Gone are the days of posting jobs and expecting skilled candidates to apply. Today, in a competitive talent market, building a workforce of diverse talent is a challenging proposition for any business. Therefore, businesses must be proactive in solving their hiring needs. HR and Recruitment teams must engage with promising candidates to show how the role and the company can deliver for them.
Recruitment marketing is the strategy utilized by companies to find, attract, engage and nurture talent throughout the recruitment funnel. As the success of your business depends on the people you hire, this article aims to support the development of your recruitment marketing. We will explore how you can do this in five steps, including:

1. Enhancing your employer brand.
2. The creation of excellent recruitment content across multiple channels.
3. Understanding your ICP and the individuals you should be targeting for your roles.
4. Use current employees to find your next great hire.
5. Constantly measure the performance of your recruitment marketing to identify positives and improvements.

How to attract first-class talent with your recruitment marketing

Market your company as the place to be for great talent

A positive employer brand is crucial to improving interest and application rates for your roles. 75% of candidates assess an employer's brand before applying. As an organization, you must consider the factors that attract an individual to a job or a company. Potential candidates want to know who your company is and the reality of working life. In addition, they need to see the values that guide you, your history and accomplishments, and your mission and future goals. Once they have this information, they can consider whether they want to be part of the journey.

The strength of your employer's brand is key to capturing the proper interest. Therefore, to improve your recruitment marketing, you should aim to show potential candidates what makes your organization unique. You can do this in several ways:

• By speaking to current employees, you can learn what they enjoy about working at your company. By learning about these strengths, you can implement them into your recruitment marketing to show the world.
• Candidates must see the type of culture you have and how it is to be a part of your organization. Your employees are your best spokespeople; they know what it is like to work at your company and hopefully enjoy the experience. Use them in your recruitment marketing.
• As businesses compete for the same talent, you must find your USP and points of difference from your competitors. Whether that is flexible working hours or regular social events, showcase them in your recruitment marketing. Therefore, it highlights the potential advantages that an interested applicant choosing your company may have.

Your employer brand can make your company the desired place to work. By implementing elements of your employer brand into your recruitment marketing, you can communicate what makes your organization unique and what you can offer potential employees. In addition, doing so can ensure your business is a viable and attractive destination, improving interest and application rates.

Creating great recruitment content

Content is a vital asset. It enables companies to capture their audience's attention and grow positive brand impressions. Furthermore, content helps to establish positive relationships with consumers or potential candidates that maintain their interest. Recruitment content is vital to attract your ideal candidates. In addition, it helps to grow natural interest and awareness of your roles and the company. 

Putting the right information in front of candidates establishes visibility and positive perception. When job seekers recognize your brand positively, it may impact their decision-making. They have seen or read so many great things about your organization that applying for a job may be the next step.

Therefore, to improve your recruitment marketing, you must create excellent content that captures interest. A multichannel approach to recruitment content ensures no stone is left unturned. Therefore, businesses should look to deliver their recruitment content across many channels, including:

1. Blogs
2. Emails
3. Videos
4. Social Media
5. Thought leading content 
6. Webinars
7. Advertising

Furthermore, as new generations enter the workforce, businesses must consider looking beyond traditional channels. For example, millennials or Gen-Z may use different mediums than older generations. So to ensure your organization does not miss out, deliver your message on niche channels where you know potential talent spends their time, such as TikTok or Twitch.

Nurturing connections with passive candidates

In addition, recruitment content should not just look to establish a connection with those actively searching for jobs but also to engage with passive candidates. According to Gleanster Research, 50% of leads your company generates are qualified but not ready to take action.  Therefore, recruitment content can act as a form of lead nurturing. It enables you to build relationships with prospective candidates. They may be happily employed, but receiving recruitment content that engages them will create a positive impression of your company. So, one day if they decide to seek opportunities elsewhere, your careers page may be the place they go.

Content is an integral part of your recruitment marketing. Creating material across many channels can increase engagement opportunities and build a positive brand reputation. Today, without engaging content, businesses will not be able to attract the high-value candidates they seek.

Identify the type of candidate you seek

To attract talent today, businesses require a new approach. As we are aware, the talent market is highly competitive. Therefore recruitment and HR teams must act like marketers to attract and convert applicants. In doing so, they can personalize their approach to attracting talent and target specific individuals rather than adopting a blanket approach. By understanding the ICP, Ideal Candidate Profile, for your roles, businesses can save time and money during recruitment. To build your ICP, you must discuss the position with the relevant teams and departments. They can communicate to you the individual best suited to the role, the skills, soft and technical, the level of experience and other job specifics.

Once you have the information, you can tailor your recruitment marketing to create content that speaks to the audience you wish to engage. By understanding the role's requirements and the type of individual you are pursuing, your recruitment marketing delivers more clarity of the position, alongside providing the audience with a better vision of working for your organization. Your recruitment marketing can be more precise through a more tailored, surgical approach. Moreover, creating ICPs for your jobs can boost your business's awareness of the individual they seek. Thus, allowing you to utilize the information to deliver a higher quality of recruitment marketing that speaks to the desired audience and their aspirations.

Use your employees as brand ambassadors

Your employees are your brand ambassadors. They know your company and are a part of its daily routines. So, no one is better placed to deliver better insight into your organization. Consequently, your employees can help improve your recruitment marketing.

Prospective candidates trust employee reviews three times more than company statements. When searching for a new role, we often seek an unedited perspective of a new workplace. In many cases, individuals may approach current employees for their views. Current employees can act as ambassadors and engage with active or passive job seekers. For example, they may explain the type of organization you are, the benefits, the diverse working environment and the growth opportunities. There are many advantages to your employee's involvement in your recruitment marketing. Firstly, it can help boost referrals. Often, employees hired through a network and prior connections are hired quicker, perform better and stay longer. 

Secondly, it is an excellent way of measuring employee satisfaction. Employees happy to speak positively about your organization show how much they value their role and working environment. Yet, perhaps most importantly, employees help to spread the word about who you are and why people should be interested in your roles. When current employees provide positive information about your company throughout their networks, it will help to make your recruitment marketing and your ability to attract interest far easier.

Measure the performance of your recruitment marketing

When businesses implement any new strategy, they must test its performance regularly. For example, by measuring the results of your recruitment marketing strategies, you can learn where you are succeeding or failing and develop a vision of how to evolve. Using KPIs and metrics such as the number of applicants, cost and quality of hire and retention rates can show the impact of your recruitment marketing. For businesses, measuring the performance of their recruitment marketing can show how many applicants you are sourcing, where they are coming from, the sources where they receive information about your jobs and company, and the strategy's cost-effectiveness. From this information, you can decide whether it would be prudent to try another approach or continue with the existing plan.

Why improving your recruitment marketing is key to your future success

In a challenging talent landscape, businesses must look to improve their recruitment marketing. By perfecting their strategy, companies can position themselves as the destination of choice amongst first-class talent, increasing the number of applicants and new interest in your company.

When you can hire the right talent, your business stands to benefit. Whether improving financial and operational performance, increasing retention rates and employee engagement, it all begins with the right recruitment marketing strategy. To enhance your recruitment marketing strategy, you must consider:

1. Putting your employer's brand at the center of your strategy.
2. Creating recruitment content that engages active and passive job seekers across generations.
3. Instigating a targeted recruitment marketing strategy to appeal to specific candidates.
4. Using current employees as brand ambassadors and their real-life experiences to build interest.
5. Utilizing KPIs and metrics to measure the performance of your recruitment marketing to identify where you have been successful and make improvements.