Social media ROI: Day three at the Ciett Conference

Day three of the Ciett World Employment Conference - the home straight!
Mon, 20 May 2013 | By Tom Hadley, director of policy, Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC)Day three of the Ciett World Employment Conference - the home straight!

Bleary eyed from the gala dinner but looking forward to a final canter through the latest industry trends and future growth opportunities. Might need a strong coffee and a couple of pancakes with maple syrup first.

Yesterday's sessions honed in on some really practical issues for recruiters, including attracting and retaining high-performing consultants, incentivising performance, and using social media both as part of a co-ordinated marketing plan and a means of candidate attraction. On this last point, discussions honed in on whether social media was just a fad and on how to measure its effectiveness. The short answer served up by one of the speakers was: The ROI [return on investment] of social media is that your business will still be around in five years.

One of the other sessions started with the following premise: ‘Why is it that an industry charged with the responsibility for selecting staff for its clients, can't do it predictably for itself?’ The debate here focused on the need for a step change in the way that our industry goes about attracting, retaining and developing those working in recruitment. This is at the heart of the work currently being taken forward by the Institute of Recruitment Professionals (IRP).

My own session on public/private sector co-operation was a good'un, and a great opportunity to showcase the REC/Department for Work and Pensions Partnership agreement. Feedback from recruiters and federations in India, South Africa, France and Jamaica underlined the PR benefits in being seen as a genuine partner within government. There are also potential commercial benefits for agencies. Bring it on!


Last Friday’s agenda saw our very own [chief executive officer] Kevin Green stepping into the ring to discuss the changing role and services that agencies provide, as well as sessions on 'exploiting chaos' and 'the power of why'. Intriguing.

Things finished on a high and the quote just now from a Canadian recruiter sums it all up quite nicely: “Recruitment is cool, we just need to get better at communicating it.” Amen to that. In fact, an underlying aim of the annual Ciett shindig is to create one big 'shout-out' on the positive role of the worldwide recruitment industry. Job done, I reckon.

Tom Hadley has been providing daily dispatches from the Ciett World Employment Conference in Toronto. Check back tomorrow for a wrap-up of the week.

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