The recent media overkill coverage of Steven Slater – the Jetblue employee and future reality TV star who became mad as hell on the job last week and wasn’t going to take it anymore - is just the latest in several high-profile incidents of employees behaving badly. We took some time to reflect on this and four other recent stories of employees whose antics caused some very public embarrassment for their (now former) employers – and how those employers were able to maintain their employment brand image in the aftermath. Take a look…

1. Jetblue Flight Attendant Leaves Passengers in Shock

The Incident: If you don’t already know the name Steven Slater – and how the Jetblue flight attendant dramatically told off passengers before grabbing a beer and walking off the job (via the plane’s emergency exit slide) last week….well, you do now.
The Aftermath: While some believe that Slater’s behavior is symbolic of the overall frustration workers feel right now, others went so far as to praise him as a hero…resulting in what could have been a PR nightmare for Jetblue.  
Damages incurred? Jetblue has shown before that it can bounce back from bad PR, and the chances that it can do so again seem pretty promising. TheSeamlessWorkforce lauded Jetblue for handling the situation the way it did: By addressing the situation, and acknowledging that while yes, this unfortunate incident did happen, “the company’s culture is bigger than any one employee or event.”  Jetblue also pointed out that this was an isolated incident, and reminded us that there are a large number of employees who are currently happily employed. The airliner also wins points for taking the high road in not badmouthing Slater.     

2. Domino’s Employees Become Infamous on YouTube

The Incident: Last April, two Domino’s Pizza employees filmed themselves preparing sandwiches for delivery while, shall we say, violating various health-code standards – and then posted the video on YouTube.
The Aftermath: Domino’s initially attempted to keep its damage control under the radar, believing that a knee-jerk response would only draw more attention to the video; however, just one day after the video appeared on YouTube, over a million viewers had seen the video (thanks in part to link-sharing on Twitter). That’s when Domino’s president, Patrick Doyle, decided to fight fire with fire by issuing an apology video on YouTube and setting up a Twitter account in order to address the comments regarding the incident.
Damages Incurred? Despite its attempts to save its tarnished brand, Domino’s received criticism for reacting too slowly to the incident, and a company spokesman later admitted that they underestimated “the perpetual mushroom effect of viral sensations.” While media coverage of the incident has since died down, employers would be wise to learn from Domino’s nightmare: Namely, to maintain a presence in social media in order to pay attention to what others are saying about your brand so you can respond in a timely and appropriate manner.

3. ‘Too Hot’ Citibank Employee Fires Back After Being Fired 

The Incident: After a suit filed earlier this year, in which former Citibank employee Debrahlee Lorenzana claimed she was fired for being ‘too hot,’ was dismissed, Lorenzana then filed a gender discrimination complaint against the bank.  
The Aftermath: Citibank has consistently played the “we’re not playing the public outcry card” card, refusing to comment on the first lawsuit and saying only the following about the most recent filing: “Unlike Ms. Lorenzana, Citibank does not intend to try this case in the media and we reiterate that her termination was based on poor performance. Although we can’t speak to her previous attention-seeking activities, her current attempts to gain personal publicity are as transparent as her legal claims. We remain confident that when all of the facts and documentation are presented, the claim will be dismissed.”
Damages Incurred? Few to none. Alleging that Lorenzana is only in it for the media attention (a claim Lorenzana isn’t exactly helping to dispel), Citibank seems confident that its brand advocates will do their part to defend Citibank’s brand. (It also probably works in Citibank’s favor that the defendant’s story doesn’t exactly incite an outcry of public sympathy.)

4. TSA Employees Learn What Goes on the Internet Stays on the Internet

The Incident: Last December, five Transportation Security Administration employees allegedly posted a 93-page confidential document on airport passenger screening to the Internet on.
The Aftermath: The TSA immediately placed the employees on leave, and released a statement announcing that release announcing they take “full responsibility for this improper posting and all individuals who may have been involved have been placed on administrative leave, pending the outcome of the review.” The TSA also made sure to downplay the significance of the security breach, assuring the public that the document was “not the everyday screening manual” and that “screening protocols have not been compromised.” Under pressure from Congressional critics, the TSA also promised to launch an internal review to investigate the matter.
Damages Incurred? It’s hard to tell…The initial controversy over the security breach seems to have died down in the 10 months since it happened (and a more recent PR hiccup has since taken some of the attention), but some have suggested that the TSA’s newly adopted recruitment ploy reeks more of desperation than creativity.    

5. Comcast Employee Falls Asleep on the Job

The Incident: Once again, the power of YouTube helps tarnish a brand’s name, this time in June 2006, when a video of a Comcast employee who fell asleep on the job was uploaded to the site and became a “minor internet sensation.”
The Aftermath: Comcast fired the employee immediately and released a statement assuring its customers that providing a positive customer experience was its top priority.
Damages Incurred? In the world of employee scandals, this one was relatively minor, and because no one was hurt (or ingesting any tainted food products), Comcast was able to come away from this one incident relatively unscathed.

What are your thoughts? Do you think these employers have sufficiently recovered from these incidents? Would you have reacted differently had any of these incidents happened at your workplace?

GUEST CONTIBUTOR: Co-Authored by Carisa Miklusak and Keshet Lemberg
This post originally appeared on Carissa’s Blog – Making Sense of the Social Media Jungle. An inquisitive problem solver by nature, Carisa Miklusak is an entrepreneur, consultant and speaker by trade. Connect with Carisa’s social media profiles, on Twitter and Facebook or join her LinkedIn Resource Community.

