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n economic terms, an unemployment rate between 4% and 6.4% is considered full employment. By any standard of measure, we are at full employment nationwide. If you’re currently filling job vacancies in your business, then you know first-hand that recruiting quality employees is becoming quite the challenge.
If for no other reason, many companies are engaging in a more robust marketing program to find and recruit talent. If you’re already there or heading in that direction, here are some best practices in marketing and advertising from a human resources perspective.
Websites are the window to the world – your company’s world
The careers page is the most frequently visited page on most company websites. Unbelievable? Look at your website analytics, and you’re likely to find this to be the case. That alone is sufficient motivation to think of your website as a recruiting tool, perhaps your most important tool.
If you are recruiting talent in a technology field, will you recruit strong talent if your website doesn’t use current technology? Probably not. Will top talent find you if your website isn’t compatible with mobile? Again, probably not. More than 50 percent of your site traffic for career searches will come from mobile devices. If your website isn’t mobile friendly, make the change.
As a marketing tool, your website is designed to resonate with customers and prospects, but as a recruitment tool it should speak to current and future employees, too. With 40 or more hours per week of their lives at stake, employees want to spend that time in a great environment. From an applicant’s point of view, does your website content and images portray your company and team in their best light? If not, add little nuggets that do. Your current employees are a fountain of ideas.
Social media is more important than the job posting
Statistically and anecdotally we can tell you that future employees will view your social media pages before they submit a resume.
They’re wondering if this a place they want to work? Do employees seem happy and content? Is there a social component to the company’s mission or is it work work work? Will they be able to learn new things and advance? What does the work environment look like?
Candidates won’t wait for the interview to find out, and they won’t take your word for it. Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram are your greatest recruitment brochure. Even if you have no other reason to use these social media channels than to recruit talent, consider developing a robust social media presence to show, not tell, your culture.
They’ve never heard of your company
Name some of the top advertising agencies or top website companies in Kansas City. Do some immediately come to mind? Now do the same for your industry. Is your company one you’d think of?
Being top-of-mind with job seekers is more about being known and recognized than how you fare against competitors. You may be only the 10th most successful company in your field, but that doesn’t mean you can’t look and sound like the best to potential employees.
A strategy of branded outreach and communication, whether it be paid advertising, public relations or social media, will pay off in spades when you’re recruiting. “I’ve heard of them” is a powerful first step in finding and recruiting top talent. Your applicant pipeline will fill faster if you are a familiar name in the community.
About those health benefits and that ping pong table
Candidates are attracted to your company for different reasons. Whether or not to align those reasons with your culture is an important decision – not only to your recruiting efforts, but also to maintaining your company culture. Your company should have an accurate and honest presentation across the board. The clearer you describe your culture and working conditions, the more likely you are to receive resumes from people who align with your idea of the perfect candidate.
The importance of the written word
Help wanted
Experienced customer service representative
–or–
Spend your day making people smile when they least expect it
Which recruitment headline better describes the job and your culture? How you write recruitment advertising can make a huge difference in the quality of the candidates who contact you. Which is more important to you, experience or fitting in with the culture? There is no right or wrong answer, but there is a different approach in recruiting when one attribute is more important to your company, as in the example above.
How a job posting, a landing page or an advertisement is written can make an exponential difference in the number of resumes received.
No millennials were mentioned in this article
You would expect that a recruitment marketing article would focus on meeting millennials’ needs and wants in the workplace. But, this is not the case. Potential employees of all age groups use the same channels and see the same information when searching for their next job. Millennials are no longer a reason – or an excuse – for how you recruit.
The job market is tight. Great talent comes in all shapes, sizes and ages. Marketing for recruiting and hiring is complicated, but needn’t be. Put yourself in a job seeker’s shoes and keep in mind the advice we’ve given. Let the resumes pour in.