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| DATE | 2020-09-21 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] need a job?
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algemeiner.com
With Over 500,000 People Jobless, Israeli Employers Hire Celebrities to
Promote Open Positions
by Maayan Manela / CTech
7-9 minutes
Israel’s Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon is shown the cutting-edge
dispatch technology at new National Operations Center on Feb. 25, 2019.
Photo: Magen David Adom.
CTech – While the Israeli economy is plagued by hundreds of thousands of
people who are unemployed due to the ongoing and escalating coronavirus
(Covid-19) crisis, some companies desperately looking for skilled
workers have gone as far as recruiting local and international
celebrities to aid their cause.
To name a few examples, in the past few months, Israelis have seen viral
videos of Game of Thrones star Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, better known as
Gregor Clagane or The Mountain, send a shout out to candidates to join
PepsiCo-owned at-home water carbonation company SodaStream
International; recently laid off celebrity weatherman and television
host Danny Roop recruited for a hiring ad for website building startup
Elementor; and Israeli standup comedian Almog Shur looking for work at
information technology company Ness Technologies.
These viral videos give companies significant traction on social media
networks and help them distinguish themselves in order to draw in the
best candidates. For the artists and entertainers, on the other side of
the equation, it is a chance to make some extra cash at an
extraordinarily difficult time for the industry.
Still, it may appear unnecessary, perhaps even needlessly extravagant,
to spend so much money on employer branding at a time of unprecedented
unemployment rates, when each open position gets hundreds of applications.
Related coverage
September 18, 2020 2:08 pm
According to Efrat Shapira, senior vice president of human resources at
Ness, it is absolutely necessary. “Competition to win over workers is as
relevant as ever but the nature of the competition and the identity of
competitors have shifted in recent months,” she said in an interview
with Calcalist.
“In the past, you had potential employers fighting over a candidate but,
now, they are also competing against the candidate’s current workplace,”
Shapira said. “In our experience candidates are currently very worried
about leaving their positions and would often choose to stay put due to
the many concerns raised by Covid-19,” she explained
In Ness’ recently released ad, Shur, a young comedian and web-series
star, comically describes the hardships of finding a job at this time
and discusses her potential career path with people from the company’s
existing workforce.
As of now, Israel has hundreds of thousands of people who are
unemployed, coming from all walks of life, ages, and professions. The
exact numbers vary depending on which government agency you ask, but
even the lowest estimates are in the 500,000 area. Some industries, such
as tourism and entertainment, suffered a more severe blow, while other
sectors, including tech, were less affected.
Still, one glance at social media and professional online networks
exposes the difficult situation in which job seekers have found
themselves, having to compete with hundreds of other people for each job.
Most of the people losing their jobs over the past few months were
experienced workers whose employee cost was too high, but when it comes
to searching for a new job novices have the hardest time. Now more than
ever, employers are looking for people who can get to work right away
and require no additional training. With hiring and onboarding both
being done remotely, training new employees unfamiliar with working for
a similar organization is even more difficult.
A large number of candidates does not necessarily make it easier for
companies to man positions, as both the abundance of resumes and
people’s reluctance to make a significant move in their careers at this
time raise difficulties.
According to Galit Zucker, the chief people officer at Sodastream, even
at times of crisis, companies have to fight over talented workers in
their fields. Two months ago, SodaStream released a video featuring its
long-time presenter, The Mountain, who urged candidates to apply for
positions at the company while joyfully singing its praises in Hebrew
(dubbed by Israeli comedian Guri Alfi).
“We set out on a wide hiring spree, looking to hire some 250 people for
a range of positions, from manufacturing and operations to management,”
Zucker told Calcalist. “This number of open positions as well as the
variety of positions we are looking to fill, demanded a campaign anyone
can relate to, regardless of the job they were applying for,” she explained.
“We wanted people to get to know the company and its DNA before they see
the list of open positions,” Zucker said. “We knew there are people out
there who are sitting at home contemplating their professional future,
whether they are on unpaid leave or were affected by the crisis in some
other way,” she added. “We wanted to encourage them to get out there and
look for new opportunities.”
With so many people out there looking for work or contemplating whether
they are in the right place, professionally, the best thing employers
can do is become a brand that people want to work for, Ariela Bichler,
vice president of human resources at Elementor, told Calcalist. “There
is always competition and we are trying to approach not just those
people who are currently unemployed but also those who still work for
large companies and are looking for something new,” she said.
Elementor’s campaign focused on Roop, a local celebrity and household
name in Israel, who recently found himself, like so many people in the
country, without a job. Roop was let go due to cutbacks and his high
cost in July, after 16 years with Israeli commercial broadcaster Channel 13.
“Using the right presenter is a shortcut to winning people’s hearts,”
Bichler said. “The way we used Roop and his personal situation made him
accessible and likable, which reflected back on our brand, doing
Elementor a great service,” she added.
Humor helps create a sense of empathy in this challenging reality,
Shapira said. “We chose a campaign that fits the zeitgeist, creating a
series of three short videos with a wonderful comedian that was left
with too much time on her hands due to Covid-19 and is now looking for a
meaningful job,” she added. “I don’t know any better way to deal with
such a complex reality than with humor.”
“Generally speaking, comedians help workplaces turn their internal
jargon into universal messages,” Zucker said, attempting to explain why
this phenomenon became so popular.
According to Bichler, the light humoristic approach proved very
effective. “Not only are we swamped with resumes,” she said, “the people
sending them out really want to work here because they identify with the
company’s values, as they were presented in the ad.”
Still, one campaign, as effective as it may be, is only a part of the
employer’s branding efforts. “It is not a one-time occurrence but a
process that goes on for years,” Shapira said. “The coronavirus crisis
did not start or even accelerate this process,” she added, “it is just
part of our day-to-day efforts to preserve our main asset, which is our
existing workforce, and draw in potential new employees.”
“Using the right presenter is a shortcut to winning people’s hearts,”
Bichler said. “The way we used Roop and his personal situation made him
accessible and likable, which reflected back on our brand, doing
Elementor a great service,” she added.
--
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