When it comes to finding the best employee for a position, many organizations are now turning to alternate routes. Our complex and competitive business landscape has created an imperative need for a well positioned employment brand. Businesses traditionally relied upon industry contacts, expertise, job boards, and third-party recruiters to uncover the best match, but today the majority of corporations are also embracing social media as a leading recruiting tool.

In order to successfully utilize social media as part of a recruiting strategy, it is first necessary to understand how your target audience is using LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and other sites to land jobs. The most obvious reason job seekers use social media is to source companies for open positions. For example, TwitJobSearch is a social media job search engine that candidates rely upon as a resource to find open positions that are not always posted on job boards or company sites. Moreover, job seekers use online media to verse themselves in the culture of a target company. Job seekers study company pages on social media sites to gather insight about the company’s culture via photos, videos, and information provided by the corporation. Companies such as MTV Networks have successfully built their presence on social media sites by encouraging users to ask questions, offer info, and seek advice. Through its Facebook page – MTV Networks Careers – the entertainment leader sparks engagement with users, responds to questions, and posts open positions.

Lured by news, rumors, and trends, people are drawn to online media sites by the appeal of industry chatter. Professionals with social media know-how realize that industry chatter is an extremely valuable resource for gaining new and important information that can make them better candidates in the interview process. Job seekers in search of firsthand user-to-user information can easily connect with current and ex-employees through social media outlets. A directory of people organized by area of expertise, profession, and hundreds of other categories is available to the public on Twellow, the yellow pages for Twitter. LinkedIn provides similar information. Candidates also use social media sites to scope out recruiters and hiring managers to determine if they are a compatible match, and to gain helpful information for potential interviews and conversations. To find excellent advice that is pertinent to a specific situation, job seekers follow and connect with job search experts in the social media sphere. Many such experts exist offering daily advice. Ideas, tips, leads, news, informative articles and best practices can be accessed at the touch of a finger by using Twellow’s job search to find people to follow who send out helpful information. The vast array of social media tools now makes it possible for bold job seekers to attempt to engineer their own opportunities instead of waiting to be uncovered by recruiters and hiring managers. Some follow employees at their target company until news of a fitting open position arises while others network their way into new positions by engaging in strategic conversations with potential leads.

By understanding why job seekers use social media to land jobs, companies can leverage their activity to more effectively and efficiently recruit new employees. When using social media as part of a recruiting strategy, it is important to create a consistent and automated method for uncovering the social identity of job seekers. Sites like TiVo makes job opportunities accessible across major social media platforms so that anyone can post, direct message or update their status. Corporations can benefit from the opportunity to build relationships with candidates in their target audiences by maintaining an official company presence on social media sites. By following relevant people and igniting conversations, organizations can begin to create a healthy level of influence over their brand – a clear best practices in the social media sphere. Moreover, companies can determine what type of information fuels the jobseekers’ interest by listening to the candidates and then provide that content on their social media platforms. In order to avoid an influx of irrelevant offers to their job posts, however, it is necessary for businesses to refine their searches by specifically targeting candidates by location, career interests, and other top candidate profile credentials.

Through social media platforms, companies can connect to talent anywhere in the world and access personal information about top industry leaders. Social media is as valuable resource for organizations of all kinds and sizes to build employment brands and make the right candidate connections. It is equally as productive for job seekers, creating a platform where companies and talent alike can connect directly with multiple stakeholders in their target audience.

You also need to communicate those benefits, too.

That was the message Steven Williams, Director of E-Media Innovations and Business Development at the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), had for his audience during his presentation, “Employee Benefits: Just How Competitive Is Your Company?” at SHRM’s annual conference in San Diego last month.

It should come as no surprise that benefits are crucial to attracting and retaining top talent (especially with employers complaining about how good talent is still so hard to come by these days)…but where “HR drops the ball,” as Williams put it, was in communicating these benefits. “It’s very important that you communicate your employer brand,” Williams told the audience of HR managers. After all, he said, you may have a great brand, and that’s great, but it has little impact if no one communicates it. 

Get the Word Out
“This is not the time to be modest,” Williams told the audience. If companies want to stay competitive, they have to get the best talent, and in order to do that, they have to really step up their recruitment marketing efforts. This means not only offering something unique and desirable to employees, but ensuring prospective employees are well aware of those offerings.

Williams suggested taking a cue from employers with strong brands like Google, Zappos and Southwest Airlines – all of which enjoy various “Best Companies to Work For” honors (and aren’t shy about boasting it). Not only do these companies offer unique benefits (like free gourmet meals for Google employees or getting offered $2,000 to quit at Zappos), but they also make ample use of their resources to advertise these facts – including their own websites, blogs, Twitter and Facebook pages, and, not least of all, their employees: Zappos employees, for example, blog and tweet frequently about life at Zappos, and Southwest employees keep an active blog about their work life. Google includes employee testimonials on its website.

Williams also urged his audience to look for any and every opportunity to communicate their employer brand, including (but certainly not limited to) the following:

• Company website (Side note: in addition to including info about your company’s mission and values, benefits, awards and recognition received, or job listings, think of ways you can incorporate various media, such as employee testimonial videos, virtual office tours, or photos from company events.)
• Print and online job ads
• Chat rooms/forums/blogs
• Visual branding on billboards, posters (Or take a cue from what the TSA recently did and deliver your job ads right to job seekers’ doors…)
• Job podcasting
• “Best Places to Work” lists (Don’t wait around, hoping to be recognized: Submit your company for local, regional and national awards.)
• Company lobby (You need a place to hang that “Best Place to Work” plaque, don’t you?
• Industry magazines
• Policy and procedures manual

Real-Life Benefits You Haven’t Tried
One final thing to note: Employee benefits don’t have to be of Oprah-taking-her-entire-staff-on-a-cruise proportions (although that is nice…), so long as they’re meaningful to the employees and they differentiate a company and its employer brand. 

