Jessica Gardner – Business Review Weekly – June 2011
A huge 90 per cent of employers listed as the Best Places to Work are hiring right now. Most are either experiencing high growth or fishing in shallow talent pools. Add to that a 4.9 per cent unemployment rate that doesn’t look like easing in the near future and you might think it would be a cinch to get a job at one of these workplace utopias. You would be wrong. Talking to the human resources staff, talent directors and “employee experience managers” (take a bow RedBalloon) of the Best Places to Work winners, there’s an overwhelming feeling that “only the best will do” – sometimes to the extent of bordering on snobbery. And fair enough, actually. The companies on the list have created a positive culture that underpins their financial success and long-term sustainability. If that culture is compromised, the whole house of cards could come falling down. But for those looking for a career change and attracted to the 50 Best, there is hope. Here’s how to go about staking a claim to a desk and weekly barbecue at the country’s top employers.
The basics:
Attention to detail. Megan Bromley, from incentive company RedBalloon, once received an application addressed to the hiring manager at the National Institute of Dramatic Arts. That was given an immediate “no”. Have a reason for applying, other than the company’s reputation. “You wouldn’t employ somebody just because they’re excited about working here,” head of HR at radio network Austereo Jill Johnston says. Tailor your resume. A “bog standard resume with a quick update” is not good enough, Telcoinabox chief executive Paul Line says. “You should change your resume depending on the role you’re going for. Look for keywords in the job ad and work those keywords into your resume.”
Getting noticed:
Start for free. Austereo and media agency OMD have internship programs for university students who have nearly completed their degrees. Austereo’s Johnston says 80 per cent of the interns go on to be employed by the radio network. Or start at the bottom. OMD employs about 35 graduates each year. “We grow our own talent from the ground up and that’s how we ensure our culture remains intact,” OMD’s director of people management, Carolyn Maloney says. Accountancy network Pitcher Partners took on 85 graduates in 2011. It helps to know someone. “We’d place most of our people through employee referrals,” Maloney says. “I’d employ a referral at a drop of a hat, compared to going outside.” A $2000 bonus keeps the suggestions coming.
Be visible in your industry. “We tend to head hunt,” national people and culture director at media agency Ikon Communications Leonie Kerley says. Be visible online. “We would always recommend people have a strong digital footprint,” accountancy firm Deloitte’s director of recruitment and mobility, James Elliott, says. “We would certainly lend weight to people who have a strong personal brand in the market. [But] you need to be very conscious when putting stuff out on social media because it’s there forever.”
Use data in your resume. Google can receive up to 1000 applications for each job vacancy and was sent a total of 25,512 resumes in the past year. One way to stand out from the crowd is to let data tell a story. “We love data at Google, so if you can share specifics we want metrics,” human resources business partner Joe Krayer says. “We’d like to know what you did and what data you have to back it up. You have to realise that if we’re looking at 1000 resumes, you might get a minute’s look before you’re rejected. You definitely want to stand out.”
Get creative. At search engine optimisation and marketing firm E-Web Marketing, candidates are asked to submit a creative assignment as part of the application process. It can be anything from a short video to a drawing or a poem, just so long as it illustrates your inner artist. Be original. RedBalloon gets lots of applications sent with ... wait for it ... red balloons. But one applicant raised the bar by fronting up to her interview dressed in a full race car driver’s suit and helmet (as a nod to one of RedBalloon’s most popular incentive experiences). She got the job.
But don’t get carried away with the add-ons. An original, creative application may get you noticed but you still need to demonstrate you meet selection criteria. “We’d very much look at background experience and skills as opposed to photos or fancy CVs,” Austereo’s Johnston says.
Bringing it home:
Be a team player. First interviews at RedBalloon are with all the short-listed candidates together as a group. Bromley says it’s not uncommon for the “team” to have a drink at the pub together afterwards but warns that they’ll feel their ears burning.
Work on your stamina. Most of the 50 Best require at least three and sometimes up to five interviews before deciding if an applicant is successful. But don’t be afraid to say enough is enough. One Google employee went through 10 interviews before she finally had enough and told them they could hire her or forget it.
Be ready for the curly questions. “What would you like your peers and past clients to have said about you?” OMD’s Maloney likes to ask. Ikon’s Kerley wants to uncover a sense of humour. “Tell us about your most embarrassing experience,” she’ll ask.
Do your research. Too easy. Google is just a search engine right? Wrong. “You need to peel back the onion a little bit,” says the firm’s Krayer. “Everyone knows Google does search. If that’s all they know they probably haven’t done any research. Regardless of the role, we’ll often ask what their favourite Google product is and why. If they can’t really answer that they might not be a real Google user. For our sales role we might ask, how do we make money? What’s our revenue model? And it’s out there. The AdWords product is well known and if they don’t know much about that, then again I think they’re looking to work with Google because it’s just a cool place. They haven’t done their research.”
Be capable. When Telcoinabox hired a lawyer recently, it had the short-listed candidates go through a draft contract and give feedback on any potential legal shortcomings. Senior hires at digital communications agency Zinc are given a brief before their fourth interview that they must respond to.
Be honest. “By all means talk about your successes but I don’t think you should be afraid to admit a failure and talk openly and honestly about what you learnt from it,” Telcoinabox’s Line says.
Lay it on thick. Pitcher Partners HR director Elizabeth Nunez knows the reality of the graduate recruiting season is that the candidates she meets often have applied to multiple accounting firms. Nonetheless, she says, it’s important for the candidate to “make us feel special, that this is the firm they want to work for and the career they want to have.”
Values. This is a tough one. Every single recruiter in the organisations that BRW spoke to emphasised the importance of cultural fit and alignment with the company values. More often than not, these are intangible and fluffy qualities (think integrity, dynamism, accountability) or sets of phrases that by themselves don’t actually mean anything but that companies pride themselves on aspiring to. However, these sets of values or examples of aspirational behaviour can provide practical touch points for the job applicant. Many companies have their values somewhere on their website. Find them and make a note: it can be an effective move to incorporate them into your resume or the stories you tell in your interview – just don’t overdo it.
