Jennifer McClure`

Helping Leaders Leverage Influence & Create Maximum Impact.

  • About
  • Speaking
  • Schedule
  • Blog
  • Contact

Written by Jennifer McClure

Social Recruiting Spotlight: Stacy Van Meter & Deluxe Corporation

This week, I’ll be attending the ERE Spring 2011 Expo in San Diego, California and I’m looking forward to learning from recruiting leaders from many of the world’s top companies and those who are leading the way in terms of recruiting innovation. One of the recruiting leaders who’ll be speaking at the conference this year is Stacy Van Meter, Social Media & Talent Community Manager at Deluxe Corporation. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with Stacy briefly about her role at Deluxe Corporation, their successes with social recruiting and a bit of what she’ll be talking about during her session at ERE.

Be sure to make it all of the way to the end of this post, where you’ll find links to be able to view Stacy’s presentation via the ERE Live Stream, a copy of her slides and one of my favorite recruiting/employment branding/candidate engagement videos of all time!

*

Tell me a about Deluxe Corporation and your role as a Social Media & Talent Community Manager

Deluxe Corporation is a 100-year-old business that has locations throughout the US and Canada, employs just over 5000 people and hires about 1200 people each year. Over the last year, we’ve been in an enormous state of transformation. Deluxe has always been known as a check printing company, but we’ve changed business models and are now a company that provides marketing services for small business. This has been a huge change for us in a very short period of time.

A year ago when I was hired, I’m not sure that they were entirely sure what it meant to have a Social Media & Talent Community Manager, but they did know that Deluxe needed a recruiting presence online. So this last year has really been about building a foundation in terms of avenues of engagement – Facebook, Twitter, a blog and a little bit of internal work with Brand Ambassadors.

We’ve been setting up avenues for people to change the perception of Deluxe from a branding standpoint because we’re no longer “that check printing company”. We need to draw in digital talent and before our social media efforts, there was no way that type of talent would even know about us. Five years ago, our top hired for jobs were positions like Press Operator. Today, our top hires are all in the digital realm – web campaign managers, email marketing managers, digital leaders, community managers, social media managers, etc.

How did you find your way into this role with Deluxe?

Early in the mid-90’s I worked for United Healthcare and I built a business plan to create one of the very first products for healthcare consumers to be able to converse with a nurse counselor online. After completing that project, I ended up going out on my own and doing some consulting from a “new media” perspective. What I found was that when I was talking with clients about how to create a web presence, they were asking me how to go about hiring “new media” types who think and act differently. As a result, my business transformed into consulting with companies on how to hire and keep “new media” professionals. So I guess I sort of fell into HR & recruiting.

When I saw the Deluxe Talent Community Manager job description, I knew it was the job for me! It’s the perfect intersection of a business background, internet, marketing, platform development and experience in Human Resources. I could not be at a better place. I go to bed every day excited about what I do and I wake up every day excited about what I do.

So what exactly does a Social Media & Talent Community Manager do?

My role is transforming. I’m doing a ton of research on where the potential is within HR and marketing. If you look at HR, Marketing, PR and customer service and then throw social media into the mix, at some point there’s an intersection of what’s going on there – and it’s all about the customers. I believe that one of the very first things that we in HR should do is to stop calling job seekers “candidates” – and start calling them “customers”. We also need to change our mindset about who they are and what they bring to us in the hiring process.

We’re working really hard to make the change to the customer mindset at Deluxe. I look at my role as impacting both the brand and our customers – internal and external. Over the last year, we’ve probably done a little more broadcasting using social media than what we ultimately want to do, but we’ve been getting into the consideration space of the talent we need to recruit, teaching people about our brand, drawing them in and getting them excited about us. We’ve been moving people down the conversion funnel – and ultimately, we’re hiring them. The next phase is after we’ve hired them, to start immediately thinking about them as Brand Ambassadors who need to be trained and equipped to become evangelists of our organization. We’re doing lots of work internally to make that next phase happen right now.

What social media tools do you use in your recruiting process?

We’re on Facebook and Twitter and we also have a blog, a YouTube channel and a LinkedIn Careers Page. We also use a couple of LinkedIn Recruiter seats for direct sourcing on LinkedIn.

