how to use sponsored elearning content to reach …...the employer branding blind spot: how to use...

THE EMPLOYER BRANDING BLIND SPOT:

How To Use Sponsored eLearning Content To

Reach Candidates Earlier On Campus

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© 2018 Game Theory Group International, Inc. All rights reserved. Game Plan, Game Theory, and the Runner logo are trademarks of Game Theory Group, Inc.

Outline1. Engaging Candidates Earlier

a. Better Recruiting on Campuses

b. The Two Candidate Personas on Campuses

c. The Campus Recruiting Blind Spot

2. Employer Branding in 2018

a. Investment Trends in Employer Branding

b. Impact of a Strong Employer Brand

3. Building a Deeper Connection Using Sponsored eLearning

a. A Case Study - Wells Fargo: Financial Education for Athletes

4. Results: Student Engagement and Awareness

a. Engagement Statistics

b. Generating Compounding Awareness

5. Game Plan’s Talent Pool

6. Our Platform and Tools for Recruiters

ABOUT GAME PLANGame Plan is a comprehensive athlete development platform that unifies all the elements of a rich athlete experience and aligns athletic organizations, their stakeholders, athletes, alumni and employers for the good of all.

http://www.wearegameplan.com/



Engaging Candidates EarlierThe war for talent has become more cutthroat than ever—and forward-thinking organizations are looking for innovative ways to build broader employer brand awareness and affinity.

On university campuses, employers are hoping to not only attract high-quality candidates, but also to win those candidates away from competitors as early as their freshman year.

Game Plan is a software platform that supports athletes exclusively, so we focus on helping organizations engage student-athletes on campuses in a way that builds a deeper connection between those candidates and an organization’s employer brand.

You might be asking, “Why athletes?”

Believe it or not, athletes are part of a highly coveted—yet largely untapped—pool of talent (there are nearly 500,000 collegiate athletes in the U.S.).

Their experiences as athletes foster skills and habits that are readily transferable to the professional world.

Collegiate athletes in particular are highly sought after candidates—boasting graduation rates that are 28% higher1 than their non-athlete cohorts2.

In the professional world, former athletes are overrepresented in the C-Suite. A study by Ernst & Young found that 94% of women in the C-suite played sport—52% at a university level.3

Nearly 500,000 Collegiate Athletes in

the U.S.

87%of collegiate athletes graduate with 4-year degrees

59%of non-athlete students graduate

compared to..

1http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/graduation-rates2https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=403http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-where-will-you-find-your-next-leader/$FILE/where-will-you-find-your-next-leader-report-from-EY-and-espnw.pdf


http://www.ncaa.org/about/resources/research/graduation-rates

https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=40

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-where-will-you-find-your-next-leader/$FILE/where-will-you-find-your-next-leader-report-from-EY-and-espnw.pdf

http://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-where-will-you-find-your-next-leader/$FILE/where-will-you-find-your-next-leader-report-from-EY-and-espnw.pdf



One of the reasons that athletes are largely untapped as a talent pool is that they’re notoriously busy—which means it’s difficult for recruiters to reach them.

At any moment, collegiate and professional athletes are juggling practices, workouts, travel, classes, their studies and developmental programs—all while reporting to dozens of stakeholders on campus and inside their athletics organization.

Game Plan works with over 60 athletics organizations and 50,000+ collegiate and professional athletes, which puts us in a unique position to help employers build employer brand awareness and affinity within these groups.

Better Recruiting on CampusesFinding and engaging talented candidates on campuses can be challenging—especially when an organization is trying to reach those candidates earlier in their journey.

But forward-thinking organizations know that the most talented candidates need to be won over as early as freshman or sophomore year—when they begin looking for internship opportunities.

If an organization wants to keep its employer brand top-of-mind when these high-quality candidates take the first step in their career, they need to start planting seeds well before senior year.

2/3

DI Collegiate Athletes spend

of their time in the off-season involved in sport-related activities—making them nearly impossible to recruit using traditional channels.




The Two Candidate Personas on CampusesStudents at universities generally fall into two broad groups or “personas” (and there is definitely some overlap—these aren’t binary).

