We’re in a candidate-driven job market where companies need to prove themselves as the best option for high-quality candidates looking to grow professionally.
In 2020, 69% of US employers expressed difficulty filling their open positions because of talent shortages, raising the question of how companies can find the best candidates.
And in response to this, companies have begun to talk about recruitment marketing, a strategy for attracting, engaging, and recruiting the best talent.
What does this strategy look like?
Let’s learn how you can leverage digital marketing to recruit new staff.
What is recruitment marketing?
In a few words, recruitment marketing employs digital marketing strategies for attracting candidates through:
1. Branding positioning
According to LinkedIn, 75 % of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before applying for a job. This is the reason why companies work to create a reputation that offers value to their employees, with marketing research to offer competitive salaries and benefits.
2. Candidates engagement
A recruitment marketing plan aims to keep the candidates interested in filling job vacancies, even when the right positions aren’t available. Companies like Netflix or Instagram have shown that corporate videos are the most engaged content type by prospecting candidates. In fact, 70% of marketing professionals report that video converts higher than any other medium.
3. Inbound recruitment marketing
Inbound recruitment marketing attracts talent through organic search with original content. Like with the new business acquisition, inbound recruitment marketing also has a funnel of candidates at different decision stages, like awareness, consideration, and conversion.
70% of the global workforce consists of passive talent who’s not searching for a job, meaning that many of the ideal candidates for vacancies currently hold positions at rival companies. However, that doesn’t mean they can’t be tempted away from these roles with an effective recruitment marketing plan.
That being said, it’s important to know where to advertise to the right profile of a person, irrespective of their current job status, so let’s explore the different marketing channels available:
Top recruitment channels
The top three channels SMBs plan to extend their employer brand are through company websites (69%), online professional networks (61%), and social media (47%). Past these, there are emails, events, or texting.
L’Oreal, for example, is recognized as one of the best companies to work with worldwide, and they had proved the success of social media in building such a reputation. The company applies campaigns on platforms from Youtube to LinkedIn, with a single principle “serve the right content, to the right audience, at the right time.”
Another good example of a business leveraging social media for recruitment purposes is Sturbucks. They created Instagram and Twitter accounts for its job seekers, stablishing an online channel to communicate with current and potential employees. Through this strategy, they promote their company culture and manifest the benefits of working for them.
Employee wants to feel appreciated and confident about to make the right decision about their future job, this is why employee referrals are one of the primary reasons a person wants to be part of a company.
Why use a recruitment marketing plan?
When businesses generate a powerful recruitment marketing plan, they’re supporting their employee search at a strategic level that assists them in building a stronger employer branding, having an agile recruitment process, offering better candidate experience, and having a long-term approach to recruiting.
Companies can save time and money and foster business growth, understand how to build a team motivated and committed to the company’s goals, and all start with a good recruitment marketing plan that covers the company and employees’ needs.
Wrapping Up: How to become an attractive employer
The recruitment world is becoming increasingly competitive, making hiring qualified personnel harder and requiring more innovative strategies.
It begs the question: how do you become an attractive employer?
The answer is simple: a comprehensive recruitment marketing strategy leverages social media, organic, and paid channels to foster engagement and brand affinity from the best talent.
