Recruitment is evolving and there are so many opportunities to improve your game when it comes to talent acquisition. It can be overwhelming. So much so that it might feel really easy to stick with the old ways you and your company are familiar with—and you may be committing some of the scariest mistakes in recruitment. But change must be made or your competitors will leave you in the dust.
Here are some tips and tricks marketers use to sell goods and services that you can apply directly to your recruitment strategy that will move you forward as a modern recruiter.
1. Understand your brand
Brand is not just a marketing buzzword. You have a brand, whether you know it or not or have documented it or not. There is a way you and your employees behave and a way that behavior is perceived in the organization and in the outside world. Understand what those perceptions are and determine if that is who you really are and who you want to be. Perception is reality and it’s reality you need to face.
2. Tell stories
Storytelling sells. Make your organization more memorable by sharing the success stories of your employees or a customer impact scenario. By sharing a narrative you can help your candidates see themselves in a role with your organization, making an emotional connection before they walk in the door.
3. Communicate
To be a great recruiter, you have to be a great communicator, on all fronts. In person, on the phone, on Zoom, over text, and beyond.
4. Know your pitch
Recruiting is a sales job. You aren’t selling a product or a service, it’s so much more than that. You are selling the idea of making a change, adjusting schedules, updating benefits, and making a decision that may disrupt your family. You have to really know how to communicate why someone should work at your organization and be able to articulate that well. When you share it, you have to believe it because if you don’t, the candidate won’t either. What is great about your organization? What are the benefits and growth opportunities? What is your favorite thing about working there? These are all questions you will be asked by the candidate. Have truthful answers prepared. Share your excitement and passion authentically.
5. Understand you no longer have the upper hand, the candidate does
The recruiting game isn’t the same anymore. No longer do employers and recruiters have the upper hand in the hiring process. With more than 10 million jobs available and nowhere near that many candidates in the market, they are now in control. Respect them, honor their time, communicate frequently, and expedite the recruiting process by removing unnecessary steps and roadblocks.
6. Social media leverage
You need to be using the company and your own social media presence to reach active and passive candidates. Consistent activity in your own LinkedIn and Facebook profiles alone can expand your reach to people who would never have seen your traditional job posting methods. Create a pipeline. Tap into low-cost advertising opportunities.
7. Advertising ROI
Gone are the days when you could throw some money at a newspaper ad, billboard, bus sign, radio spot, flyer, and other untrackable efforts to reach potential candidates. There are so many new ways to use your advertising budget to send targeted messages to the candidates that fit the profile and then track views, clicks, applicants, interviews, and hires. Now, we are talking about transparency in your investments.
8. Passive candidates vs. active candidates
Each time you post on LinkedIn, Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and the other usual suspects, you are posting and praying that the right candidate is actively seeking employment opportunities, views your post, and decides to apply. I am no math expert but the odds on that seem pretty low compared to building out a candidate persona for your company and job category and delivering targeted messages across social and programmatic platforms they are actually using. Your next hire might not even know about you or that they are ready to make a change until they see your message as they scroll the scores on ESPN. Are you willing to miss out on the right candidate for the sake of doing what you have always done? I bet not.
9. Work with your marketing team
I bet in that last section I threw out a lot of terms that you aren’t familiar with. You know who is? Your marketing team. Start having conversations, set up a Zoom meeting, or take them out for coffee. Marketing is your friend—they have built these strategies to increase sales of your company’s products and services. They have the experience and the knowledge to help you and your department win at recruiting in 2022 and beyond.
That is a lot to unpack, and maybe you are not ready or are not sure where to start.
I encourage you to set up a discovery call with our team to discuss some quick ways to see and impact and develop your long-term recruitment marketing strategy. Let’s get started.
