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The hottest trend for 2019?

By Lee-Martin Seymour

 

There are so many exciting HR trends that are expected to emerge or evolve in 2019 – AI, candidate experience and real-time measurement to name just a few. However, one that should really be discussed is recruitment marketing.

It isn’t new, “employer brands” and “value propositions” have been discussed for some time, but recruitment marketing is growing up and becoming increasingly important in a skill-short, competitive talent landscape.

Some brands are already doing a pretty awesome job of it – take a look at L’Oreal Talent, for example, they’re very smart with the recruitment marketing they do, with a clear call to action in every piece of content they publish.

So, could 2019 be the year to shine with a smart and savvy recruitment marketing strategy?

 

Why will recruitment marketing be big in 2019?

Unemployment in Canada is at its lowest in 40 years, which means that not only has the national pool of available talent dwindled to little more than a puddle, but employers now need to be much 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 marketing 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 relatively 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, employer’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, employers 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 people to hear that from are current employees.

If that all sounds a bit scary, take a step back and look at company 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.

 

Lee-Martin Seymour is the CEO and co-founder of Xref.

 

 

 

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