WHAT’S

INSIDE
Contributors 2

Chapter 1: The Modern Talent Acquisition Landscape 3-4

Chapter 2: An Era of Considerable Change 5-9

Chapter 3: The Challenges in Attracting Top Talent 10-11

Chapter 4: A New Decade of Candidate Experience 12-14

Chapter 5: The Future of Recruitment Technology 15-16

Chapter 6: Conclusion 17

About Meet & Engage 18

Clients 19
OUR
CONTRIBUTORS

AIA
Nathan Perrott – Vice President, Digital Marketing Solutions

Danaher Corporation
Charlotte Marshall – Global Employer Brand Lead and author of 'The Give & Get’

Ph.Creative
Bryan Adams – CEO & Founder and author of 'The Give & Get’

Pontoon Solutions
Tim Meehan – Global Head of Emerging Technologies

Recruitics
Sergio Gallo – Director of Global Partnerships & Alliances

Teach For America

Erin Walker – Vice President of Strategic Initiatives

ThirtyThree US
Shannon Maggiani – Managing Director - North America

WorkItDaily
J.T. O’Donnell – Founder and LinkedIn Influencer

2
CHAPTER 1
THE MODERN TALENT
ACQUISITION LANDSCAPE
In our ever-changing digital world, advancements in
the consumer market and a shift towards
increasing transparency mean a new set of cultural
values and needs have emerged.
As a result, today’s jobseekers expect employers to
deliver personalised, seamless and engaging
candidate experience journeys. These new values
of convenience, authenticity and speed have forced
employers to move beyond the 20th century talent
acquisition model to embrace new ways of thinking
and working.
In this macro environment, the war for talent has
never been more challenging. But equally, there has
never been a greater opportunity for the savvy
organization to attract and retain top talent.
Consider this: in 2020, 90% of jobseekers say a
positive or negative candidate experience will
change their mind about a role or company.
New technology, the rise of smartphones and
social media have changed the rules of
engagement. In response, companies must
leverage new digital tools and tactics to meet
candidates in the ways they expect you to show up.
At Meet & Engage, we offer a suite of candidate
experience technology that helps multinational
organizations around the world bring employer
branding to life.
Whether it’s building personal relationships,
streamlining the application process or answering
candidate questions in a live setting, candidate
experience technology marries the efficiency and
convenience of digital technology with the intimacy
and individuality of peer-to-peer conversations.
With 2020 underway, it’s unequivocally clear that a
new era of talent attraction is upon us. To
maximise performance and come out on top, this
report sets out a number of new and exciting
strategies to bring the employer brand to life and
design a compelling candidate experience.
Meet & Engage Candidate Experience Technology
• Timeline – An online automation and
engagement platform for onboarding.
• Live Chat Messaging Platform – An online
platform for employers to engage groups of
candidates throughout the resourcing process.
• Candidate Experience Chatbots – Chatbots to
automate key stages of the resourcing process,
gather candidate experience data and integrate
directly with any careers site and ATS.
3
Methodology

As we enter a new decade, Meet & Engage set out
on a mission to uncover what the world’s leading
experts are doing to shape the future of talent
acquisition – for today and tomorrow.
These in-depth interviews provide a real, hands-on
look at how the talent industry’s top minds are
preparing for a future built around experience. From
employer branding to recruitment technology to
candidate experience design, these discussions
present an exciting vision for the future of talent
acquisition.
To ensure a balanced and well-rounded opinion,
Meet & Engage segmented interviewees into four
categories:
From Global Employer Brand Leads to CEOs, this
report takes an objective look at what the industry’s
top executives are doing to win the war for talent.
Each expert brings a unique arsenal of knowledge
and experience to the table, revealing the tools, tips
and strategies that can supercharge talent
attraction and retention.
With a healthy mix of candidate research, employer
interviews and our own methodology, Meet &
Engage is proud to present a 360-degree look at the
future of employer branding and candidate
experience in 2020 and beyond.

1 multinational organisations (employers)

2 recruitment tech companies

3 employer brand agencies

4 talent influencers

4
CHAPTER 2
AN ERA OF
CONSIDERABLE CHANGE

Over the past decade, many businesses have taken tangible steps to identify and define
an employer brand and employee value proposition (EVP).

