The future of recruiting: interview with Silvia Zanella (Adecco)

The recruitment industry has been changing quickly. To understand these transformations we decided to interview several professionals who, in various respects, deal daily with sourcing and selection.

They are #RecruitingGurus and have decided to share their personal vision and recruiting tips with the In-recruiting audience. Our first guest is Silvia Zanella, Global Social Media & Online Marketing Director for the Adecco Group.

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Please share with the In-recruiting readers what it is that you do.

My name is Silvia Zanella and I am in charge of managing the social media strategy for Adecco globally. I am also responsible for digital training and the development and sharing of digital best practices within the group.

I am particularly interested in the evolution of the job market and the different digital trends: recruiting marketing, social recruitment, HR 2.0, Employer Branding and smartworking.

A recent study by a well-known research and selection company stated that 45% of recruiters doing recruiting today say it is more difficult than the last 5 years. Do you agree?

I would say it’s not harder but more complex. In the sense that while doing recruiting you need to consider a variety of factors at the same time, and this greatly increases the degree of complexity.

In particular, the needs and expectations of the candidates have changed, and also the skills required to do recruitment have evolved.

How have the candidates’ needs changed?

The advent of digital has radically changed the relationship between candidate and company, now candidates expect fewer filters and a much more direct relationship with company referrals.

In addition, especially with regard to the millennial generation, values have changed: the new generation expects to manage their time, where they work and what tools they use, in a different way to previous generations. They would like to be able to work from home and share their personal devices even at work.

The challenge awaiting HR managers in the coming years is significant because they will have to handle at least two generations in the company, with very different needs and expectations.

How has the ideal profile of a recruiter changed in recent years?

Once the ideal profile of a recruiter was that of a work psychologist, with strong soft skills, such as listening and empathy. Today, however, the profile of many recruiter is closer to the world of marketing and communication, as each recruiting campaign requires goals, setting up a marketing strategy, outlining an operational plan, and choosing between different recruitment tactics, often focused on digital marketing.

In this sense, digital skills will increasingly be needed to govern the complexity I mentioned earlier. Suffice to say that when I started my job experience at Jobpilot in 2003 there were 50 job adverts; six years later, in the full economic crisis (2009), you could find 100,000 ads on Monster. It’s impossible for both recruiters and companies to ignore the data, they have to adapt.

Globally, investment in Social Recruiting is rising, but in fact only 18% of recruiters are considered social recruiting experts. (Source: Social Recruiting Survey) Is the level of expertise really so low?

At this historic moment for the majority of recruiters there’s a skills gap in digital marketing, and unfortunately despite many companies claiming to do digital, they often forget to include the HR function in the “journey” to digital.

Internal business training is not to be underestimated and can easily represent a competitive advantage for those who decide to invest in digital training.

In the last few years, Adecco ranked third among the companies with the most eye-catching image for new graduates. How did you achieve this result?

This result required an intense work on the company’s Employer Branding. We developed several different action plans, from the strictly operational but also by working hard on the internal culture, starting with top management. The process required a lot of commitment and several years of work (we started in 2010).

Do you believe that a company should leave the recruiter free to develop their own personal branding or do you think it is better to set up well-defined social media policies so that the company’s Employer Brand can continue?

The ideal would be an equilibrium situation: let’s remember that if a recruiter develops his reputation, the company will also benefit. It’s true that there are risks in the sense that the recruiter could attract some competitors, but the risk would be present in any case. In general I do not think flattening recruiter communication is the best way to handle this risk. I think the best way is to set business policies, but also leave room for the freedom of expression of the single recruiter.

In Adecco you have responsibility for global digital marketing: what are the differences between Italy and the rest of Europe in the use of digital instruments?

In fact, in Italy, we’re doing well, culturally we have a strong sense of sharing and we are good at communicating. Also, some recruitment marketing practices in our country are still relatively new, and therefore are much more effective than other mature countries, such as the United States.

Which book would you recommend recruiting readers for their professional upgrading?

While I am convinced that reading widely and most diversely is best, I can’t help but recommend “The Alliance. Managing talent in the age of networking”, from the founder of LinkedIn. An unprecedented look at the relationship between company and workers, anticipating the future of work.