The first group is made up of students who treat college as a consumption activity (in the economic sense).

These students attend college mostly for the experience itself, and pay less attention to their professional development.

This group usually doesn’t start thinking seriously about their careers until sometime between their junior and senior year (often, even later).

The second group, is made up of students who treat college as an investment activity.

They make the decision to attend college because they know that doing so will increase their future earnings potential and give them the opportunity to build a strong professional network.

This group devotes a large amount of time and energy into their studies and—more importantly—their professional development.

They think very carefully about their careers—and they start thinking about internship and co-op opportunities much, much earlier than most of their peers.

If you had to guess which of these groups make better hires, which would it be?

Obviously the second group, right?

GROUP 2Treats college as an investment activity.Spends more time earlier on thinking about career opportunities.

GROUP 1Treats college as a

consumption activity.Starts to think about career opportunities during senior

year.




Then why do so many organizations and their recruiters focus all of their time and resources on targeting prospective candidates during their junior and senior years?

Wouldn’t it make more sense to turn at least some of their attention to reaching the higher-quality candidates who are already thinking about internship and co-op opportunities during their freshman and sophomore year?

We certainly think so.

The Campus Recruiting Blind SpotTraditionally, campus recruiting initiatives have focused on targeting and reaching juniors and seniors.

That usually means attending career fairs and posting full-time positions on campus career portals.

There’s nothing wrong with this strategy, since most students in their junior or senior year are looking for full-time jobs—and career fairs and online career portals is often where they go to find them.

But as campus recruiting becomes more and more competitive, recruiters and employer brand professionals need to think more creatively about how they’re generating awareness on campuses and attracting candidates earlier on.

Today, innovative organizations are looking for a way to do just that in a manner that also supports their existing campus recruiting strategies.

THE CAMPUS RECRUITING BLIND SPOT

An opportunity to reach high-quality candidates with your employer brand before competitors.

OVER-CROWDED TRADITIONAL RECRUITING

Where most recruiting strategies focus most of their

time and resources fighting over mediocre talent.


“



Employer Branding in 2018Investment Trends into Employer BrandingToday, leading organizations are making the development of their employer brand a top priority.

They understand that to stay competitive and win top talent, they need to extend their employer brand to platforms and networks that go beyond their website and social media presences.

While it’s also important to have a strong overall brand, having a strong employer brand has a greater impact on talent acquisition and recruiting efforts.

A 2016 Recruiting Trends Study conducted by Linkedin found that 59% of recruiting leaders worldwide said they are currently investing more into their employer brand.3

55% of recruiting leaders said that they already have a proactive employer brand strategy in place.3

39% of those surveyed expect that a focus on employer branding will be a long-lasting trend to focus on in the future.3

These organizations and their HR leadership understand that to stay competitive in the war for talent, having a strong employer brand is no longer optional.

80% of talent and HR managers around the world agree that a great brand makes it easier to recruit top talent.

GLOBAL RECRUITING TRENDS

59%of organizations are investing more into their employer brand.

55%say they already have a proactive employer brand strategy in place.

39%expect that a focus on employer branding will be a long-lasting trend.

3https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/glo

bal/en_us/c/pdfs/ultimate-list-of-employer-brand-stats.pdf


https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/global/en_us/c/pdfs/ultimate-list-of-employer-brand-stats.pdf




Impact of a Strong Employer BrandHaving a strong employer brand means lower turnover, lower cost-per-hire and more qualified applicants.

A Linkedin survey found that organizations who invest in their employer brand have seen a 28% reduction in turnover.4

The same study found that having a strong employer brand reduced the average cost-per-hire by 50%.4

This lower cost-per-hire is driven largely by an increase in qualified applicants and reduced time-to-hire—organizations with a strong employer brand see 50% more qualified applicants and a 1-2X faster time-to-hire.4

To organizations, the impact of having a strong employer brand is huge—but the impact of not investing in their employer brand can be equally impactful.