An employer brand, to put it simply, describes an employer’s reputation and

attractiveness as a place to work. But it’s much more than just shiny office perks and
flashy benefits; an employer brand is an evolving value proposition that impacts how
employees and candidates feel about an organization across multiple touchpoints.

Every moment and interaction, from digital discovery to physical assessments, become
part of this larger market perception, one that influences how an organization appeals to
top talent. This is what we call the candidate experience.

The latest research from LinkedIn shows that 80% of talent acquisition managers believe
employer branding has a significant impact on their ability to hire great talent.

5
This shift towards a reputation-based employer
brand has occurred for a number of reasons, such
as:
• New candidate demands as a result of strong
customer experiences
• Increased transparency due to anonymous
peer-to-peer review websites such as
Glassdoor
• Digital technology that enables seamless
experiences
• The advent and rise of social media and social
sharing
• More competition to attract top talent – harder
for companies to stand out
• Greater employee demands for benefits and
company perks
• Consumerization of the HR department
• Stronger emphasis on employee well-being in
the workplace
When brought to life effectively, an employer brand
can help organizations attract and retain top talent,
reduce time to hire, reduce churn and improve the
overall marketability and reputation of a business.
And it’s a worthwhile investment, too, given that
86% of workers would not apply for, or continue to
work for, a company that has a bad reputation with
former employees or the general public.
While it’s clear that investment into employer
branding is well underway, many talent
professionals believe we are still at the start of an
ever-evolving journey.
Erin Walker, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at
Teach For America, discusses the importance of
ensuring internal integration among stakeholders.
“In 2020, I think we’ll see more internal integration
and more collaboration among internal stake
holders. Right now, there's alternate thoughts about
whether employer branding is primarily the
responsibility of the marketing team. Going
forward, there will have to be more of a push
towards intentional efforts to ensure that the idea
of creating an employer brand is a collective effort.”
This consolidation of efforts raises an important
point. As employers look to build and activate
employer brands, singleness of purpose will be key
in driving meaningful activation.
To understand more about what the future holds,
we asked our experts to provide insight into the
most exciting employer brand trend that we will see
unfold in 2020.
6
 “
People respect honesty and in
recruitment there are no
“
hiding places.
The Harsh Realities
Bryan Adams, Founder & CEO at Ph.Creative and
author of The Give and Get, comments on the need
for organizations to embrace the harsh realities
that set them apart from their competitors.
“For me, employer branding is all about impact,
purpose, and belonging,” notes Bryan. “It means
getting to the real, transparent truth about what the
employee experience is like. Don’t be afraid to talk
about the harsh realities of an organization,
because that will repel the wrong candidates and
attract the right fits.”
“People respect honesty,” Bryan continues, “and in
recruitment there are no hiding places. Instead of
shying away from harsh realities, the best
companies wear these as a badge of honor. They
thrive because of the harsh realities – not in spite
of them.”
Charlotte Marshall, Global Employer Brand Lead at
Danaher Corporation and winner of the coveted
‘Employer Brand Leader of the Year Award 2019-
2020’ and author of The Give & Get, wants to
change the way the world approaches employer
branding.
“In 2020, we’ll start to see organizations craft a
more meaningful employee value proposition (EVP)
based on a mutual value exchange that I call the
Give and Get. This approach is different to the
conventional employer branding methodology that
focuses solely on the opportunities,
benefits, and strengths of joining your organization.
I believe your employer brand and EVP become
much more effective when you couple the
strengths, benefits, and opportunities with the
adversity people must embrace to thrive within your
organization.”
“In doing so, you swim against the tide and focus
less on talent attraction and more on talent
qualification.” To contextualize this, Charlotte
discusses what happens when employers lead with
a one-way value proposition.
“
I hope to see more organizations
embrace an articulation of what it
takes to thrive and succeed within
“
an organization.
7
 “
The goal, then, should be to reduce the volume,
so you’re getting more of the right applications,
“
not just more applications.
“When you lead with your strengths, you instantly
become a more appealing place to work, but other
issues can arise. In one of my previous roles at a
F500 company, we launched the employer brand
and within a few months’ time had a volume issue
that was so significant that 70% of the applications
were going unread in the ATS.”
There is a hidden cost of declined candidates
Charlotte urges us not to ignore. “Your brand’s
exposure is huge in situations like this.”
“My goal is to get more of the right applications. If I
can do that while reducing the volume of
unqualified applicants, I am providing massive
value.”
And how can organizations accomplish this?
“The beauty of employer brand is that everyone is
different. Our tolerance, threshold, and endurance
for situations, demands, and expectations of a
company vary. That’s why you can use your
employer brand as a smart filter to compel people
who are well suited to your organization to apply,
and at the same time encourage people unsuited to
your culture to stay away.”
“Some people will be challenged and engaged by
the adversity within your organization. They will find
your expectations and demands to be fair and
possibly even revel in the idea that they can cope
where others could not. Other candidates, however,
will be turned off, dissuaded and completely
deterred from applying for any roles you may have.
This is how you “repel the many and compel the
few” with the same message.”
“If you can communicate that message effectively
by illustrating what it’s really like, how someone is
likely to feel, and what they must be prepared for on
any given day, people are far more equipped to
make an informed decision as to whether they have
what it takes to thrive there and whether they want
to take on the challenge. Those that opt out, do so
happily, without needing to explore popular review
sites like Glassdoor, to see what it’s really like.”
Charlotte encourages everyone to explore their
unique brand of adversity.
“Don’t shy away from showing candidates the
struggles employees have within your organization-
-they hold the power to elevate the value of the
upside of joining and staying with your organization
when they are paired with the unique value you
offer your employees.”
Imagine an employer brand that’s just refreshingly
honest, simple, and clear—a brand that can inspire
the best candidates to apply, despite the things
that make it a hard place to work at times. Imagine
an employer brand that also keeps your application
volume manageable, because it can send someone
running for the hills if they don’t have what it takes
to thrive within your culture.
If as an industry we can push our brands to do that,
when we look back we will be proud to have
contributed more transparency to the journey we all
find ourselves on together.
8
A Holistic and Authentic Approach

