Ahhhh, wuv.

Twuuuuu wuv.

For those of you who’ve been hiding under a social media, news source, general conversational rock, tomorrow is the highly anticipated, supremely publicized and potentially overrated (just the messenger here) ROYAL WEDDING.

*Insert flock of doves, trumpets sounding, tiny hats, and adorable baby royals.*

I digress.

I’m not quite on the Prince Harry/Meghan Markle love train like some people, but there is something about weddings that get me in that giddy, kick my heels together, hug a stranger kind of mood. Weddings are just a celebration of good! The wedding ceremony is a symbol of love and devotion, which is one of the sweetest things one has the opportunity to witness.

And that’s something that should be celebrated, just like when a candidate decides to join your work family or celebrates an anniversary with you. Weddings are a great reminder of the emotional connection that people want and need to feel for your company. Define why they’d make a commitment to your company in your Employee Value Proposition and look for opportunities to celebrate the devotion your employees have for your company on social media.

Symphony Talent’s Content Marketing employees share advice from their moms.

Ashleigh Perissi: My mom has always encouraged me to get out of my comfort zone. From playing the flute in youth orchestras to earning my M.A. in Media and Public Affairs after starting my career in D.C., she has been a huge influence on the decisions I’ve made and path I’ve followed. And that path led me back to my home state of N.Y. when I started working for ST, after I took her advice to find more flexibility in my schedule so that I could be more present as a new mom, myself.

Calli Ensor: “Cherish every moment, because nothing in life is permanent.” My momma always reminds me to be present in each moment and open to new opportunities. With an M.A. in Medical Anthropology, I never imagined I’d be leading a content marketing team. Thanks to my mom’s advice, I took a leap and am loving my 7th year with Symphony Talent.

Christine Thorsen: My mom always told me, “Treat others as you would like to be treated in life, with kindness and respect. It will reflect in all that you succeed in - your friendships, your relationships, and your career.”

Gabriela Simich: Fuel your career! Literally. My mom reminds me to eat. Without common lunch breaks, it’s easy for employees to skip lunch. We get so caught up in deadlines and projects, that we can go hours without even standing up, let alone thinking about what to prepare for lunch!

Lynnette Bellin: My mom had so many quotes that she drilled into my head with regularity. Some of the top ones on her rotation included, “Anything worth doing is worth doing right,” “You attract more bees with honey than you do with vinegar,” and, “If you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.” I think that’s really a good synopsis of how she raised me. Work hard and spread kindness. These are values I hold dear today, and am passing down to my own children. These quotes also apply to my approach to social media. I work hard to make sure I’m executing the right strategy for my clients, and I also make sure that my personal posts and comments are positive and kind, which is my own way of taking back social media from internet trolls.

Meg Ruggieri: In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle, stand like a rock. Thomas Jefferson said it first, my mom said it second. Or like 10,000th. Still. I’m a big fan of the latest and greatest, you can count on me to know my pop cultural trends. But while my fashion tastes change with each passing season, I approach life (and work) with a smile and sense of humor. I learned early on, that one of my unwavering principles? Life’s too short not to laugh at your own jokes.

Parker Hinze: After graduating, my mom told me to find something I truly enjoyed and that life is too short to spend time doing something you don't like. Take every opportunity and learn from everything.

Prince Paul: My mom always used to give me strength and support when I was a child which later on in life helped me to become a brave human being. Yes I’m a proud son.

With the tools, terms and technologies we’re using evolving at an incredibly rapid pace, all of us at Symphony Talent want to keep you informed and up-to-speed as much as we can. Which brings us to today’s topic:

Drip Campaigns

If you’ve participated in one of our Webinars recently, you’ve probably heard  the term “drip campaign” used in connection with creating a personalized candidate experience. Many times we’re been asked to define the term at some point in the presentation or during the Q&A portion.

Happy Star Wars Day! You’ve probably seen countless people saying, “May the Fourth Be With You” on social media today, but do you know how this day came to be?

