The “halo effect” is “the tendency for an impression created in one area to influence opinion in another area.”

In recruiting, we have all sat through panels and discussions on what we should be doing to improve our recruitment strategy. Our ears have been filled with the buzzwords of the industry — TA strategy, employer branding, social media recruitment, candidate experience, employer value proposition, out-of-the-box thinking, etc.

All of these can create a great halo effect for your organization, but how can we use these strategies together to actually build better companies?

Deacom, Inc. has a few secret weapons.

The Chesterbrook-based ERP software company was founded by Jay Deakins in a basement in 1995 with a vague dream to create an ERP software product that was powerful, yet simple to use. Deacom has continued rapid growth and is now planning to triple its growth over the next three to five years.

I spoke with Manager of Talent Acquisition Melissa Richardson, Human Resources Manager Matthew Bergey and Public Relations Manager Kelly Peters about their work in talent acquisition.

Sharing a company’s story with an audience

Deacom takes culture seriously. There’s an average of 20 weekly games of cornhole played at HQ, challenging projects for well-known clients, an incredible office space and an “impact-ocracy,” the internal employee progression model that moves employees through its ranks because they’re making an impact on the company or its customers, not based on tenure.

Deacom started working with Technical.ly’s Talent services over four years ago to gain a bigger presence in the Philadelphia tech community. After all, if you have a great company story, it needs an audience.

The Deacom team uses Talent Pro and sponsored content services to reach our community of job seekers including developers and other technologists. They have worked with us to cover their headquarters as a part of our office trends coverage, highlighting one of their employees or discussing their company culture.

“Technical.ly is doing the leg work for companies and reaching candidates that we can’t,” Bergey aid. Content + trusted distribution channels = quality job candidates.

Events made for the community

Technical.ly’s mission is to grow local technology organizations by connecting organizations and people through news, events. and services. Deacom also takes advantage of our event series, NET/WORK (our annual tech jobs fair) and Super Meetup (our annual celebration of the local meetup, entrepreneurial and tech communities) every year.

These events are an opportunity for our readers to put faces to the companies that take advantage of our sponsored content packages. By the time a candidate stops at the Deacom table, they are likely already well informed about the company, job opportunities, culture, office space and more.

By using a variety of services, Deacom is creating a halo effect among their candidates. Candidates have a positive perception of Deacom from coverage and that only adds to their recruitment success at live events.

“The market is 80% passive, [so] you are doing yourself a disservice by not attending” such events, Richardson said. Her team knows how to make the most out of these IRL opps, too: On average Deacom is making two tech hires per event “for the cost of exhibiting — plus the long-term value can’t really be quantified with other hires.”

Exciting news for this October: Deacom is hosting NET/WORK Suburbs at its HQ in Chesterbrook on Thursday, Oct. 10.

Bringing it all together

Deacom’s halo effect is amplified through both sponsored content and independent editorial coverage. The effect of this content is multiplied further when they have a presence with tech candidates at our events.

The company’s HR department has also optimized the candidate experience during the hiring process. Once they have identified a qualified candidate, they schedule a video interview within 24 hours and bring the individual onsite within one week with an offer made shortly thereafter.

What does halo effect success look like?

Over the past four years Deacom has made 15 hires through using Technical.ly’s services, with 2019 being its best year yet. As a part of its Talent Pro package, it rotates job slots that have been a great success on our jobs board, and in 2019, the team has made two software developer hires directly from those postings.

We are happy to see the Deacom hiring team leveraging every service available to bring great HR value to their company. One of our goals is to be a connector for people and organizations, and we’re proud to see the success Deacom is having on our platform and at our events. Let’s continue to grow our tech ecosystem together!

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