Recruitment marketing is the process of attracting top talent to your business using modern marketing principles and tools. Having a defined recruitment strategy can have a lasting impression on your business by attracting ideal candidates to your company.
Hiring starts with recruitment and, today, a major part of recruitment is marketing. After all, businesses are made up of the people who work there. If you hire great people, you’ll be running a great business.
[Read: Help Wanted? How to Hire in a Candidate’s Market]
What is recruitment marketing?
Recruitment marketing is a concept that can quickly become overcomplicated. At its core, recruitment marketing is how your business finds top talent. Remove ideas about technology, sales funnels and your company’s brand positioning. Recruitment marketing involves you effectively communicating your business's mission to potential job seekers and hiring those that meet your qualifications. That’s it.
Of course, the “how” of it all is where it can become more complex. Remember that every business is different, and this process is more about defining a strategy that works for you on a daily basis. If you don’t know where to start, brainstorm these three topics: awareness, interest and active search. Ask the following questions:
- How will you make candidates aware of your company’s identity?
- How will you tell them about the progress toward your business’s mission and vision?
- How do you feed interested candidates into the hiring process?
These three questions are the beginning of recruitment marketing. Thinking about them in an organic and genuine way will lead you to developing actionable steps for building a better recruitment strategy.
[Read: Struggling to Attract Top Talent? Try These 4 Strategies]
Hiring starts with recruitment and, today, a major part of recruitment is marketing.
Benefits of recruitment marketing
The benefits of having a good recruitment marketing strategy are invaluable. It not only will help you bring talented job seekers in the door, but it will also help you further flesh out your brand identity and company mission.
- Increased visibility: Developing a recruitment marketing strategy will put your company out to the public. It’s another form of advertising that connects you with job seekers instead of customers. This is an important opportunity for brand identity.
- Larger pool of applicants: By marketing your business effectively, you’ll be connecting with a larger group of job candidates. Having more talented job seekers to choose from means you’ll build your company faster.
- Targeted audience: Following a recruitment marketing strategy means connecting with a targeted group of job seekers. You’ll have access to not only more candidates but also better qualified applicants for your specific positions.
- Helpful analytics: Data is everywhere, and recruitment marketing is no exception. As you implement your strategies, you’ll be able to analyze your typical candidates and learn more about how you’re communicating your brand identity.
- Control over brand voice: This goes hand-in-hand with increased visibility. You get to control your narrative and build your identity to new candidates.
- Cost-effectiveness: Using data and technology, you can build a strategy that gives you more bang for your buck. You can also target certain types of candidates and build an effective recruitment strategy.
Tips for a successful recruitment strategy
Creating a successful recruitment strategy comes back to the three concepts proposed earlier: awareness, interest and active search. By brainstorming on these topics, you’re on the right track to setting up an effective strategy.
- Cultivate brand awareness: How will you build brand awareness?
- Target and segment talent: Who is your target audience? How will you reach them?
- Communicate with talent pipeline: Once you have some interested candidates, how will you funnel them into your hiring process?
[Read: 6 Ways to Find Qualified Employees]
If you want to get better at recruiting top talent, building a recruitment marketing strategy is essential. It will help you find the right people in a more efficient manner. It’s also an ideal opportunity to further flesh out strategies on communicating your brand identity.
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