Job seekers of today are much like customers. How recruiters treat candidates is a reflection of their customer relationship experience and brand reputation. Also, they now compete with other companies in hiring the best candidate for the position. Therefore, recruitment has evolved to adopt key concepts and practices from marketing.
Recruitment marketing is the process of driving talented individuals to apply to a company’s vacant positions. This is executed by developing and communicating the organization’s employer brand and employee value proposition.
A reputable recruitment firm can help your business attract, nurture, and hire the top talents who will work to grow your business. It’s time to arrange your recruitment marketing in place to start hiring the best candidates.
Recruitment Marketing Essentials
Beyond tools and software, recruitment marketing will thrive when it observes these strategic factors:
1. Employer branding
Much like how corporate branding works, employer branding refers to how you want to shape your candidate’s perception of your company as an employer. This is your “people” brand, and it should be your first step in recruitment marketing. Around 80% of talent acquisition managers say employer branding has a great impact on their capacity to hire excellent talents.
Ensure that your branding echoes your company culture, values, and purpose. Then, align these principles with your strategy to communicate and attract your target candidates. It should also reflect your company promise and relationship with employees (employee value proposition).
2. Target candidate profiles
Another element you would need for your recruitment marketing process is to subdivide target candidates. Chances are, you have several open positions, and your ideal person for a managerial or executive position is highly distinctive from an administrative job role.
Start creating and segmenting candidate profiles containing particular information about the ideal candidate you need to tap on such as their experiences, qualifications, and more, so you have a clear picture of who to look for.
3. Content marketing
Now that you have established your employer branding, your employee value proposition, and target candidate profile, you now have a strong core to base your campaigns and content marketing materials on.
You can utilize this information and inject it in your job descriptions/listings, ads, website pages or content, and social media content. Roughly 68% of millennials check an employer’s social media networks specifically to assess the employer’s brand. Aim to keep the brand tone and theme consistent across the board.
4. Data analysis
All aspects of your recruitment marketing process can and should be collected, assessed, and measured to improve your recruitment strategies as you progress continuously. Analyze what the data tells you. It should identify your weaknesses and strengths. Recruitment marketing is not an ad-hoc project; it’s an ever-evolving practice.
Dos and Don’ts of Recruitment Marketing
Once you have laid down the basics of recruitment marketing, it’s time for you to learn about the things you should aim for and avoid during the process. Let the list below serve as your guide.
DO
- Have a clear message
Keep your job listings direct, clear, and fun (if it applies to your branding). Outline the job responsibilities, qualifications, contact information, other relevant details (e.g., location, salary range), and a ‘hook’ to catch your target candidate’s attention.
- Highlight your brand as a company
If your company is a large entity or well-known to have a good reputation, include your company name in all your marketing materials. If the organization has won awards, include that as well to increase your credibility and authority in the industry.
- Share stories
Let your culture shine through in all your content where candidates can find you, from your website to social accounts. This is vital in inviting quality candidates to work with you and fit in the company culture. Also, it can set your company apart from competitors who are looking for top talents as well.
- Include your company perks
Exciting perks and work-life balance initiatives and incentives, such as flextime office hours and quarterly bonuses, are important factors for consideration for candidates. These often receive positive responses and elicit favorable recruitment results.
DON’T
- Roll out social media jobs blast
Social media accounts, especially Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, are meant for sharing relevant and useful content to your audience as well as communicate with them. If you’re using these for posting many job listings, then you’re using it for the wrong reasons and potential top candidates will notice and lose interest. Moreover, you might miss catching the attention of top candidates when you have mistargeted job posts on social media.
- Use technical terms or industry jargon
When writing job descriptions, observe KISS (keep it short and simple). Include only the relevant details and use simple language to get your message across. As much as possible, stay clear of company mumbo jumbo or company-specific technical terms unless otherwise necessary.
- Skip proofreading
Before you print or launch your marketing materials, publish your job listings and other content, run the draft (even social media copy) in a plagiarism checker first to ensure it’s free of grammatical errors or general syntax.
- Use misleading headlines
Leave the clickbait headlines to listicles and lifestyle articles. Also, don’t overpromise on your job descriptions (e.g., “low starting salary but fast promotions”) when it’s highly unlikely.
Summing it up
Nowadays, job seekers are the drivers of the job search market. They’re no longer submitting their applications to recruiters or human resource people willy-nilly just to get a job. They now have the power to review a company—their background, history, company culture, etc. before they submit their application. Plus, they have social media on their side to help them evaluate a company.
This is where an excellent recruitment firm like Manila Recruitment comes in to help your business implement the right strategies to hire competent talents that will help your organization reach its business goals.
