How to attract talent with recruitment marketing

Finding the right people for your business can be quite an ordeal. On the other hand, recruitment marketing offers you advanced tools in your pocket to easily attract the best candidates out there. In that case, how do you position these strategies to build an employer brand with a difference?

Recruitment Marketing 101

What is recruitment marketing?

Recruitment marketing uses marketing strategies to attract candidates from awareness down the funnel to application. It means so much more than just posting job ads; it’s creating a strategy that will help attract only the best.

Examples of this are engaging content, cultural showcasing, and strong online presence. This is designed to make your organization extremely attractive to hire into.

Key components of recruitment marketing

The following are some of the components of effective recruitment marketing:

• Content marketing: A creation of blogs, videos, and social media about your company culture and values.
• Social recruiting: Using tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter to engage prospective candidates where they really spend their online time.
• Employer branding: Creating a strong, positive image of one’s company as a great place to work.
• Candidate Experience: Ensuring every touch a candidate has with your company is positive, from advertisement to onboarding.

Creating an attractive employer brand

Attractive workplace culture

Your employer brand would, therefore, be directly affected by how your company is perceived by current and future employees. For this perception to be achieved, there should be a friendly corporate culture. This would definitely make the company more attractive with its friendly working environment, flexible working hours, and possibilities for professional growth.

Also, share stories and testimonials from existing employees that highlight what makes your workplace special. Real voices will rise above the generic corporate voices to your potential candidates.

Leverage Employee Advocacy

Your employees are one of the biggest advocates for you. Just ask them to share positive experiences on their social media accounts. That is a type of Organic Reach, and it should help your Employer Brand a lot. Or just make a formal employee advocacy program to make things easier.

Employees feel important when they can speak on behalf of the company publicly. In turn, they will help extend your recruitment marketing efforts at no extra charge.

Social recruiting candidate engagement

Selecting the proper platforms

Not all of the social platforms for recruitment are created equal. As much as LinkedIn is important for professional networking, Instagram and TikTok might prove better, leveraging younger audiences. Choose platforms based on where your ideal candidates spend their time.

Once you find the right platform, create platform-specific content that speaks to the kind of talent you want to attract. Use native features of a platform, such as LinkedIn Articles, Instagram Stories, or Twitter threads, to keep audiences connected.

Authentic Engagement

Authenticity tends to run a long way in social recruiting. Ensure that your interactions actually mirror and articulate your company’s voice and culture. Respond quickly to comments and messages; make sure you provide value, not just promotion.

You can also organize live Q&A sessions or even webinars where potential candidates get direct access to your team. This helps build trust and allows prospects to see the human side of your business.

Optimize candidate experience

Make it easy to apply

A long or cumbersome application process may deter even the most enthusiastic applicants. For optimal results, make your application forms brief and avoid any steps you don’t absolutely need to include. A user-friendly ATS can help you manage all of the incoming applications and make your entire hiring process more smooth.

You should also consider mobile applications. Most candidates are going to view job postings and apply via their smartphones; therefore, having an application portal that is mobile-friendly is key.

Keep communication

Ghosting candidates is among the fastest ways to burn your employer brand. Let your recruiting team keep in close touch with applicants at every stage of the recruitment process. Even when a candidate is rejected, it may be possible to leave a positive impression with a respectful rejection email.

By keeping candidates in the know, you show respect for their time and energy. This is exactly how you take unsuccessful candidates and turn them into future applicants or even your evangelists.

Using content marketing to attract talent

Creating valuable content

The quality of your content can make all the difference in luring in top talent. Give a deeper look into your industry and your company through blog posts, guides, and videos. Content that showcases your team’s knowledge and experience, or discusses industry trends, gives a thought leadership perspective for your company.

Infographics, webinars, and podcasts can also serve in terms of expanding reach. These formats make your content accessible on different levels by virtue of the consumption habits associated with them.

Telling Authentic Stories

Stories work, not only because, with them, there is more of an emotional connection that can be made with people. Give examples of actual growth in careers at your company, major projects worked on, and community involvement activities. Stories like that allow the potential applicants to understand what it is like to work for your company.

Or take it a step further and humanize your brand with employee spotlights or day-in-the-life videos. Candidates want to learn more about who they’ll be working for, what a typical day would look and feel like. It’s a great storytelling mechanic that can help bring them in.

Building relationships with passive candidates

Building talent pipelines

Not all visitors who land on your job page are ready to apply immediately. Segment these passive candidates into talent pools and nurture them over time. A simple newsletter or regular emails will keep them reminded about your company.

Talent pools let you actually draw from a well of interested individuals anytime a position that applies opens. This saves you from having to start the recruitment process all over every time this happens.

Personalisation of communication

Generic emails do not work any longer. Your messages need to be personalized based on individual interests and career goals. Past interactions can be used to curate personalized e-mails or messages; these add value to the person behind the resume, helping engage candidates further.

An elaborately segmented e-mail list can be a real treasure trove here. Knowing your various audience segments, you will be able to forward targeted content matching their respective interests and stages in their careers.

Analytics’ role in recruitment marketing

Measuring effectiveness

The first point is to measure what works and what does not to perfect your approaches in recruitment marketing. Avail yourself of the analytics tools by keeping key metrics like application rates, sources of hire, and time-to-fill. This will help you understand your current situation better and provide optimization to your approach.

Measure regularly, then act based on that data. If some channels are bearing more fruit, shift more resources in that direction. And vice-versa, don’t be afraid to stop investing in those things that aren’t working.

Making decisions based on data

Analytics can also give insight into budget and content production decisions. It is the knowledge of what type of content leads to more engagement or applications that helps drive future efforts. Data-driven decisions are much more accurate and effective.

And don’t forget the qualitative data. Positive or negative candidate feedback can be some of the most valuable insight you receive for improvement. From fine-tuning your job descriptions to perfecting the interview process, let the data inform your improvements.

Integrated marketing strategies

Amplifying your efforts through partnership

Sometimes, there are situations when one unified approach is more effective than multiple segregated ones. Content marketing, social recruiting, and employer branding come together under one strategy, integrated with the wider objectives of talent acquisition. This creates a cohesive feel in messaging and amplifies your presence.

Your recruitment marketing strategy should exist everywhere that somebody touches your brand. It all fits together to provide one coherent employer brand that resonates and enhances your chances of attracting the best talent.

Tracking performance

It’s also important to track the results of your integrated approaches very closely. Use tracking tools to follow a variety of touchpoints along the candidate journey. In this way, you can make immediate adjustments in campaigns for best results.

The reporting tools can compile data from various sources and present to you what’s working and what needs adjustment. By continually monitoring and tweaking, you are going to be able to continuously improve and remain competitive in the race for the best talent.