According to the latest report of Censis, job searches are the fourth most common activity users perform on the Internet, and 3 out of 4 companies claim to use social networks to assess candidates. According to the latest Nielsen report, our country, Italy is the fifth largest global market for distribution of social networks.
Based on these statistics, Page Group has decided to focus on social strategies to compete in the web 2.0 contest. In particular, the group is characterized by its specialization in two main pages, Michael Page and Page Personnel. Michael Page deals with the selection of profiles at executive, top management levels. Whereas, Page Personnel focuses on the search and selection both at the beginning of ones working career (graduates), and from middle management (salary level of 30-35 thousand euro per year).
The activities carried out and being launches by this group are: the corporate blog (www.espertilavoroecarriera.it), the fan page on Facebook (one for each page), two corporate profiles on LinkedIn, two Twitter accounts, and two YouTube channels ‘As a Group, globally, we are shown the potential of new social communication instruments.’ “Therefore, in all of the 32 countries we are present in, corporate level communication is used – says Tomaso Mainini, CEO of Michael Page International Italy. In fact, social networks, have influenced the mechanisms of the labour market, as a supplementary channel to contact new applications, optimizing the time of networking, and are valuable tools of employer branding. In particular, in Italy, we wanted to invest a significant amount during a year of uncertainty like the one we are experiencing, increasing our own communication budget by 20% and allocating this increase to the development of our social media strategy.”
With the help DAG Communications, Page Group has attacked the challenges of social networking. “We at DAG have created a social platform with coordinated images – says Elena Guzzella, CEO of Dag Communication, agency in Milan who takes care of not only social media strategies, but also communication in traditional media groups – through the use of different tools (blog, fan pages, YouTube channels). We aim to help create a community and facilitate the movement of information (on sectors that offer major job opportunities, updates on compensation levels, etc.) encouraging the sharing of professional experiences.”
www.espertilavoroecarriera.it is the group blog organized into 7 main headings that facilitate content navigation in order to provide a compass for young graduates seeking employment (areas where there are more opportunities, how to deal with the interview, the rules for the internship etc.) as well as to pay attention to all top management profile updates (salary levels, training courses, strategies for getting into the game, etc.) One section that is particularly attractive to users is the ‘As the expert’ area where managers in the group provide practical advice on specific topics (for example, how to deal with the issue of pay without making mistakes).
“In this long economic downturn, we were able to experience the disorientation of both the recent graduate and experienced candidate profiles. Between these two groups, the regulations change. Losing their jobs as adults or having to think about dropping everything and looking for opportunities abroad, are common experiences that create a certain disorientation. In addition, the recession has been reinforced making it difficult to predict the outcome – says Francesca Contardi, CEO of Page Personnel.- certainly in Italy, the world of work is starting to change. Based on these circumstances, we as recruiters, are the point of reference. As a result, we have created a communication strategy in the view of disintermediation in which the candidates are able to see who will sit across the table from them in the interview through social media (our blog). In addition, candidates are able to receive answers in real time if a question arises (right on the bulletin board of our Facebook fan page.)”
The user community has also shown significant participation in surveys published monthly. In the most recent survey the question, ‘Would you be willing to transfer abroad for work?’ was responded by more than 600 users with a strong predominance of yes (86%).
Michael Page presents discussions on current LinkedIn issues. For example, a topic intended to trigger discussion asked users to share their experiences of the top management profiles, as far back in the game as 50 years.
