The 360 Recruitment Advertising Blog

Last week, David Cameron revealed the government’s decision to cut public sector jobs in an attempt to bring the country out of its current £952 million debt. By 2014, this debt has been calculated to rise to a whooping £1.4 trillion, a serious problem that is going to reap serious consequences.

The solution is to be a raise in tax and a cutting of government spending, including the axing of up to 350,000 public sector jobs. These jobs have always been renowned for their security and for many working in the public sector; the full impact of the recession will not have been felt until now. Is any job ever safe and what should be our concerns when looking for a suitable career?

This axing of jobs has been met with surprise and outrage by many but why? Looking back throughout history it is evident that social change has often affected jobs; creating them, dissolving them and changing them. In trying to solve this country’s debt problem, changes are again going to have to be made.

Due to social change the textiles industry, for example, lost its importance within British industry and had dissolved within two decades. In 1850, this industry had made up 60% of Britain’s exports. In 1959, The Cotton industry Act was introduced in an attempt to help modernize and amalgamate the industry. In fact, it resulted in thousands of job losses and by the 1980’s had signified the extinction of the textile industry in the North West.

Miners Strike, London 1984

Under Margaret Thatcher, both the Mining and the Steel industry suffered many job losses. After 1984, British mines were gradually closed and British steel merged with Dutch steel in 1988. Thatcher believed, ‘no government can do anything except through people, and people must look to themselves first’. Privatising industries in the eighties meant that many people became unemployed and although some of these industries have since been nationalised, it is fair to say that in a life time, most will experience the effects of a recession.

History then leads us to question whether we should be training ourselves for just one career or whether we should be trying to obtain many qualifications, to secure ourselves against redundancy. With the Internet becoming more prevalent in society today, it is quite plausible that many more jobs will be lost as society adapts to social change and to technology’s more efficient and speedy service.

Graduates today are having a real problem. Many employers expect evidence of an individual’s commitment to working for a certain industry and work experience is often vital. For example, students that obtain a law degree, studying for a vocational course for a minimum of three years can leave university and have no guarantee of employment, even with respective work experience. In such a competitive society, it is not effective to be suitable for different industries; it is imperative to be focused and trained for one career path. However, from studying history we can see that this is becoming increasingly dangerous in an atmosphere where even the public sector is experiencing a cut in jobs.

Tanya

Towards the end of 2008, we were asked to design and develop an employer brand for RCT Homes. The brief was challenging, budgets tight and timescales set in stone. We couldn’t wait.

Now, 18 months on, I thought it would be interesting to take a look back at what we achieved and to give people the opportunity to see what can be accomplished through clear communication between a client and an agency, to reach and better still, go beyond expectations.

At 360º, our philosophy is get to know our client and their needs from day one. We give them a complete brand health check, prodding and poking every part of the business. Sometimes it tickles and sometimes it hurts but by the end of the examination, we know how it ticks and what needs to be delivered.

In RCT Homes’ case, we spent precious time with key stakeholders – everyone from directors to tenants – to highlight the good, the bad and the indifferent about the existing brand. We were introduced to a new set of values and the vision RCT had created, and it’s worth noting that RCT had already been working hard to promote change. So, with hours of video interviews, pages of notes and every piece of existing collateral under our arms, we were in a position to develop the messages needed to build a confident, trusting and focused brand.

Spidergrams were used to work towards a clear proposition.

Thorough and honest investigation is the best way to achieve a clear and strong proposition. We use a proposition to hang every piece of communication on so that everything is consistent and supports the values at every opportunity. We eventually settled on Built on Trust. Now, this proposition isn’t a headline or indeed a line that would appear on any work. It’s role is to act as a barometer for the creative team who use it to give them guidance as they explore avenues to best promote the values of RCT Homes and build the brand.

In terms of straplines, the strongest line of all was We’re better together. This underpinned the objectives of the values as well as being a positive, and inspirational mantra.

We used existing print material to create new designs and developed templates and brand guidelines to show how the look and feel reflected the brand. At this stage, the team had to think clearly about the needs of RCT Homes; how the materials would be used and what the tone of the communication should be. Designing a brand for a diverse workforce needs clarity and a quality that everyone feels comfortable with, notwithstanding the fact that it must all be trusted and embraced as a long-term plan and not a flash-in-the-pan initiative.

We developed a graphic device to represent the coming together of the company. This device would link sets of words as well as being a symbol of positivity, something that was at the heart of the objectives.

Linking words with the graphic 'plus sign'

So, how does it all come together? Below, you’ll see the manifestation of our work for RCT Homes, from the guidelines through to print and internal design communications.

