What is recruitment marketing and how to use it?

In today's competitive job market, companies need to be proactive in their recruitment marketing efforts to attract and retain top talent. But before you venture into the domain of recruitment marketing, you need to have a clear understanding of what this process is all about. Here is our guide to help you get started with recruitment marketing.

Recruitment marketing is the process of attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent for your organization. It involves creating and executing strategies to communicate the employment value proposition of your company, and to build and maintain a positive employer brand.

How to use recruitment marketing to attract top talent

There are several ways that you can use recruitment marketing to attract top talent to your organization:

#1 Optimize your job postings: Make sure that your job postings accurately reflect the responsibilities and requirements of the position, and highlight the unique benefits and culture of your company.

#2 Use social media: Leverage social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook to share information about your company and job openings, and to engage with potential candidates.

#3 Utilize employee referrals: Encourage your current employees to refer their friends and colleagues for open positions, as they are likely to be a good fit for your company.

#4 Host events: Host events such as job fairs, networking events, and info sessions to give potential candidates a chance to learn more about your company and meet your team.

#5 Create a careers page: Develop a comprehensive careers page on your company's website that showcases your employer brand and provides information about job openings, company culture, and employee benefits.

Recruitment vs Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment is the process of finding and hiring qualified candidates for open positions within an organization. It involves identifying the skills and experience required for a particular role, sourcing potential candidates, and evaluating their suitability for the position.

Recruitment marketing on the other hand, is a process that can help recruiters create a pipeline of qualified candidates for open positions, making the recruitment process more efficient and effective.

While recruitment and recruitment marketing are related, they are distinct activities that serve different purposes. Recruitment is focused on finding and hiring the best candidates for specific positions, while recruitment marketing is focused on attracting top talent to your organization and building a positive employer brand.

Steps involved in recruitment marketing

Here are some steps that are typically involved in the recruitment marketing process:

Define your target audience: Identify the types of candidates you want to attract, including their skills, experience, and demographics.
Develop a value proposition: Determine the unique benefits and opportunities that your company offers to potential candidates, and how these align with their needs and goals.
Create marketing materials: Develop marketing materials such as job postings, social media posts, and a careers page on your company's website that showcase your employer brand and value proposition.
Engage with candidates: Use various channels such as social media, email, and events to engage with potential candidates and build relationships with them.
Evaluate and optimize: Regularly review and analyze the effectiveness of your recruitment marketing efforts, and make adjustments as needed to optimize your strategy.

A typical recruitment marketing funnel consists of three stages; search, pre-screening and hiring. You can also go a step further and extend the funnel to retention.

Stage 1- Search: This is the initial stage of the recruitment funnel, where the goal is to attract potential candidates to the company and the job opportunity. This can be done through various methods such as job postings, social media, employer branding, and recruiting events.

Stage 2- Pre-screening: The second stage involves reviewing resumes, cover letters, and application forms, as well as conducting an initial phone screen. The goal of pre-screening is to identify the most qualified candidates for the job and determine which ones are a good fit for the company culture.

Stage 3- Hiring: After the pre-screening, interviewing, and assessment stages, the hiring manager or the recruitment team will review the information collected on the candidates and determine which one is the best fit for the job and the company. The hiring decision is typically based on the candidate's qualifications, skills, work experience, and fit for the company culture.

Once a decision is made, the company will typically extend a job offer to the selected candidate. This includes discussing the details of the job, such as salary, benefits, and start date, and obtaining the candidate's acceptance of the offer.

Stage 4- Retention: Retention can be regarded as the final stage in the recruitment funnel, but it begins during the attraction stage, where the company should make an effort to create a positive image of the company as a great place to work and highlight the company's culture and values.

It refers to the process of keeping the candidate engaged and interested in the company, throughout the recruitment process and after they have been hired, to ensure they remain with the company for the long-term.

Here’s a pro tip- The retention process should also continue after the employee is hired, to make sure that the employee is satisfied and engaged in their work. This can include regular check-ins, performance evaluations, and opportunities for professional development.

