McGladrey Launches Recruiting Site Targeting Parents of Gen Y Candidates
One of my favorite employers of college students and recent graduates is RSM McGladrey. Unlike the stereotypical accounting firm, the folks at McGladrey are interesting, fun, and not afraid to take some chances. My experience with them is that the chances they take typically pay off but I’m sure that they’d be the first to admit that some have worked out better than others.
The most recent chance that they’re taking has very limited downside and I’m excited to see how it turns out. Ben Gotkin, their National Director of Experienced-Hire Recruiting, reminded me earlier this week that a few months back he asked me if I was aware of any company that had created a site, blog, etc. specifically for parents or influencers of college students. In his email, he told me that despite the lack of such sites McGladrey went ahead and built one.
The McGladrey Career Influencers site is built on the Blogger platform, but it’s meant to be static and not necessarily a blog. The site effectively an on-line brochure meant specifically for the parents of college students and other relevant influencers such as spouses, friends, etc. According to Todd Tinnel, National Director of College Recruiting, the site was specifically designed to “speak” to these people as they tend to serve as trusted advisors to or bugs in the ears of today’s young professionals.
As a firm, McGladrey agreed that career influencers such as parents, mentors, advisors, teachers, and others were scarcely addressing in any of their recruiting literature or practices. A small task team was assembled and they surveyed several hundred of McGladrey’s new hires and their influencers to learn what sort of information the influencers wanted and in what format. McGladrey had a great response rate and the team was able to get to what is now reflected in the influencer site.
In addition, the firm has established practices internally to enable McGladrey to learn who are the influencers of its candidates and how the candidates prefer that McGladrey communicate with those influencers. For example, do the candidates want the communication directly from McGladrey vs. the candidate? By email? Snail mail?
The site will allow McGladrey to be much more inclusive during their recruiting process and to reach an important constituency and provide information that they find valuable. Todd told me that this is a first step for McGladrey but one of which they’re proud. They should be.
