Top SA Chartered Accountants turn to Facebook for graduate recruitment

Cape Town, 6 May 2009 - South African auditing firm, BDO Spencer Steward , has tapped into the power of social networking with an innovative Facebook campaign from HR software and services company, Graylink , that is helping it recruit graduate students faster and more cost effectively.
 
A challenge for BDO in attracting the top graduates has always been the strength of the brands of the big four accounting firms it competes against. Even though BDO is the fifth largest accountancy network in the world, local graduates still tend to automatically approach the big four for employment without considering better alternatives.
 
Under the slogan “think different, think BDO”, Graylink proposed meeting graduates in their own environment, using the popularity of social networking platforms. With Facebook  being the biggest social networking platform in South Africa with about one million users between the ages of 18 and 25 visiting the site daily, Graylink set up a Facebook fan page www.thinkdifferent.co.za  for BDO to communicate the company’s values, culture and employee involvement to candidates and give them a glimpse of their potential workplace.
 
“Social networking platforms are tremendously popular among high school and varsity students. Visitors invest hours a day at the sites, view hundreds of pages and disclose a tremendous amount of information about themselves and their friends. The familiarity of the environment and the direct nature of the interaction means you’re much more likely to attract the right people. Rand for Rand, there is no comparison in cost savings and effectiveness when it comes to traditional methods for recruitment.” says Mark Gray, head of Graylink.
 
Graylink recommended a fan page over a group page for these campaigns as fan pages resemble friends’ personal profile pages, and are easier and faster to update while offering more communication options.
 
BDO’s fan page markets the brand with pictures of the company’s sports days, events, social responsibility campaigns, and offices. Together with job opportunities and general BDO information, all communicated in a relaxed style, the Facebook page positions the company as one with a serious employment proposition. Interest generated through Facebook and the company’s broader marketing strategy is used for a call-to-action, inviting potential employees to register their CVs on the BDO career website, which is powered by Graylink’s recruitment automation and applicant tracking software.
 
“We saw the online environment as an untapped channel to promote our employer brand and get more graduate applications. Graylink was the ideal partner as they’re able to combine the technical skills needed to build and integrate the technology with the strategic marketing knowledge required to execute all the elements of the campaign. Since we launched our fan page, we’ve seen a 60% increase in applications”, Jaco Nel, HR Director at BDO Spencer Steward.  

About Graylink
Graylink is an HR software and services firm providing companies with recruiting solutions for a digital world. It helps companies exploit the Internet to recruit the best talent quicker, more efficiently and for less. This is done through web and mobile solutions to find the best talent and automate recruitment processes. Founded in 2002, Graylink is privately owned and has operations in South Africa (Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban), United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, France and Singapore with partner offices in the United States and Australia. Graylink’s solutions are used by some of the most successful companies globally. Some of these include: Allan Gray, Bidvest Group, BAT, Cell C, Coronation, Department of Trade and Industry, Deneys Reitz, Discovery, Engen, Mercedes, Medi-Clinic, Pfizer, and Vodacom.

 For more information please visit: www.graylink.biz