, you must drive forward with interest. Check out ‘The power of story’ from Standford GSB Youtube channel
  • Do not worry about 4k HD and big sets, 3 movies at Cannes this year were shot on iPhones.
  • Ask for forgiveness – no permission (if you think you can get away with it!)

The final speaker was Vincent O’Donaghue with ‘Top 15 Recruiter Hacks’.  Vincent is the co-founder of Social Talent, and responsible for leading the global growth of the business.  He started by telling us that he feels like the boring partner in the business, given that Johnny Campbell gets all the plaudits and recognition.  Interestingly, Vincent started by giving his background and outlining some of his biggest successes as a movie Director: Warlock 3, House on Haunted Hill, etc. Not exactly household names but hey, this experience helped him come up with the idea of starting an online training company.

Key messages that the audience took away included:

  • We have a skills shortage, not a people shortage. So, grow your own before you look to recruit new.  Only go external if you have to for ‘Big’ jobs.
  • Social works but it will take trust from the employer, video first then pics, then text
  • Job adverts need to be real not corporate and full of unrecognisable terms, can you create emotion and empathy in a job add?
  • Video needs to edgy and real and truly define culture. Vincent gave an example of a vide that Social Talent created called ‘Why I hate my job’ which he says most people understood was tongue in cheek!

After the comfort break, the gathered audience partook in a live Q&A with the panel.  Topics covered include: how to manage a Northern Ireland brand when you are a US subsidiary, how to be transparent, the importance of culture and how to be always on, plus much, much, more.

Thanks to all of those that attended, we look forward to seeing you at the next instalment in February on Talent Retention.  To pre-register your interest for future Powered By Talent events, please visit www.poweredbytalent.com/get-tickets/ #PoweredByTalent

Pre-register_for_Powered_By_alent 2019

Pre-register for Powered By Talent 2019

 


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