“Where possible, we deliver a personal, qualitative, useful, constructive experience so that an individual learns something through the process”

As one of the world’s three major music companies, Sony Music Entertainment is seen as a very attractive employer by a large number of people. “We don’t tend to struggle with volume of interest or applications when we share news updates or advertise roles,” explains Emma Adler, the company’s Global Head of Talent Acquisition.”

I get hundreds of emails a day, many of those from people expressing an interest in working here.”

Whenever it advertises a role, the number of applications usually runs into the hundreds. For its annual internship programme, there can be as many as 2,000 applications within the space of a fortnight for 25 positions.

Despite its popularity with candidates, Sony Music Entertainment doesn’t take its market reputation for granted, however. “Everybody who engages with us with regard to employment opportunities is also our customer, whether that’s for electronics, mobile, gaming, film or music,” Adler explains. “So we want to create the best experience we can.”

Since the company is not a high-volume recruiter and has relatively low attrition – it recruits around 100 roles annually in the UK – it can afford to take a highly personalised approach to recruitment. “In a very high percentage of the conversations that I have with people, I’m telling them that they’ve been unsuccessful, or we don’t have a role of the right nature,” notes Adler. “It’s often not to do with them as a candidate or their experience; it’s often down the high level of competition for the roles and the low recruitment volume.”

Adler describes Sony Music Entertainment’s recruitment experience as being similar to a customer service experience. This is due to the quality of the updates and the feedback that the candidate gets, regardless of whether they have been successful or not. “It’s about making sure that, where possible, we deliver a personal, qualitative, useful, constructive experience so that an individual learns something through the process.”

What should other organisations do if they want to follow Sony Music Entertainment’s approach to candidate engagement? Adler advises: “Make it best practice to update applicants on their application and keep the feedback real and honest.”

AUTHOR

Jon Mannall
EMEA Managing Director and Global Head of Sales, Solutions and Innovation, Hays Talent Solutions
Jonathan is the EMEA Managing Director and Global Head of Sales, Solution and Innovation for Hays Talent Solutions, having joined Hays in 2011. Previous roles held at Hays included Client Director, Service Delivery Director and Head of Sales for the UK. He is now responsible for leading the approach to engaging and securing new clients and to ensuring that the products and services offered by Hays Talent Solutions continue to meet the changing needs of our global, regional and local customers. For more information about Hays Talent Solutions, visit our website. 

Prior to joining Hays, and after completing his Masters in Philosophy and Management, Jon worked in the RPO and MSP sector for 10 years with a range of Financial Services, Public Sector, IT & Telecommunications, and Insurance clients in Sales and Operations Director roles.