Benefits of having an effective recruitment strategy

There are several benefits of using recruitment marketing to attract top talent to your organization:

Cost-effective: Recruitment marketing can be more cost-effective than traditional recruitment methods, such as placing job ads in newspapers or using recruitment agencies.
Improved candidate experience: By providing potential candidates with a positive and informative recruitment experience, you can improve your employer brand and increase the likelihood of attracting top talent.
Greater control over the recruitment process: Recruitment marketing allows you to take a proactive approach to attracting candidates, rather than waiting for resumes to come in after posting a job opening.
Enhanced employer branding: By consistently promoting your employer brand and value proposition, you can differentiate your company from competitors and attract top talent.
Increased employee retention: By attracting the right candidates who are a good fit for your company culture, you can improve employee retention and reduce turnover.

Overall, recruitment marketing can help you to build a strong talent pipeline and effectively attract top talent to your organization.

Top recruitment marketing tools

There are many tools available to help you with recruitment marketing. Here are a few top tools that you may find helpful:

1. LinkedIn Recruiter

LinkedIn Recruiter is a powerful tool for sourcing, managing, and engaging with potential candidates. It allows you to search for and contact potential candidates, as well as track their activity on LinkedIn.

2. Jobvite

Jobvite is a comprehensive recruitment marketing platform that includes tools for job postings, candidate sourcing, and employer branding.

3. Lever

Lever is a recruitment software that helps you streamline the hiring process and improve candidate experience. It includes features such as applicant tracking, scheduling, and resume parsing.

4. Workable

Workable is a recruitment and applicant tracking system that allows you to post jobs, review resumes, and schedule interviews.

5. Recruitee

Recruitee is a cloud-based recruitment software that helps you manage the entire hiring process, from sourcing candidates to onboarding new hires.

Recruitment marketing trends for 2023

Social Media Recruiting: Using social media platforms like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to reach and engage with potential candidates.
Employer Branding: Creating and promoting a strong, positive image of a company as an employer to attract top talent.
Recruitment Marketing Automation: Using software tools to automate recruitment marketing tasks such as candidate communication and tracking, job postings, and candidate management.
Video Recruiting: Utilizing video content (e.g. company culture videos, virtual job fairs, video interviews) to provide candidates with an immersive experience of the company and its opportunities.
Candidate Experience: Focusing on providing an excellent experience for candidates throughout the recruitment process, from initial contact to onboarding, to increase the chances of attracting and retaining top talent.
Diversity and Inclusion: Prioritizing diversity and inclusion in recruitment marketing and hiring processes to attract a more diverse pool of candidates.
Chatbot and AI-powered recruiting: Using chatbots and AI to assist in pre-screening candidates, scheduling interviews and providing candidate status updates.
Remote recruiting: Adapting recruitment strategies to attract and hire remote workers, due to the increase of remote work during the pandemic.

Best practices to create an effective recruitment marketing strategy

Develop a strong employer brand: Create a positive image of the company as a great place to work and highlight the company's culture and values. This can be done through social media, a company website, and other marketing materials.
Use targeted recruitment advertising: Use targeted recruitment advertising to reach the right candidates for the job. This can include using job boards, social media, and other online platforms to reach the right candidates.
Use diverse and inclusive recruitment practices: Make sure that the recruitment process is diverse and inclusive, to ensure that the company's workforce is representative of the population.
Personalize the recruitment process: Personalize the recruitment process by tailoring the recruitment message to different segments of candidates and providing clear information about the job opportunity, the company culture, and the benefits of working for the company.
Use technology: Use technology, such as AI and machine learning, to assist with recruiting efforts, automating repetitive tasks and identifying the best candidates for a role.
Utilize virtual reality: Utilize virtual reality technology in the hiring process, such as virtual interviews, virtual open house, and virtual tours, to make the recruitment process more efficient and accessible.
Utilize chatbots: Utilize chatbots for recruitment process as well, for initial screening of candidates.
Measure and improve: Regularly measure the effectiveness of recruitment marketing efforts and make changes as needed. This can include tracking applicant flow, analyzing the results of recruitment advertising, and measuring the success of new hires.
Retention: Continuously work on retention of the employees, through effective communication, recognition, and rewards for good performance, and opportunities for professional development.

Wrapping Up

In conclusion, recruitment marketing is an essential part of the recruitment process that helps companies attract and retain top talent. By using a variety of strategies and tools, companies can create a positive image of the company as a great place to work, reach the right candidates for the job, and personalize the recruitment process.