What is recruitment marketing?
Successful recruitment marketing strategies are complex. We’re here to help! Learn recruitment marketing best practices here in our ultimate guide.
Recruitment marketing is the strategies and tactics a company uses to attract and engage potential candidates.
A strong recruitment marketing strategy has:
- tangible ROI for the company
- decreased time-to-fill and cost-per-hire
- increased quality of candidates and hire
- improved employee retention and engagement
What is the difference between recruitment marketing and employer branding?
Employer brand is the perception of your company as an employer. Many factors affect an employer brand, including but not limited to:
- company mission and values
- organizational purpose
- culture (organizational and team)
- benefits
- career and training opportunities
The goal of employer branding is to create as positive a perception as possible. Introducing new benefits, training management to be stronger leaders, and offering career development programs are all examples of employer branding activities. All three of these examples will positively affect the employee experience, and therefore their perception of working there.
Recruitment marketing is the communication of that employer brand. A recruitment marketing strategy is based on traditional marketing principles:
- Candidate personas
- Building high-value content
- Targeted distribution
The goal of recruitment marketing is for your audience to better understand (and remember) your employer brand. Ultimately, a strong recruitment marketing strategy will convert the right candidates into applicants, and applicants into employees.
What is a candidate persona?
A candidate persona is a fictional person who represents your ideal job candidate for a given position. The persona is based on researching current team members who are thriving in that position. What is their background? What motivates them professionally? How do they spend their free time?
Recruitment marketers use this research to better understand their ideal candidate. Candidate personas make it easier to create targeted, personalized, and highly effective recruitment marketing content.
What is recruitment marketing content?
Content is the means through which you communicate your employer brand and build connections with candidates
Recruitment marketing content can take many forms:
- Photos: Each photo on your social channels, talent community communications, and career site is an opportunity for candidates to envision themselves at your organization. Ditch the stock images!
- Video: Let candidates hear from their most trusted source: current team members. Video also enables you to give visual insight to help candidates visualize themselves in your office.
- Blogs and other text-based content: Find the stories that matter in your organization and bring them to life in a blog post, Q&A session, social media copy, email marketing, and more.
- Graphics: Create visual experiences for your candidates. Some ideas: Combine photos and text-based stories to create a social graphic. Or take company benefits, unique program details, and other ‘lists’ and create an infographic.
- Repurpose your recruitment marketing content: If you have a great story, share it in video, text, and graphic form.
Where should I post my recruitment marketing content?
Recruitment marketing content should exist everywhere that candidates are researching and interacting with your company.
Some of those places include:
How do I communicate company culture?
Candidates want to know about universal culture topics such as mission, purpose, and core values.
These topics are often very broad, so bringing them to life to candidates in an engaging way is key. Don’t settle for high level testimonials: The best way to communicate your universal culture statements is to support them with employee stories.
Why should I use employee stories in recruitment marketing content?
Employee stories are the most effective type of recruitment marketing content.
Here’s why:
- Stories give real insight: Saying your team is “like a family” gives zero insight to candidates. A story about your manager visiting you in the hospital during a medical emergency provides personal significance to that promise.
- Stories are memorable: Nina’s favorite day at work was when her entire department surprised her by dressing as the 101 Dalmatians to her Cruella de Vil. Try forgetting that!
- Stories prove you are who you say you are: Your EVP, brand statements and commitment to diversity mean a lot to you…but stories ground these statements in the day-to-day reality of the workplace.
- Stories can be repurposed easily: A video, blog post, social graphic, and drip campaign email from one story? You bet!
- Stories follow the candidate throughout their journey: candidates’ needs change as they move down the funnel. Right before they come in for their interview, send them a story about their future manager that they’re meeting with. Nailed it!
- Stories are closers: Hearing a story and experiencing the visuals of a workplace without setting foot in a location allows candidates to picture themselves working there. All the easier to convert at the offer stage!
What is the difference between an employee testimonial and an employee story?
Jargon-heavy testimonials like “I love working here!” make your storyteller sound great. But they give zero culture insights to candidates. A compelling employee story has eight key elements:
- Provides candidates with real insight → the story should reveal a truth about your company.
- Something specific happened → that’s the story!
- It inspires action → the person consuming the story should want to do something after hearing the story (learn more, apply or not apply, refer a friend).
- It paints a realistic picture of the work environment → providing visual insight allows candidates to visualize themselves working there
- It’s personalized → how does the person watching relate to this story?
- It’s personal → showcase the personality of the storyteller, they are a future colleague after all!
- Your company is a character → Your company did something to make this story a reality.
- It brings strategic statements to life → Stories prove you are who you say you are.
How do I get started in recruitment marketing?
A great way to get started in recruitment marketing is to create a recruitment marketing series. A recruitment marketing series is a group of content created around a specific topic within your organization. Some good topics for a recruitment marketing series:
- communicating core values
- initiative hiring (veterans, university recruiting, etc.)
- highlighting a specific team or program
Each video in the series covers a different theme within the overarching topic. Together, the videos provide a complete picture of that aspect of your employer brand.
What is the ROI of recruitment marketing?
When done right, recruitment marketing can have a huge impact.
- Lower cost-per-hire
- Shorter time-to-fill
- Higher quality of candidate and quality of hire
- Higher levels of retention
- Increased engagement: likes, comments, shares, and followers on social
Get our guide to the best ideas for your recruitment marketing content!
Are you looking for more resources to help with recruitment marketing? The Stories Inc. team has got you covered. Help yourself to the following resources.
Best Employee Stories Kickstarter
Start with our quick guide to capturing employee stories and communicating culture. Learn how employee stories translate into recruitment marketing and employer branding content. Also, see examples of how progressive companies use stories to support broad culture concepts. Get the guide.
Content Planning Worksheet
This sheet will help you get inspired, get planning and get organized. You will access scopes and plans inspired by progressive employer brands. Additionally, the worksheet will help you engage candidates and build pipelines through targeted recruitment marketing content. Get the worksheet.
Team Storytelling Content Kickstarter
Learn tips for starting your own team storytelling project. See examples of how progressive companies communicate team value propositions and take on unique recruiting challenges. Get the guide.
Real Employee Photos Content Guide
Show candidates photos of real employees at work. Then, they’ll picture themselves working with you. Get inspired by these employee photos that show culture from within office environments, manufacturing facilities, on shipyards (!) and more. Get the guide.
60 Second Video Content Guide
You can make one-minute videos that grab candidates’ attention. See video examples from progressive companies and learn how you can quickly make an impact. Get the guide.
If you would like more help with recruitment marketing content that connects to candidates, contact us, we are happy to help.