Case in point: Throughout his presentation, Williams asked audience members to contribute the unique benefits their companies offered. Here are some of the ones they shared:

• Self-funded sabbaticals where employees bank part of their income
• Phased back-to-work for nursing moms following maternity leave
• Employee concierge service that aids in personal care
• Grocery services
• Symphony and theater tickets are reimbursed 50%
• Back up care hours for moms who must travel for business
• All employees are given their birthdays off
• A surprise all-expenses paid trip is organized for a long weekend every five years
• Employees are encouraged to purchase new outfits and expense them
• Free on-site yoga
• “Free latte Fridays”
• Free employee health screenings
• First Fridays, in which employees are treated to lunch out

These perks may seem small, but they’re also the kinds of things employees remember and appreciate (because it shows they are appreciated) and that differentiate them from other employers – so consider those things that make your company unique and don’t be shy about promoting them.

SAS. Nordstrom. Google. Whole Foods. What do all these companies have in common beyond their brand recognition? They all made the 2010 FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For. And this year at the 2010 SHRM Annual Convention in San Diego (#SHRM10), Michael Burchell, Ed. D., vice president for Global Business Development, Great Place to Work® Institute returned to talk about what exactly these 100 company’s do to make the list (last  year his talk focused on the 50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work For in America).  He noted that any company has the potential to make one of these two lists, regardless of industry, employee demographics, location or work status.

Commonalities between companies that make the list
Burchell started his presentation asking, “What is the difference between a good place and a great place to work?” following that up with, “It’s not about what you do, but how you do it.” Through his company’s 20-plus years of research on this topic, Burchell found the one thing all these companies have in common: TRUST. These companies are all places where employees “trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with.”

The Three Components of Trust:

1. The relationship between employees and management.
2. The relationship between employees and their jobs/company (pride).
3. The relationship between employees and other employees (camaraderie).

Building this kind of trust enables companies to reap positive business benefits and increased productivity through increased caliber of employees, increased quality of products and increased levels of risk taking and innovation.  It’s an investment, but a worthwhile one.

Having this kind of trust also decreases costs by lowering turnover (best companies typically have a voluntary turnover of 9% or less) and lowering resistance to change.  Surprisingly, it also lowers health care costs: Employees who feel trusted – and trust their companies in return – tend to have healthier lives outside of work because they leave work at work, leaving them with more to give to their personal life (family and community). This also means that when they are at work, they show up because they want to and are ready to contribute because they have the perception the company offers a special and unique culture where “we are not like others.”

Building Trust
Trust between employee and company (and vice versa) begins during the pre-hire stage; although the treatment employees get on their first day of work really sets the stage for future trust. Employees who feel welcomed and appreciated generally foster a genuine level of trust much faster than those employees who are just shown to a desk to begin working right away. Makes sense, right? You’d be surprised how many companies overlook these little details. Burchell continued by saying that employees who have the opportunity to interact with senior leadership very close to their hire date are better informed and feel true value and connection immediately.

Best Companies to Work For also…

• Motivate
• Empower
• Listen
• Thank
• Develop
• Care
• Celebrate
• Share

Common Benefits that Best Companies to Work For Offer:

• Job sharing
• Telecommuting
• Compressed work weeks
• Flexible scheduling
• Phased retirement
• Paid sabbaticals
• Child services
• Dry cleaning
• On-site mailing
• Free beverages or snacks
• Personal travel experience

And while this list of perks is impressive in and of itself, what truly makes the difference is how the company communicates these employee benefits, supports them and enables employees to take advantage of them. One example given was Goggle’s TGI Fridays – and yes, it does revolve around food, but not exactly in the way you might think. Each and every Friday employees are invited into cafeterias for an agenda-less meeting where employees get to talk with Google’s CEO and senior leadership team about anything. And as you’d expect, not all questions hold the same weight but all questions are valid and go back to the idea of trust. This practice also shows employees that they are valued as a part of the business, not merely people who work for the company. This is also a time for the leadership to reinforce the company values and make everyone feel connected. Google’s success is unquestioned, but did you know they have also created a pool of quality applicants that is so extensive, they may never have to actively recruit ever again?

The Hidden Benefit to Being  a Best Place to Work
Earlier, I mentioned the benefits a company gains by striving to be a best place to work – such as higher productivity and profitability - but there’s also this other (kind of huge) perk: Once word gets out that your company is a great place to work, you’ll really start to see more qualified applicants applying to your open positions.  I’m talking about people who understand your company’s unique culture and want to be a part of it because they feel a connection to your values.

While much of this information may not seem new, it is wonderful to see so many companies really trying to step up their game to become a best place to work. Remember, employees are your greatest asset, and they leave every night. What are you doing to ensure they return? If you build around this model, everyone benefits. Hiring gets easier. Top talent is retained. Production increases. Profits grow. Build a best place to work and you build a foundation for ongoing success.

Explore our previous Building the Best Place to Work article series to gain insights on our five basic building blocks and other tips for creating the best working place. As always, we welcome your feedback in the comments section of this post. Tell us more about your own recruitment and employee engagement experiences as you try to build a company that your employees call a best place to work.

Liberty Tax Service has been the recipient of several awards in the past couple years – which of these are you most proud of and why?

