Dynamic changes in how talent searches for jobs and gathers information has impacted organizations. Talent now routinely explores opportunities online ("job explorers") and extensively researches companies through search engines and social connections during the decision process ("ZMOT" and "hyper connection"). While organizations have increased their online presence, they have been slow to fully adapt strategies to attract top talent in this new environment, such as helping employees positively represent the company online. To succeed, organizations must understand these changing trends and transform acquisition approaches to engage talent throughout the research and decision journey.

1. Abstract
Dynamic socio-economic factors and advanced digital platforms have created
a shift in the way talent approaches career progression and job search. This
has enabled talent to scout for opportunities more often, effortlessly search
information, connect with people who could provide first-hand experiences, and
crowd source information on organizations. However, organizations have been
slow to adapt and are paying the price in terms of escalating talent acquisition costs
and the inability to attract top talent. This paper details the new talent phenomena
and its impact, and discusses how organizations can transform their acquisition
strategies to win the‘War for Talent’.
Changing Job Seeker’s Decision Journey and Impact on Organizations:
Aligning Talent Acquisition Strategy to Match Talent Trends
White paper
- Badri Ravi

2. External Document © 2014 Infosys Limited
Introduction
Recruitment has been around
since the days of the Roman
Empire, when monarchs had
to staff large armies to further
their ambitious geographic
expansion plans. They too
had to deal with talent
crunch, screening methods,
referral programs, and
employer brand, in addition
to the burden of a sluggish
bureaucracy. Although
fundamentally recruitment
remains largely unchanged,
the way talent approaches
jobs has evolved - and
organizations need to keep
pace.
Improved connectivity and
digital platforms have changed
job seeker behaviour, blurring
the line between active and
passive job seekers. With only
a small fraction that is active
or passive, the large majority
of talent is active-passive -
which means they explore
opportunity like active job
seekers but remain dormant
like passive job seekers. Even
when talent stops short of
responding to a job post, they
conduct extensive research
on the organization, going
beyond compensation and
benefits – using search engines
to look up recent news,
blogs, awards, achievements,
leadership, and so on. Social
media has emerged as a
convenient information
source to get first-hand data
from both current and former
employees.
Career Progression Decisions – Talent Behaviour
To be effective, recruitment processes must align with the way talent consumes information
on jobs, forms opinion, and takes next steps. There are three phenomena that greatly
influence talent acquisition:
• Job explorers
• ZMOT effect
• Hyper connection
Source: (1)
, CareerBuilder – Candidate Behaviour, 2012
Method to measure this trend for your organization:
1. Number of people looking at open jobs posted on your organization’s career page,
Facebook career application, LinkedIn job posting, Jobsites
2. Impressions on social post that distributed job links
3. Number of times jobs posted on social media is being shared on average
4. Engaged followers on career specific social media pages
5. If your organization publishes video job posts then number of views the video receives
6. Surveying people who just started at your organization to find out if they were
following your organization’s open positions
7. Number of searches on Google for opportunity and career related content
69%
Are
of Talent
you GEARED?
ROUTINELY search for new
opportunities.
Job explorers
During the days of the‘institutional man’,
there were active job seekers, responding
to postings on job sites, and passive
job seekers who were not interested
in exploring opportunities in other
organizations. The passive ones, generally
considered to be of better quality were
more in demand. With the end of the
‘institutional man’era, active and passive
job seekers are in a minority as compared
to talent who actively explore jobs but
are dormant / passive about applying.
Research data indicates that 69 percent of
talent routinely explore job opportunities.(1)
Hence organizations need to make the
most of this tendency of talent to explore
opportunity and their need for relevant
information.

