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Published March 14th 2016
CA Technologies is one of the largest independent software corporations in the world. CA software is at the heart of many businesses from apparel to energy.
With CA software at the center of their IT strategies, businesses leverage the technology that changes the way we live, from the data center to the mobile device.
The use of social data within HR and more specifically in Rachel’s case talent acquisition is a growing trend. According to a study by Jobvite, the average employee has around 150 contacts on their social media networks, therefore for a company with 100 employees that means around 15,000 contacts and possible candidates. CA Technologies has around 12,000 employees, making use of social data makes perfect sense.
Measuring the ROI of social intelligence in talent acquisition is quite unique. Rachel’s efforts in marketing for talent acquisition are shown in the candidate pool increases, and the quality of those candidates. Also measured is the time to fill a role, the quality of hires, how long employees stay with the company and what the turnover is of the people Rachel brings into CA Technologies.
‘Diversity is a big conversation in tech and at CA Technologies right now. Hiring more women, and hiring more minorities, of course, is a large goal for my role.’ says Rachel
To attract the best candidates Rachel looks to what B2C companies are doing with social efforts, including competitor benchmarking.
Competitor benchmarking in Rachel’s world of talent acquisition looks a lot to Google, and what are they doing to promote their careers on social, also researching Google’s engagement compared to their employee base.
A lot of research is put into understanding how many applications CA Technologies gets through different channels. CA Technologies review the number of applications they’re receiving via online methods as well as how many applications the organization gets through their events and career fairs. Rachel then compares those numbers to her activity on social media, to make sure the numbers match up, especially when it comes to diversity.
‘We also look at what other large technology companies are doing to promote their employer brand on social. I am always asking myself are we ahead of their curve? What are Google and Microsoft doing that I’m not doing, and what can we do that resonates more with those shared audiences?’ says Rachel. ‘We offer highly competitive benefits and culture, and it’s important to market that competitively.’
Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are the main focus for CA Technologies. A big part of their strategy is to engage current employees to share the company’s content on their own social channels.
‘It’s not what we say about our employer brand, it’s what our people say about our employer brand’ says Rachel. ‘Faces are more impactful than logos.’
CA Technologies also engage with influential employees asking them to help spread their content.
In June 2015 CA Technologies confirmed the appointment of Otto Berkes as Chief Technology Officer. Otto spent 18 years at Microsoft and was one of the four original founders of Xbox, and is therefore very well known and influential in the tech world.
Delving into the technology landscape and conversations happening in that space is another area Rachel devotes a lot of time to. Understanding what people are talking about, common themes and topical conversations helps inspire relevant content.
Using social analytics Rachel was able to pick up on the #iamanengineer hashtag campaign that was incredibly popular.
To capitalize on the momentum around the hashtag CA Technologies launched a similar campaign but focusing on existing female employees at CA Technologies who are engineers. Rachel secured interviews and pictures of employees and pushed content out, sharing the experience of women engineers at CA Technologies
Help CA Technologies crush stereotypes of #WomenInTech with #WorkLoveLead https://t.co/nvUggF3z7X pic.twitter.com/v9gmvDoSKS
— Julie McDowell (@JMcTalent) November 23, 2015
‘That was one of our biggest wins, because they were some of our most engaged upon posts, and it was because we were able to get that out in a timely manner, purely because we were engaged with social listening.’ says Rachel.
The #iamanengineer campaign inspired the #WorkLoveLead campaign. The aim of this project was to showcases the diversity in tech by encouraging women to share their different roles, interests, and goals.
The #WorkLoveLead campaign also addresses more diversity categories, such as cultural backgrounds and personal interests. This idea began within CA Technologies at the 2015 Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Technology in Houston, Texas. Due to the overwhelming popularity of the project and accolades from participating women, it grew into a movement, was given its own name, and has been expanded to a global effort. The hashtag generates over 450k impressions per month.
‘Our social media channels have empowered us. It’s not just a bunch of graphics that we’re putting out to talk about ourselves. Of course graphics and quote cards are fun, branded content is impactful, but mostly we’re retweeting and reposting pictures that are from our real employees in our offices across the world.’ says Rachel.
CA Technologies seem to be leading the way in promoting diversity in the workplace. The organization has won multiple awards and received recognition such as Computerworld´s best places to work in IT. The organization was also named as one of the top 25 U.S. corporations that create and use best practices to make sure women of color employees advance and excel. Most recently CA Technologies achieved a perfect score inHRC’s corporate equality index 2016 as one of the “Best Places to Work” for LGBT Equality.
Some fantastic accolades for the organization, but on a more personal level, working in talent acquisition marketing, what does a good day look like for Rachel?
‘My best days are the days that our employees heavily share a piece of content that we put out, because that means that we’re really nailing it when it comes to reflecting our culture, what they’re proud about, and what makes them happy about working at CA. Luckily, I have a lot of those days.’ ends Rachel.
A big thanks to Rachel for speaking with us. This interview is one in a series with industry experts – you can expect more every week.
Coming up, we’re speaking with PopChips, TopShop and energy supplier EDF on the challenges and opportunities in using social media intelligence. Stay posted.
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