The Angle Red Chair – Rob Eden, Senior HR Advisor, Deloitte NZ


28th July 2016

Angle Limited – The Angle Red Chair blog with Rob Eden, Senior HR Advisor, Deloitte New Zealand

We think it’s always inspiring to hear the thoughts and motivations of key players in the world of graduate and early careers recruitment. Rob Eden, Senior HR Advisor at Deloitte New Zealand is next up in the Angle Red Chair.

Tell us about what you see as the key challenge for attracting emerging talent this year?
I think one of the key challenges over the next 12 months is engaging graduates with a clear message about what makes your organisation different. With more and more players entering the graduate recruitment market they’re spoiled for choice and everyone is chasing top talent. Employers are going to be constantly challenged to present what makes them different and why. This will require organisations listening closely to what graduates want to hear about and tailoring their marketing to match.

What’s more important to attract grads attention: A slick website? Cool social presence? A great brochure? A stunning presentation? Interesting people to talk to?
Above anything else presenting an authentic vision of the organisation is the key to attracting grads attention. Having the right information available at the right time is key. It’s all well and good to keep a slick presence but if the content you’re pushing out isn’t engaging or relevant then it’s all for naught.

Having people at all levels of the organisation available for people to talk to is another key area. While senior leaders are a key part of any marketing you need to give perspectives from all levels, a lot of places neglect to focus on the medium term when attracting grads, i.e. what happens when you’re promoted, what keeps people working with the organisation?

Deloitte won the Innovation award at last years NZAGE Awards. Can you tell us about what you did here?
We created an interactive first person recruitment video that was designed to push our internal values out to the market. Students were presented with a number of scenarios and have to make the right choices to advance through the story. Along the way they collected our values as badges and once they had collected all of them they were able to hear from our current graduates about life in the service lines. Not only did this concept let us push our internal values out to the market, it also let us have some fun and be creative with some of the choices. Not everyone would go jumping in Auckland harbour after some work papers after all!

Any tips for surviving the autumn Careers Expo road trip in one piece?
I actually avoided that this year but feedback from our current graduate recruiter is that Koru lounge is always a worthwhile investment but also to have fun with it and enjoy it.

What’s the best restaurant / bar you visited recently?
Burger Burger in Ponsonby or Newmarket is always a favourite for me.

What’s the next concert or gig you’re booked to see?
Next one for me is Macklemore & Ryan Lewis, It’s always an awesome show from these two.