3. External Document © 2014 Infosys Limited
ZMOT effect
Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT) is a
term coined by Google to describe a
phenomenon where shoppers respond to
advertisements (stimulus) by going online
to research the product. For instance, when
a new mobile phone brand advertises
on TV, Radio, and the Internet, people go
Source: (2)
, CareerBuilder – Candidate Behaviour, 2012
Method to measure this trend for your organization:
1. Monthly survey link to talent that interviews with your company to understand what content they stumbled upon (If any) and its quality
2. Number of hits on organization’s career page and career related PR content received
3. Corporate recruiters could be provided template mail which is supported by web analytics tool which provides information on clicks on
various links
4. Survey recruiters to understand how many candidates request for specific information and links on the company
5. Number of people looking for your organization on sites such as Glassdoor.com
Method to measure this trend for your organization:
1. Surveying people who just started at your organization to understand if they reached out to employees for their experience
2. If your career page allows one to click to visit company’s Facebook/LinkedIn page, then number of clicks on those icon (The social sites
shows friends who also like/work with the company)
3. Monitoring mentions in social media
4. If employee referral platform allows sharing of jobs by employees on their social network then count of the job share
online to learn more before they visit the
store to experience the product.
Similarly, when talent receives
stimuli in the form of job listings, and
advertisements, they respond by
going online to know more about the
organization - their ZMOT. According to
a study, talent explores (on an average)
14.5 sources to understand the potential
of every job opportunity.(2)
– A negative
opinion formed during the ZMOT can
result in the talent being lost even before
hiring manager can get to talk about the
opportunity and the organization.
Hyper connection
Social Media has changed the way
people connect and how they use these
connections to mutual advantage. This
hyper connection amongst talent is
helping them establish connections in
the organization to get first-hand opinion
on their potential employer. For instance,
LinkedIn allows secondary contacts by way
of introduction, enabling talent to connect
with future colleagues – eliminating the
need for first level contacts. While websites
that provide employer ratings make it easy
for talent to crowd source information
about the organization, hyper connection
also offers them access to opinion
expressed by disgruntled employees.
Employers need to realize the significance
of this trend and ensure that employees
send out the right impressions about the
organization to the talent community.
Clearly, although organizations are doing
much to keep employees happy, there
is a gap in ensuring that the workforce
is able to talk about their experiences.
Helping employees positively articulate
the benefits through consistent
communication and demonstration of the
organization’s commitment to Employee
Value Proposition (EVP) is a good starting
point. Several other initiatives could
include helping employees communicate
their experiences on social media by
creating twitter hashtags for employee
events, encouraging employees to talk
about their awards on social platforms,
making employee referral job posts social
media friendly, and so on.

4. Organizational Response – A Reality Check
What are organizations doing? What is missing?
Job Explorers • Recruiters are advertising jobs in different
platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter
• Organizations are not communicating Employee
Value Proposition in their jobs. Job description is
still an‘Achilles Heel’
• Organizations are not facilitating connections
between talent explorers and recruiters/
employees/hiring managers
• Organizations are stuck with old ATS that do not
have CRM capabilities
ZMOT Effect • Organizations have created career pages
• Organizations are creating media rich content for
employer branding and distributing it on social
media
• Organizations are not creating platforms
to facilitate content co-creation between
employees, talent, and company to allow quick
content creation and better distribution
• Videos are more focused on work-life balance
and employee benefits instead of motivational
aspects such as autonomy, purpose, and mastery
Hyper Connection • Organizations are on social media and some also
advertise jobs
• Organizations are not helping employees
proactively reach friends on social media for
referring connections
• Organizations are not supporting employees with
good content to share with their connections
• Lack of training programs or policies that guide
employees on leveraging social media to spread
employer brand
Changed Job Seeker Decision Journey
In the past, organizations had the relative comfort of specifically addressing two distinct talent sets - active job seekers and passive job
seekers. The emergence of the hybrid active-passive set and interest among all talent segments to explore opportunity and company
information has left organizations under prepared.
External Document © 2014 Infosys Limited
Passive
JobSeeker
JobExplorers
Candidate Decision JourneyJobs released by company
Active
JobSeeker
Studythejobdescription
ApplyfortheopportunityRemainDormant
Check financial
performance
Google the
company
Search
social
media
content
See career
page
Check
employer rating
Watch videos
Read reviews
ZMOT
Hypercon
nected talent checking with their
connections

5. External Document © 2014 Infosys Limited
Combined impact of new trends on
candidate career and job decision
journey
Clearly, while a large majority of talent
explores opportunity, all segments
use search engines and check with
their connections to understand the
Extended value chain in talent management
Talent acquisition is undergoing a paradigm shift resulting in the extension of the talent supply chain, which once began from talent
attraction through recruitment to development. However, today it has been extended to include listening to the talent community,
connecting with them and engaging them to create authentic employer brand experience for talent.
Talent is
constantly
Looking
for Jobs
When they
find Jobs
they Google
to Gauge
the Opportunity
Talent is
interconnected
and find people
who can share first
hand experience
Employer Brand Coming Alive Impacting Talent Acquisition
Contemporary Outlook
Traditional Outlook
Listen Connect Engage Attract Recruit Develop
opportunity and the organization. They
use these findings to make the decision to
apply and join the organization.
The combined effect of these trends on
talent acquisition is even more profound.
With various sources contributing content
that defines the employer brand, talent
perception about the organization and
employer brand has become more fluid.
This communication reaches a much wider
talent base more quickly and influences
their behavior and responses – making the
employer brand come alive and impacting
talent acquisition.

