In My Mine(d)
Mining for Talent:
Connecting your
reputation to recruitment
Carolyn Ray is Managing Director,
Interbrand Canada, a brand consultancy
with a network of 33 offices in 27 countries.
By Carolyn Ray
W
ith many economic indicators
pointing to renewed momentum
in the mining sector, the increased
urgency to recruit and keep talent is being
felt across the sector. From recent conversations at PDAC in Toronto, almost everyone emphasized talent as essential to
operational productivity and the leadership pipeline.
Globally it’s estimated that over the next
decade, at least one third of the current
mining workforce will retire. This is particularly important in Canada, where mining represents 4.5 per cent of the GDP—
and 23 per cent of Canadian exports.
New challenges require
new strategies
Historically, the industry has relied on high
wages to attract talent. However, as we look
into the future, it’s clear that we need to
find new strategies to engage and appeal to
a broader set of prospective employees. In
addition to the milllennial challenge,
diverse groups such as women, immigrants, and Aboriginal Peoples, remain
under-represented in the industry. Women
represent only 16 per cent of Canadian
mining, falling short of other natural
resources sectors such as manufacturing,
energy, oil and gas, utilities, and forestry.
From our perspective, there are five
ways mining companies can close the talent gap:
• Build reputation from the inside
out: An organization’s reputation is essential to attracting and retaining a new generation of employee talent. Reputation
starts with current employees. With
44 | Canadian Mining Journal • May 2015
CMJ2015_May.indd 44
Gallup noting that employee engagement
is at record lows (13 per cent globally),
organizations should consider how their
brand can be an accelerator, a filter to
guide innovation and creativity, and a
vehicle that inspires discretionary effort as
a means to higher productivity, safety, and
performance.
• Tell your story proactively—not
reactively: Whether mining companies
value it or not, reputation matters. With
demographic shifts, millennials entering
the workforce, and the game-changing
“ There are
five ways
mining companies
can close
the talent gap.”
impact of technology, the industry needs
to do a much better job telling its story
transparently and doing so through nontraditional methods, like social media.
While many companies engage public
relations firms during a crisis, the real
opportunity is for mining companies to
go on the offensive. Mining companies
have the opportunity to intentionally create, shape, develop, and manage their
brand proactively, rather than let happen
by accident.
• Focus on millennials: In their
careers, members of the millennial generation expect rapid progression and
exposure to different facets of an organization to remain stimulated and engaged.
Attracting and retaining millennials
requires a different strategy, as they also
place more emphasis on authenticity, purpose and meaning in their work than
previous generations.
• Improve CEO visibility: With a new
generation of CEOs leading mining companies, there is a tremendous opportunity
for CEOs to be more visible and vocal,
and articulate a clear sense of purpose that
drives differentiation. More than ever
before, mining companies have incredible
potential to leverage brand as a means to
align the interests of current and prospective employees with those of the organization. Since CEOs are the face of the brand
to all stakeholders—and now that social
media has dissolved the barriers between
the inside and outside of an organization—authenticity is key to building trust
in leadership.
• Engage current employees as your
best brand ambassadors: An engaged
employee is your best way to recruit new
ones. Employee referrals have the highest
applicant to hire conversion rate—only 7
per cent apply but this accounts for 40 per
cent of all hires. In addition, referral hires
have greater job satisfaction and stay longer at companies—46 per cent stay over
one year, 45 per cent over two years and
47 per cent over three years. Consider
this: the average employee has 150 contacts on social media networks—100
employees means around 15,000 contacts
(and possible candidates).
CMJ
www.canadianminingjournal.com
15-04-17 9:08 AM