Season 2, Episode 3: Hiring, Reimagined

In this episode, we're joined by Regina Liu, Director of Recruitment Marketing, as she breaks down the latest tools and innovations reshaping the recruitment marketing landscape.

Transcript

Tom Marguccio 0:00

Welcome to Coffee and Tea with SCG, a podcast from the industry experts at SCG Advertising and PR. We are a full-service woman-owned agency that offers advertising, public relations, recruitment marketing, and association and event management. And this season, we'll be chatting with some members of our team about innovation in their respective industries. So grab your coffee and your tea, and let's brew up a good conversation.

Maddie Trumino 0:28

Hi everyone. We are back with another episode of Coffee and Tea with SCG. I'm your host for today, Maddie Trumino, and today I'm joined by our director of recruitment marketing, Regina Liu. Hi, Regina. Hi Maddie. How are you today? I'm great. Welcome to Haddonfield. Yes, thank you. We're so excited to be here. We always love coming to visit you guys. So my first question for you is coffee or tea and how do you take it? I actually like both.

Regina Liu 0:53

I drink coffee in the morning and tea in the evenings. My coffee, I prefer a flat white or a latte. But if it's just a regular cup of coffee, I just take it with a splash of milk.

Maddie Trumino 1:03

Okay. I also have been getting into tea more lately as well. I used to be strictly coffee, but I found a love for tea.

Regina Liu 1:08

Yeah. It's nice, especially in the evenings.

Maddie Trumino 1:10

Mm-hmm. I have to try it because I've been having it in the morning, so I'll have to try it later. So now going into my second question, how has technology transformed the recruitment landscape?

Regina Liu 1:20

Technology has completely changed the recruitment landscape. When I first started working in this business, the majority of the ads were print ads in newspapers and publications. And if you were getting a little bit out there, you might do radio or billboards. But today, probably 90% of our business is completely digital. So that's because of technology. At the most basic level, technology changed the way people look for jobs, the way they apply for jobs, the way that they learn about a company. And then on a more macro level, it's streamlined the process. It's made things more efficient. In the recruitment marketing world now, you know, there's technology that helps with candidate matching, with pre-screening, with analyzing data. And then the the types of tools that we use too. So in terms of job boards, social media, search engine marketing, digital advertising, geofencing, all that is basically because of the technology that's available and allows us to reach candidates in a different way, allows us to target candidates in a different way, and then also allows them, like I said, the way that they're actually finding the jobs and the way that they're applying.

Maddie Trumino 2:28

Yeah, absolutely. So what role do you think technology like AI automation or recruitment platforms play in recruitment marketing today?

Regina Liu 2:38

In terms of AI and automations, it's pretty much everywhere. And there's a lot of HR professionals that may not even realize that they're using it. So if they're using like Indeed or any type of job boards, AI is being used in the back end to match the candidates to the jobs or to screen them and to make that process more efficient. And then the next step is HR professionals that are actually like choosing to use it and finding ways that they might use that to make their day a little bit easier. I think initially it was used for administrative tasks, like to pick up some of that busy work that would take up a lot of time. But I think now there's also ways to use it for, you know, data analysis. So being able to look at where an ad started, how does that impact the entire process, what is the return on that, and really studying that using technology has made that so much easier. Before candidates would take a paper resume and literally mail it or fax it in, and then someone would have to physically read it and go through it. So now technology has made that entire process different. So now they are able to just look at the more qualified candidates that have already matched with the job they have, and then they're already into the system, and then they're able to track through from they saw us here, they have now applied here, and they were hired here, and really see this full story of how this happened, and then use that data to then say, okay, how are we going to find other similar candidates like this? Or how are we going to continue to improve this? So that's some of the ways that technology is being used today.

