The COO of a public company with a valuation exceeding $3.5b stated confidentially this week his company is doing ok today but he is concerned about tomorrow by the uncertainty in the market. The stimulus plan the government has enacted and the budget under consideration, we are learning are full of expenditures, tax increases and rules changes we have not had time to properly digest and understand. Whether the changes are positive or negative, it is the uncertainty that has frozen business expansion. There is just not enough known or understood…yet.
In this climate it is important, very important we focus on what we ‘hope’ to be certain. And we ‘hope’ for economic recovery in the near term. If this is our focus - our certainty, what can we do as executives to ensure success as the market rebounds? We are presented with a window of opportunity to increase marketshare by positively branding our companies and there are many ways we can accomplish. There is one that will and can instantly change how you are perceived in the market. Brand your company with positive, optimistic and gracious messages at your career website immediately.
Steps to take…
1. Check the stats. Ask your web team for the number of unique vistors coming to your careers page. Bet the number has increased over the past few months…and with closer examination you will discover these unique visitors leave before taking any action. Why? Who are they? They are your customers, your competitors, analysts/pundits and interested parties in your space. Recognize that a number are future talent, strategic technology partners, distribution channel partners, market influencers and clients for your company and how well you treat them today will reflect on your relationship tomorrow.
2. Welcome them like a visitor to your home. People expect to be treated poorly when visiting a career website. Many companies do an excellent job of providing company information, describing culture, etc which is good, but this is an opportunity to build a deeper relationship of value which is accomplished with honest words and a timely response. For example, does your career site thank people for visiting? Does it describe the value you understand and appreciate from their visit? Do you provide a path for ‘conerned working talent’ to enter into a confidential relationship? Are you taking advantage of these times to create a private interactive community?
Project 6 months - 6 years from now and ask yourself the question what if? What if we would have taken advantage of the market downturn to create the private community H. Stringer wrote about in 2009? Where would we be today? Would we have identified, qualified talent, sales leads, strategic partnership leads? What if?
Creating private communities of talent has been a deep passion of mine for many years and as I have written many times was the heart of Hire.com, the company I helped create. With reported unemployment in California exceeding 10% and a 7.5% average across the United States, today is the time, maybe the best time in our history to build valued private communities of talent. Whether talent is out of work or just checking to be prepared, they are coming to your website and they are checking you careers section.
There are companies today strategically focused and executing this branding strategy that will reflect on the positive value of their execution in the near and long term while their competitors will continue to ask themselves what if, wishing they would have. Which are you?