We’re proud of all of them, but I think the one that we’re most proud of is one that we just received locally from Inside Business magazine, calling Liberty Tax Service “one of the best places to work in Hampton Roads” (which is the Tidewater Region of Virginia). To be named the best place to work in an entire metropolitan region was really special to us because we really embrace our culture, and we are proud to be recognized as a great place to work. Our rankings in Entrepreneur Magazine also stand out because that’s an industry-wide franchise publication that many people refer to when they’re looking to purchase a franchise opportunity. To be recognized by them as one of the fastest growing franchise opportunities – and one of the best out of 500 opportunities – is good for the franchise system in general.

The Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity is #9 on the fastest growing franchises list of the 2010 Entrepreneur “Franchise 500.” To what do you attribute your growth?

I think the number one thing is the experience of the management team. Our CEO, John Hewitt, founded Jackson Hewitt Tax Service in 1982 and grew that to a very large franchise system, a system that today still bears his name. I, myself, am one of the founders of Liberty Tax Service, and I have over 20 years of experience in the income tax industry. When we decided to start another income tax company, we made a bunch of rules: to learn by our mistakes, to help foster the culture, and to promote people to jobs that they were good at. I think that the reason that we’ve been so successful is because we have been able to hire the right people, make them happy and then bring on great franchisees.

How would you describe your philosophy as it relates to people and their impact on your daily business?

I believe that people should be left to do their jobs. I don’t believe that [micro management] fosters creativity and excitement in the workplace. My personal philosophy is to hire the right people, give them their job description and what their key result areas are, and then let them go ahead and figure out how they are going to achieve those results. One of the principles of our company is, “Mistakes are a wise person’s education.” We believe that nobody’s perfect, and you’re going to make mistakes, and your mistake is like an education. We [as managers] are here to guide you, but you’ve got some freedoms and some flexibility to make your own decisions on how you’re going to run your business.

How do you engage and relate to your people? What experiences or lessons influence your leadership style?

Many folks who work with me have been with me for a long time, from the beginning of starting Liberty Tax Service. We are, as a group and as a department, very tight. There’s a lot of laughing that goes on, but when the work needs to get done, we push to be the best and to really get results because everybody is proud to be a part of the marketing department. If I attribute anything to my management style, it’s the fact that I let people do their jobs. I truly believe that you can have fun every single minute you’re at work if you enjoy what you’re doing.

How do people affect your business, particularly as it relates to your revenue stream?

We manage our employees though the position-results description method: Our employees set a goal for what their job is, and then there are key result areas that they agree with their manager are “the things that I am going to achieve this year.” We make sure that each key result area is measurable, but we also make sure that they are attainable. We work together throughout the year to make sure that everybody is on track. It’s a really good way to kind of put your goals down on paper and then track if you are achieving them.

Some people believe HR to be the only department with a responsibility for the organization’s people, yet you’ve made your overall talent strategy a priority in your role. Tell me about that.

I think our company operates quite a bit differently from some other large companies to attract good people. We have a referral program that motivates our employees and our franchisees to seek out good people. Our HR department is not a traditional HR department. They help us with issues, but when it comes to the actual hiring process, it is really left up to the managers to find and interview those people and make the hiring decision. We look for the right people, we bring them on, we test them in different positions, and we find the right job for them. It really boils down to this: you’ve got to hire for attitude and then train for skill. If somebody doesn’t have the right attitude, it doesn’t matter what job you put them in, they are not going to perform. We like to hire people who are happy, positive, and willing to stretch and to learn.

I understand that Liberty Tax Service doesn’t advertise nationally, and you’ve relied heavily on guerilla marketing with wavers and franchisees generating most of the buzz about your brand in the market. How have you used social media to extend your non-traditional marketing to reach a wider audience, centralize marketing efforts, and preserve your brand?

We’re new to social media. We knew that we needed to be involved in that, but we weren’t really sure how to do it. The first thing we did was hire an online brand manager who has experience in that environment. We’ve relied pretty heavily on the folks at CareerBuilder to help guide us through that and give us ideas on how we can better position ourselves on the web with social media.

We don’t believe in traditional national advertising. Television has lost a lot of its effectiveness. We continue have a very high percentage increase in business every year, and I attribute it to the fact that we’re doing non-traditional things, whereas our competitors are still acting very traditionally when it comes to media and to advertising.

We’ve developed a persona: We’ve developed a Facebook page that is dedicated to “Libby” and her adventures going across the United States and what she is going to encounter during tax season. We also have a traditional Facebook page where people can ask questions and we can post tax tips. Building the friend base has been very easy. People are interested, especially during tax time. Everybody has to file taxes, so you have a ready-made base of people who are seeking information, and we’ve found a fun way to do it through the interaction on the social media sites. And it has been very successful for us so far.

Tax preparation is a very personal service, and communicating on a one-on-one basis is far more meaningful to our customers than mass media advertising.

What lessons have you learning along the way in regards to social media?

One lesson we’ve learned is that you need to have a solid background in what your strategy is and how you’re going to implement it. I think you can hurt yourself very easily by going out onto Facebook or Twitter and not understanding what the rules of engagement are. You can kill your image as quickly as you can build your image if you don’t respect those parameters.

When we started, we were dabbling in it and didn’t really have a firm grasp of what we should be doing. I think we made some wise decisions by getting help from people who understood the space and could make some recommendations on how we should move forward. I feel really comfortable with where we are now with our social media presence, because we are moving through the environment in a way that is not only proper, but also fun and inviting for the people who are participating on our sites.

How have you leveraged your employment brand to grow your business? Why is this important to you?