6. External Document © 2014 Infosys Limited
Talent Acquisition - Recommended Approach
• Distribute jobs as widely as possible using technology and ensure job descriptions also present the organization’s EVP, the ability to
provide a purpose, mastery and autonomy at work. Enable every job post to be shared on social media
• Continuous audit of online employer branding content and feedback of new talent on content quality. Encourage employees and talent
to write blogs and reviews.
• Continuous communication of EVP among employees and swift grievance resolution
• Leverage CRM (Customer Relationship Management) capability in ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to engage with candidates efficiently
& effectively on Social Media, email, etc.
These and more capabilities are built into the Recruitment Process Outsourcing services offered by Infosys BPO to build a sustainable talent
acquisition program that delivers the competitive edge to client organizations.
Although the employer brand has always
had a pride of place in the HR philosophy,
its creation and communication needs
to change, to be impactful amidst the
dynamic talent trends landscape.
In the new paradigm, the employer brand
• Listens to the talent community on
social media and meaningfully engages
one-on-one instead of only relying on
the PR machinery for pushing content
to Talent
• Resonates with talent and is available
on different platforms so that message
is communicated on platform most
preferred by Talent
• Creates an environment with clear and
friendly social media policies where
employees can create content, connect
with the talent pool and spread the
employer brand
• Invests in technology and capacity that
allow organizations to engage with a
large talent pool
Total Engaged Talent
Application Received
Screened
Offered
Offer
Accepted
Onboarded

7. External Document © 2014 Infosys Limited
The Benefits
Benefits of recognizing these trends and taking proactive steps have multi-dimensional benefits:
Business Managers Customers Investors Job Seekers
• Gradual increase in
quality of hire
• Reduced talent
acquisition costs since
the organization
attracts talent directly
eliminating expensive
vendors
• Reduced attrition
since the organization
attracts the right job
seekers
• Employees will
experience more of
their contacts calling
on them enquiring
about the organization
and jobs
• Customers benefit from
higher productivity and
lower attrition in the
vendor organization
• Tight people strategy
results in project
execution excellence
and client delight
• Turn-around time
improves significantly
since organization
acquires talent and
mobilize resources
quickly
• Increased productivity
resulting in improved
margins
• Transparency in the
recruitment process
resulting in better
ability to understand
the organization and its
prospects
• High esteem value
in working for the
organization and
employee brand
visibility results in
improved awareness
among investors
• Intangible benefits
of build strong EVP
and EB culminate into
tangible output by way
of margin, allowing
organization to invest
more on intangibles
and build competitive
advantage-PEOPLE
• Clear, crisp and
accurate information
about the organization
and its USP
• A talent sensitive
environment that
adapts to changing
scenarios, to provide
the best working
environment
• Enhanced experience
of applying for an
opportunity
The Way Forward
The trend of talent actively sourcing information on potential employers from Google and their network on social media, and
getting more circumspect about where they apply for a job is impacting the organization’s capability to attract top talent
and control talent costs. Hence, organizations will have to ensure that talent is served with most appropriate information and
to achieve this, organizations will need to assess the organization and create strong EVP. Also, companies need to invest in
an ecosystem that co-creates content with employees, leadership and engaged talent pool for target talent pool and foster
connections within the talent community - to ensure that the best talent is attracted to apply.

8. About the Author
Badri Ravi
Consultant- Solution Design, HRO Practice, Infosys BPO
Badri has more than 8 years of experience in acquisition, retention and management of talent.
A free thinker and blogger, he specializes in helping clients and the HR community build transparent and
people-friendly organizations where everyone feels a sense of achievement and oneness.
Badri has a Master’s degree in management from Great Lakes.
© 2014 Infosys Limited, Bangalore, India. All Rights Reserved. Infosys believes the information in this document is accurate as of its publication date; such information is subject to change without notice.
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