This notion of authenticity and realism seems set

to influence the future of employer branding in
2020. Nearly every expert we interviewed reiterated
the same sentiment: to succeed in attracting the
best talent, organizations must design employer
brands that resonate and align with candidates on
an intimate and personal level.

Nathan Perrott, Vice President of Digital Marketing

Solutions at AIA Worldwide, highlights the
importance of turning your employees into brand
ambassadors. Not only does this leverage internal
talent, it actually humanizes the employer brand
and embeds real moments of authenticity and
“From our conversations with clients spanning
trust.
various industries and sizes, we anticipate this
trend of holistic employer branding to continue into
“There’s going to be a huge emphasis on
2020 – with a greater focus on the importance of
authenticity and employee-generated content in
employers providing meaningful work rather than
2020. People have talked about this for years,
only on factors like salary and benefits. This is
particularly the need for employers to use their
likely driven by new generations entering the
employees to tell the most authentic story. But
workforce who expect the brands they love to
there’s always been a fear around controlling the
stand for something, which affects everything from
message or controlling the narrative. Today,
where they shop to where they work.”
content consumption behavior has changed and
will continue to change. People are consuming
Shannon offers a word of wisdom for employers
different types of content like Instagram Stories
looking to attract new generational talent into the
and Tik Tok videos, which means the narrative can
workforce.
now feel a bit rawer and more unpolished.”
She continues, “To effectively win over this
Nathan continues, “It’s less about producing a one-
generation, an organization’s purpose needs to
off, $50,000 employer brand video for the year and
mean more than just words on a page – it also
more about creating meaningful content that
needs to align with the company’s products and
candidates want to hear from people like
people. This is exciting because all of this
themselves. That’s part of why Meet & Engage is
contributes to increasing business performance.
such a great platform.”
People at work perform best when they are
engaged and passionate about the ‘why’ behind the
These changes are encapsulated well by
work they do.”
Shannon Maggiani, Managing Director North
America at ThirtyThree.
“When employees perform their best work, the
organization can deliver the best experience to
Shannon comments, “We’ve seen a shift over the
customers, which impacts the bottom line and,
past several years from employer branding being
ultimately, contributes to a better employee
perceived as purely an HR initiative to a more
experience, as a growing and thriving business can
holistic outlook, where the employer value
invest back into its people.”
proposition underpins every aspect of the
employment lifecycle, from hire to retire. Our work
As employers look for smarter and more effective
isn’t just about getting the candidate in the door; it
ways to connect with candidates, opting for a more
ranges from internal engagement strategies to
real and unpolished approach will help humanize
mobility to change communications.”
the attraction process.