Deluxe Corporation on Facebook | Deluxe Careers on Facebook | Deluxe Corp on Twitter | Jobs at Deluxe on Twitter | Deluxe Talent Community Blog | Deluxe Jobs Careers Site | Deluxe YouTube Channel

We’ve been having some great success with our videos on YouTube. We’re sending out Flipcams to our remote sites and asking hiring managers to talk about their opportunities and the location. One of my recent favorites is a video that was created for a Plant Manager opening in Streetsboro, Ohio. The short video includes an interview with another Site Leader, the HR Manager and a tour of the plant, break room and the office where the person would sit. People who are coming in to interview for the position are saying that it’s great! They really like being able to see where they would be working and some of the people they’d be working with.

How many people are involved in Deluxe’s social recruiting efforts?

We’re a pretty lean group. In addition to myself, we hired an intern this past summer to do presence management and build out our online sites. We’ve just moved him into a full-time digital marketing specialist role and we’ve also hired a full-time Sourcer.

We’re really looking for a lot of engagement online and we spend quite a bit of time routing people to the right place, giving recommendations or feedback, answering questions etc. on Facebook and Twitter. Our customers really seem to appreciate it and those who engage with us via social media do get a little extra edge. We make sure that they get right in front of the recruiter.

How are you tracking results related to your social media efforts?

In the last quarter of 2010, 50% of our hires came from our Talent Community – which has grown considerably over the last year. We had 3,500 members in our Talent Community on January 1, 2010 and as of January 2011, we have over 134,000 members.

Our Talent Community is “opt-in” and we’ve found that some people join, but don’t apply for a job at Deluxe right away. They may have heard about us and just want to see what’s going on here, or be within our email marketing system. The nice thing for us is that we can segment the people within our Talent Community. I cut and categorize those 134,000 people into groups by job categories or people that come from companies that we know we want to recruit from. We many not have an opportunity for them right now, but down the line, we’ll be able to put together a marketing campaign for those folks when we do.

What will you be talking about during your session at the ERE Spring 2011 Expo?

One of the things I’ll be talking about is what I call a Web Campaign. When we have a hard-to-fill or high profile job, I put together a 6 – 7 page framework of all of the places that we need to go, where those people live online, etc. This spreadsheet includes everything from events in the area of hire related to that particular position, to forums or places online where we can do free posts, to every LinkedIn group related to that job, to Twitter, to Facebook, all of the PPC, sometimes a micro-site, whether we’re going to do a video, email marketing, niche job boards, etc. We do tons of research up front to determine how we’re going to target market for our jobs and then we track the success rates of each step.

I’m also going to talk about the technology and recruiting transformations that are taking place and what that means for the market and for recruiters. And I’ll be talking about turning candidates into customers and hires into brand ambassadors.

In your opinion, what’s the biggest opportunity with social recruiting?

No question about it – engagement. Success to me is when customers – internal and external – are able to tell the NEW Deluxe story with delight and excitement and they’re spreading the word. That means that they’ve had a great experience with us from a recruiting perspective, a product or service perspective, or as an employee.

*

Find information HERE about how to watch Stacy’s presentation live on Thursday, March 24th at 1:30pm PT/4:30pm ET via the live stream provided by ERE.net or catch the recording via the same site at a future date. You can check out the slides for Stacy’s ERE Spring 2011 presentation on Slideshare – “Mission Possible: How to Create a Comprehensive Social Media Recruitment Marketing Strategy”. Follow her on Twitter – @sjvconsult.

And finally, check out this awesome “behind the scenes” video from the Deluxe Recruiting team. Informative, helpful and fun. I love it!

Categories: Blog, Employment Branding, Recruiting, Social Recruiting
Posted on March 23, 2011

Written by Jennifer McClure

7 Approaches to Recruiting With Facebook [slides & recording]

In my last post, I invited you to join me for a complimentary webcast sponsored by Jobvite – and over 1,400 people registered to attend!

Today, the folks at Jobvite have made the slides and recorded webcast available to everyone on the interwebs, so I wanted to share it with you here in case you weren’t able to make it on Tuesday. (email subscribers may need to click the link below to view)

Jobvite webcast 7_approachesrecruitfb_withjennifermcclure_031511  

View more presentations from Jobvite, Inc.

Unfortunately, some of the formatting of the slides was changed a bit with the upload to slideshare, but the majority of the information is still viewable & there are links to 8 free resources and eBooks to help with understanding how to use Facebook for recruiting at the end of the slide presentation.

If you’d like to view/listen to the entire recorded presentation (with original slide formatting), you can still register for the webcast and view it online at your convenience via Vimeo.

If do you choose to view the recording, I hope you’ll also listen in at the end to hear just a few minutes about the solutions offered by Jobvite. I really appreciate them providing this webcast free of charge and making it available to everyone. They have some great products that are worth checking out!

