Member Article

HR seminars tackle recruitment hurdles for businesses

HR professionals received valuable tips and advice on how to overcome recruitment obstacles at interactive seminars.

Communications expert Anthony Bullick of PR agency Outwrite PR and talent guru Cath Harrison of recruitment marketing company JVP Group tackled the issue of talent attraction strategies and skills shortages, which is listed as a top concern for many organisations.

The sessions, in Chester and St Asaph, focused on how to improve recruitment marketing and public relations to position a brand as an employer of choice.

Stats show that a strong employer brand attracts better applicants, decreases the time to hire, and reduces the cost per hire. In addition, the work done around a brand can significantly improve staff retention.

It was also discussed that 75 per cent of jobseekers will research a company’s reputation and employer brand.

Anthony Bullick, managing director at North Wales-based Outwrite PR, said: “How organisations position their brand goes a long way to making the process of finding and keeping the right members of staff easier and hopefully these seminars have helped them understand how they can do that.

“As an agency we are passionate about PR as a strategic management discipline. Too often, PR professionals are pigeonholed as someone who can only get you into the media, however as these events showcase, PR has a crucial role to play in helping companies achieve their overall business objectives.”

Cath Harrison, founder and managing director at JVP Group, said: “The skills shortage across multiple sectors is having a negative impact on business success and growth, and it means the job market is highly candidate driven – the best people can pick and choose where they wish to work.

“If businesses want to stay ahead of the competition, it’s vital they harness the power of a strong employer brand and market themselves as the place to work – as a recruitment marketing company we see first hand on a daily basis the positive impact it has on ensuring the attraction of the very best talent, and it was brilliant to see so many employers putting it high on their agenda at our events.”

Alex Clare, small business manager for LBW Chartered Accountants, said, “The seminar was informative and gave an insight into the link between PR, marketing and recruitment.

“We were able to see the steps required to promote our vacancies to the right candidates. It really highlighted what is missing from our recruitment process.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Sam Harris .