This idea is reflected in the changing value system

of this new, generational workforce. In 2020,
candidates trust a company’s employees 3x more
than the company to provide credible information
on what it’s like to work there.

Given this truth, employers must look to leverage

strategies and technologies that humanize the
candidate experience.

9
CHAPTER 3
THE CHALLENGES IN
ATTRACTING TOP TALENT
Today’s talent acquisition landscape is brimming
with opportunity. Turning opportunity into reward,
however, requires an equal measure of poise and
adaptability.
With the increasing digitization of society,
employers must now integrate technology and
experience to create seamless, simple and efficient
candidate journeys.
Even then, attracting top talent in a sensible and
cost-efficient manner is no easy feat. In fact, there
are myriad challenges that must be overcome in
order to deliver an exceptional candidate
experience that activates the employer brand in an
authentic and meaningful way.
As we enter 2020, Meet & Engage put this very
question to the industry’s most influential leaders.
In doing so, we unearthed a number of pressing
challenges that talent professionals around the
world are looking to solve.
From driving brand awareness to harnessing the
power of data and technology, these are the top
issues defining employers’ agendas over the next
12 months.
“What are the main challenges that organizations
face in attracting and retaining top talent?”
Ensuring Brand Awareness
Shannon Maggiani states the importance of
establishing brand awareness, noting that, “While
every business is different, brand awareness is a
fairly common challenge when it comes to talent
attraction. In some cases, recruiters spend most of
their time explaining who they are rather than
selling the employment offering.
As certain markets become more competitive,
employers will need to stand out in order to achieve
their hiring goals. Authentic, differentiated and
compelling stories can help solve this pressing
challenge.”
“
recruiters spend most of their
time explaining who they are
rather than selling the
“
employment offering.
10
The Importance of Employee Retention
Nathan Perrott raises an important challenge –
how can employers retain top talent when new
generational attitudes are leading to shorter and
shorter tenures?
Nathan says, “Employers will continue to want to
retain talent for as long as possible, but as the
generational workforce changes, I don’t believe this
is what most employees or candidates want. Today
the average employee tenure is 18-24 months, so
employers need to adapt and make sure the
employer brand goes through the entire lifecycle of
the employee – from the moment they join to the
moment they leave. Gen Z and Alpha, in particular,
are keener to self-develop and have a varied work
experience, so employers need to facilitate flexible
working. Employers that fail to adapt will die. It’s as
simple as that.”
When it comes to employee retention, Bryan
Adams makes a very important distinction: most
organizations view retention through a single lens.
Instead, measurement should include a much more
refined view of audience segmentation so
employers can arrive at factors like regrettable loss.
“A lot of organizations see the rising costs of
traditional recruitment as a challenge, particularly
the time it takes to hire talent and also the caliber
of talent they’re getting. Most employers know they
need to do something different. Increasingly,
organizations are seeking to retain the best talent.
But we encourage employers to measure more
than just retention levels; instead, what’s the
percentage of people leaving that you wouldn’t re-
hire? What’s the percentage of people leaving that
you wouldn’t want to let go? With more specific
audience segmentation, you can derive more
tangible metrics – this goes beyond attraction and
retention to things like regrettable loss.”
Mastering Technology and Data
Tim Meehan, Global Head of Emerging
Technologies at Pontoon Solutions, emphasizes
the resistance to tech adoption as a clear and
pressing challenge.
He comments, “Many talent acquisition leaders
struggle to position the importance of technology
disruption into a context that matters to the board
room. They know they must invest to ensure their
IT and Data Security infrastructure is secure. But
they don’t understand how that mandate impacts
their ability to adapt and transform, using
technology, to hire tomorrow’s talent. And I must
confess, often TA leaders themselves don’t
understand this challenge.
This is why RPO’s like Pontoon play an important
role. Pontoon can access a clients’ tech landscape,
solution a new tech model and build the business
case for change. But equally important, we have the
resources to explain it to both the client’s IT
organization AND the boardroom.
Sergio Gallo, Director of Global Partnerships &
Alliances at Recruitics, agrees that data and
technology are key challenges that must be
mastered if employers wish to achieve their hiring
goals.
“It’s challenging to nail the employer brand,” Sergio
notes. “At the foundation of all things is data
analytics – how can we understand what’s
working? How can we measure success and define
what that means for a specific organization?
Employers need to ensure the candidate receives
clear and consistent messaging across all
channels. This can be made easier by leveraging
Recruitics’ four pillars approach to recruitment
marketing which helps drive top talent into an
organization using programmatic job advertising,
targeted advertising, employer brand awareness
advertising, and sourcing and engagement, all
supported by the foundational elements of your
employer brand and analytics”
11
CHAPTER 4
A NEW DECADE OF
CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE

