Matthew Jeffery – The Key To Sourcing Critical Candidates, And Why Recruitment Is Marketing

What is the key tip for sourcing critical candidates and is recruitment marketing? These are the questions I put to Matthew Jeffery (@MatthewJeffery), VP Head of Global Sourcing & Employment Branding at SAP and winner of the 2015 ERE Recruitment Excellence awards in Employment Branding, and Most Strategic Use of Technology. I absolutely loved chatting to Matt, and will be brining him out to MC #ATC2016 so we can all learn from this incredibly talented, passionate and funny guy.
 
You can watch the video, or read the transcript below.

Some of Matt’s most recent achievements with SAP include:

• Designed, created and launched a brand new Corporate Careers Site which is mobile enabled, responsive design, with a content management system that allows instantaneous change/refresh of content.
• Merged the Employment Brand team with Global Sourcing.
• Created new sourcing hubs built and staffed in Boston, (covering the Americas), Prague, (covering EMEA) and Manila (covering APJ).
• Hired a dedicated Video Editor and created over 40 Employee Story Videos for Social Media & the careers site. Truly allowing an authentic, real view of SAP as Employees share their stories.
• ‘Democratisation’ of University hiring with real-time candidate feedback and bespoke online assessments for the SAP Sales Academy Initiative.
• Built one of the fastest growing Talent Communities in the world with 250,000 members usingS AP own product RMK.
• Life at SAP’. Launched new social media channels on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Blog anchored on humanising SAP and unleashing employee stories.
• Focusing on ‘Big Data’ analytics that track source of hire and allow the team to steer recruiters on which recruitment channels they prioritise their time in. (RMK).
• Launched new Employment Brand Menu, ‘Freemium to Premium’, allowing the team to detail services, like an internal agency, that is not limited by budget constraints.
• Oversees and writes ‘Great Places to Work’ Applications. (Complete applications for USA & UK).

 
Transcript
Trevor: Good afternoon Matt Jeffery, how are you?
Matt: Good afternoon, I’m very well thank you.
Trevor: I’m lucky enough to be sitting with Matt, the Global Head of Sourcing and Branding for SAP…I’ve probably got that wrong?
Matt: [laughs], that sounds good enough!
Trevor: It’s close. Matt, we got a conference coming up in Sydney on the 23rd to the 25th of June, and the theme is ‘Recruitment Is Marketing’. Given your experience with sourcing and vast experience in recruitment, what do you think of that theme? Is recruitment marketing?
Matt: I think it’s spot on, recruitment IS marketing. If you’re a recruiter now a days and you don’t see yourself as a marketeer, you’re in the wrong profession. This is how we come across as a company, how we project to candidates, how we persuade them that we’re the best for their next journey. So yes we’re all about marketing, be is social media marketing, digital marketing and even old style marketing-billboards etc – if you’re not marketing, you’re not in it to win it.
Trevor: Fantastic. The key thing we’re finding in Australia in relation to sourcing is that organisations are struggling to find those scarce candidates. What is the one tip in terms of sourcing critical candidates that you have?
Matt: I think the one tip is to embrace technology, and to be persistent, to never give up. If you’re great at your job and you can uncover some of these people, build relationships, use your networks, use referrals and then you can do the impossible. If you’re persistent, you win, and that’s a great sourcer.
Trevor: Now I have taken the liberty to, and Matt has agreed, for Matt to be an MC at the ATC 2016. He’s a wonderful speaker. So Matt, what will you bring to the ATC 2016? How will you rock us Aussies?
Matt: I love the Aussies, especially when it comes to cricket so hopefully we can beat you guys in between, and I can bring that banter. The key thing is about enjoying yourself. You learn at presentations, you learn at events, but you want to have fun. You want people to engage, you want people to be edgy, you want people to challenge the status quo, and that’s what I’m going to bring you guys. I look forward to it!
TV: Thank you Matt Jeffery.
 

If you want to engage with your peers, challenge the status quo and learn, join us at #ATC2015 in Sydney this June where we will show you how improving your recruitment marketing will help you achieve your talent acquisition objectives, now and into the future. Join global experts including Mike Bailen, Todd Davis, Bill Boorman, Todd Wheatland, Jonathan Crossfield and more for two days of high ROI learning. You can view the whole agenda here.