TMP Worldwide: GCHQ's not so secret recruitment drive

Aug 19, 2008 (M2 PRESSWIRE via COMTEX) -- TMPW | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- Ever had questions about what it would be like to work for one of the British Intelligence Services? Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), as part of an integrated recruitment drive, is launching a new website to give potential applicants a better view into life in the top-security organisation. The website is at www.gchq-careers.co.uk/lifestyle which will be live on the 19th August. Recruitment communications partner, TMP Worldwide, designed and is managing the campaign.

The lifestyle site will promote the environment and working culture experienced by GCHQ employees. This includes highlighting the flexible working patterns and giving a personal view of the social life inside GCHQ. The organisation recognises that it will need to attract people from far afield and the new lifestyle site will give a guide to the benefits of working in the beautiful Regency town of Cheltenham.

Alan Thompson, Press Officer at GCHQ, comments: "We are making a substantial investment in finding the right people to work at GCHQ. We offer a range of challenging and interesting work in an excellent working environment. Our campaign needs to reach out to a wide and diverse pool of candidates. By combining new technology, digital channels and traditional media we hope to attract the highly skilled and well motivated people we need."

GCHQ is continuing to exploit new avenues in digital recruitment. The organisation is the first direct employer that has utilised digital displays for recruitment. The displays appear across the London Underground network including London Paddington - the gateway to the West and main thoroughfare to Cheltenham.

TMP is also utilising contextual advertising as developed by Vibrant. This is the first time in-text advertising is being used in a recruitment campaign. GCHQ sponsors relevant key words such as "career advice", "computer science" and "project manager" within the editorial body copy of specific sites (for example www.ITweek.co.uk, www.PCPro.co.uk and www.iVillage.co.uk). When a user mouses over one of these highlighted key words, an interactive creative about GCHQ's recruitment campaign is launched.

Kate Clemens, Head of GCHQ's Digital Strategy at TMP Worldwide, says: "GCHQ's new campaign builds on the success of online in-game advertising run last year. GCHQ and TMP are committed to extending the reach of recruitment advertising and creating new opportunities to target the appropriate audience within a passive environment. The additional benefit of serving recruitment advertising through in-text advertising is that it is user initiated and therefore engagement with potential candidates is more effective."

Recruitment ads have also been placed in generic, niche and graduate websites as well as local sports team sites, MSN and MSN Messenger, Hotmail, Bebo, Virgin Media, and in the national press across all channels on their sites. The online campaign is complemented by an offline and outdoor media recruitment campaign.

Launched in July and running until October 2008, GCHQ's recruitment campaign includes roles in IT, Internet and Engineering, recruiting both experienced hires and graduates. This will encompass in the later months roles including Linguist and Culture Specialists.

About GCHQ (Government Communications Headquarters)

An intelligence and security organisation that reports to the Foreign Secretary and works closely with the UK's other intelligence agencies (commonly known as MI5 and MI6). Its primary customers are the Ministry of Defense, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and law enforcement authorities, but it also serves a wide range of other Government Departments.

About TMP Worldwide

TMP Worldwide in the UK & Ireland provides innovative recruitment campaigns and manages the process of hiring from everyday roles through to senior positions. Using the right mix of traditional and digital media TMP creates and implements the most effective recruitment campaigns for clients to get the best candidates onboard. TMP continually analyses evolving media channels to ensure that it offers customers creativity and access to the relevant audience of job seekers. www.tmpw.co.uk

About Vibrant

Vibrant, a world leading contextual advertising network, gives marketers the opportunity to deliver highly targeted, user-initiated advertisements within the text of premium Web content. The company works closely with advertisers, agencies and Web publishers to plan, buy, deliver and optimize contextual campaigns across 3,500 premium publisher websites. Reaching more than 125 million unique users per month (Comscore, May 2008), Vibrant Media manages more than five billion words and phrases each month for top advertisers such as Microsoft, Unilever, New Line Cinema and IBM. The company was founded in 2000 and has offices in London, New York, Detroit, Chicago, San Francisco, Paris and Hamburg, with more than 200 employees. Vibrant's rapid growth has been recognized by both the Inc. 500 and Deloitte Fast 50 lists.

CONTACT: LAURA PYKETT, Account Executive, Flagship Consulting Limited Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 8454 Tel: +44 (0)20 7886 8440 Fax: +44(0)20 7886 8460 TMP Worldwide Alan Thompson, GCHQ Press Officer Tel: +44 (0)12 4222 1491 WWW: http://www.tmpw.co.uk Carrie Gregory-Hood, EU Press Relations, Vibrant Tel: +44 (0)20 7239 0127 WWW: http://www.vibrantmedia.co.uk WWW: http://www.vibrantmedia.de WWW: http://www.vibrantmedia.fr WWW: http://www.vibrantmedia.com

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