New candidate behaviours and expectations have changed the way employers think about recruitment.

Nowadays, candidates interact with employers across an ever-increasing number of physical and digital
touchpoints. How an organization manages and designs these touchpoints has a marked impact on the
overall candidate experience.

What matters to candidates?

• Online reviews – The majority of jobseekers read at least six reviews before forming an opinion of a
company.

• Difficult and lengthy applications – 60% of jobseekers have quit an application in the middle due to its
length or complexity.

• Complex job descriptions – 72% of hiring managers say they provide clear job descriptions, yet only 36% of
candidates say the same.

• Clear timelines – 83% of candidates say it would greatly improve the overall candidate experience if
employers provided a clear timeline of the hiring process.

• Regular communication – 78% of employers feel they do a good job communicating throughout the hiring
process, while only 47% of jobseekers agree.

• Authenticity – 83% of candidates say the authenticity of company content would impact their level of trust
in that organisation.

• Constructive feedback – Talent is four times more likely to consider your company for a future opportunity
when you offer them constructive feedback.

Each of these moments is highly significant in the wider candidate journey. Get them right and you can engage
and delight candidates; get them wrong and you will cause pain, frustration and ultimately drop-out.

While most companies have begun investing in candidate experience, research shows there is still a long way
to go. 60% of jobseekers have reported at least one negative candidate experience in their most recent
application process.

But for employers, there’s an even more telling word of caution: 72% of jobseekers who reported a negative
candidate experience have subsequently shared this experience online. As an employer, then, it’s vital to
deliver on candidates’ wants, values and needs.

