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Jana Parmová is HR & happiness manager at Brno marketing fullservice agency Optimowhere a team of pros specialize in crafting marketing growth strategies and covers all key areas in marketing for their clients. We talked with Jana, who is in charge of the recruitment process and how to effectively search for the best marketing specialists.
As an HR manager at a growing marketing agency, you encounter a wide range of marketing positions when recruiting. Even now, you have a few listed on your career pages. How many positions do you fill on average per month?
Usually these are three positions that we are actively looking for. This means that we really need to occupy them, we have work to do for them, and the search for them takes place on multiple fronts. Then we have the positions posted, which we welcome at any time. We are talking mainly about more experienced specialists, who we like to talk with whenever they show interest in Optimio. If mutual chemistry works, we are able to tailor a position for a given person, so to speak.
When a candidate looks at your career site, they will find detailed job descriptions and a transparent description of what awaits them. All with ease and humor. Are you getting positive feedback on them?
We currently have just before launching a new career page on our of the site. I am quite critical of the current form because I can see what improvements we have planned. 🙂
But yes, even the upcoming form of the career page and overall we received positive feedback on the classifieds. Applicants like the tone with which the ads speak to them.
What does the recruitment process look like in Optimiu?
Ours recruitment process is undergoing constant redesign. As the only representative HR In my company I am in charge of searching and first contact with candidates. The first round picks are purely up to me and I'm enjoying them a lot. My job is to assess the candidate from multiple points of view using behavioral questions. Next one utilityWhat I have available for some positions is an entrance knowledge test, or a creative task, through which I will assess my eligibility to meet with the hiring manager. This is usually a team leader. The latter goes to the marrow of the given specialization. And if the applicant succeeds, he will have a final meeting with the company's CEO.
We strive to get the most comprehensive view of the candidates as possible. In the same way, we want them to get acquainted with different people from the company and get a general picture — what it looks like in our country, what is important to us and what they can look forward to.
Recruitment is a very lively process anyway and we are still looking for ways to improve what and how. Not only to get people who fit in perfectly with us, but also to make the candidate who has been rejected get the best possible impression from Optimio.
Trends are important in the world of marketing. Do you also follow the trends that you follow in recruiting?
Oh, right! I try not to fall asleep on my laurels. I'm really happy to do HR in a marketing company, that in itself is a big part of the inspiration for my work as well. I am also helped a lot by the educational community SuHRof which I am a part. There are so many news and directions that I certainly can't handle receiving everything, but I like to get inspired in different ways. For example, I have involved AI in writing some emails, I regularly get inspired by Google's recruitment strategy, and I also like to follow and read the stories of my HR colleagues on LinkedIn. Petra Nulíčková gives great tips and I love articles by Šimon Steffal on the topic of quality communication.
Does the recruitment of marketing specialists have any significant specifics compared to other positions?
It seems to me that marketing is a field that gives less experienced candidates the impression that it is an easy job that can be learned immediately — after all, we encounter advertising every day, which would be difficult. 🙂 Of course it is not so. Experienced marketers know how demanding and technical work it can be.
I can't judge whether it's harder to get an experienced person in marketing or a quality-maker in production, because I'm not looking for a quality-maker. But I can say that it is difficult to find a senior specialist for the agency. The agency is a very specific world and does not fit everyone.
Marketing is a field that gives less experienced candidates the impression that it is an easy job that can be learned right away.
What should companies focus on to reach the best marketing specialists in the market? What works best for you?
My personal and active search is the most effective. My domain is LinkedIn. I enjoy looking for potential new colleagues, thinking how to write to them to increase the chance that I will interest them and that they will respond. None of my message is repeated, it is always directly for the person I am writing to. He'll write me 9 people out of 10. I'm open minded, I try to avoid clichéd phrases.
My long-term goal is to make Optimio a super employer. Building such a strong brand to take to us tenderers reported themselves.
On the contrary, what to look out for? Can you name the most common mistakes when recruiting marketing specialists?
The mistakes I encounter apply in general, not just with marketing specialists. What's wrong with me is not matching applicants we're not currently interested in. I use templates for these cases — I copy, paste and always add one more sentence that relates directly to the person in order to be specific and let them know the reason for our decision.
Another inconvenience is the too long selection process. Personnel should understand that applicants need to know as soon as possible what they are on. At Optimum we try to complete all bikes within 5 working days. If this is not possible, it is a good idea to plan the next step at least right away, even if it will be necessary in a week.
If you had to list the most crucial steps that are critical to an effective recruitment process, which would they be?
They would be:
- clearly defined position,
- familiarizing the candidate with everything he or she will go through in the recruitment process and why,
- fast communication,
- good quality transmission of information between persons involved in the recruitment process,
- and, last but not least, do not delay with the decision.
Sometimes I hear: take your time with candidate Pepa, what if someone better comes forward. When you've got this in your head, Pepa really isn't the one.
But the main thing is not to forget that on the other side there is a person who is going through a major life change. And that it's fine to look at him as a future colleague rather than as a schoolboy you have to rate.
