Recruitment Marketing - 6 Strategies to Convert Candidates

These days, employers have to seek top talents proactively. For businesses, this means exploring new, creative ways to find and attract their desired potential employees. Because with so much competition in the employment market nowadays, the old traditional methods of recruiting are not enough anymore. To stand out and become more appealing to the best candidates, you need to identify what makes your company unique and convey that message in the most enticing way possible. This is where recruitment marketing comes into play – a practice of attracting, engaging, and converting top talent for employment opportunities. 

Content

• What is recruitment marketing?
• Why is recruitment marketing important?
• Recruitment marketing strategies
  

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What is recruitment marketing?

Recruitment marketing, or talent acquisition marketing, is a strategic approach used to attract, engage, recruit, and retain talent. 

Recruitment marketing involves using various marketing channels and techniques to reach potential candidates. This can include creating and distributing job ads on different platforms, such as job websites, social media, and career pages. 

An important aspect of recruitment marketing is effectively communicating the employer's benefits and culture. This can involve creating compelling job ads and content highlighting the organization's values, mission, and perks. The goal is to engage potential candidates and encourage them to apply for open positions.

Recruitment marketing also involves employing data analytics and tracking metrics to assess the effectiveness of marketing efforts and make informed decisions for optimizing recruitment strategies. By adopting marketing principles and techniques, organizations can enhance their ability to attract top talent and create a positive candidate experience.

Why is Recruitment Marketing important?

Recruitment marketing allows companies to keep up with the ever-changing employment market, especially since the war for talent is far from over. Because while the looming recession is already impacting the hiring plans of some industries, the need for new people that can support the business no matter the economic condition remains critical. Below, let us take a closer look at some of the many benefits of recruitment marketing.

1. Enhance your employer brand

People don’t apply to companies – they apply to brands. This is especially true in today’s job market, where top candidates are highly selective. When deciding where to work, they take into account factors other than money, such as culture and values. This means a stronger employer brand is more vital than ever. As such, recruitment marketing can enhance your employer brand and reputation. Using the right tool and messaging to tell your company’s story can help you outshine the competition. Thus, allowing you to ensure that when the time comes for candidates to take action, your company is at the top of their minds.

2. Attract the right high-quality candidates

When it comes to recruitment, going for quality is key. This allows you to build a great team that will propel your business forward. Recruitment marketing can help garner the attention of your ideal candidates. When done effectively, you can make yourself more appealing to both active and passive candidates who have not only the right skills and experience but also the attributes you are looking for. You may also be able to make connections with the best candidates on a continuous basis, even if you don’t currently need them. In turn, you will be able to build a robust pipeline of highly qualified talents that you can tap into whenever you have job openings.

3. Improve candidate experience

Your relationship with a potential candidate starts the very first time they encounter or interact with your company. This experience plays an integral role in shaping their perception of your brand and eventually influencing their decision to work for you. With recruitment marketing, you can tailor the content and communication potential candidates receive initially to provide them with better information about your company. You can also personalize every touchpoint of your engagement based on where they are in the funnel. This will allow you to make a great impression and a better candidate experience from day one. 

4. Bring significant cost and time savings

The recruitment and hiring process is indeed time-consuming and expensive. According to SHRM, the projected cost of hiring a new employee can range from three to four times the salary of the position a company is hiring for. But recruitment marketing can help you save significantly. In fact, using social media alone as part of your strategy can provide up to 68% cost savings. Consequently, it will also allow you to reduce the time and other resources spent on sourcing new candidates as you will always have a pool of quality talents that can meet your future hiring needs.

Strategies to Convert Candidates into Successful Hire

Attracting top talents to your open positions is only the beginning of the process. Encouraging them to apply and converting them into successful hires is another story – and can be the more challenging part. So, here are 6 effective ways to increase your chances of successfully turning the best candidates out there into one of your valuable employees.

1. Show your unique Employer Value Proposition (EVP)

An employer value proposition is the overall value and impact your company has on its workforce. It includes the perks and benefits you offer, how you treat your people, and other elements of your corporate culture. It may also involve accomplishments or customer testimonials that can help improve your reputation and emphasize what you are best known for.

Your EVP can make or potentially break your chances of acquiring top talents, as these are some of the factors that can affect their decisions of whether to join your company or not. Hence, it is imperative to highlight what you can do for your target candidates and the things that can convince them that you’re a great employer of choice. Doing so will give them a greater sense of what to expect and allow them to see what’s in it for them in exchange for their talent, skills, and experience. Therefore, boosting your candidate conversion.

2. Optimize your career page

Your website is the very first place candidates usually go to learn more about job opportunities – specifically, the career page. However, this section has gained increased importance as it is no longer viewed only as a vacancy list. Nowadays, it also serves as a channel to communicate with and engage potential applicants by providing useful information about your company, including who you are, what you do, and what your culture is all about.

Hence, we suggest optimizing your career page to include everything potential candidates need to know that can make them want to apply and work for you. In addition, we suggest keeping the design simple and uncluttered to make it easier to navigate and get to the information they need. This will help you create a good first impression and candidate experience, which can go a long way to ensuring they convert into applicants and, ultimately, into great hires.

