How Singapore's IDA connected with talent in the tech sector

When Singapore's Infocomm Development Authority (IDA) embarked on a mission to "influence tomorrow", through a recruitment campaign aimed at tech-sector talent, it spiked the company's Talent Brand Index to 24%, ahead of its public and private sector peers.

The result? Winning gold at the inaugural Asia Recruitment Awards in Singapore in the category of "best employer brand development (in-house initiative)."

Influence Tomorrow became an umbrella brand for all of the firm's employer branding activities, starting with a series of creative advertisements for fresh graduates, mid-careerists, and specialists (in data analytics, software development & design, and cyber security).

Online innovation was one of the key drivers in execution, with the company being one of the early adopters of social media recruiting in the public sector.

Online marketing also got a boost, given the time-bound need to create awareness and drive applications for the inaugural Technology Associate Programme (TAP) in 2014.

A one-month online marketing campaign was conducted via search engine marketing on Google, and display ads via Xaxis, strengthened by targeted text and display ads for the specific audience of fresh graduates.

Experiential marketing was another area focused on, with initiatives such as informal lunches for interns and e-newsletter for scholars.

All of this buzz saw real conversion - with the application target for TAP exceeding by 11%, and close to two in every three employees looking to recommend IDA to a friend.

Lau Yin Cheng, IDA's chief of HR and OD, spoke about the campaign's success.

"Through our Influence Tomorrow campaign, we were able to elevate our employer brand and attract the right talent in joining us to help us realise our Smart Nation dream.

"Being real was key to our success as we were focused on sharing our people stories with different groups of audiences," he explained.

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Winning the silver in this category was Singapore's National Kidney Foundation (NKF), that also bagged a gold award on the night for its diversity & inclusion practices.

Irene Leng, director of HR at NKF, said this was essentially the team's success.

"Everyone in the organisation is responsible for NKF’s employer brand. We live and breathe the same vision and values as the organisation’s ambassadors."

This silver win was shared with Deloitte & Touche for its innovative "What's your Deloitte" programme, that saw a vast change in the quality and quantity of candidates in the recruitment process.

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Image: Asia Recruitment Awards, Singapore