It may sound cliché, but we have a group of advocates out in the marketplace, in virtually every DMA in the country who really love Liberty Tax Service, and who love working for Liberty Tax Service. So we’ve got this band of advocates who are out there singing our praises. Just last weekend I was at an office and there was a waver out on the street, and we had three separate people walk in and say, “How do I get that cool job? I’d like to have that job.” It’s rewarding and gratifying, but it also lets you know that people are noticing us and they understand what it means to be part of Liberty Tax Service. We’re just doing an outstanding job of recruiting the right people, showing them the right way to do business, and they in turn tell everybody they know.

I would have to start with our CEO, John Hewitt. John is the consummate workaholic. He is constantly striving for betterment: both betterment of the company and giving the people who work within the company the opportunity to continue to grow and to achieve. His leadership, wisdom and vision are paramount to the success of our company. We like to call him the granddaddy of the industry. His wealth of experience and knowledge is unsurpassed in the income tax industry and in business circles in general.

Then I would have to use the franchisees, collectively, as our second group of people who propelled Liberty Tax Service to where we are today. We’ve got, I think, an unusual group of franchisees. Our franchisees are very entrepreneurial and are constantly bringing us all kinds of great ideas. And they bring them to the table with passion and understanding of what it’s like to be out in the field and on the front lines with the customers. They’re all just very, very motivated and really love what they are doing: They’re the kind of people that you want to hang out with.

What other advice would you share through this piece?

My advice to anyone who is looking to start a business or to re-engineer their business is to look outside of what you know. Just because this is the way that we’ve always done it doesn’t mean that’s the way that it always needs to be done. And that applies to virtually any business – whether it’s manufacturing, retail, science, or anything – because if you don’t look for a different way of doing things, you’re going to get the same results you’ve always gotten.

John likes to say, “If you do what you always did, then you’re going to get what you always got.” Another one of our principles is to break boundaries. You have to take those risks. You have to be able to steel yourself and say, “Okay, I’ve never done this before, but now I’m going to figure out how to do it and here’s the goal that we’re going after.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

About Liberty Tax Service

Liberty Tax Service is the fastest growing retail tax preparation company in the industry’s history. Founded in 1997 by CEO John T. Hewitt, Liberty Tax Service has prepared over 7,000,000 individual income tax returns. Liberty Tax Service provides computerized income tax preparation, electronic filing and online filing through eSmart Tax. Each office offers customers audit assistance, a money back guarantee and free tax return checking. The Liberty Tax Service franchise opportunity is #9 on the fastest growing franchises list of the 2010 Entrepreneur “Franchise 500.” For more information on Liberty Tax visit www.libertytax.com

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Use this e-book to discover our best tips around:

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Looks like the rumors (being rumors and all) were false: TBS announced today that Conan O’Brien has signed a deal to star in a late night talk show on the network, effectively putting to rest earlier speculation that FOX was going to sign the former “Tonight Show” host. 

I wrote earlier about how ,as an employer who’s hoping to attract a top talent like O’Brien, FOX was doing everything right…so how did TBS, a cable television network that isn’t exactly known for its original late night programming and certainly doesn’t bring in the same audience numbers that FOX does, secure this coveted hire?

Oddly enough, it was the perception that TBS is not a network like FOX that became a crucial part of its employee value proposition.  As noted in an NPR story published today, after dealing with all the “affiliate politics at NBC,” O’Brien was apparently wary to sign a deal with FOX only to have to deal with demanding affiliates all over again. (The tactic is not unlike what I posted last week about how AOL was leveraging its status as a “non-Google” to attract former Google employees.)

Another major selling point? TBS appealed to its candidate’s intangible needs: By letting O’Brien own this show, the network is giving its new hire those career opportunities that employees love so much.

Finally, in a move that seemed to cap the deal for TBS, according to Media Decoder, the network wisely utilized what we in the recruiting world call an “employee referral.”  Here’s how it happened…

 TBS’ offer to put O’Brien in the 11 p.m. time slot and push George Lopez’s show to the midnight slot was eerily similar to the very proposal that eventually led to O’Brien’s bitter departure from NBC. Needless to say, O’Brien was unwilling to do to Lopez what he felt had been unfairly done to him, and initially refused the offer. That’s when TBS enlisted the help of its own employment brand advocate, if you will, Geore Lopez himself, who personally called O’Brien to sell him on the offer.

So just to recap what we’ve learned today: FOX’s employee value proposition was good. But as far as O’Brien was concerned, TBS’ was better. Employers would be wise to take a cue from TBS, which smartly did its homework on its ideal candidate, then leveraged what it knew about that candidate’s perceptions, values and needs to market itself and appeal to that candidate as an employer of choice. Well done, TBS.

Can you remember the last time you heard the phrase “You’ve got mail”? (And NOT counting all the times it’s followed the question “What movie is the Oxygen network going to be playing this Friday night?”)  Feels like a while, huh?

Well, prepare for a blast from the past, because the company that used to be America Online is suddenly a hot commodity again…or at least it is among job seekers…

In the past year, AOL has successfully recruited employees from high-profile companies like Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, The New York Times and Time Warner, prompting AdAge’s Michael Learmonth to ask, “Why does everyone want to work at AOL all of a sudden?” in a recent article for the online magazine.

You can’t blame the guy for asking: Nothing against AOL, but it’s been roughly a decade since the company’s heyday as the “goliath of Internet service providers.”  So how is it suddenly an employer of choice among what is surely a highly sought-after talent demographic?  Well, it’s simple, really: Basically, AOL is a lesson in employment branding done right.

By understanding the specific talent demographic its brand appeals to, AOL gets one of the most crucial elements of employment branding right: It knows what it stands for – as well as what it doesn’t stand for – as an employer.  