Maddie Trumino 4:15

Yeah, absolutely. I could even see it myself as a somewhat recent college graduate, you know, even just on platforms like LinkedIn and Indeed, you know, how targeted and specific you can get with even finding jobs and all the tools and platforms used just to kind of, you know, even when I was going through it, helped me really pinpoint exactly what I wanted to do. So it's really, really it's getting smarter and smarter for sure.

Regina Liu 4:35

That's right. You know, before with like the newspapers, right, people would literally pull out a classified ad. I mean, they were classified by the sections. So you could say, okay, I want food service, they want, and but then you'd have to read through them. And people would sit there and they'd circle the little ads and you know, then have to type up what they're doing and send it off. So now, yeah, you're right, that matching technology is really amazing. And it and it, like you said, it gets smarter and smarter, you know, and it learns. So I know they use machine learning, so it continues to get smarter. So if you are looking at a job and it's not the right fit for you, so you don't click on it, you will get served less of those jobs, right? And you'll get jobs that actually match what you're looking for.

Maddie Trumino 5:12

Yeah, which is amazing, which is something paper can't do. So we should be fortunate for that at least. So, with that, you know, what are some of the most innovative tools and platforms being used by recruiters?

Regina Liu 5:24

Some of the most innovative platforms being used is programmatic ad buying, is probably something that has become more and more popular in the recruitment world. Before, what would happen is you would buy a specific ad on a specific site or on a specific social media platform. With programmatic, what it does is it takes all of your jobs and then it takes whatever ad network exchange they have and it uses optimizations to push those jobs out to where the that candidate would be. So it's sort of instead of it being focused on the platform, it's looking at that candidate. So where would this candidate be and serving up the best ads for that person? And then it's continuing to learn, like we talked about before, you know, so and continuing to optimize that and looking at, okay, these are the sites where this person is most likely gonna see it, or this person is getting, you know, text blasts. This is the most likely that they're gonna interact with this. So using programmatic is a very innovative way to use your budget more smartly, to reach better, more qualified candidates. But you still have to be careful on that too. You still have to watch where it's going, you still have to make sure it's the right candidate, you have to make sure that it's hitting the right types of platforms that you want. Like we talked about earlier, AI is certainly something that's that's innovative, and there's so many different ways to use it. So, as we already talked about, some of the stuff that maybe they're not even realizing, but there's chat bots that can be used to help answer questions, to help streamline communication tools, outreach the candidates, making that candidate experience more personalized and have it really focused on them. So if you're looking at, say, you want to hire a veteran candidate, they should have an experience that is very personal to them. You know, it shouldn't just be any job, it should be the entire experience should feel like this is a role that is appropriate to a veteran who might be considering transitioning out of the military, considering a civilian role, and how is this particular job and this particular opportunity going to make sense with the skills that that person has? So just being a very personalized experience and AI is able to help with that. The other things that a lot of my clients are doing is virtual interviews, virtual events, you know, with the rise of remote and hybrid working, I think even having that from the entire experience. So from your application, even or your interview process to already being able to do it virtually and being able to talk to a recruiter from wherever you might be and being able to, you know, chat with them, ask questions, learn about what the opportunity is, and then even interview in that way too. You know, and there's so many different methods to do that, whether it's you know an actual video conference or you know, some of them have where you submit your video application and then someone reads it and kind of sends you questions back. But that's a great way to kind of move the process along very quickly. And then the other piece I don't think is new, but it's just probably more of a focus now is just making sure that everything is mobile first and mobile friendly, right? I mean, before a lot of people would have, you know, even if they saw something on their phone, they would go then to their desktop or laptop to apply. But you know, now so many people are just they're so on the go. And if they can apply to a job on their phone, that's gonna make it so much easier and have the resume at their fingertips and able to do that quickly. So making sure that any of our clients' application processes are able to be done on mobile is really important.

Maddie Trumino 8:41

Absolutely. I did most of my applications mobile. I remember in between classes, in between, you know, jobs, I was always on the go and it was so easy to apply on my phone. Right.

