personas: a key component of your recruiting strategy - allison kruse

PERSONAS

PersonasAllison Kruse

Senior Manager, Social Media & Talent AcquisitionKforce

PERSONAS

PERSONAS

@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

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Candidate personas are fictional, generalized representations of

your target candidates.


Personas allow you to be more strategic in catering to each target,

relate to the talent/client contact that you are trying to attract and recruit, and relate to them as human beings.

The strongest personas are based on research as well as on insights you

gather from your actual customer base (through surveys, interviews, etc.).

What Goes in to a Persona?

Demographics

Work History

Traits

Goals

Motivators

Communication Preferences

Objections

Lifestyle

Pains

Antidotes


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Adopting Marketing Concepts for TA

KNOW WHERE

THEY ARE

TAILOR YOUR

MESSAGING

GET IN FRONT OF

THEM

UNDERSTANDTHEIR NEEDS

GUIDE PRODUCT

DEV

GET IN SYNC

Why marketing uses personas:

We can leverage personas in similar ways@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

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What Needs do Personas Help us Solve?

Improve job descriptions

Improve time-to-fill

Be more strategic with sourcing efforts

Improve collaboration

Train new recruiters and sourcers

Enhance the candidate experience


8

Creating a persona

Interview your top performers:

• Favorite part of their job/Least favorite• Personal/professional goals• Work habits• Motivators/de-motivators• Why did they join the company?

@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon

Persona Name: Erin

Where

Background/Demographics

• Single or married female, no children

• Age 30-43

• Greater Chicago Area

• 10 yrs of experience, college grad

• Twitter chats

• Facebook groups

• LinkedIn

• Conferences (i.e. SourceCon)@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

Persona Name: Erin

Work

Traits

• Currently Sr. Manager, Employer Branding

• 10 years of experience. Started as a recruiter

• Has spent <2.5 yrs at each company

• Corporate, RPO and agency work environments

• Passionate about her job/industry

• Creative, innovative and scrappy

• Strong interpersonal skills, builds rapport quickly

• Talkative and outgoing@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

Persona Name: Erin

Lifestyle


• Works from home

• Active and healthy lifestyle, energetic, playful

• Loves to travel

• Very social, has a large network

• Prefers digital comm. over print/phone call

• Heavy mobile user, reads content on the go

• Active on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter

• Mixes professional and personal life online@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

Persona Name: Erin

Motivators

• The industry is rapidly changing and it’s important to

her that she stays current

• She’s a loyal brand ambassador for her company and

wants to tell its story and attract talent

• She loves to influence others and serve as a mentor

and advocate for other employees


Persona Name: Erin

Goals

• She wants to attend at least 4 conferences/year

• She wants to create/own strategies for employer

branding initiatives, some of which may require a

budget

• She wants to establish/manage a training program

to teach employees social media and branding best

practices, and empower employees to become

brand ambassadors@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

Persona Name: Erin

Pain

Antidote

“It’s difficult getting everything done with a small

team and very limited budget.”

Adapted from Adam Lawrence, SourceCon 2011

“We have a budget designated for employer

branding initiatives that you would own. In

addition, we have approved headcount for this

year for you to hire on a team of 6.”@Kforce

Persona Name: Erin

Pain

Antidote

“Some leaders don’t understand employer

branding, and are not invested in any of the

programs I have proposed.”


“Our SVP is very excited to hire an employer

branding director, and plans to work very closely

with her to ensure her programs come to

fruition.”

Persona Name: Erin

Pain

Antidote

“I am unsure of upward mobility opportunities in

my current role. There is no clear career path

here.”


“The new team that you would create sits within a

larger organization. Let me tell you about a few

opportunities that are just above this role that

our SVP has mapped out for the next 2 years.”

Persona Name: Erin

Pain

Antidote

“This culture doesn’t feel collaborative, and I feel

many people are risk adverse.”


“This team collaborates for 2 hours every Friday to

work on any project they choose. Many projects

have been implemented as a result. Taking

calculated risks is not only encouraged, but

expected in this environment.”

Where would you place antidote statements?

Persona Name: Erin

• “I’m not looking for a new job.”

• “I am unfamiliar with the area and not sure if I’ll

like it.”

• “I am nervous to leave my current boss. I can’t

leave her hanging.”

• “I’m worried I won’t be able to influence leaders

and make a real difference at a new company.”

• “They might not let me present at conferences.”

Objections


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Using Your New Persona

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TA campaigns

Recruiters’ SM profiles

TrainingCareer websites

OnboardingJob descriptions

EB initiatives

Sourcing

Application process

SM strategy

Where Personas Are Used


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SEARCHATTRACT ENGAGE

Use Personas at Each Stage

RECRUIT


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Erin is digital-savvy

She trusts her peers over

brands.

She’s good at online research and expects

accessible info.

She expects quality engagement in real

time.@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

25

Personas and Talent Acquisition Campaigns

84% Campaign Compatible

• Email Marketing

• Social Advertising

• Campaign Landing Page

• Sponsored Job Postings• Social Media Posts

• Optimized Recruiter Profiles


26

Job Descriptions


27Where does Erin spend time?Who does she talk with?What does she watch?Which groups is she in?Is she on a list somewhere?Does she attend webinars? Does she use hashtags? What words does she use?Does she attend conferences?What does she read? When?Who is she influenced by?Where are they online? What do they talk about?Does she spend more time on some social channels over others?

?

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?

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?KEEP ASKING QUESTIONS


site:dribbble.com UX dallas -intitle:followers -intitle:list -intitle:tags -

intitle:twitter -intitle:find -intitle:following

site:behance.net "project views" UX dallas

@Kforce

Leverage what you know about your persona to customize each and every message.

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Use Details in your Messaging


33

One of the worst things you can do to Erin is spam her.

3545 REQS –I’M IN A REAL JAM!

KEEP COOL –

JUST OPEN A CAN

OF

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https://www.youtube.com/v/1CxnGjcYIhM?version=3&start=1830&end=1870&autoplay=0&hl=en_US&rel=0

https://www.youtube.com/v/1CxnGjcYIhM?version=3&start=1830&end=1870&autoplay=0&hl=en_US&rel=0

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Use their preferred method of communication


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What will make Erin respond?

@Kforce

39Create multiple personas for each given skill set/job profile


40

LEARN TO SPEAK SOCIALLY

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Personas should be consistently

categorized, saved, and shared.

Getting Started Demographics

Work History

Traits

Goals

Motivators


Objections

Lifestyle

Pains

Antidotes@AllisonAKruse #SourceCon@Kforce

Start with one!

• Gather info from candidates• Interview top performers• Document and organize information• Craft messaging• Test it• Continuously improve

Discussion

personas: a key component of your recruiting strategy - allison kruse

Recruiting & HR