RECRUITING RETAIL TALENT IN ASIA WITH SOCIAL MEDIA

www.insideretailasia.com

ENGAGE• Engaging retail talent in Asia through social media may be a

way for your company to attract and maintain an engaged network of future talent. While social media has not been the answer to all the challenges of recruiting top retail talent in Asia it does provide an inexpensive, flexible, platform that you can use to stay connected to the professionals in your industry who will be your next hires. If you extend your employee referral plan to include this network you can gain exponential rewards in reaching new candidates.

RECRUITING IN RETAIL ASIA• These ideas are not exclusive to

Asia and will work anywhere that talent is tight and you need to engage in a meaningful way with a talent pool that has multiple options and is being approached (bombarded) with offers and openings.

• Here are five tips that will make your campaign stand out from the rest and provide you with a clear path to success;

MAKE IT EASY

• Make it easy to opt into your network; QR codes are a good start, and be sure that you do not ask for too much information before you offer anything.

• It is 2015 not 1995 and the people you are trying to engage are not customers looking for coupon codes, they are retailers themselves and may be keeping up with what is fresh and going on in their market.

MAKE IT MOBILE• Create your campaign in a

mobile format. If you must work backwards to the desktop be sure you are doing so at no expense to the mobile experience you are offering. The internet is dying (as we shift to apps) and the desktop is being diminished daily as mobile becomes the dominant platform of choice. Be there or be square.

MAKE IT INCLUSIVE• Your network of future talent and talent referrers should

be made up of a diverse enough group so you can be sure you are reaching out to non-traditional candidates as well as some of your customers as well. Smaller companies will have more of their customer segment in this network, larger companies may have fewer due to the size of their customer base. You may want to have events like friends and family sales or special shopping hours that you make available to this group.

MAKE IT INTERESTING• Engage your audience by

posting interesting content and always try to keep the topics relevant to your company and line of work. This is a great place to share your company culture and differentiate. Keep in mind that you are trying to maintain your network as well as engage with newcomers - you are not trying to sell products but…

BRAND IT• Your network is interested in the business of retail

as well as your company. This provides you a platform that allows for sharing from a slightly different perspective; a look at who you are as a retailer through what you do as a retailer rather than what you sell. With handy tools such as Instagram and Pinterest, you can show off your people.

MAKE IT TIMELY• Engaging retail talent in Asia

should be an ongoing campaign if it is going to be successful. Hiring is not an event in retail Asia, it is a business driver. Getting started with a talent network does not have to be a big budget affair, you probably have everything you need to get started right now. The most important piece to get right is the strategy you will follow and describing the results you want to achieve.

IN RETAIL ASIAwww.insideretailasia.com