Regina Liu 8:51

And I bet if there was an application that wasn't really that functional in that way, you'd probably be like, do I really want me to right? I mean, that's exactly what would happen.

Maddie Trumino 9:00

If anything, if it was really enticing to me, I would put a pin in it and wait to get till I got to a laptop or a computer. But definitely more intriguing if I could apply on my phone.

Regina Liu 9:09

So that's definitely the case where organizers might be losing out on candidates because their application process isn't easy to do on the phone. So yeah, it's something for for clients to think about.

Maddie Trumino 9:20

Absolutely. So I know we talked a lot about how AI is helpful in the industry. Is there anything you could share that might be harmful or hurting the recruitment marketing advertising space with AI?

Regina Liu 9:32

I have to admit, AI always scares me. When people become over-reliant on it, I think that's a scary thing. I always compare to when I was younger, we had like the Cliff Notes version when you were doing like a book report, and there were some people that would literally just copy the Cliff Notes, and there were some people that would read it, like me, and kind of use it to like summarize or get some of the themes because I sometimes would miss that, and then I'd still write my report separately. But I feel like that's what's happening with AI. So you have to still be human, you still have to think, and so I think using it to help support some task, right? Make things more efficient, speed up things, I think that's great. I think there's ways it can be used like that. But I think when you become so over-reliant on it that you can't even like think for yourself, that's a bit scary to me. I worry as AI becomes more and more prevalent that it'll be hard to tell the difference between what's reality and what's artificial. You know, I've seen all those movies with AI and they always end badly. There's always like AI, the ex machine, they always end badly. The robots always take over the world. I don't think that's like our future, but I do think you have to be mindful of it. And I think especially for organizations that want to employ it into the recruitment marketing strategies, you still have to just like you have to think about it. You have to think, how is this actually gonna help me? Where am I still going to have to use like my critical thinking? Like, how can I use that part of it? And then for recruiters, especially, you know, the the AI can tell you if if this is a good candidate, if they match the skills, but they're not gonna tell you if it's like a good cultural fit, if they are a great like team player, if they have, you know, whatever that that thing is that you just get when you meet somebody, right? And you b build a connection. So what I would say is that AI is great to kind of take on some of those front-end tasks, but like then give the recruiters the time to still like have that human connection, you know, and and figure out if this person would really be like the right cultural fit for an organization. I think that's still really important. I would hate to see if that went away.

Maddie Trumino 11:34

Yeah, absolutely. I know it's interesting you say that because uh even growing up in school when AI became more prevalent, it's so drilled into your brain like, do not use this on a test, do not use this on an essay or a project, you know, like use your own brain. And if you did, you know, you could have been expelled, you know, failed that assignment. So coming into a workspace where AI is celebrated or used, it was so I don't think about it. We we were actually just talking about this the other day. Like, I never think to use AI because it was so drilled out of me. And it can be such a helpful tool and I should use it more, but you really can't replace that human aspect of, you know, creativity and using your own thoughts. And I think actually our colleague the other day, Sean, had said that, you know, it's we're not gonna get replaced by robots, but you will be replaced by, you know, somebody who doesn't accept AI or doesn't use it to its full potential. And I think, you know, as long as you're using it in the right settings and the right capabilities, it can be a very helpful tool. Yeah.

Regina Liu 12:33

It's interesting you said that. I didn't realize that you were like taught that growing up. Yeah. Because I always feel that it's not my first thought either, because I was reading about where I grew up, my generation is sort of in between millennials and Gen X, right? And it's the last generation that was raised without digital or social media or internet, but then learned to use it in high school, college. So kind of like that space in between almost. And so that's what I always feel like that it's never my first thought. I'm always like, you know, have to be reminded that oh, this would be a helpful tool. And and again, and I don't actually mind that because that forces me to kind of be straddling that line between the both, right? Between the digital, between using my own mind, between I still take notes with my pen and paper, and I'm still gonna do that, and I hope that never goes away, you know.

