ASDA and future recruitment
Recently I attended a meeting of the Recruitment Society at which we received a presentation by ASDA on their new recruitment process.
Several years ago ASDA decided that they wanted to improve their own recruitment process and become less reliant on recruitment agencies (bad news for members of the Recruitment Society!!). So they brought in Euro RSCG Riley, specialist recruitment advisers to help.
Perhaps most interesting about the process they entered into was a change in the thinking pattern for recruitment. They asked themselves not what ASDA needed, i.e. new recruits, but what did the potential recruit need. Their answer was a lot more information about ASDA and the people that already work at ASDA.
Their new recruitment website (www.asda.jobs) is bright, easy to read and headlines the people working at all levels whether in their stores, at George, the pharmacy or a number of other jobs you wouldn’t automatically associate with a shop.
There are some whizzy bits such as videos to brighten the website up even further. They have also experimented with QR codes and mobile phones as well as Twitter For me the disappointment was that the site is heavily informational but very low on engagement and interactivity. I saw no evidence of a blog (although they say there is one in the graduate section), RSS feeds or a LinkedIn community. Nor could I find an area where people could ask questions other than through the traditional comments/contact us page.
In that respect the ASDA jobs website is disappointing; it remains firmly in the Web 1.0 camp. In many other respects it is innovative, fresh and enjoyable to navigate (although curiously there are no links back to the Home Page as you go deeper into the site).
Undoubtedly the ASDA approach is one that is growing amongst large employers, sidelining adverts and agencies and moving to a more direct engagement with potential recruits. They are very clear though, this is a journey they have entered into and not the final product.
Have a look at the ASDA jobs site and let us know what you think.