12
What does the future of candidate experience look
like?
As we enter a new decade, it’s unequivocally clear
that the way employers’ source, interview and hire
talent will continue to change. But what impact will
these shifts have on the candidate experience? And
how are talent professionals preparing for a future
built around experience?
Tim Meehan, Global Head of Emerging
Technologies at Pontoon Solutions, discusses the
value of experience in a digital age.
“What I would hope is that there will be growing
awareness of how critical bringing experience to
the candidate and hiring manager journey is,” Tim
notes. “Some organizations will be early adopters
and innovate with technology and commit to
making experience great.”
“Think about Uber. Did we adopt this because it
was an amazing app? Or was it because it made
the idea of calling and waiting for a taxi seem silly?
Uber’s rise came about because it offered a
revolutionary experience for the customer. It
completely disrupted the taxi industry and changed
mobility. The experience felt safer, more convenient
and less expensive.”
With this example translated to the employment
space, Tim hones in on the value of designing for
experience, not just technology.
“It sounds crazy, but there was a time in
recruitment when the employment section of a
newspaper was huge. Then Monster came along
and digitized the process. Soon CareerBuilder and
other job boards came to dominate the space. The
funny thing is, when you look at the market today,
job boards are pretty much irrelevant. Career sites
and chatbot technology have changed the way we
engage with candidates.”
“All of these changes didn’t occur because of
technology alone. It was because the technology
made our experience faster and more convenient.
Today, many companies’ recruitment and
onboarding experience is terrible. It’s disconnected,
inconvenient, slow and full of waste. More nimble
companies are going to completely disrupt the
experience.”
Sergio Gallo agrees with this sentiment,
commenting, “There’s been a lot of talk about
robots coming in and completely removing the
human element. I don’t think that’s the case. I
believe that technology will continue to be used to
supplement the candidate experience, but the
degree to which humans are excluded from that
will be determined by the specific talent
communities and personas that these companies
are trying to reach. I don’t think recruiting
processes will ever remove humans completely.”
13
Appealing to Gen Z
This disruption, Tim believes, will have a direct
impact on an organization’s ability to appeal to
younger talent, particularly Gen Z.
“Gen Z have a certain expectation of experience
when looking for a job, he comments. “
“This generation wants to be interacted with in
ways they’re used to, whether that’s via chat or
video. And this interaction needs to happen with a
speed and transparency that these individuals
would expect, because they’ve grown up with
shared ratings, reviews and comparisons. The
companies that prudently adapt their interface and
focus on candidate experience will survive. Those
that don’t will crumble.”
Erin Walker also sees personalized experiences as
a vital area of focus for employers in 2020. She
comments, “I believe that simplifying the
application and interview process is going to be
extremely important, but this must be done with a
view to creating more personalized experiences.
Gen Z are all about finding their own path in the
world, which means we must shift our approach to
talent acquisition from less of a ‘one-size-fits-all’
approach to one that allows applicants to steward
their own interview and application experience. In
this way, candidates can show their own strengths
and assets in a way that feels most salient to
them.”
J.T. O’Donnell agrees that employers must be
cognizant of shifting values and expectations in
younger applicants.
“Being an entrepreneur was not a life or career goal
30 years ago. When I was first coming out of
school, nobody was saying, ‘I want to be a business
owner!’ It was all about climbing up the linear
corporate ladder. Now we have a whole generation
that says, ‘Hey, I’m going to work for myself. I’ll
start my own company.’ This next generation
doesn’t want to feel held hostage.”
Keeping up with these changes can be a challenge,
particularly given the pace at which today’s society
moves. Erin Walker believes that to remain
successful in 2020 and beyond, employers must
keep pace with these ever-evolving generational
needs.
“This can be really tricky, especially when you’re
needing to engage candidates across multiple
generations. When looking at Millennials versus
Gen Z, for example, you must be nimble and refine
your value proposition. This may even mean
leading with two slightly different value
propositions depending on the audience and what
those individuals’ value.”
With the future workforce changing, employers that
are quick to adapt will see a marked uplift in
candidate engagement, experience and
satisfaction.
14
CHAPTER 5
THE FUTURE OF
RECRUITMENT TECHNOLOGY
As we’ve seen, companies are now competing for
talent on the basis of candidate experience.
With the advent of recruitment technology,
organizations can now build trust and deliver
content in a way that feels authentic to brand
identity.
Today’s candidates are increasingly digitally native.
Applicants are accustomed to streaming content
online, ordering for next (or same) day delivery and
accessing information on the go, anywhere,
anytime.
With these advancements comes a shift in
behaviour and expectation, as 70% of jobseekers
are now searching for opportunities on mobile
devices. To be successful, companies must
embrace technology and meet applicants in the
way they expect your brand to show up: digitally.
In this sense, recruitment tech serves two
overarching functions: first, it brings the employer
brand to life in a way that is exciting and
informative for candidates. This builds trust,
enables peer-to-peer sharing and allows an
organizations’ employees to become brand
ambassadors.
Second, it provides content and experiences that
feel authentic and natural to a digitally native
audience. As a result, recruitment tech meets
candidate expectations and creates a more
intuitive and well-designed digital experience.
Branded technology experiences
With a host of fully customizable branded
experiences, new tech solutions not only enable a
more agile and personalized approach to candidate
communications, they also provide valuable data
and insights that inform future content creation.
Nathan Perrott notes, “I believe the branding side of
recruitment technology is overlooked, whether it’s
an ATS, a career site or an engagement platform
