Attracting candidates when a client’s image is tarnished

Steve Hemsley

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos once said that your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.

When it comes to recruiting the best talent, agencies are well aware of the negative opinions candidates can express about clients’ brands during the search process.

Bad publicity following a corporate PR disaster (think a utility company rising energy prices before the winter), deteriorating financial results (think Tesco) or simply the fact an employer operates in an area that some people feel is unethical (perhaps oil, tobacco, gambling or the pay day loans market) can all make hiring difficult.

Agencies must have a frank and straightforward conversation with the client before the recruitment process begins to ensure the employer is not in denial about how it is perceived in the job market. Once it has acknowledged that its reputation might be tarnished, the agency is in a much better position to help.

David Allmond, who co-founded marketing agency Peppered Moth Marketing, believes that clients whose reputation is stained for good reason and have been up to despicable acts should be steered clear of – irrespective of the fees.

“A premium brand recruitment agency would be tainted unnecessarily and may find it uncomfortable to spin employees a line,” he says.

Indeed, a recruiter cannot sell a client’s story to candidates with integrity, honesty and passion if it does not believe it itself.

Managing reputations

Nevertheless, Allmond is adamant that a premium brand recruiter can be a great source of rebuilding confidence in a market if the client has really solved its problems.

“An agency can explain the facts to would-be employees by word of mouth and help a client to hire talent that is aligned with the new culture or vision that has been put in place.”

When introducing candidates to blemished companies there must be total acknowledgement of what went wrong. It would be a mistake to try to hide any facts from the candidate that could affect their role in the organisation or their feelings about the company.

There are other elements of the hiring process to get right too when companies with a blemished reputation are trying to woo talent. These include ensuring the interview experience is positive and does not reflect the poor image that has been portrayed externally.

“Depending on the reasons behind the poor brand image the client must ensure the interviewer is friendly and approachable and the room is light and bright,” says Shaun Simmons, managing director of the engineering and technical division of Cordant Group. He has personally dealt with companies that have a negative public persona.

“You should work with your client to prepare question and answers so they talk honestly and positively about the reasons for the bad publicity and can explain what the company is doing to help correct and overcome its difficulties.”

When a role is such a difficult sell the recruitment agency effectively becomes an extension of the client’s reputation management team.

Candidate opportunities

Michael Snow, business development manager at Capita IT Resourcing, says any agency representing oil and gas firms with a back catalogue of environmental errors, for instance, should focus on how the company is trying to improve. It should also emphasise the benefits on offer to new employees who could help it mend its ways.

“It’s really about convincing the candidate of the value of the opportunity,” says Snow. “Outline to them how they could be a pivotal factor in turning around the image of that organisation.”

At Kent-based Blue Pelican managing consultant Colin Doree searches for marketing professionals for telecoms, financial services and utility clients. He says some people are adamant they do not want to work for a particular company or in a specific sector.

Doree tries to uncover good stories to answer negative perceptions. He also writes job adverts in a particular way to appeal to the target audience. When it comes to marketing roles within utilities, the wording mentions the millions of consumers the brand serves and the size of its marketing budget rather than focusing on the fact it is a utility business which could prompt candidate concerns about the impact of fuel poverty.

“You have to make people fall in love with a role and the chances it provides and counter negative comments as they arise,” he says. “Some organisations actually want to hear from people who have strong feelings and discover how an individual could contribute to making things better.”

There often needs to be an element of flattery to persuade a candidate to at least consider a particular employer, especially if they have a number of offers on the table.

But, says Jo Sellick, managing director of financial and legal recruitment specialist Sellick Partnership: “Some people won’t be interested whatever you say because they have heard about a particular company and are worried that working there might damage their career.”

One of his clients is The Co-Operative Bank which had traded on its excellent reputation for years. However, it has suffered from bad publicity in recent times because of poor financial results and management difficulties.

“We have been trying to recruit permanent staff and interims to its office in Manchester because fundamentally The Co-Op remains a great business.It is still a great place to work and the organisation is sorting through its problems.”

Agencies not immune

Recruitment agencies themselves can have brand issues in what is a relatively small industry trying to attract the best consultants, especially in specialist areas. It means rec to rec agencies need their clients to be truthful.

“You are handling a candidate’s career and if you put them into a bad recruitment agency you won’t get repeat business. You are only as strong as your network,” says Steven O’Nyons, director at rec to rec agency Equilibrium Recruitment.

He adds that agencies that find it hard to hire the people they need because of how their brand is perceived may have to look at other elements of their operation. This may be improving the working environment or their consultants’ work/life balance.

“If your agency brand is poor and you cannot attract the people you want you end up with rookies or people no-one else in the industry wants to hire.”