A Deep Dive Into Recruitment Marketing Best Practices

Richard Branson is arguably one the most renowned business magnates, and he puts his success down to hiring the right people. To do this, he believes you need time, a list of meaningful questions and a curious mindset. We'd like to go one step further and say that enticing top talent requires recruitment marketing, a process that develops your employer brand and highlights why candidates should work for you. 

Since people are pivotal to your success, it's worth investing time to showcase the reasons why potential employees should join your team. This guide will outline some of the best recruitment marketing practices to help you attract the right candidates. 

Understanding Recruitment Marketing

Before we discover the best methods to achieve your recruitment marketing goals, here's an explanation of some key terms: 

• Traditional recruitment process: The traditional recruitment process involves highlighting the perks of a specific job posting to attract the ideal candidate. For example, if a company is looking to hire someone to fill an administrative role, they will outline what the candidate will learn and earn if they are successful. 
• Recruitment marketing: Recruitment marketing builds on this concept but shifts the focus to promoting your company as the ideal place to work. It relies on selecting effective marketing tactics to develop your employer brand, which helps to attract external candidates to your team. In other words, a company will spark interest by referring to its community outreach program, commitment to growing its employees and other favorable company-wide benefits.
• Employer branding: Employer branding is how candidates view your company. This rests on identifying and communicating your company values so candidates develop an allegiance to your brand. Search engine giant Google has a powerful employer brand, as they are globally known for their flexible work environments that enable employees to strike a positive work-life balance. 

Building a Strong Employer Brand

Now that the concept of employer branding is clear, here are some recruitment marketing tips you can apply to your brand to build a stronger reputation:

Define Your Company Values and Culture 

“The Great Resignation” of 2021 sparked people to reflect on why they work. This caused approximately 45 million people to leave their jobs and search for companies that offered better working conditions. There's no doubt this was a bold move for employees, but it highlighted the significance of a positive employee culture. Companies that choose strong values help shape their culture, attracting like-minded individuals to work for them.

In a recent article published by Forbes, there are 10 steps that chief people officers and talent acquisition specialists can employ to create an effective work culture:

1. Identify the company mission, vision and values. 
2. Appoint leaders who embody the culture and set an example. 
3. Communicate your culture at every stage of an employee's journey, no matter how long they've worked at the company. 
4. Access candidates for cultural fit and make this a priority during the hiring process. 
5. Empower your workforce by providing channels for feedback.
6. Put teamwork strategies in place to encourage a unified culture.
7. Make diversity and inclusivity a core part of your culture to inspire employee engagement. 
8. Reward employees for exemplifying your company values.
9. Invest in your employees' growth and development. 
10. Put processes in place that allow for a healthy work-life balance. 

Create a Compelling Employer Value Proposition 

An employer value proposition (EVP) is the unique set of benefits an employee is entitled to when engaged in a role. These benefits can comprise material perks, opportunities to learn and grow and the sense of purpose a job offers. According to the Harvard Business Review, there are three steps to creating a compelling EVP: 

1. Identify what your company has and what your employees desire: Collect data on the benefits your business offers, how employees perceive this and what they want. 
2. Hold structured conversations with employees to explain the short- and long-term benefits: Open communication between managers and employees will help teams gain clarity and manage expectations. 
3. Continually review your EVP and make necessary updates: Employee needs are ever-evolving, and companies need to adapt their EVP accordingly. Keep your finger on the pulse by collecting data and investigating significant changes, such as a significant drop in performance or mass resignation. 

Showcasing Company Culture Through Content

The average person spends approximately 6 hours and 40 minutes online each day, so engage with top talent by meeting them where they are already — the internet. Online content is one of the most effective recruitment marketing channels to showcase your values and tell your brand's story, positioning your company as a top place to work. Here are some effective content types to promote your employer brand: 

1. Video content: Share employee testimonials on your hiring pages.
2. Blog posts: Write posts that highlight your values in action.
3. User-generated content (UGC): This is content created by the user, which in this case is the employee. Encourage employees to tag your company in photos that showcase your culture, such as an outreach drive or team event and share them on your profile. 
4. Social media content: Create content that aligns with your mission and vision. 

Optimizing Your Careers Page

A crucial part of your recruitment marketing strategy is your careers page. Here's how you can deliver an optimal experience for people actively looking for a role at your company:

Design a User-friendly Careers Page

Your website — and specifically your careers page — influences how your brand is perceived. Position your company ahead of the curve by ensuring a user-friendly experience. Here's how: 

1. Implement easy navigation by limiting the number of clicks it takes to reach a destination.
2. Make your text skimmable by using bulleted lists and subheadings.
3. Compress image files for fast-loading pages.
4. Include an FAQ section to provide instant answers.

Showcasing Company Values and Culture

We know that EVP consists of more than just financial perks. By highlighting your company values and culture on your careers page, you can communicate the other aspects of your EVP to attract top talent. 

The old adage, “show rather than tell,” is instrumental here, so use employee video testimonials and include photos of your community projects and team-building events. 

Integrating Job Search Functionality

Qualified candidates seeking employment will submit multiple applications during their job search. This makes integrating job search functionality essential, as candidates can quickly find the role that matches their expertise and complete the next steps. Including search functions that filter jobs based on location, skillsets or experience streamlines the application experience. 

Candidate Experience

If a candidate faces multiple job offers, a positive application process could sway their vote. In addition, it sets the tone for the career path ahead and highlights what they can expect. 

Prompt and personalized communication is fundamental in ensuring a favorable candidate experience. You should aim to send: 

1. A notification confirming the receipt of the application.
2. Emails outlining the next steps. 
3. Rejection emails to unsuccessful interviewees. 
4. Phone calls to successful applicants.

As the candidate's application experience impacts the likelihood of accepting the offer, recruiters should continually look for areas of improvement. Taking note of candidate responses or using a short survey helps to gather valuable data to identify growth opportunities. 

Diversity and Inclusion in Recruitment Marketing

One of the most effective recruitment marketing strategies is promoting your brand's diverse and inclusive workplace. This is essential as top talent transcends race, age and gender, and you want to attract the best. 

Some tactics to outline your inclusive stance include: 

1. Showcasing photos of your diverse team on your career page.
2. Outlining specific policies you have in place to ensure inclusive recruitment practices.
3. Appointing a diverse talent acquisition team to access, interview and select applicants.

As with all recruitment marketing practices, it's best to review your diversity efforts to ensure success periodically. Focus groups or anonymous feedback forms can deliver a goldmine of information to improve your culture.

Summarizing Recruitment Marketing Best Practices

Recruitment marketing helps you establish a strong employer brand, making your company appear attractive to top talent. Some of the best practices to achieve your recruitment marketing goals include optimizing your career page, developing a favorable candidate experience and prioritizing diversity. 

By partnering with an experienced employer branding agency, you have access to the best recruitment marketing channels to help your business values stand out on career pages! 

Interested in learning more? Feel free to schedule a call or meeting with a friendly employer branding professional from the Ph.Creative team today!