A 2016 study conducted by Linkedin found that “employers who fail to invest in their reputation could be paying up to an additional $4,723 per employee hired.”5

28% reduction in new-hire turnover

50% reduction in average cost-per-hire

50% increase in qualified applicants

1-2X faster time-to-hire

4https://business.linkedin.com/content/dam/business/talent-solutions/glo

bal/en_us/c/pdfs/ultimate-list-of-employer-brand-stats.pdf5https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2016/research-shows-exactly-how-much-having-a-bad-employer-brand-will-cost-you




https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2016/research-shows-exactly-how-much-having-a-bad-employer-brand-will-cost-you

https://business.linkedin.com/talent-solutions/blog/employer-brand/2016/research-shows-exactly-how-much-having-a-bad-employer-brand-will-cost-you



Building a Deeper Connection Using Sponsored eLearning ContentWells Fargo: Financial Education for AthletesOur goal when partnering with Wells Fargo was to help them engage student-athlete candidates on campuses across the country in a way that goes beyond workshops, recruiting videos or job board postings.

We didn’t want to simply make candidates passively aware of the bank’s employer brand—we wanted them to build a deeper connection by actually engaging with it.

Our solution was to build their Hands On BankingTM financial education curriculum into our eLearning courseware so that our athletics organization partners could use that content as part of their own athlete developmental programs.

Today, Wells Fargo’s eLearning software is taken by collegiate athletes as early as their freshman year, which builds lasting employer brand awareness and affinity.

More importantly, this keeps the bank top-of-mind as an employer when it comes time for those athletes to seek out internship and job opportunities.

Sponsored eLearning content doesn’t have to be strictly educational. We’ve also created sponsored eLearning content with other company partners that showcases their company culture along with their internship and job opportunities.

We converted Wells Fargo’s Hands On BankingTM curriculum into the Game Plan courseware—it’s now part of education and developmental programs at athletics organizations across the country.




Because Wells Fargo is now embedded in over 60 athletics organizations across the country, they’ve also seen compounding employer brand awareness as thousands of collegiate athletes graduate and are replaced by new incoming freshman every semester.

Wells Fargo now owns “employer brand real estate” in 60+ athletics organizations across the country.

Wells Fargo’s courses are now embedded in the educational and developmental programs at each of these organizations.

When candidates begin their search for internships or jobs, Wells Fargo will be top-of-mind as an employer.

“College is a hard transition for any student – especially for athletes who are expected to juggle practices, meetings and classes… Through this innovative relationship with Game Plan, it’s our goal to meet student-athletes where they are—in an easy-to-access platform that they are already familiar with.

- Senior Vice President and Head of Hands On Banking, Wells Fargo




Results: Student Engagement and AwarenessEngagement StatisticsOur partnership with Wells Fargo is an innovative example of how organizations can reach candidates earlier with sponsored eLearning content that promotes strong employer brand awareness and creates deeper engagement.

Last year, Wells Fargo saw over 3,500 of their financial education courses taken during the Spring semester alone (the majority of the courses were completed voluntarily).

In 2018 so far, the number of courses taken has already increased by over 2000%.

Generating Compounding AwarenessOne of the advantages of being embedded in the developmental programs at college athletics organizations is that Wells Fargo is able to reach a new crop of incoming freshmen every semester.

Every Spring and Fall, thousands of collegiate athletes will graduate and thousands more will come onto campus where they’ll discover Wells Fargo’s financial education courses.

This creates employer brand awareness that compounds every semester.

As Game Plan’s reach continues to grow through athletics organizations across the country, so does the reach of our company partners.

Wells Fargo generates compounding employer brand awareness each semester as seniors graduate and new freshmen come onto campus.

FINANCIALEDUCATION

COURSES

3,500+of Wells Fargo’s courses were taken in the Spring semester of 2017 alone

20Xmore courses have been taken in 2018 so far.




Game Plan’s Talent Pool

Uncommonly DisciplinedTo say that athletes are

busy is a massive understatement. The

constraints on their time can be challenging, but this

cultivates discipline.

Team-OrientedWorking in teams towards

a common goal is what being an athlete is all

about. Their instinct to collaborate and lead is

unparalleled.

