CIPD RMAs: downturn fails to dent creativity

Judging is now well under way for this year's CIPD Recruitment Marketing Awards - and while the volume of entries may not quite have matched previous record levels, the quality looks to be as high as ever.

The judging is taking place over two days - Monday 27^th and Thursday 30^th April - at the Guardian's new King's Place offices, and Ri5 was on hand on the Monday to get a flavour of this year's competition so far.  A record number of judges have been recruited to help identify the winners, and if the official judges' guide is anything to go by they look to be in for a very demanding couple of days.  The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony on Tuesday 30^th June, to be held in a marquee in the grounds of the Honourable Artillery Company in Moorgate.

Adam Winterton and Craig Robinson are co-chairing this year's judging panel.  Adam, MD of Euro RSCG Riley, is looking after the four ‘business impact' categories - diversity, recruitment impact, employer brand and, new for this year, ‘candidate experience' - while Craig, head of creative for TMP Worldwide, is overseeing the various creative categories.

Specialist support is also forthcoming from ThirtyThree creative director Gavin Anderson, who chairs the judges for art direction and writing, and TMP Worldwide head of digital - customer development Tsz Wu, who's fulfilling a similar function for website and digital.

"The volume of entries may be down slightly down in several categories," Adam told Ri5, "probably because agencies wanted to spend a little less money in these straitened times.  But it doesn't appear to have affected the creative quality at all."

"In fact you could argue the opposite," says Craig.  "Volumes might be down, but people have been more selective about what they entered - so if anything we're judging a higher concentration of quality."

"And clients are being forced to be more creative with their expenditure," adds Adam, "which means opportunities to recruit more creatively are starting to be exploited."

The new ‘candidate experience' category has succeeded in attracting plenty of entries in its inaugural year - helped, as Adam notes, by useful publicity in media such as Ri5 and PM.  "There was lots of discussion about this on the awards committee," he says.  "We wanted to make sure that any new category was a relevant one.  The kind of organisations we're working with as clients are looking for a return on their investment - not just ‘bums on seats', but a real impact on their business."

The new category aims to look beyond the initial attraction strategy to the realities of the candidate experience.  The element of ‘integrated recruitment' reflects the direction in which a number of recruitment marketing agencies are already going, and will doubtless attract entries from new suppliers as the boundaries between traditional sectors continue to blur.

There's been plenty of interest in the awards from the clients themselves this year, too, with more entries received direct.  This may be partly thanks to the new category, given that employers often look after the whole of the candidate experience process themselves.

"This year the awards have had more judges than ever," says Craig, "which shows real commitment from both agencies and individuals."  Adam notes that this record number of judges is also making it easier to give each entry the time and consideration it's due.  It's also the first year that the entry process has been online only, which has not only saved agencies money (while being environmentally preferable, of course) but also made judging simpler, with everything viewable on screen.  It has also helped in categories which require a significant amount of supporting material by making this available for ‘preview' online.

The digital category has also benefited from good-quality entries this year, according to Tsz Wu.  In addition, the specialist art direction category has been opened up to digital executions this year.  "Lots of traditional creative people are moving platforms," he says.  "The important thing is that a good idea is a good idea."  And that, of course, is what the awards celebrate above all.

For more on this year's awards, click here.