smarter about how they find, attract and – critically – retain the
people that are right for their business.
The evolution of today’s workforce, due to factors such as
increasingly mixed demographics and employment agreements, is
changing the expectations of top talent and so the quest to find the
best people has moved beyond simply filling the funnel.
The power is now very much in candidates’ hands. They have
more choice than ever and so it has become critical to offer them
what they want and expect from a future place of work.
Standing out from the crowd in this competitive landscape is
the first major hurdle and that’s where good recruitment market-ing
comes in.
HOW CAN RECRUITMENT MARKETING
HELP BUILD A TALENT PIPELINE?
It’s never been more important to have a pipeline of potential
recruits at the ready. Waiting until a vacancy needs to be filled to
start talent attraction efforts will simply no longer cut it.
Employer’s need to get in front of the best talent before they’re
ready to move, before the company is ready to hire and potentially
before top talent even knows who the organization is.
As difficult as that may sound, it’s a skill that the marketing
industry has been mastering for decades, and marketing colleagues
can certainly teach HR a thing or two about getting in front of the
right people to “sell” what the organization has to offer.
The key to success lies in being able to tell the organization’s
story and, thanks to social media, this has never been easier to do
to a global, dispersed audience.
Social media allows employers to broadcast their message rela-tively
cheaply, with tools such as Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn
providing the perfect platform to offer an authentic window into
the business.
Optimizing tools such as SEO and keyword research will also
help by making a company discoverable, ensuring it hits the top
of the list when people search online using the words and phrases
utilized in the content.
HOW CAN RECRUITMENT MARKETING
HELP RETAIN TALENT?
Quality of hire is so important to reducing attrition rates that
searching for and attracting talent only in periods of hiring reduces
choice and therefore quality.
People want to work for companies that align with their values
and, by communicating exactly what a business stands for, employ-er’s
will attract those that want to be with them as they grow. The
story-telling efforts will help to take talent with the company on
that journey before they even make contact.
A company’s recruitment marketing efforts can help to form
a real connection with candidates. In order to make the most of
this connection, it must be maintained with consistency during
the recruitment process and then continue that throughout the
employee’s time with the organization. It’s all about building trust.
Having created a personal and genuine relationship during the
recruitment process, once a candidate joins a company, employ-ers
will know them well, have the information needed to manage
them properly and be able offer them the environment that will
motivate them to work hard and stay.
ENSURE RECRUITMENT MARKETING
DOESN’T BREAK THE BANK
A huge budget isn’t needed to do recruitment marketing well, if
employers can make use of the best advocates for their employer
brand: Their existing staff.
Let current employees become ambassadors by giving them the
freedom to tell their stories of life at the company, why they work
there and how they feel about the workplace.
Today, few people make any major decisions without checking
what other people think of it first. Amazon reviews, Uber ratings,
TripAdvisor rankings – people want verification that they are
making the right move before they commit.
It’s becoming much the same for job seekers – they want to
know what it’s really like to work for a company and the best peo-ple
to hear that from are current employees.
If that all sounds a bit scary, take a step back and look at com-pany
culture. Good and authentic recruitment marketing has to
be driven from the inside out so it’s important to first work on
building a positive and supportive internal culture that will then
naturally become part of the external employer brand.
This year looks set to be another big year of change in the HR
industry, if employers want any chance of winning today’s race for
talent, they have to get smarter about how they attract the best
people and recruitment marketing will need to form a big part of
that in the year ahead. n
Lee-Martin Seymour is the CEO and co-founder of Xref.
olivier26/123RF
perspectives
STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD
IN THIS COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
IS THE FIRST MAJOR HURDLE AND
THAT’S WHERE GOOD RECRUITMENT
MARKETING COMES IN.
68 ❚ FEBRUARY 2019 ❚ HR PROFESSIONAL
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