The internet is already a major channel for job-seekers and employers in the management sector, although to a lesser extent for technical and service-oriented positions. However, times are changing. After all, the number of people online is steadily increasing, as is the number of people using the internet to look for new jobs. AutoPalace is therefore launching an online recruitment campaign. It is an ambitious, innovative approach, with initiatives such as an HR website dedicated to recruitment. It will be an online portal featuring information including testimonials and videos of current staff, who can kindle enthusiasm amongst job-seekers with their personal stories.
‘We are in desperate need of additional personnel in order to ensure that we can continue to offer outstanding service to our growing customer base’, explains Stanislav Perkner, Group Marketing Manager at AutoPalace. ‘The website represents a new step in our quest to search out and connect with potential new staff members. We are also increasing our recruitment efforts on social media, such as Facebook, where we expect a greater level of interaction with suitable candidates. A platform such as LinkedIn is less suitable, being a channel with a keener focus on management positions’.
There is currently a shortage of experienced engineers, sprayers and sales representatives in both the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Conventional recruitment channels (traditional forms of advertising, for example) are expensive in comparison with digital recruitment – a factor that also plays a role in the move towards online recruitment. Stanislav Perkner: ‘The key concept behind our new HR portal, the website, is to present AutoPalace as a family, and that new employees will simply be offered every opportunity to become part of the AutoPalace Family. We are focusing especially on the younger target group, candidates under 35 years old. The internet is the primary source of information for this group, and they often use mobile devices. Our portal is therefore designed and built according to the ‘Mobile First’ philosophy, so that the site can also be viewed properly on smartphones and tablets’.
According to Perkner, this is the first time that a dealership organisation in the Czech Republic and Slovakia is using a stand-alone website for recruitment purposes. ‘Up until now, it was primarily the car manufacturers in these countries that utilised this resource. Skoda Auto, for example. But when it comes to the dealership groups, AutoPalace is the first. With regard to innovation, we are dedicated to becoming the HR market leader. As we are in other fields, such as sales’.
The website's (with the URL www.autopalace.cz/kariera) look and feel remain the same, although the Slovak language is slightly different to Czech, and videos need to be recorded of employees at Auto Palace Slovakia.
The portal features numerous short videos charting the successful career development of current employees and effectively highlighting all of the advantages of working at Auto Palace. Visitors to the website can also view all vacancies, and will be triggered by various call to action buttons such as ‘Join our team’, ‘Upload CV’ and ‘Leave us a note’. Perkner: ‘We offer the complete recruitment journey, as it were. We will use Facebook to boost interaction, through competitions and by offering rewards to people who put forward suitable candidates. We will also share videos via numerous other online channels aside from Facebook, such as YouTube, Instagram, and so forth’.
*Auto Palace Group is a part of the Netherlands group AutoBinck founded in 1907 in Hague