Maddie Trumino 13:20

Definitely. So we talked a lot about using AI in a general sense. How do you feel you use it to help your own personal clients?

Regina Liu 13:28

The most important way that I use AI to help my clients, in addition to everything else we already said about you know making things more efficient, is really to analyze the data. And that is such an important part of what we do for a client. When we come up with a marketing plan for them, we always have a goal and we always have a KPI and what is it that they're looking for, whether it's a hundred applications or 12 hires or 70 people to show up to an event. And so using AI, we're able to better take all this data, all these numbers and everything, and really look at it in a way that makes sense. It's not just like, okay, here's column A, here's column B, you know, and really look at it and say this can help me tell a story. And how does this help me make an informed decision for my client? So I would say that's probably the most important aspect and what I'm most excited about continuing to use it for and continuing to see growth on that. You know, even in the way that we develop our strategies, you know, looking at market trends, looking at research. I mean, I think there's so many ways that AI can help with that part of it and really helping us make the best decisions for our clients, making sure that what we're recommending is working for them, and then continuing to to grow from there. Like I said, I mean the other things that we already know, right? Making things more efficient, picking up some of those more mundane tasks, doing the um the matching for the clients, taking some of those off of their plate, I think is also important. But I think in terms of like the analysis, I think that's really where the value is really there.

Maddie Trumino 15:04

Yeah, absolutely. So now that we've talked so much about AI and recruitment, I want to switch it up a little bit and ask you what are some key trends shaping the future of recruitment marketing and how are these trends impacting the way companies attract and hire talent?

Regina Liu 15:20

Some of the key trends that are shaping the future of recruitment marketing, like we already talked about the AI automation, the technology is certainly a big part of it, and how are companies, recruiters adapting to that, right? So AI was sort of introduced, I don't know, a year ago, two years ago into the recruitment space, and now it's like whoever's embraced it, like, what are you gonna do next with it, right? What's next? How do you continue to stay ahead of things? The other thing I always think is employer branding is still very important. I think it's actually become more important where companies are actually investing in it. It's almost the flip side of the technology side of it, while we use technology to do it, but having a more authentic view of like what the culture is, what the employees life is like, I think that's so important. And it's almost because of the AI and the technology, you almost need that even more important than ever. So I think more and more companies are focused on that branding piece and the reputation and what are our values as a company and and putting that out there, and I think that's really, really important. The other thing that's it's always been important, but I think it's really sort of come up this year and and hopefully more next year is diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging. I believe all that has just become more important in a way that's kind of real. Like I think sometimes companies do it in a way that's a bit superficial, and I think they're realizing that this is something that really has to be like embedded into the framework of the company, and so really focusing on on that piece and how do we how do we really improve the entire experience and not just do it in a way that's superficial. And then I think you know, I mentioned earlier about just the remote hybrid working, that's always going to be the trend now, even though I know some companies are trying to push return to work. I think companies that have to either figure out how do you adapt to that or how do you offer something then that's equally going to be flexible or work with someone's work life situation, you know. So I think unless employers are willing to do that, you're gonna lose out on employees. So I think just being aware of like this is what's gonna be important, and these are the trends that are coming up, and thinking how as an employer are you either going to match that and adapt to it, or if not, you're gonna get left behind and lose out on quality candidates.

Maddie Trumino 17:39

Definitely. Those are all really great answers and really insightful. And with that being the landscape kind of right now and and current trends that are coming up, how do you think the recruitment landscape will look in five to ten years from now?