A few pages from the Brand Guidelines

Vision and Values pack

Vision and Values Booklet with each value explained.

Wallet sized Vision and Values fold-out

Launch event

With the launch completed, our next task was to start producing internal literature and looking at how we create an office environment that mirrored the brand.

Print material, New Starter Pack

Print material

Internally, we have designed branding for the offices that encapsulates one of the RCT Homes values, namely Bold by using key words to use as decals on the office windows. This acts as an impactful reminder to staff of messages that will inspire and galvanise them.

Office Decals

Office Decals

Reception Decals

Unlike many projects we work on, a branding project like this can only be successful if it is maintained. If you like, it’s a living thing and it needs to be fed and cared for in order for it to thrive. We have a responsibility to support RCT Homes to ensure the brand remains in the detail. So everything from HTML emails, internal posters and any employee scheme needs to look and taste like the brand. The brand needs to adapt to change, change that might come through initiatives or necessity. The proof that a brand is working, is when you only notice it when it’s not there.

Most of us are shareholders if we have a pension plan. Vast sums of money are invested on our behalf without a lot of input from the individual.

Money has been lost because share prices have gone down and some of these funds have suffered but in the economic climate we find ourselves could an alternative be found.

If the race for profit were not so fierce and the acceptance that profit can not rise every year, a company may be able to keep staff that would go in the endeavour to increase share price. A modest profit by a well run company should not have to mean a takeover threat and more job losses. By keeping staff everyone gains as tax receipts rise, there are more buyers for good and services and employees are not looking over their shoulders to see who will go next. The workforce would be more committed and companies would benefit.

By accepting that dividends can not be ever rising instability would be taken out of the market. There would not be the highs but there would also not be as many lows.

Badly run companies would still not survive and there would not be huge gains for speculators. A company such as John Lewis that actively engages its shareholders has a good employer brand and rising sales in a difficult market.

I accept that a company with many shareholders can not be run by them, but has anyone thought it worth consulting with shareholders to get acceptance of staff retention against dividends in this current market.

Maureen

I was at an appointment for some medical treatment and was asked if I minded a 6th former sitting in as she was on work experience. Being interested in Education, the employment market and young people’s view of the current situation I asked her what she wanted to do next. She said she wanted to train in medicine and that she had been lucky to get this placement as her mother was a nurse and put a word in for her.

She had seen the recent Panorama about the explosion of population (is Britain full?) and was concerned as to her future employment prospects.

There was no meaningful contact with Businesses; Career advice was not helpful so there was no goal to aim for. Choosing a University course (if places were available) was made difficult because of this lack of knowledge of what is needed in the workforce of the future.

Some employers do have contact with local schools, colleges and universities but this does not seem the case in a large number of schools.

We should not have to look abroad for our stars of the future, there are plenty of bright, willing young people that just need directing. As employers we must do something about this waste of potential talent. Some schools and businesses are waking up to the fact that joint ventures can be a benefit to both but there needs to be more momentum. With the internet there is a vast amount of information available but this does not seem to help in the choice of career direction. Career exhibitions do have some impact ( although a lot don’t go) but it is imperative that young people have some idea of what may be available and expected of them after education, especially if University places are not available.

If we as employers do not engage more with our future workforce then who do we have to blame if there are shortages in the skills we need?

Maureen

As you have probably noticed the Argos brand has undergone a refresh in recent weeks. 360 got the go ahead to revamp Argoscareers.com just before Christmas and the new look careers website launched on time on Friday 22 January - the day before the new Argos catalogue launch featuring the new Argos branding for the first time.

We are currently working with the HR team at Argos on a complete overhaul of Argoscareers.com which will rolled out in the next few months.

David

Tweet. Twitter. Social networking. Mini-blogging. Updates. Even if you haven’t logged into the Twitter revolution yet, you’re bound to have heard people talking about it. And talking (in text of 140 characters or less) is what Twitter is all about. Communicating with a circle of friends (known as Followers) that you can manage – for example, you can follow someone, and they can follow you. If you are following them, you’ll see their Tweets, which are their short messages, which you can access online or have sent to your mobile, if they are following you they will see your updates, which you can write on the twitter site or via your phone/Blackberry. It’s a great way of communicating quickly and concisely to the people who matter. And, with TwitterJobSearch.com now up and running, it’s increasingly being used for recruitment communication purposes.

Join the conversation today. Follow us at twitter.com/360advertising.

Kirsty

Well, yes actually. Watch this space.