“Employment branding is about knowing who you are as an employer, but just as importantly, it’s about knowing who you aren’t,” says employment branding expert Mary Delaney, President of CareerBuilder’s human capital consulting company, Personified. 

In AOL’s case, the company knows it’s no Google…nor is it trying to be.  Sure, Google enjoys a reputation as a top company to work for, but that doesn’t mean that it’s the right fit for every single worker ever.  Understanding this, AOL seems to be using its smaller position in the industry as its employee value proposition: By marketing itself as a place where employees will be challenged to expand their knowledge and help rebuild what was once an industry giant, AOL is appealing to a candidate base that is hungry for career, professional development and training opportunities, factors that a recent employment branding study found to be among the top reasons employees chose their employers. 

Similarly, if you look at the list of the 50 Best Small and Medium Companies to Work For in America, you’ll notice how these employers sell their brands as ones that can meet employees’ intangible needs – such as motivation, empowerment, trust and recognition.

The takeaway here? All too often, companies try to sell themselves as something they are not – effectively making promises they can’t fulfill – when, in fact, they should be embracing what differentiates them from other companies and focusing on what they do offer. 

As AOL demonstrates, companies need to look at what is unique about their culture – and what demographic is attracted to that – rather than waste their time trying to appeal to a group of candidates that would fit better elsewhere.

Thoughts?

Once again, the worlds of marketing and recruiting have collided.  You’ve probably heard (and if you haven’t, I’m telling you now) that one of the most important elements of using social media effectively is to be authentic…but how, exactly, do you do that?

Mashable’s Greg Ferenstein recently addressed this issue on a blog post called “The Science of Building Trust with Social Media,” talking about how psychological behaviors of social media users can help guide companies in their marketing efforts.  

The same lessons, however, apply to recruiting efforts – that is, the same way companies might use social media to build trust with their customers can be applied to building trust with employees and candidates.  Here are some of the key takeaways of his article, from a recruiting standpoint:

A Quick Response is Better Than No Response at All
Because telling forms of trust – like voice intonation and body language – do not transfer over email, job seekers will instead base their opinion of how trustworthy you, as an employer, are on how quickly you respond.  Does this mean answering every job seeker question that gets posted to your company’s Facebook page?  

Actually, yes, it does. 

Even if you don’t have the time to give the most thought-out response to every single question right away, it is important that you show current and potential employees that their voice is being heard.  The least you can – and should – do is write a short post to acknowledge that you’ve seen the message and will answer the question in more detail at a later time.  “It is better to respond to a long Facebook message ‘acknowledging’ that you received the message, rather than to wait until there’s time to send a more thorough first message,” Ferenstein says.

Case in point: Notice below how CARQUEST Auto Parts recently responded to a job seeker inquiry via its Facebook page - and the appreciation and positive feedback the company saw as a result of doing so.

Even if job seekers are using social media to express frustration or disappointment, employers and recruiters should see this as an opportunity to open up a line of dialogue about how to better the candidate experience.  Notice how staffing firm Staffmark quickly responded to a comment on its Facebook page, and how that response turned not only into positive feedback, but also an opportunity for the company to improve the quality of its candidate and employee experiences.

Written Communication is Better Than No Communication, But Video Communication is Best
Ferenstein already established that voice intonation and body language don’t transfer through written communication, so it’s no surprise when he points out the benefit to using video above all forms of communication when trying to get the most important messages across.  “The more non-substantive information the medium can convey, the more data a listener has to decide how trustworthy the speaker is,” Ferenstein writes.

As evidence, he cites the video Domino’s Pizza president, Patrick Doyle, put out last year to apologize for an infamous employee YouTube prank.  You can see the impact Doyle’s apology had on viewers below.  The video is overlaid with a graph of user reaction to show how “believable” viewers gauge his apology, based on body language and inflection.

What does all of this tell us?
Just as it did before social media came along, authenticity rules – it’s just a matter of figuring out how to best convey that authenticity across new technology.  

In an environment where candidates are getting increasingly frustrated because they feel either misled or ignored by recruiters and hiring managers, it’s no wonder that employers are hesitant to build a social media presence – afraid that having a public profile on a site like Facebook will make them vulnerable to criticism; however, what Ferenstein illustrates (and what is further illustrated in the experiences of CARQUEST and Staffmark) is that companies can actually utilize the viral aspect of social media to show job seekers and employees alike that they are listening to them and do care – and turn that criticism into brand loyalty.

If Quiznos’ was hoping to boost its employment brand, the fast food chain’s new environmentally conscious “Eat Toasty, Be Green” campaign – which includes the use of new biodegradable packaging and employee uniforms made from recycled materials – could not have come out at a better time.   

Job seekers seem to gravitate toward social responsible companies, according to a recent Kelly Services survey of nearly 100,000 people in 34 countries in North America, Europe and Asia. 

The reason for this? “Employees gain a sense of fulfillment when their employer is focused on not only the bottom line but also on initiatives and practices [that] have a common connection with the communities in which they operate,” said George Corona, Kelly Services’ executive VP and COO, in an article for Staffing Industry Review Magazine.

(Perhaps this helps explain why companies like Whole Foods and Starbucks – both of whom are often acknowledged for Corporate Social Responsibility efforts – often find themselves on ‘best companies to work for’ lists.)

