The Apple Store is an extension of the widely popular (and super chic) Apple brand. From its physical design and layout to the way it’s staffed--by adopting brand elements into the stores has resulted in a shopping experience that mirrors the consistent, high-quality consumer experience that Apple products deliver. But what really makes the Apple stores work are its people.

It’s not coincidence that the way Apple stores are run is as user-friendly as its products. To maintain consistency with the Apple brand, employees are carefully screened to ensure they’re every bit as smart and efficient as the company’s latest operating system. Finding the right people to work in the stores is half the battle. There are things that Apple’s retail arm does particularly well in organizational development--things any organization could learn from:

1. Know your roles! Tightly-defined roles ensure that your employees knows exactly what he or she is expected to do, what others do--and what other roles they could move into.
   Those boldly-colored tees Apple Store employees wear aren’t just for looks--they designate the distinct role each employee plays. From Experts who assess visitors’ needs, and direct them to the right place--to Geniuses who speak your language when something’s wrong with your precious MacBook--everyone in the store knows his or her place.
   
   
2. Make Work Meaningful. When your employees know that what they’re doing matters, it’s easier to inspire them to do their best. And no one appreciates this more than the employees staffing the stores, who are on the front lines of the customer relationship.
   Apple would be hard-pressed to deliver their standard of service in retail unless their employees were satisfied with the level of employee engagement.
   
   
3. Free Up Your Leadership. When your workforce is deployed effectively--with minimal room in the process for bottle-necking--managers spend less time wondering who should be where and more time keeping the machine in ship shape. Apple Store employees are busy delivering Apple-grade customer service, so it’s up to leadership to maintain the same level of awesome day after day. They’re doing more than managing the operation--they’re coaching staff, leading training, and driving sales.

1. Retain With Growth Opportunities. Many organizations are struggling to retain top talent, but how many offer a great opportunity for college grads to make something of themselves? Despite having a great job portal on their site with multiple open positions, Apple prides itself on promoting from within. For the twenty-something Expert with a Master’s degree who’s manning the entrance to an Apple store today (I could name more than one), that’s pretty encouraging.

A Lesson for Your Grinding Gears

Organizational development at this caliber doesn’t just happen--but it’s a necessary part of a thriving company culture like Apple’s. Getting to that level requires open dialogue between senior leadership and business partners--and human resources and recruiting. You’ve already got Experts, Specialists, Geniuses and Creatives in your organization. It’s up to you to find them, engage them, and let them know you want them to grow with you.

About the Author: Kyle Lagunas is an HR Analyst at Software Advice, an online resource for buyer's guides, reviews, and comparisons of HR software nd more. He reports on trends and best practices in HR and recruiting technology—and is an active member of the #TChat community.

At the beginning of 2012 we made a commitment at Spyre Branding to make our social media presence more inSpyring.

This means regular posts to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, access to the juiciest information about employment branding, HR processes and recruitment optimization the industry has to offer, and timely information about what Spyre Branding is up to and what lucky companies we have the honor of supporting.

But the most important part of this new zest for social media stardom is the part that involves YOU, our audience. So we want to extend a heartfelt invitation, asking you to join our conversation and let your voice be heard.

We have tons of great topics, articles and blogs on the burner waiting to be let loose, but let us know what you want to read about, what you want to learn and how we can give you the best value for your time with us.

Share your comments below. We look forward to hearing from you!

Posted by Sarah Stryker -  iCIMS

I first became introduced to the idea of a company “intranet” or a “private computer network” at my last job at a local credit union. It was used as the main page for an employee to access any resources they needed to conduct work, but lacked any effort towards employee engagement. When I joined the iCIMS family, I became aware of how company intranets, or employee portals, can be useful in engaging personnel if used to its full potential. Not only can it be informative, but also encouraging for employees to get more involved within the company.

By Mike McDermott

Traditionally, managers have been seen as controllers.  In the new workplace, creative leaders are accepting the challenge of learning to behave as coaches with their associates. By learning new skills and successfully replacing many of the traditional controlling habits with new coaching competencies, leaders can develop associates with greater initiative, confidence, creativity, accountability and productive capacity.

