Introduction and background
T-Mobile UK is one of the world’s leading companies in mobile communications and was created following Deutsche Telekom’s acquisition of the One-2-One mobile communications from Cable & Wireless and its subsequent re-branding in 2002. With headquarters in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, it has become established as one of the UK’s leading mobile communications operators, and is one of the largest businesses within T-Mobile International.
Following its acquisition, the subsidiary was expected to translate the corporate vision and strategy of the parent into a UK context. This led to investment in new HR systems and e-HR applications. The ‘quality, innovation and efficiency’ agenda, described as the “binding element” between the parent and its subsidiaries, also spurred consideration of new ways of delivering HR services and practices and against this background T-Mobile UK took a decision to use web 2.0 applications in the form of ‘social networking’ as a means to reach the company’s 2007 pool of potential graduate recruits.
The development of the T-Mobile Facebook site
The fundamental thinking behind the development of a social networking presence was the need to find an innovative way to retain a diverse pool of technically aware graduates, inspired by the new knowledge economy opportunities offered by T-Mobile. The Facebook site was created for this purpose.
As Julia Porter-Robinson, Head of Recruitment at T-Mobile explained:
“Following our graduate recruitment campaign in 2007, we had selected a pool of around 300 graduates to go through the various assessment stages, in the knowledge that we had 42 positions to fill. One of our central brand messages was ‘Simply Closer’ and we wanted to create that sense of closeness within the graduate recruitment community. This inspired our decision to use Facebook, where we could create a social networking environment that allowed the recruits to share knowledge about their experiences and in the process get closer to each other and the company.”
The community members established an individual presence on this invitation-only site and received information on selection procedures and processes, for example recruitment criteria and assessment centre timetables. They could share their experiences of the different facets of the recruitment and selection procedures and provide help and motivation to each other. This was seen to be particularly helpful as the assessment process unfolded and it became apparent which members had successfully progressed to the next stage and those who hadn’t.
As Debbie Cole, the Recruitment Manager at T-Mobile explained:
“It was evident that the community became stronger collectively as each stage of the assessment process was completed. Understandably, each member of the community wanted to progress at an individual level but also showed real intent to assist others by sharing their personal perspectives. At times, these perspectives were not always complimentary about T-Mobile, such as the disappointment felt by those who didn’t make it through an assessment centre, for example. By the end of the process, when we had identified the individuals who would be offered positions in T-Mobile, the level of social cohesion within the community was extremely high.”
Linking Facebook with other parts of the recruitment process
It is important to recognise that the T-Mobile Facebook site was part of an integrated recruitment process and did not act as a substitute, for example, for face-to-face interviews, psychometric testing and other well-recognised selection techniques. Its primary appeal to the potential recruits was in allowing them to share experiences of the recruitment process and to feel more engaged with the T-Mobile organisation through this social interaction.
Within this social dynamic, it placed a high level of expectation on T-Mobile to be frank and open with the community members, in both good times and bad. Perhaps the most extreme test came in the form of a growing awareness by the graduate community of the potential repercussions of a publicly announced re-organisation at T-Mobile that threatened the whole graduate recruitment process. Reflecting on these developments, Julia has some clear advice:
“There was growing concern within the graduate community about the stability of the whole programme. I took the view that it was incumbent on me to publish a personal message to the community that showed an understanding of those concerns by revealing the uncertainties that were also being felt personally by each member of the recruitment team. This was appreciated greatly and helped to galvanise a sense of loyalty towards the recruitment programme in turbulent times.
This event clearly demonstrated to me that if you are using social networking as a retention tool, then you must accept at the outset that the principles underlying this approach - the spontaneous, conversational dynamic that develops within the community – cannot be abandoned when the going gets tough. Faced with the situation described, it can appear tempting simply to issue an impersonal factual statement in a controlled way but this would run the risk of diminishing or destroying the social capital that has been created over time.”
HR and Web 2.0
In reviewing the overall impact of adopting Facebook as a recruitment tool, T-Mobile believes that deployment of web 2.0 technologies, such as Facebook, has a growing and important role to play in enhancing the contribution of HR practices to the business. Given that HR has a central role in talent acquisition and integration, there are clear opportunities to extend the use of these tools beyond social networking to other areas, such as wiki’s, blogs and discussion threads, to facilitate an environment where new recruits, through sharing knowledge and experiences, can become productive more quickly in the business and contribute to its future growth.
As Debbie observes:
“The graduate recruitment pool for 2008 can now take advantage of the experiences from last year’s intake, which regularly contributes to community discussion on the latest Facebook site. It is also evident that the graduates who joined T-Mobile last year have formed a very strong bond with each other and regularly meet socially within and outside the organisation. Perhaps the most striking message to emerge from this is that our new graduates feel part of our organisation before they join and this helps them to settle in much more quickly.”