Last year we explored the idea of the social evolution and its impact on the way we connect with new people. At some point, every company needs to consider the recruitment process. How they achieve a connection with the right applicant goes beyond traditional methods to being known to each individual network organically.

Finding candidates using social networks like Facebook and Twitter is pretty commonplace these days. It’s not unusual to see a tweet in your feed with the #job hashtag followed by “PLS RT!”. We’ve even used this method ourselves. But there’s a lot more to social recruiting than simply posting on your Facebook wall or Tweeting about the gap in your agency (also especially difficult when limited to 140 characters).

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A ‘coup’ quickly followed by an election brings about a hung parliament. A ‘bitter deposed authoritarian’ leader mounts a leadership challenge only to be defeated and banished to political purgatory.

Welcome to the ALP, a political party seemingly hell bent on self destruction, publicly eating its own as a result of opinion polls suggesting that it is possible for someone to be less likeable than Tony Abbott. That said the current state of play in federal politics may be more indicative of the power of consistent messaging than the relative appeal of the personalities themselves.

While Mr. Abbott and the coalition have been criticised for their negativity since the last election, they cannot be criticised for inconsistency. Whether calling the Prime Minister ‘Gill-liar’ or demanding that the government ‘axe the tax’ and ‘stop the boats’, the federal opposition have been relentless, united and monotonous. From their leader down, the opposition have been on the same page when it comes to strategy. Compare this to the mixed signals being delivered by the government and you go a long way to explaining the government’s woeful performance in the polls.

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For the six years I worked as an adviser to John So, the media tried their best to paint a picture of Melbourne City Council as ‘Clown Hall’. Great sport, but the mud wouldn’t stick. His fellow councillors managed to successfully rake the muck; however, John’s integrity was never really at question.

This month all but a few of the prominent federal Labor MPs managed to dive, naked into a quagmire from which it is doubtful cabinet ministers will rise. If they do, they will be forever soiled. That’s because Australians who watched the spectacle with protuberant eyes inevitably copped some grit. It was dirty.

Normally you feel some shame when your highest representatives debase themselves, particularly when it is on foreign shores in the dead of night (we forgave him the strip joint but never the Willard Hotel).

Every splatter of this sordid tale appears to have been covered so let’s not go there; we have better things to do. That said, there’s one thing to emerge crystal clear from this murky mud bath: our leaders do not appear fit to lead. But, rather than this being just a hunch, we went looking for some science, scoring Rudd and Gillard against the qualities of a great leader.

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Ever been to a website and felt an immediate sense of visceral revulsion (like this - arghhh!)? Or perhaps been quite impressed by the interface and then spent a frustrating eternity trying to find what you are looking for (help!!)?  Inevitably this ends in a ‘what were they thinking!’ moment. And then you leave – never to return.

The answer to the question is they weren’t thinking much or not nearly enough! And certainly hadn’t adopted best practice in User Experience design (UX).

UX is the intricate process of producing a website. Planning, research, design and development are all steps in the UX process, often running concurrently and involving specially trained people. The cohesive interrelationship of each person and each task will lead to a successful website defined by a seamless and rewarding experience for visitors (‘users’).

We sometimes work on projects where an external designer without UX experience is tasked with ‘producing a skin’. Visions of prosthesis? Or perhaps wrapping a present, all tied up with a neat bow!

If this ever gets suggested to you, alarm bells should ring. Designing a visual identity or a brochure is a skill to be admired but the leap to website designer is wide. The wider the gap the more it’s likely to cost in getting expert help to support the development team or repair the damage. That’s why we never outsource to India or Uzbekistan.

The designer works within the process taking research and content and arranging it into a visual output.

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A quick post as I dry out from attending a very rainy Albury Tristate Conference earlier this week. I had the opportunity to talk about social recruiting and its relevance to an extremely competitive Aged Care recruitment market. The presentation is below.

Since joining Ellis Jones 18 months ago, there has been a significant shift in the perceptions of social media as a business tool. The majority of organisations in the sector I speak to are considerably more comfortable about engaging stakeholders on social media channels and understand that their option to or not to is diminishing. However, there is still a lack of understanding of how to drive meaningful engagement outcomes and integrate social media insight into the rest of the organisation.

The presentation below describes one way of doing this – through recruitment. This is not a nice to have initiative that sits alongside other recruiting efforts. Done well, it will replace traditional channel spend and create a regular flow of potential employees to your organisation. Not only does this save on agency staff costs, it also reduces the pressure on current staff.

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“Staring into the abyss.” Those are the words of an elderly gentleman participating in a recent focus group we held in a leafier suburb of Melbourne. The same sentiments echoed around the room – not only that night, but during other focus groups we held in Perth in December and many more before that. Other persistent phrases include, “it’s death’s waiting room”, “you’re cut-off from the real world” and, of course, “it’s the last place you want to end up”. Probed for associations, poor food, stressed nurses and underpaid carers round out the vision.

The other sense pervading much of the group research we undertake in aged care is one of division: the sense ”us and them”. We often speak to people who are pushing 80 and are clearly keen to know more about aged care, perhaps to influence the development of a facility they may enter one day, but talk about aged care residents like they are of another world: “they can’t taste anything any more anyway”, “wouldn’t be able to get out much” and “I don’t think they’d care much about how the place looks”.

Where does this vision of a black hole come from? What is it that makes aged care such a bleak, dark and, often, terrifying place for people?

Although the sentiments are varied, there are some key reasons. There are also some scape goats that need dispelling. Understanding the reasons for negative visions of care will enable providers to connect with communities, changing perceptions of their service and, more broadly, aged care over time.

As the Agewell Campaign gets underway, we share our thoughts.

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Raising money in addition to that funded by government is an ever present reality for aged care providers, particularly those operating in socio-economically disadvantaged neighbourhoods. Low bond related income and a higher percentage of assisted places mean community support is required to meet funding shortfalls.

The worst position an organisation can take is the ’cap in hand’ approach. As we outline below, aged care is a community service – ownership over its success should be shared by the community. Working with different providers across the aged care sector we are constantly amazed by the creativity invested in campaigns by our clients. The best campaigns share hallmarks and core components which boost the chance of success. Any fundraising activity must be supported with ongoing, programmed, genuine community engagement activities to ensure a foundation of strong relationships and awareness. Fundraising should always be viewed as an extension of the company’s marketing, public relations and engagement activities and, as a result, should be linked via strategies and plans to other communication activities. Adopt these principles and actions and you’ll get results.

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I was running through Yarra Bend park the other day (that very same one Sonya Hartnett lurks in) looking up at the public housing estate, feeling small before this great monochromatic fortress,  wondering how such a place is intended to foster life.

That oft repeated childhood directive ‘work hard or you’ll end up in there’ suddenly came to mind – and phrases to that effect. Win or lose. Dog eat dog.

But who is the competition? And what competition is truly healthy? At the agency it doesn’t feel like we have competition in the ‘who’ll cross the finish line first’ kind of vein. We’re not measuring ourselves by another agency’s success. Time is absolutely the most valuable commodity we trade with one another. So, is it a race against the clock – is that the competition?

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Over the last couple of weeks the outcomes of two recent cases brought before Fair Work Australia (FWA) has demonstrated the impact of well written and articulated social media policy verses an inadequate or absent one. Remember – you do not have to be using social media within the organisation nor are your non computer based employees exempt. We live in a land of smartphones.

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