Talent Management Tech
by HRO Today Staff

A rock concert is noisy. Go to one and try to tell the person next to you something. You might have to yell in your friend's ear. She still might not hear you. And do you see that guy two people over from the two of you? Do you think he'll hear you? Nah.

The job search -- and the job of searching for jobseekers -- is noisy, too. Presently, a cobbled-together online environment comprises uncounted HR technologies that endeavor to bring together jobseekers and recruiters for targeted communication, but often fails; there's too much to think about, and it all seems to merge into just so much noise.

iCIMS Adds New Branding Capabilities with Spyre Partnership

HAZLET, N.J. (June 7, 2011) – iCIMS, the 2nd largest provider of Software-as-a-Service talent acquisition solutions, has announced a partnership with Spyre Employment Branding, a market leader in employment branding. This partnership further solidifies iCIMS’ candidate management practices, bringing enhanced recruitment offerings to the organizations’ global customer base.

By: Gwen Scheetz

You’ve got a new supervisor – he’s smart, hard-working, dedicated and anxious to succeed.  But, something is just not quite right……are you, as his manager, paying attention?  What’s going on?

You hired him 6 months ago.  He posted for the job – so he must have been interested, right?  He interviewed well – good answers to questions, great assessment results.  The references all checked out – to a person, they all wanted to hire someone like him.  He handled the salary negotiation like a pro – very professional, clear on his needs, willing to look at options.  You hired a winner!

On April 25th, Huffington Post reported on a recent law passed in New Jersey in March that prohibits job postings that may be discriminatory in nature.  Who are these posts discriminating against? The unemployed.

By Charlie Broucek, SVP, Hays Companies

The Health Care Reform bill significantly addressed access to care…Potentially opening the insurance door to an additional 30M uninsured Americans.  This is a rather large accomplishment, so I applaud these efforts.  But…Did the bill address the cost of care?

By: Dick Lippert

No doubt it has been a rough couple of years.  And, while there are emerging signs of life, business remains much more challenging than we would like it to be.  It seems as though every time we think we can count on some growth, we get hit by a new crisis that threatens to derail our recovery and keeps everyone guessing; restrictive credit policies, rising food and fuel prices, civil unrest all across the Middle East and of course the horrific devastation of the 9.0 earthquake and its subsequent tsunami in Japan.

How do your recruiting efforts fit with a tweeted picture of the world's largest pineapple?  What's the effectiveness of a job posting next to a tweet with the claim, "best. nachos. ever."?  While it may seem like a disconnect at first, you are missing great candidates if you aren't following these three simple Twitter recruiting strategies today...

By: Jack W. Milligan SPHR & GPHR

Contrary to popular belief, there are no U.S. severance pay laws per se that require employers to offer severance pay to departing employees.  The same applies to outplacement support services.  Severance and outplacement are provided voluntarily by organizations that value their reputation in the business community.  More importantly however, these companies value their reputation in the eyes of their current and future employees.  The message given to those who stay is critically important.  Severance is an economic bridge to help the employee through the transition, outplacement gets them landed faster and better.

There’s a fun podcast I listen to called, “Stuck in the 80s”.  One of the reasons I enjoy listening to Sean and Steve is that they celebrate a radical decade but do it with feet firmly planted in 2011.  Does the careers section of your website include the most critical employment branding element for 2011 job searchers or does it need to get “Back to the Future”?

I know we are only a few months into the year, but I must say there seems to be a common theme: optimization.  Whether it’s improving your career site or reducing your time-to-fill, it is all for the same reason…to optimize your HR performance.

At the beginning of the year I had the opportunity to interview for a really dynamic position with an industry leader in their vertical.  I wasn’t a great fit for the job but really enjoyed the conversation with their company recruiter.  She mentioned that her schedule was filled with interviews for the job and that they had received a ton of applications.

