Welcome to the first Sparks newsletter! We wanted to keep you up to speed with what we are doing, plus cover off a range of things that are going on in the industry, or that we think may be of interest. We intend to keep it bite sized and are open to any suggestions on content you may want to see within it in the future.
Happy reading!
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Anna and Beth attended one of their more unconventional client meetings last month, when they headed off to JCB’s UK headquarters for a VIP tour of one of their production lines and their amazing museum. Once they’d managed to pull themselves away from marvelling at the very cool machines, they were delighted to be briefed on exciting plans for a new internal communications piece. Everything from candidate packs to interview guides. It means we’ll be doing our bit to help JCB attract brand aligned people into their business through some solid creative comms.
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High five for the High street
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As we work with many retailers, we’ve been going through a range of research to gain a deeper understanding of what candidates in this sector are really looking for when they’re considering a new role.
While working environments, training and pay were at the forefront of people’s minds in a survey of 2,500 candidates, perhaps more surprisingly were their attitudes towards staff discounts and benefits. Want to see more detail? Get in touch. |
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We also saw that consumers continue to browse online, but they’re tending to buy in stores, resulting in brands looking to expand their high-street presence once again. Looks like there’s exciting times ahead!
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Good game, good game
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It’s still a topic of hot debate in the industry – is gamification the best thing since Buckaroo, or the trickiest thing to get your head around since ‘Donald Trump: The Game’? Yes, that is a real thing.
In our view, the benefits are endless. It’s a great way to showcase that your brand and culture are synonymous with innovation and creativity, as well as delivering more honest candidate insights via psychometric testing, rather than your traditional personality questionnaire. Furthermore, it helps to support diversity initiatives by removing the potential effects of unconscious bias.
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Modern gamification methods also allow a deeper understanding of applicants’ interpersonal and thinking styles, emotions, cognition, aptitude and potential behaviours. And the different games available mean you can tailor your strategy to assess candidate traits that meet your specific business needs, and understand how well your combined values are aligned.
So, is it time to wave goodbye to the old-faithful verbal & numerical test, and welcome in the new age of gamified candidate sifting?
Come on, let’s play…
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