CPG Marketing Recruiter

FMCG / CPG Marketing Recruiters Since 2000

518.439.4439

Need to hire
Marketing talent?

You won’t find another firm that matches our level of commitment to your satisfaction.

Learn More >>

Recruiting CPG Marketing Talent: Your Reputation Precedes You

by

There are probably only three or four degrees of separation between you and any other professional in your field. You work within a small, interconnected world where reputation matters.

When it comes to recruiting CPG marketing talent, this reality might benefit your company. For example, when top players on your team are thrilled with you as a leader, they will probably tell others within their personal network. This positive feedback, especially coming from a trusted source, can calm the concerns of potential job candidates and help your company to recruit exceptional people much more easily.

On the other hand, negative rumors can be devastating. If people within your team are unhappy, then you can bet that your company’s reputation (and possibly your own) is taking a beating in the employment marketplace. Unfavorable feedback coming from people they trust will often deter candidates from joining a company.

Think of these positive and negative rumor mills as marketing campaigns vying for mind-share. If you want to win the war for talent that is now heating up, it will be crucial that you and your company influence this situation to your advantage.

In previous talent wars – most CPG companies did not put a great deal of effort into shaping their company reputation within the employment marketplace. They misjudged how they were actually perceived by their own employees and by candidates.

That error ultimately led to a severe shortage of top talent within their marketing teams.

Another talent war is now underway. But your company doesn’t have to experience the pain of a talent shortage. Consider the steps that some of the most successful companies are taking to avert a crisis:

  1. They are openly acknowledging that influencing their reputation in the employment marketplace is crucial to winning the talent war.
  2. They are surveying their organization to find out what people are really thinking about life within their company.
  3. They are committed to addressing the central issues that are brought to the fore.
  4. They have enrolled key executives as change agents. They are communicating a clear and compelling vision of successful change.
  5. They have begun measuring (and celebrating) progress.

The bottom line is this: If you focus on constantly improving the experience of working for your company, you will communicate a better employer reputation to potential candidates and increase your chances of attracting the top talent you want.



Avoiding Culture-Fit Disasters When Hiring Marketers

by

The candidate peered across the table at Todd, the vice president of marketing, and asked sincerely: “Can you tell me more about the culture here?” Todd just pointed to a bronze plaque on the wall that read: “Hustle is heaven if you’re a hustler. Hustle is hell if you’re not.” “Any questions?” he asked, and then smiled.

That plaque spoke volumes about the culture of Todd’s company. The candidate got the point, and so would you if you interviewed there.

I spoke with Todd about his approach to interviewing candidates. He said that he often points to that plaque and then explains to candidates: “We’re very driven around here. We like to move fast, and we count on everyone to pull his or her own weight. This is a no excuses environment.”

Todd has found that being very direct about the aggressive nature of his company’s culture helps him to recruit more of the right people and retain them over the long haul. (In this case, the “right people” means driven, type A marketing professionals who want to play on a highly competitive team that won’t slow them down.)

Some might point out that by taking this kind of transparent approach Todd will scare off some talented candidates. Yes, and that’s why he does it. He knows that by choosing to remove themselves from the interview process based on concerns over culture-fit, those candidates are probably doing him (and themselves) a big favor.

Is “a big favor” really an accurate way to frame this? I’d say yes. To illustrate, let’s briefly imagine a common recruitment scenario. It usually plays out like this:

1) A talented marketing candidate gets sold by the hiring manager on joining his or her team. The candidate believes that this is an opportunity to alleviate some career pains – and gain some interesting new job responsibilities.

2) However, there’s a catch. That is, no one who interviewed this candidate ever explained what is really required to get things done and be truly successful within their corporate environment. In other words, it’s anybody’s guess as to whether or not this candidate is a good fit for their company culture.

What if “this candidate” were you? What might your reaction be if the scenario that was sold to you during the recruitment process turns out to be quite different than the realities of daily life at your new employer? At the very least, you’d have a sense of buyer’s remorse. You might even feel personally betrayed.

This type of situation sets the stage for candidates to be recruited away from their new employer – sometimes very quickly. It’s a painful and expensive lesson to learn.