Regina Liu 17:52

This goes back to like the thing about the movie how I get scared of AI and automation and all that. Because I imagine it will be more universal, more mainstream. It'll be everywhere, it'll be a part of our life. I hope people will be, you know, have adapted to it and and figured out how to embrace it without it replacing. I think that it will be a part of part of it. I think unfortunately, though, that will raise some ethical concerns. I think there will be things like that, and I think that companies have to think about that then. As they choose to embrace AI, they're gonna have to figure out like how to what else do we need to think about then to make sure that either there's not unintentional biases, that there's not things that we're missing out. Like I said, I hope that human nature is still a huge part of it, and I hope that's not lost. And then the other thing I think is everything's always cyclical. So even though I think technology is going to like run and go so much faster, like technology changes things so much faster. Like when I was talking about like the newspaper and print, that took like a long time for that to go out of the way. But now it's like even social media platforms, they change almost every year. You know, if you're not keeping up with it, it changes so fast. So I worry a little bit in five to ten years what it would look like. I don't know that I could say, but I also believe things are cyclical. So I believe at some point that will become so saturated and things will have to change a little bit. You know, I actually say recently we've been doing direct mail postcards again. Now we haven't done that in years, and you know why? It's because people get thousands of emails a day. Email marketing is hard now.

Maddie Trumino 19:27

Yeah.

Regina Liu 19:27

Because people aren't looking at it. Most people don't get a lot of mail in their mailbox anymore. You get a postcard now, it's like, oh, I might actually read this because I have two pieces of mail in my mailbox today. So sometimes thinking outside the box, even if it's almost being old school, can almost work again because it's surprising and it's something that people haven't seen as much. And when you get bombarded by so much on your phones and your computers, you start to like your eyes glaze over and you start to not see it as much. So I think that things will change a little bit. I think there'll be a lot of saturation, I think there'll be a lot of AI, which will be mainstream and universal, but I also think there will be some stuff that comes back around and will be a little bit different. You know, I was thinking about video content too, right? We always talk about like it becomes shorter form, little bite-sized pieces. At some point, there's so much smaller you can go, right? Are you gonna get some five seconds, two seconds? So I don't know. Maybe it'll go in the other direction. Maybe more longer form content will become a thing again, too. So I think it's really hard to predict. I think it maybe used to be easier, I don't know, because the world changes so quickly these days, but it's maybe more my hope versus my predictions, I think.

Maddie Trumino 20:36

Definitely. I mean, I hope so too. I think you're right. I think even in in pop culture, in life in general, things always make a comeback.

Regina Liu 20:42

Yeah, like 80 stuff is that. Exactly. Yeah. And I like that. And I think like definitely like Stranger Things was so popular because of the nostalgia of it. And I think people are looking for that, right? I think people uh crave that.

Maddie Trumino 20:55

I definitely agree. I find myself even sometimes liking to be, you know, what you would call quote unquote old school and you know, having a pen and paper, and because I feel like I am always so inundated, any chance I can get to not use technology, I'm like, let me take it. And I think that trend is definitely going up for sure. In talking about the future and in the landscape, what advice would you give to recruiters and HR professionals who want to stay ahead of the curve in recruitment marketing?

Regina Liu 21:23

Honestly, I would say keep learning. Ask questions, be curious, try new things, experiment because, like we talked about, things are changing so fast, and you don't want to get left behind. So you have to be curious, you have to try new stuff. I think there's a lot of organizations that get comfortable and they'll just keep doing what they've been doing before, and it works okay. But if you really want to stand out, you have to try try different things. I think you have to look at those candidates, like we talked about. Just be human. Really look at the candidate too, because there's gonna be so much of this machine learning, it's gonna do some of the work for you. So the important thing to do then is look at the candidate. And really think about different goals, different values, different ages of candidates, where they're from, where their background is, they're gonna look at things differently. They're gonna value different things. And I think that's really important. But I think really, yeah, just just staying open to it, open to ideas, open to experimenting, and then willing to give it a try. And that's the best way to stay ahead. Because right now, like I said, things are moving so fast, it's almost impossible to stay ahead of it because by the time you've caught on to it, something else is right behind you.

Maddie Trumino 22:26

The next shiny new toy. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much, Regina. Thank you for your time. You've given us so much great insight today on recruitment marketing. Thank you. Bye.

Tom Marguccio 22:41

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