Can’t deny that the recruitment game today has gotten more and more competitive. It takes about 42 days on average to fill a role. However, candidates are hard to find as 63% of recruiters admitted that talent shortage is still the problem. At the same time, bad hires can cost a company $240,000. [1] Amidst the chaos, recruiting marketing emerged as the beacon that guides candidates through the noise of job listings and career opportunities while being a solution to help companies connect with the right candidates in a unique approach. As we peel back the layers of recruiting marketing, we’ll explore its benefits, best practices, and the right tools to help you, as well as look at the case studies of successful recruiting marketing strategies. Let’s get started.
What Is Recruitment Marketing
Recruitment marketing (sometimes called ‘Recruiting Marketing… RIP Grammar) is a strategy that focuses on using marketing principles and tactics to attract and engage top talent. In the digital age, recruiting marketing has become increasingly important as businesses strive to stand out in a competitive job market and appeal to the right candidates.
Digital recruitment marketing leverages various online channels and strategies to reach potential job seekers where they already are - on social media platforms, job boards, career websites, and search engines.
Some benefits of digital recruitment marketing are:
- Increased visibility: By utilizing SEO techniques and targeting the right keywords, you can boost your visibility in search engine results and attract more qualified candidates to your job postings.
- Reduced Hiring Costs: Digital recruitment marketing can be more cost-effective than traditional methods like newspaper ads or job fairs. It allows you to reach a larger audience for a lower cost, leading to better ROI.
- Boosts Your Brand: Through engaging content, social media campaigns, and personalized messaging, you not only work towards your goals for hiring campaigns, but also boost your employer brand at the same time.
The Right Tools for Recruiting Marketing
1. Making the Most of Career Pages
Being the central hub for all job postings and information about the company's culture, values, and benefits makes the career site an important tool for recruiting marketing. By having a well-designed and user-friendly career site, you can attract top talent and provide a positive candidate experience. You can use your career site to regularly update job postings, highlight employee testimonials, and showcase your company's values and culture.
Sometimes, creating a career site can be troublesome as you need an expert to put in the right codes and get the right design. However, an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) like Manatal can make things easier. With its Branded Career Page feature, you don’t need to write code in the back-end or design your own front-end. Manatal lets you choose the ready-to-use template to construct your career page or build it from scratch to match your brand. You can also upload unique content to showcase your company image as well as videos, graphics, or blogs - all within a few clicks. At the same time, Manatal offers you the ability to share your job opening across 2500+ channels and send out a mass email campaign to connect with your candidates easily.
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2. Social Media
Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter allow you to reach a wide audience of potential candidates, helping you make a solid recruiting marketing strategy. You can leverage social media to publish compelling content, promote job openings, share company updates, and engage with followers, this will help you reinforce a stronger employer brand and attract passive candidates at the same time.
Check out our Ultimate Guide to Social Media for Recruiting
3. Job Boards
Job boards are one of the best tools for recruiting marketing. These platforms allow you to post job listings and reach potential candidates who are actively searching for opportunities. Whether general or niche-specific, job boards attract a diverse range of job seekers, making them an effective way to target a wide audience. Through job boards, you can post search engine optimized job descriptions, specific requirements, and other important information about the position you are looking to fill. You can also use job boards that offer advanced features like targeted advertising or resume databases for better and more precise results.
Creating a Recruiting Marketing Plan
- Set your goals: Setting clear and specific goals is essential when creating a recruiting marketing plan. Start by defining what your hiring needs are for the upcoming months or year, including the number of positions to fill, the types of roles, and any specific skill sets required. Also, consider the type of candidates you want to attract, such as entry-level employees, experienced professionals, or specialized talent. This will help you align your recruitment marketing efforts with your overall hiring objectives and measure the success of your campaigns over time.
- Identify your marketing channels: Once you have established your goals, it's important to identify the most effective marketing channels to reach your target audience. This may include job boards, social media platforms, industry-specific websites, and recruitment agencies. Consider the demographics and preferences of your ideal candidates to determine which channels are most likely to reach them. Diversifying your marketing channels can help you maximize the visibility of your job openings and attract a wide range of qualified applicants who may not be actively looking for a new opportunity.
- Create a recruitment marketing calendar & schedule your recruitment marketing campaign: To ensure a consistent and effective recruitment marketing strategy, create a detailed calendar outlining key dates, milestones, and campaign activities. Start by mapping out the recruitment timeline, including job postings, application deadlines, interview schedules, and onboarding dates. Then, plan your marketing campaigns around these events, utilizing various channels and tactics to attract and engage potential candidates. By scheduling your activities in advance, you can stay organized, track your progress, and make adjustments as needed to optimize your results.
Here are some extra tips to help your recruiting marketing approach stand out among other players:
- Targeting competitor’s talent: Okay, this may seem like you’re breaking the rules, but who says there are rules? You’ll make quite a first impression in an unexpected moment. Advertising in locations near your competitors with a big ad for your company or job openings can be a bold move. Candidates might not change their minds right away, but you sure will be on top of their minds.
- Throw them a challenge: We all like a challenge, especially when we accomplish it. And it’s something that can quickly catch our attention. So, you can start reaching out to potential candidates in the form of a riddle, puzzle, or an equation. Challenge them to solve it and in the end, offer them an opportunity to interview for a role or offer some prizes. This can work especially well with hackathons, design challenges, and other similar events that can generate buzz.
- Building a talent community on social media: What would be a better and quicker way to reach a high volume of talent and fill your talent pool with a huge batch of high-quality candidates? That’s right. Social media is a way to go. It’s safe to say that a majority of people around the globe are on social media in some capacity every day. So, it’s a good idea to establish a talent community on a channel like Facebook or LinkedIn groups to bring together talent who are looking for opportunities or have a passion or interest in a certain industry. This way, you’ll have access to the sea of candidates whenever you need them.
Case Studies of Successful Recruiting Marketing
Snapchat
The US-based instant messaging app has a pretty bolt strategy when it comes to recruiting marketing. Snapchat leverages its own social media platform to draw attention from potential candidates. Through geo-targeting, Snapchat users can use funny filters that say, ‘This place drives me made,’ when they’re at Uber, or, ‘Feeling pinned down?’ when they’re located near a Pinterest office. [2]
Known for its innovative and challenging work environment, the search engine titan quickly catches the attention of candidates out there by pulling a classic trick. Google uses a public advertisement to test the skills of tech talents. The company put a cryptic ‘7427466391.com’ on its billboard. People who can solve this URL can visit a website that welcomes them with another test. Successfully solving the second equation and they will get to interview with Google. [2]
Microsoft
The global tech company knows better when it comes to recruiting marketing through social media. One account to engage both customers and candidates is not a way to go. So, Microsoft created a social media account dedicated to recruiting only. The company also established a Facebook community for tech talent, allowing it to access a vast pool of talent who can be added to the pipeline whenever an opportunity arises. [2]
Conclusion
Recruiting marketing strategies play a crucial role in boosting your business by helping you attract and retain the right talent. Through effective recruitment marketing tactics, you can engage with potential candidates, showcase your company culture, and highlight the opportunities for growth within your company. Before building a recruiting marketing strategy, it is important to consider factors such as identifying your target audience, aligning your messaging with your employer brand, utilizing various marketing channels, measuring the effectiveness of your strategies, and continuously adapting and optimizing your approach based on feedback and results. Keep in mind that Investing time and effort into developing a robust recruiting marketing strategy can position your business as an employer of choice and ultimately drive success through the acquisition of top talent.
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Citations:
1. LinkedIn
2. Builtin