The bottom line: If you want to recruit marketers who will succeed and thrive (not just survive until they find a better opportunity) – don’t just sell them – tell them the truth about your company culture. Educate them. When you’re committed to achieving a great candidate-to-culture fit, everybody wins.



The Truth About Turnover And Your Marketing Department

by

Are you about to lose one of your best marketing players to the competition? It’s a good question to consider. Top marketers are restless, ambitious achievers with big dreams. They set high standards for themselves and, spoken or unspoken, for the people who lead them. When things are not going particularly well, they often become open to outside influences. Yes, these “outside influences” include recruiters. With that said, no recruiter ever kidnapped a candidate.

What really motivates top marketers to leave? Simply put, they tend to leave because they are significantly discontented. That may sound negative. But I can tell you with confidence that in the absence of strong discontent, world-class marketers normally won’t take the risk of leaving their company – often despite some very tempting opportunities.

If you want to retain your top marketing players, you must invest the time and energy required to gain their trust, to guide them, to draw out their real career concerns, and to be their advocate on an ongoing basis. If you do these things consistently over time, they will rarely interview someplace else (at least not on your watch).

If you’re wondering if all that work is really worth it, know this: Your R.O.I. for the time and energy you invest in your best people may go well beyond just retaining them in the short run. There are other potential benefits. For example, as you build a reputation as an exceptional mentor, you may become the boss that the up-and-coming marketing superstars within your company seek out. Some day, if you should choose to leave your company, you’ll also be better positioned to entice outstanding marketers (and/or the top people within their networks) to join your new team. I regularly see both of these situations play out – creating career advantages for everyone involved.

One last thought. You have far more influence over retention and turnover than you might imagine. In large part, it’s your decisions, your actions (not those of marketing recruiters or anyone else) that determine whom you’ll retain or lose. So, reach out to your best people. By making a difference in their careers – you may be making an even bigger difference in your own.



Marketing Recruitment And Emotional Decisions

by

Was your last career decision completely rational? I’d say no. In fact, I believe that all of us process our career decisions through our emotions – it’s unavoidable.

If you’re skeptical – here’s some thought-provoking research to consider. At an annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Dr. Dean K. Shibata presented his research findings based on a two-year study of the patterns of human brain activity during decision-making. Dr. Shibata’s study demonstrated that human decision-making processes are directly dependent upon emotions when the implications of a decision are perceived to have even the slightest personal impact.

According to Shibata, the findings of his imaging research support the idea that “every time you have to make choices in your personal life, you need to ‘feel’ the projected emotional outcome of each choice.”

My point? Few things impact us as much on a personal level as career decisions, and unless your marketing recruitment process is set up to work with the way people ‘feel’ their way through personal decisions, you will probably fail more than you succeed.

So, faced with this reality, how can you and your team prepare for the next candidate interview? It may be simpler than you think. Here are three straightforward actions that I recommend you take:

1) Thoroughly educate your team (including everyone who will have contact with candidates) on the precise nature of the job to be filled. Give them a crystal clear understanding of the most significant challenges and opportunities inherent in the job, exactly how the role fits within the larger organization, etc.

If this step is not handled in a thorough way, job candidates will likely receive conflicting information during the interview process – and end up feeling confused. Make no mistake, any feelings of uncertainty can work powerfully against you.

2) Carefully prepare interview questions that are both highly relevant and challenging. This will involve you and your team discussing each candidate and their resume – and confirming what questions will be asked by whom.

If candidates are consistently asked highly relevant, challenging questions, this not only benefits you and your team as you gather information that you need to make good hiring decisions, but you will also be demonstrating to candidates that you have set the bar high and will not settle for less than a great fit. Remember that candidates want a great fit too, and because they are challenge-oriented people this approach tends to increase their enthusiasm and desire to win the job.

3) Make sure that you and your team are prepared to provide candidates with specific, real-world examples of the unique benefits that your company can deliver to them. For example, one of the clients I work with emphasizes the fact that they have a family-friendly culture. They do this by giving candidates concrete examples of how they flex to meet their employees’ needs for work/life balance. What examples can you and your team convey? Collaborate and prepare. This step counts.

I encourage you to take decisive action – and implement these three simple steps before you interview your next job candidate. If you do, you’ll be much better positioned to win the hearts and minds of the people you interview.