like Meet & Engage.”
“Many websites and ATS platforms are purely tech-
powered and lack the branding capability and the
experience that’s needed at the level of the
candidate. When you’re dealing with so many
different personas and target audiences, you can’t
afford to use agnostic or generic tech.”
Personalization is becoming increasingly
significant in the talent attraction world.
Technology allows employers to segment and
target individual personas based on specific
behaviors, values and traits.
Erin Walker explains how Teach For America is
using technology to enhance the candidate
experience and reach people on a more personal
and targeted level.
“We’ve used technology in a lot of ways,” Erin says.
“We’ve dabbled in artificial intelligence to help us
refine our application and interview process and
ensure that our processes are equitable. In
addition, we are constantly analyzing an extensive
amount of data and insights to service this.”
Erin continues, discussing how technology enables
a more integrated and sensible approach to talent
attraction.
“We even offer virtual interview options to better
cater to a variety of schedule and engagement
preferences, given that we have to recruit tens of
thousands of people each year. We embed
branding videos into our applications as well as on
our websites, which help people learn more about
our organization and culture.”
“These are just a few of the ways that we’re using
technology to personalize and enhance the
application experience,” concludes Erin.
15
Apply for a job in under two minutes
Tim Meehan describes a world in which applying
for a job is as simple, efficient and seamless as
ordering a product online.
“Using an intelligent bot interface, candidates can
easily apply for a job in a matter of minutes. You
can even send the applicant notifications, just like
in online shopping. This technology exists today.”
The reality,” Tim continues, “is that candidates
should be able to easily find, navigate and apply for
a job in a couple of minutes. That’s a world class
experience.”
Erin Walker agrees that experience is crucial to
attracting talent. She notes, “Employers should take
a customer service mindset to the recruitment
experience and make sure that candidates are
delighted with every interaction across the entire
plan and processes.”
While many organizations have started to make
headway, it’s clear that the end-goal is yet to be
realized by most.
Data is the holy grail
As society becomes more and more digitized, the
collection and implementation of data will prove
extremely valuable. In a sense, data can be seen as
a new currency that enables smarter and more
educated decision-making.
“
we’re starting to see
organizations developing more
complex and unique recruitment
“
marketing strategies
In the recruitment world, Sergio Gallo is at the
forefront of data analytics and implementation. He
comments, “Data is the holy grail to us here at
Recruitics. If you’re not measuring what’s working
and what’s not, how are you determining your
budget, or where to advertise, or what message to
use? Without data, you’re really just taking a shot in
the dark. In the employer branding space, data is
going to play a much bigger role in the coming
years.”
This evolution is now intertwined with the
emergence of consumer marketing tactics, as
recruiters realise the need to think and act like
marketers in an environment where competition for
talent is rife. In the online space, this development
means employers must learn to master digital
advertising strategies that connect the employer
brand to the right candidate with the right message
at the right time.
“Consumer marketing tactics have been making,
and are continuing to make, their way into the
recruitment space,” continues Sergio. “Whether it’s
targeted advertising on social media, retargeting,
implementing candidate experience strategies that
mimic shopper experiences like one-click actions,
or leveraging your CRM platform to nurture
candidates in talent pools, we’re starting to see
organizations developing more complex and unique
recruitment marketing strategies to targeting very
specific candidate personas.”
“In the near future, we’re going to see the candidate
experience become hyper-personalized. Imagine a
world where you can target candidates on a one-to-
one basis using artificial intelligence and machine
learning. As the war for talent continues to become
more competitive, and as employers need to evolve
their hiring initiatives to attract a new generation of
talent, data and technology are going to play an
integral part.”
16
CHAPTER 6
CONCLUSION
In today’s hyper-competitive global market, the
state of play has changed. It’s no longer enough for
companies to simply post job ads and wait for
talent to come to them.
Investing in an employer brand is a good first step,
but the battle for top talent will be won or lost
based on the strength of the candidate experience.
By putting the experience of candidates first, your
organization will be able to a) offer more authentic
and personalised candidate experiences to a
diverse number of audience segments, b) discover
what your candidates really think about your
organization and c) feedback all of these learnings
and insights to test, discover and constantly
improve.
As Shannon Maggiani says, “In our world, the
candidate is the customer. Creating a positive
candidate experience through the entire
employment lifecycle is critical to building a strong
employer brand. Engagement begins before
meeting the candidate, and every touchpoint is
critical to creating a stellar first impression.”
In an age of social media and peer review,
conversations and discussions are taking place
about you as an employer – whether you are part of
those communications or not.
“People like to share,” continues Shannon, “so if
you leave the candidate feeling frustrated, they’ll
likely share those feelings with others through
online job sites such as Glassdoor. On the other
hand, if the candidate walks away feeling delighted
by the experience, it’s been proven that he or she is
twice as likely to become a customer of the hiring
organization.”
With a new decade upon us, it’s certainly an
exciting time to be involved in the talent acquisition
space. As technology evolves and candidate
behaviours and expectations change, employers
must be ready to pivot and meet these needs.
For employers that want to win in 2020 and beyond,
success will be dependent upon the development
of an authentic employer brand, the design of a
simple, seamless and efficient candidate
experience journey and the use of technology to
support and enhance the hiring process.
17
ABOUT
MEET & ENGAGE