Categories: Blog, Facebook, Presentations, Social Recruiting
Posted on March 17, 2011

Written by Jennifer McClure

7 Approaches to Recruiting with Facebook – Live Webcast

 

 

On Tuesday, March 15, 2011, I’ll be leading a live, complimentary (i.e. free) webcast:

7 Approaches to Recruiting With Facebook

This webcast is the latest in a series of social recruiting webcasts made available by the folks at Jobvite and I’m super excited that they’ve invited me to participate!

I hope you’ll join us for this hour long webcast on Tuesday, March 15th at 10am Pacific Time/1pm Eastern Time.

Details from the Jobvite webcast registration page:

7 Approaches to Recruiting With Facebook

** How do you make content stick with your target audience?
** Which profiles, pages and ads for jobs should you refine?
** How do you make it easy for employees to drive up referrals?

Facebook is not just for Gen Y. Any corporate recruiter can take advantage of this social network to easily increase quality referrals and attract the right talent — all while reducing costs. All you need is a solid plan. One that is effective, practical and easy for driving the results you want.

Join recently recognized top 25 most influential online recruiter and HR pro to follow on Twitter, Jennifer McClure, for this webcast as she shares the “how tos” and tips on getting the most out of Facebook for your recruiting efforts.

  • New approaches to using Facebook
  • Content that improves engagement and time management
  • Setting up Facebook profiles, pages and advertisements of job openings
  • Making it easy for employees to tap into their network to drive up referrals
  • Tracking and seeing what works

If you can’t make this live complimentary webcast, register anyway to get a link to the recording.

Click on this link to register for – 7 Approaches to Recruiting with Facebook

Learn more about Jobvite by visiting the Jobvite website and following on Twitter or Facebook!

*

Almost 400 people have registered to attend the webcast so far and I hope to “see” YOU there!

If you have questions about using Facebook for recruiting, employee & candidate engagement or employment branding, let me know in the comments and I’ll do my best to address them in the webcast or in a future blog post!

 

Categories: Blog, Facebook, Presentations, Social Recruiting
Posted on March 4, 2011

Written by Jennifer McClure

Social Recruiting – Where To Start?

In September 2010, I traveled to the UK at the invitation of #TruEvents host Bill Boorman (and thanks to the good folks at Jobsite) to attend the #TruManchester UnConference.

While there, I had the opportunity to meet several online UK and European friends in person and also shared my Number One Tip For Getting Started With Social Media Recruitment in a short video interview with Mike E. Taylor of Web Based Recruitment.

My tip? First, find and connect with “influencers” in Recruiting and follow what they’re doing online.

I’m constantly learning from others and getting great ideas from those who are successfully using social recruiting tools and methods to attract and recruit talent. There are some very creative folks out there who are doing it right – and there’s also a few who are doing it wrong. (It’s good to learn from them too.)

*

If you’re looking for some great people to learn from and follow on Twitter, check out my 100+ Suggestions for Recruiters/HR Pros to Follow on Twitter.

I’d also recommend checking out the recent lists from HRExaminer.com listing people who are considered to be influential (online) in the HR and Recruiting worlds. Many of these folks are doing some creative things online in terms of blogging, videos, eBooks, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. that are worthy of taking a look at.

  • Top 25 Most Influential Online Recruiters v2
  • Top 25 HR Digital Influencers for 2010

The HRExaminer lists are compiled by checking online keyword mentions of content related to each area, so while some of the individuals listed may not be practitioners, they’re consistently putting content and opinions out in the digital world, so they provide good places to start. (I’m honored to be included on both lists at #17 and #16, respectively.)

What do you think? What would be the first step you’d recommend for someone wanting to learn more about social recruiting?

I’d love for you to share some suggestions in the Comments section!

Categories: Blog, Recruiting, Social Recruiting
Posted on December 13, 2010

Written by Jennifer McClure

Developing a Social Recruiting Strategy: From Bigot To Believer

In an effort to highlight HR, Recruiting and Talent Management professionals who are developing and implementing Innovative People Strategies every day in their workplaces, I’m starting a regular guest post series here on the Unbridled Talent blog to share some of their work and best practices. Today’s guest post is from R.J. Morris, the corporate Director of Staffing at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. I first became aware of R.J. through reading his guest posts on Fistful of Talent and soon began following him on Twitter. My impression was that R.J. is a recruiting professional who “gets it” and I had the opportunity to confirm my suspicions when I met him in person at the recent Social Recruiting Summit at Best Buy in Minneapolis, MN.