Among the survey’s other findings:

• Almost 90 percent of respondents say they are more likely to work for an organization that is considered ethically and socially responsible, something that is consistent across all generations.
• 80 percent are more likely to work for an organization that is considered environmentally responsible, a figure that is considerably higher among older age groups.
• In deciding where to work, an organization’s reputation for ethical conduct is considered “very important” by 77 percent of Baby Boomers, 72 percent of GenX and 65 percent of GenY.
• 53 percent of Baby Boomers would be prepared to forego pay or a promotion to work for an organization with a good reputation, compared to 48 percent of GenX and 46 percent of GenY.
• In deciding where to work, policies to address global warming are considered “very important” by 36 percent of Baby Boomers, 35 percent of GenX and 31 percent of GenY.

Quiznos is just the most recent in a long line of companies who have started tweaking their products to appeal to an increasingly environmentally conscious consumer base, and hopefully, other companies will follow suit. 

While these initiatives are certainly good for branding purposes (and, of course, Mother Earth), employers should be aware that, in order to truly engage employees, they should also focus on internal initiatives, like letting employees work from home or investing in energy-saving technology.

Not only do these efforts reduce the strain on the environment, but also – and perhaps more enticingly – they help improve the bottom line by qualifying companies for tax incentives, boosting employee productivity and garner consumer support. 

Do the above findings surprise you? What sort of environmentally-friendly initiatives is your company using to both reduce energy use (and how has it made an impact on your workplace)?

Are you among the 30 percent of employers who are still struggling to fill open positions (according to Manpower, Inc’s 2009 Talent Shortage Survey) – despite the millions of job seekers out there?

If so, maybe it’s time to reconsider your recruiting efforts – and see if there’s not something small but crucial that you’re overlooking. 

Here are five surprising reasons you might not be getting those quality applications you need:

1. It’s not the job that’s the problem…It’s the posting. Perhaps the open position you’re advertising for has such an obscure title that candidates don’t think it even applies to them. Maybe there’s not enough information about what the position entails. Or there’s too much information that makes job seekers lose interest.  Or perhaps it’s simply miscategorized…Whatever the reason, job seekers might not be compelled enough by what they’re seeing simply from the job posting to apply to your company. For tips on how to better craft a more dynamic job posting, check out 7 Steps to Must-Read Job Postings.
2. Your employment brand is a mystery to job seekers. In-demand job seekers want to know what they’re in for, and if you have no discernable employment brand, they’re not going to bother with you. “Companies are realizing how important it is to differentiate themselves with an employer brand,” says business marketing expert Jim Lanzalotto, Principal at Scanlon.Louis, in a recent phone interview. Employers can’t afford to fade into the background if they want to attract quality talent; they have to stand out in a way that gets job seekers’ attention and makes them an attractive place to work.
3. Your employment brand is a mystery to you. Companies tend to operate under the misconception that the brand’s message is controlled by the brand owner, when in fact, it’s controlled by the audience, according to Lanzalotto. “An employer brand is what the company says about itself, but in the blogosphere or twittersphere or other social media space, what they’re saying is what your brand truly is.” In other words, in order to know truly know what your employment brand – regardless of the brand you’re trying to build – you  need to listen to what job seekers and current employees are saying about you. (Want tips on strengthening your employment brand through social media? Check out our recent Webinar: Social Media Basics for Your Employment Brand.)
4. The price isn’t right. The old adage still applies here: Money talks. Forty-nine percent of employees who plan to leave their companies this year are doing so for more money, according to the 2009 EDGE report. It’s more important than ever that employers truly assess how they compare to the  industry and area competition when it comes to compensating their employees – and guage a plan of attack from there.
5. Your application process is a pain. Sad but true: CareerBuilder internal data has found that 34 percent of candidates who try to apply for jobs don’t – simply because the application process is too much of a hassle. Among the reasons candidates don’t end up applying for jobs: 24 percent fail to do so because the “Apply Now” link is broken, and 21 percent believe that the long application process isn’t worth their time. If you think you’re losing candidates in the application process, try using data analysis  to find exactly where in the application process you’re losing candidates – and how you can work to fix the problem.

If you’re new to – or have yet to venture into – social media recruitment, you might want to check out CareerBuilder’s recent webinar on the subject (now available on demand here).  

Not just a clever name, “Social Media Basics for Your Employment Brand,” gives a quick and easy-to-digest overview of what social media is and its value as an employment branding tool.  

Hosted by Melissa Murray, emerging media consultant for Personified, CareerBuilder’s consulting arm, the webinar also covers such topics as: how companies are using social media to impact their business; how to begin creating a social networking strategy; and various policies and etiquette to follow. There’s even an informative Q&A at the end of the session.

Click here to watch the first half of the two-part webinar on demand.  Or for a quick sneak peek, check out the 10 steps to getting started with your social media strategy:

1. Set a Goal – Determine where you want to create a presence, and what the purpose of that presence is.
2. Master One Medium – There are a lot of social networking sites out there right now. So many in fact, that it can be overwhelming trying to decide where to start. Begin by simpling picking one site on which to create a profile and get comfortable using before you venture elsewhere.  Explore the site to see what others might be saying about your brand. See if they’re engaging and if what they’re saying is negative or positive. Figure out how others are using the site and engaging on it.
3. Manage Your Online Reputation – Once you’ve seen what people are saying, create a plan for responding to those comments.
4. Create a User Experience – Create a Facebook page, for example, and post videos, photos or content that gives insight into what it’s like to work at your organization – information users wouldn’t find anywhere else. By providing them an inside look at your organization, you’re creating an exclusive user experience, engaging them and compelling them to want to work for you.
5. Listen, Learn and Engage – This step denotes an ongoing process. Once you have a profile and are active on the site, you can start to listen to the conversations about your brand. Allow employees and job seekers to post questions about the company. You may find that they’re concerned about issues you never would have considered addressing before.  Don’t be afraid of criticism, either. This is an opportunity for you to respond and clarify misconceptions about your brand. (Because the truth is that people are going to talk about your brand – regardless of whether you’re there or not. At least now you have the opportunity to steer the conversation in your favor.)
6. Highlight Specific Jobs – Use the medium as a platform to give information beyond just a job description. You can post employee testimonials, for example, of others who hold that position and be advocates for both the company and the job.
7. Visually Stimulate - Sharing videos and photos of company events is a great way to give candidates snap shots into your organization – in ways they’ve never seen.  “Day-in-the-life” videos, for example, give would-be employees an idea of what it’s like to work for your company, and they resonate stronger than anything job seekers might read.
8. Boost Your Rankings – Having a presence on multiple social networks can improve your rankings in Google search results, making it easier for job seekers to find you when they perform organic searches for either your company or your industry.
9. Promote – Tapping into those passive talent streams and connecting with your ideal talent requires promotion – both internal and external. Use your social networks to market your open positions, company news, or other messages you want to get across to job seekers, and make sure to communicate internally, too, so your employees can further their efforts as brand advocates and push that information out, too.
10. Dedicate Time and Effort – Whatever you to, keep at it. It takes time to build a following and generate engagement - and even longer to see a return on your business, but in the long run, you will reap the rewards for your efforts.

Check back later for our recap of the second part of this webinar series, “Employment Brand Strategy for Social Media.”

It may sound a little dramatic, but a well-crafted job posting can mean the difference between life and death finding mediocre candidates and finding extraordinary candidates. 

Job postings that are easy-to-read, detailed and clear tend to generate better candidates, simply because candidates are more likely to read the posting in full (which, let’s face it, isn’t always the case) and recognize whether or not they’re truly qualified for the position. 

Even those candidates who may not be able to apply for the position in question might find information about the company or the benefits you offer that compel them  to seek out other positions with your company.  What I’m getting at is…job postings are also a major employment branding opportunity. 

The next time you write a job posting, use following tips to strengthen the quality of your job postings – and improve the flow of quality candidates.

1. Remember That Key Words Are…Well, Key. The more keywords your job posting contains that are relevant to the position – and that job seekers might use to search for jobs – the easier it is for search engines to find it – and the higher it will appear in organic search results. Look at your job posting and consider where you can substitute key words that a job seeker might use to search for the position.  (Instead of saying, “The person in this position will be required to…” for example, say, “The Marketing Manager will be required to…”) Just don’t let the posting get so bogged down with key words that you lose the message – or all control of normal human language skills.
2. Don’t Be Shy About Showing Off The Goods.  While not exactly the same thing as stage time on “America’s Got Talent,” a job posting does provide a platform for employers to show what makes them special – one they should take advantage of.  As you consider what information to include, consider this 2009 survey by CareerBuilder , which found that the most important attributes job seekers valued most in potential employers were: stability and longevity in the market; good career advancement opportunities; a good work culture; and the ability to offer flexible schedules.

   Also, when and wherever possible, include logos and/or slogans in the job posting, which can increase applications by 13 to 21 percent. Doing so adds credibility of being an established, professional company, and not a recruiter—as some job seekers are leery of working with a third party—or a questionable entity. It also helps job seekers remember you when looking for future job opportunities.

3. Bring Up The Elephant In The Room. According to a 2008 CareerBuilder survey, 24 percent of job seekers said failure to include a salary range was a major source of aggravation, so if you want to hold job seekers’ attention, be sure to reference compensation information whenever possible—even if it is only a salary range.  At the very least, let the job seeker know that you understand pay is a vital piece of information by having a benefit statement such as: “Great pay—higher than industry average, commensurate upon experience, bonuses paid each quarter, opportunities for additional commissions.”
4. Don’t Be Vague (It’s Almost As Annoying To Job Seekers As That Other Annoying Thing). The same 2008 survey found that unclear job titles in job postings were a major turnoff to applicants. While you want your job posting to stand out amid others, a job title like “ONE OF A KIND OPPORTUNITY!!!” or “Make lots of money!” is unlikely to generate much interest, as the smartest job seekers will recognize this as a marketing ploy. 
5. Mix It Up A Little. Wonder why applicants with fewer than five years’ experience keep applying when you’ve clearly stated that five years is the minimum amount of experience required? Well, maybe you’re not being as clear as you think…If you’ve crammed your entire job posting into one lengthy block of text, most applicants are probably skimming your job posting for relevant key words – at best. Break up the job posting up into categories (such as “qualifications” and “responsibilities of the role”), and utilize bullets (to list required skills, the roles of the job, and company benefits, for examples). The easier the job posting is to read, the more likely a candidate is to read the posting in full and recognize whether or not he or she is truly qualified for the position.   
6. Proofread. Forgive me for putting what seems so obvious in here, but even the best writers slip up every once in a while. Given that this is your first point of contact with a potential job candidate, you want to make a good first impression.  Don’t rely on yourself to catch mistakes, either. Pass a copy of the job posting on to a colleague to check for errors that you might have missed.
7. Double-Dip.  If applicable, associate your job posting with multiple industries to increase visibility. If you are a pharmaceutical company wanting to recruit a sales manager, link your posting to multiple industries, such as sales and marketing, healthcare and pharmaceutical.Many professions can be cross-posted, such as public relations, accounting, Web design and programmers, just to name a few. Doing so allows candidates to pull up your job posting in more searches. Just, again, make sure the industries you associate your job posting are relevant.

Any tips of your own you’d like to share?