Meet & Engage is an international recruitment tech company serving clients in the USA, UK, APAC and EMEA.
Offering a full suite of candidate experience technology including Live Chat, Candidate Experience Chatbots
and Onboarding Solutions, Meet & Engage is a flexible and functional solution for organizations looking to
activate its employer brand and enhance the candidate experience.

Request a demo

Ali Hackett
Director & Co-Founder at Meet & Engage

Ali worked for many years as an independent consultant managing projects spanning employer brand,
recruitment, employability and retention across a variety of sectors.

Ali’s experiences as an in-house recruitment leader, covering both volume and experienced hires has given her
a depth of understanding around the challenges organisations face and a passion for putting candidate
experience firmly on the agenda.

She is excited about the possibilities technology can offer businesses who want to create engaging candidate
experiences and increase advocacy. Ali and her team work with Meet & Engage clients to share insights, ideas
and to ensure maximum return on investment.

To find more, you can email us at info@meetandengage.com.

18
Engaging with 63 people in just a couple of hours, at the same time as
enhancing the candidate experience, was an excellent use of recruitment
team time!

– Stephanie Bishop, Head of Graduate and Apprentice Recruitment and Programmes

As a business, we know we need to find innovative and authentic ways of connecting

with Gen Z. This ambition runs from our employer brand and attraction strategy right
the way through every candidate journey and beyond. Working with Meet & Engage
has enabled us to extend our reach on campus, communicate with students in a
relevant way and lift the lid on the great work happening in the Diageo business.

– Yvonne Crew, Head of Global Early Careers

We have had fantastic feedback from candidates. It’s a fantastic tool to

keep connected with candidates and really drive a positive experience.

– Mikey Bishop, Early Careers Team

In actual fact having a range of approaches is something we consider to be important.

If you were to ask what ‘philosophy’ 10 of our analysts follow, you’d get a number of
differing responses. Needless to say there are standard ways that we collate and
present data and to some extent that dictates the way we work, but ultimately we
don’t promote a single philosophy as a USP.

– David Andrews, Early Careers Talent Acquisition Manager, UK and Ireland

Meet & Engage has allowed us to speak to a much wider number of

students both before and during the application process than ever before.

– Jess Beynon, Early Careers Recruitment Manager

19
LINKS &
REFERENCES
1 Lever | The Ultimate Collection of Recruiting Stats to Know

2 LinkedIn | The Ultimate List of Employer Brand Statistics

3 Randstad USA | OmniPulse National Research Survey

4 LinkedIn | The Ultimate List of Employer Brand Statistics

5 Glassdoor | 50 HR and Recruiting Statistics

6 Future Workplace | The Candidate Experience Study

7 Allegis Group | The Candidate Experience

8 CareerBuilder | Candidate Experience From End-to-End: What’s Your Weakest Link?

9 CareerBuilder | Candidate Experience From End-to-End: What’s Your Weakest Link?

10 Pardot | Content Engagement Research

11 Future Workplace | The Candidate Experience Study

12 LinkedIn | The Ultimate List of Employer Brand Statistics

13 CareerBuilder | Candidate Experience From End-to-End: What’s Your Weakest Link?

20
For more resourcing insights, visit
meetandengage.com