Back in 1979, when Margaret Thatcher won the election and became Britain’s first woman prime minister, her party took out a half page ad in the London Evening News, with the message of “May the Fourth Be With You, Maggie. Congratulations.”

May 4th soon became a grassroots tradition each year, but really took off with the advent of social media, where the official Star Wars social media channels started using the hashtag #StarWarsDay. In essence, Star Wars Day was created by the fans, and it is truly their day.

As we relate this to content marketing, we need to remember that candidates are potential fans of your company, and we should treat every day as their day. It’s important to keep in mind what the candidates want out of your careers website and social media accounts. Do they just want a listing of jobs? No. They want to understand your culture. They want to see how they’ll fit in. The smartest thing we can do in recruitment marketing is start with a foundation of an Employee Value Proposition, and build on that foundation by defining the personas of our key target markets and developing content just for them. This creates a Unifying Force in all of your key touchpoints.

If you’re involved in attracting and retaining talent for the healthcare sector, we don’t have to tell you it’s tough out there (in fact, the healthcare industry is projecting 1.2 million vacant positions by 2022). More than ever, your reach has to go well beyond your local market – making visibility a top priority. Then there’s the challenge of keeping the people you already have on board engaged. And between an ongoing nursing shortage, campus recruiting efforts and the constant challenge to fill critical roles in Engineering, IT and other non-traditional disciplines, it can seem more than a bit overwhelming. That’s why we’re happy to share some good news:

Introducing ST Health, the industry’s first talent acquisition platform specifically designed for today’s modern Healthcare ecosystem.

Over the last 12 years, I have been typically working for small tech startups, but I found myself always wondering if they had enough to cover payroll and other bills, which was pretty stressful to say the least.   I took some time to evaluate what I wanted for my career and work environment so that I could find the right fit for me. I determined that culture, process, and good people were at the top of my priority list.

As a child, I loved Shel Silverstein’s The Giving Tree. I admired the generosity of the tree that provided play, companionship, food, shelter, travel, and income to the boy. Over time, my interpretations of the book and the relationship between the boy and tree began to change. I re-read the book over and over again interpreting the boy and the tree as metaphors for our relationship with nature, our parents, children, or significant others. With each interpretation, I became a bigger fan. This is the impact of a great storyteller. Their stories, their content, their key messaging lingers with you leaving a lasting impact on your life's decisions. So yes, I’ll be planting a tree this Arbor Day.

With so much of your attention already focused on the candidate and employee experience, you might be overlooking one of its most important components: your Employee Value Proposition (EVP). After all, it’s the foundation from which all your messaging should emerge – and if it’s not very well-crafted and completely believable, it can actually have a negative impact on your employer reputation and in turn your recruiting plans and retention efforts.

Investing the time and resources it takes to build an EVP, and in turn manage your Employer Brand, is well worth the effort. So, whether you’re up to the challenge of taking this on yourself – or with the help of experts – I wanted to share some insights to help you along.

In Part 1 of this blog series, I talked about how digital transformation is changing the rules around the candidate experience – and that the home page is often not the initial point of entry for a candidate’s journey. As Bill Gates pointed out an essay of the same title, “Content is King.” From a recruiting perspective, his statement is spot-on. If the first thing a candidate lands on is the job description page, it needs to be as robust – and engaging – as possible. So where do you start? Below are a few simple guidelines for building a content-rich experience that can make all the difference in attracting top-quality candidates.

Photo Caption: Daisy, professional model, lover of Sesame Street.

This is my girl, Daisy.  She spent most of her life being carried in baskets, getting her nails painted pink and of course, as an aspiring professional canine model.

It’s national pet month in the UK, but on our team, we can’t help but celebrate our family everyday. They greet you when you came home from school and work, they stick their whole body next to you and seem to hold you when you’re sad, they celebrate your joy and they see you at your most vulnerable without a judgement in the world. Many of us can name one animal in half a second who has had such a profound effect on our lives and our hearts, that even seeing a photo of them brings an involuntary smile.