3. Use employee branding 

Employee branding is your reputation as an employer among your workforce, or in other words, it is how your people perceive your company. Companies with a strong, positive employee brand typically have an engaged and motivated workforce willing to tell their stories in order to advocate for you as a great place to work. This can be a powerful form of marketing that helps you build your brand, differentiate you from other companies, and make you more appealing in the talent market. Thus, allowing you to attract, hire, and retain talents that are a perfect fit for your culture and values.

Your current employees are, in fact, an extension of your corporate brand, as they greatly influence your reputation as an employer. With this in mind, taking advantage of their stories is one of the most effective recruitment marketing strategies you can create. For example, featuring your employees’ stories on your career page that describe how they have grown and succeeded within your company can help you educate potential candidates about your EVP. It will also allow them to have a clearer picture of what it’s actually like to work in your company and get closer to experiencing your overall culture. Doing this will likely increase their interest in applying for a position with you.

4. Utilize the right social media channel

Social media plays an important role for both employers and candidates alike when it comes to recruitment. For candidates, it is typically one of the first places they will turn to in order to learn more about their target companies, find new opportunities, and build their network to connect with potential employers. From an employer’s perspective, social media is a great source of top talent, a critical tool to reach out directly to potential candidates, and an effective channel to share culture-related content.

Hence, the key to attracting and engaging the best candidates is knowing where they are or what channels they are likely to use. Some of the most obvious choices are LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Glassdoor, Snapchat, and Pinterest. Keep in mind that different platforms may appeal to different job seekers. Therefore, you need to be strategic when deciding which channel to use for your recruitment marketing efforts. Then, ensure you provide the critical details you want your ideal candidates to know to boost your engagement and conversion. 

5. Create engaging recruitment content

When it comes to marketing, great content is essential to attract and retain the target audience. In fact, a study by Voy has shown that an effective content marketing strategy can improve engagement rate by up to 48%. The same holds true for recruitment marketing. Good recruitment content gives you a chance to establish your credibility as an employer, enhance your brand awareness, and stand out in a crowded job market. Hence, when creating your content, it is important to ensure that it provides your ideal candidate with an authentic view into your culture and helps build interest in your company.

For instance, you can create an easy-access FAQ page that provides detailed answers to your ideal candidate’s most commonly asked questions. But don’t limit yourself to using only short narratives. Recruitment content can be in the form of videos, podcasts, blog posts, brochures, or e-books that detail the benefits of working for you. You can even use storytelling techniques by sharing real-life examples of your current employees’ experiences with your company or how you make a difference in the lives of your customers or the community. As they say, stories are relatable. So doing this can make your content more engaging and convincing, which can lead to increased candidate conversion.

Recruitment content - through the eyes of finnish staffing agency Wellpack

Aaretti Niskanen, Digital Marketing Specialist at Wellpack, Finland, explains why the company's success in utilizing targeted content creation was never in doubt. Through meticulous research into the interests of employees in their industry, they were able to develop content that was both engaging and useful to job seekers. 

"We did a lot of research on the interests of employees in our industry and thought about what kind of content they are searching for. What content we have to offer them as experts in recruitment. Based on this, we started to create engaging recruitment content. For example, our ‘job-seekers handbook’ has been a huge success.

We rank at the top of Google results with several topics related to working life, so we constantly capture the attention of both employees and applicants. Our website provides helpful information that draws them in, and some even go on to submit a job application, potentially leading to employment through our company.”

Niskanen believes that investing in content creation is a wise decision, as the trend is steadily growing in popularity. Although it may take time for companies to realize its full potential, there is potential for significant traffic on a website if content is diligently produced. Ultimately, having top talent within the business will go unnoticed if it is not showcased externally.

6. Organize recruitment events 

A recruitment event is considered an irreplaceable human touchpoint. It is an effective way to reach a wider talent pool and build and foster relationships with potential candidates in a more personal way. Even though the world of recruitment is becoming increasingly digitized, 50% of job seekers still prefer human interaction when searching and applying for jobs. Recruitment events can take many forms, like job fairs, open houses, or networking events, and can be held in person or virtually. For candidates, it is their chance to have a firsthand look or feel of your work environment and get real-time answers to questions they have about the job and company, allowing you to create a positive candidate experience.

Impacts of recruitment marketing:

When organizing a recruitment event, it is important to consider the target audience and what type of event will best attract them. For example, a job fair might be well-suited for entry-level positions. On the other hand, a networking event might be more appropriate for seasoned professionals. Once the event is underway, ensure to make a good impression on your potential candidates by having well-trained staff on hand to provide detailed information about the company and the position they are interested in applying for. Giving clarity to candidates’ questions will help you gain their trust and boost their confidence about the value you can offer as an employer and to work for you.

Do you need help with your recruitment marketing? Our hiring platform provides you with the opportunity to advertise your job openings across multiple channels. Let's schedule a demo to discuss it in detail!