The 100 Club

Hug #100 — 23 May 2024

Once more we get up close and personal with talent industry notables to tackle the big issues like the alleged diminishing size of the iconic Wagon Wheel and other matters of heft. This week, it's…

What is the best part of your job?
The sense of pride you feel when everything comes together at RecFest and RecFest UK.

What would make it even better?
If we could bottle it and take a sip when we hit our peak period during planning!

What podcasts are you listening to?
HBR IdeaCast, Everyday AI, Chad & Cheese, Recruiting Brainfood, Recruiting Future

What are you watching?
This is Wrexham

You can bring back one snack or sweet. What do you go for?
Easy. Cadbury Marble

It's my round, what are you having?
Any high quality beer, fresh out of an ice bucket, in the sunshine, please.

Quote a line from a film.
“I’m surrounded by assholes.” —Dark Helmet, Space Balls

What’s the secret of life? 
Being happy or content with where you are in life doesn’t stop you from chasing your goals; it just means you can appreciate how far you’ve come.

Tell us a good conspiracy theory.
I’m not big on conspiracies, but have y’all seen how small a Wagon Wheel is nowadays?!

Nominate someone to do this next.
Andrea Marston

If you missed the recent breakfast event hosted by HappyDance and Pinpoint on How to Supercharge Your Careers Site, here’s six of the best takeaways from it.

1. Job Descriptions Matter! 
   Most candidates land on your job descriptions. Use this space to detail the application process and feature the hiring manager.

2. Candidates Are Customers
   Treat your candidates like customers. Ensure they have a great experience and track their feedback.

3. Quality Over Quantity
   ‘Repel the many, compel the few.’ Focus on attracting quality candidates, not just quantity.

4. Maximise Your Resources
   Employer branding often lacks resources. Re-purpose content for your careers site and leverage paid social media.

5. Drive Traffic to Your Careers Site
   You may not realise how few candidates visit your careers site. Think about strategies to increase traffic.

6. Measure what Matters                                                                                 Consider tracking ROI and use data to inform strategy, including measuring Employer Brand (eNPS & cNPS)

The One After 99

Around two years ago, somebody (can’t recall who) had the bright idea to bring the benefit of our employer brand expertise to a wider audience and launch a weekly newsletter.

After several thousand different name suggestions, most of which are, for good reason, long since forgotten, we settled on The Digital Hug. We’re loving individuals and we figured pretty much everyone appreciates a hug on a regular basis. And it’s digital, so…

And that is what we have delivered at 4pm every Thursday since. Exactly 100 times, in fact. We have covered every aspect of employer branding from storytelling to data analysis, and all stops in between. We’ve interviewed the great and the good of this break-away province of the recruitment industry and continued to try and live up to our stated aim as Defenders of Happiness, promoting employer brand best practice to create motivated employees that want to positively affect their place of work.

It has been a learning curve for us, and continues to be so, as we try and improve and align with what our readers want and need.

So, just to say, thanks for sticking with us. Thanks for signing up if you’re new. Thanks to those that have contributed words (we’re always looking for more), thanks for clicking the links and the thinks, and here’s to many more hugs to come.

We hope you’re feeling the love. 💕

Links ’n’ Thinks

TRENDING: Duolingo’s cofounder went viral for “owner’s manual” idea
Commenters can’t decide if it’s helpful or narcissistic.

READ: Blue collar jobs are in vogue amid AI layoffs
Seems like nobody wants to work (on a screen) anymore.

LEARN: How to build the perfect internship programme
That will attract a swarm of Gen Z interns.

LAUGH: Elf’s new diversity campaign is all about Dicks
As in, uh, Richards… don’t be gross.

ICYMI

Beware of Zombie Employer Brands

I Looked at 100+ job Descriptions - Here’s why Most Suck

Events 

SHRM 24
23-26 June, Chicago

Recfest
11 July, Knebworth

EBMA awards

September, TBC