Relentless AchieversAthletes spend their

developmental years in a state of continuous

improvement. They only have one speed—full

throttle.

In addition to sponsored eLearning content, our company partners also have unique access to athletes on the Game Plan platform through our recruiting tools. Our talent pool is made up of collegiate and professional athletes whose unique experiences in athletics foster skills that are readily transferable to the professional world—making them highly sought-after candidates.

Diversity & DemographicsOver 60 athletics organizations across the country use the Game Plan platform to manage and track every aspect of their athletes’ personal and professional development. Most student-athletes in our platform are studying STEM, Business, Liberal Arts or Communications.

Game Plan gave me the opportunity to showcase my academic and athletic accomplishments to nationally recognized companies.I would not have landed a position with a top employer if it were not for the help of Game Plan. Game Plan gave me the opportunity to showcase my academic and athletic accomplishments to nationally recognized companies. It provided me with more confidence and made the interview easier knowing the interviewing person was interested in hiring student-athletes.

Kody BurkeWomen's Basketball, NC State




Game Plan’s Talent Pool—continued

Deployed at

60+Athletics

Organizations

Supporting over

50,000Athletes

ArizonaArizona State UniversityCaliforniaFresno StateFloridaUniversity of FloridaGeorgiaGeorgia State UniversityUniversity of GeorgiaIllinoisLoyola University - ChicagoUniversity of Illinois at Urbana–ChampaignIndianaUniversity of Indiana - BloomingtonPurdue UniversityIowaIowa State UniversityLouisianaLouisiana State UniversityTulane UniversityMaineUniversity of Maine

MassachusettsUniversity of Massachusetts – AmherstMichiganEastern Michigan UniversityMichigan State UniversityMontanaMontana StateNew JerseyRutgers UniversityNew YorkSyracuse UniversityNew MexicoUniversity of New MexicoNorth CarolinaCampbell UniversityEast Carolina UniversityGardner Webb CollegeHigh Point UniversityNorth Carolina State UniversityUNC AshevilleUNC GreensboroOhioUniversity of Cincinnati

OklahomaUniversity of OklahomaRhode IslandUniversity of Rhode IslandSouth CarolinaCharleston Southern UniversityFurman UniversityPresbyterian CollegeUniversity of South CarolinaUSC UpstateWinthropSouth DakotaUniversity of South DakotaTennessee University of MemphisVirginiaLongwood UniversityNorfolk State UniversityRadford UniversityHampton UniversityVirginia TechWashingtonUniversity of Washington

University Partners




Our Platform and Tools for RecruitersBeing an athlete comes with serious time constraints–which has made them hard to recruit in the past. We solve this problem by giving our company partners access to this sought after talent pool through our recruiting platform.

Game Plan is embedded in over 60 collegiate and professional athletics organizations across the country. These organizations use our platform to manage the comprehensive development of 50,000+ athletes.

AMPLIFY THEIREMPLOYER BRAND

with sponsored eLearning content

designed to engage athletes throughout

their journey.

HIRE BATTLE-TESTED LEADERS

using our powerful recruiting platform to

post jobs, research candidates and

track/report results.

PROMOTE DIVERSITY

by hiring collegiate and professional athletes

from a talent pool that is 74% ethnically

diverse.

Company ProfileOur employer partners showcase their employer brand, company culture and career opportunities with their own company profile.

Through our platform, they can post an unlimited number of jobs and engage candidates earlier to build a better talent pipeline.

Sponsored eLearning ExampleClick on the image to the right to see an example of a Wells Fargo’s sponsored eLearning course on the Game Plan platform.

These courses can be fully customized and branded—and can include existing content or content you develop in partnership with Game Plan.

Game Plan helps our company partners:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLXTqk5jWZc


Want to learn more?

Get in touch to learn more about opportunities for sponsored eLearning partnerships or to inquire about recruiting athletes on our platform.

Email

[email protected]

Request a demo or see pricing at

wearegameplan.com

Supporting 100% of athletes across 100% of their journey.Proudly designed and built by former athletes, for athletes.



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