Last week I saw that the job was re-posted on all of the major job boards.  While any number of things could have happened, I wondered if perhaps in this case that quantity did not equate to quality.  With today’s unemployment rate, most job postings will generate a significant number of applicants.  It is tempting to think, “Surely there must be a great candidate among all of those resumes…”

“In a world where they had completely different goals and yet shared cubicle walls, comes a story of two departments that worked together to build a great brand…”

With today’s unemployment rate it is tempting to approach recruiting for positions as, “If I post it, they will come”.  Certainly during these economic times you will get a greater number of job applicants than when things are rolling.  That doesn’t mean that you are attracting the best possible talent.

Building Relationships With Your Applicant Customers

"We appreciate your interest in Pen Cap Belly Button Lint Removal Corp.  Due to the volume of resumes we receive we are unable to respond directly to every submission we get..."

Everyone is a customer today - a current customer, a potential customer or someone who knows someone who is a customer.  Is the e-mail reply you read above how you want your company communicating with customers? Obviously the answer is no and the great news is that it doesn't take any more work or effort to radically improve the brand message you are sending to your applicant customers.

Here are 3 ideas you can implement with minimal work that will greatly enhance your applicant customer recruitment messaging.  If your HRIS system can't handle multiple auto e-mails or sending from different "senders" check with your friendly neighborhood marketing guru - it is likely your company customer e-mail newsletter program could work for you.

Idea 1:  Recruitment communications should come from people - not nameless "donotreplyto" e-mail addresses

Hi Chad,

Thanks for applying with us.  We think we have created a pretty special culture here and look forward to reviewing what you have sent to us.  As you know, there is a lot of excitement surrounding our new line of personalized lint removal caps and as a result, lots of people have expressed interest in the position.  It typically takes us 7-10 days to review the submissions for any position and make decisions about who might be a good fit.  Expect to hear back from us soon as we complete that process.

In the meantime, if there is anything else you'd like us to know about your candidacy please feel free to e-mail me as I am the recruiter for the position.

Thanks!

Jeffrey Recruiter

This message can still be automated but just "sent" from the recruiter's e-mail address set up in your HRIS system.  It sends the message that you are willing to engage on a person to person level.  Ignore the fear that the recruiter will be inundated with e-mails.  You might be surprised what you find out through that communication...

Idea 2:  You have started establishing a relationship, don't miss the opportunity to engage your applicant customer in your brand.

Hi Chad, I just wanted to drop you a line to let you know that we are still reviewing candidates for the position.  I'll be sure to get back to you soon.  In the meantime, if you want to learn more about our company please subscribe to our Twitter feed.  You'll find some great stories about our pen cap lint removal products and great stories from our customers about their experiences.

Thanks!

Jeffrey Recruiter

Again, this can be set up as an automated e-mail, scheduled to go out 5 days after the initial application comes in.  It sends a positive message to the applicant customer that you are carefully considering their candidacy and reinforces the great things about your brand that inspired them to apply in the first place.

Idea 3:  Give yourself a chance to continue the relationship beyond the recruitment process.  Remember, no corporate speak, this is one human to another...

Hi Chad,

We appreciate your patience as we took the time to thoroughly review all of the applications we received.  You have definitely had some great experiences and accomplishments in your career so far!  Unfortunately you are not the best match for this position as we really needed someone that has tool and die design experience.  We encourage you to continue to apply for positions that might match your skills. We'd like to continue our conversation by inviting you to click "Like us" on our corporate recruiting facebook page.  When you do that you'll see new jobs that come up as part of your facebook newsfeed along with other cool company news.

Thanks,

Jeffrey Recruiter

No one wants to receive the "rejection e-mail" and there will always be a certain portion of the population that wants nothing to do with you after that.  That's ok.  But on the other side of the continuum are folks that still would be interested in working for you or being a customer with you.  Extend your virtual hand to them and keep the relationship going.  I think you'll be surprised at how many people take you up on your offer.

THE TAKE AWAY: Recruiting also has a marketing role as your applicants and customers are very much intertwined.  Utilize the available technology in your HRIS or E-mail newsletter system along with a "humanized" approach in your communications to build customer relationships that last beyond the recruiting process.

- Chad Gretzema Find Me On LinkedIN