*

Nine months ago, I would tease my wife when she logged into her Facebook account after the kids went to bed. In a horribly superior tone, I would ask her if she was 15 and IM’ing her BFF. I was neither classy nor witty. Like my mom ten years ago when she talked about “that internet thing,” I sounded like a complete idiot—a social media bigot, if you will. Thankfully, my wife is a very cool lady and recognized that I made fun of Facebook because I did not understand it. These days, I write guest blog posts, tweet and am helping to implement social recruiting in my organization.

Now? My wife makes fun of me daily.

How do you go from bigot to believer? I was, of course, initially afraid I had missed the boat. I kept hearing that companies were using social media to drive recruiting and business results—my limited exposure to Facebook made it seem like it was a tool that told me “Sally’s excited about shopping today” or “Heather has completed the Bugs Collection” on Farmville. Twitter? That was for folks who wanted to follow Ashton and Britney. I was hopeless and overwhelmed.

Thankfully, the social media community is very welcoming, and I began to learn. Progressive HR professionals were soon interacting with me, offering outstanding knowledge and resources. The challenge was how to translate that knowledge to the business that I support. “Look how much professional development I get from colleagues on Twitter,” is quite different than, “Here’s why we think we need to develop and implement a social media strategy across multiple communication channels supporting distinct organizational goals.”

We still don’t have it all figured out. We are trying to be deliberate, not splashy. Our team is responsible for recruiting activities nationwide, so we looked through that prism. LinkedIn was a safe first play. Executives at the company understood the tool, and many were active on the site. For our recruiting efforts, LinkedIn has tools that aligned well with our sourcing strategy, so we went there first. It is, of course, the least social/most controlled network, but it allowed us to establish a presence outside of the corporate website and show some results.

Facebook was next. Yep, my wife enjoyed mercilessly making fun of me each night as I logged on to check out competitors and review top page designs. Mashable became a good friend as we matched user demographics to our national recruiting strategy. I was scared that selling Facebook as a recruiting tool to a conservative organization in a down economy would be tough. Nope. I work with smart people, and they quickly saw the potential power. They realized we were going to have a social media presence regardless—either we would be heavily involved in crafting that presence, or someone else would.

Next up is integrating Twitter and an employee blog to make our people more accessible as we tell our story and show off who we are. We are also reviewing communication material we developed for internal use over the past 12 months—much of that can be leveraged to ensure we can share ongoing and engaging content.

Like most companies, we are still figuring social recruiting out. When we did not know anything about social media, I was upset and felt we were behind. Now, we realize we are working with emerging communication platforms with dynamic rules and usage—getting social recruiting integrated is a process. When I talk with companies that want to start, I tell them to engage with people in the community and learn.

And, no matter what, don’t make fun of people for using the tools.

———-

R. J. Morris is the corporate Director of Staffing at McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. – an ENR Top 10 building company based in St. Louis, Missouri. McCarthy has offices and projects nationally and they recruit really smart people who want to join a company where everyone is an owner.  R. J. is responsible for leading and directing all national recruiting activities using both tried and true old school tactics and the implementing the latest methods (including social recruiting) to support the growth needs of the organization.

Categories: Blog, Guest Posts, Recruiting, Social Recruiting
Posted on July 9, 2010

  • « Previous Page
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • Next Page »

Recent Posts

  • Discovering Your Why: How Clarifying Your Vision Can Transform Your Organization and Create a Bigger Impact
  • Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile to Build Your Personal Brand and Grow Your Career
  • Is It Still Possible to Build Your Personal Brand Using Social Media in 2023?
  • My Mother’s Legacy: What It Means to Be an Impact Maker
  • 10 Activities Leaders Must Embrace to Lead With Impact in the Future of Work

Categories

Archives

Need A Speaker?

I've delivered keynotes and led workshops at over 350 conferences and corporate events.

If you want to check my availability for your event, or if you have questions, click below.

Start the Conversation »

Recent Blog Posts

  • Discovering Your Why: How Clarifying Your Vision Can Transform Your Organization and Create a Bigger Impact
  • Optimize Your LinkedIn Profile to Build Your Personal Brand and Grow Your Career
  • Is It Still Possible to Build Your Personal Brand Using Social Media in 2023?
  • My Mother’s Legacy: What It Means to Be an Impact Maker
  • 10 Activities Leaders Must Embrace to Lead With Impact in the Future of Work

Connect on Social

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter
  • Vimeo

Copyright © 2023 · Jennifer McClure · Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2023 · McClure Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in