The COVID-19 pandemic changed the way the world works.

Those who were lucky enough to maintain their employment likely adopted a work-from-home model, while many people were unfortunately left without jobs. But as the world continues to move back to normal, so does the job market.

With many jobs continually becoming available across the spectrum of roles, how do you stand out in the crowd and win the best talent for your business? Many companies are employing recruitment marketing to attract the right kind of people, including Marketsmith! But what makes recruitment marketing different from posting your available positions?

Here’s what you need to know.

Recruiting itself attracts talent to jobs. Recruiters or human resource (HR) professionals will post one or a few jobs across multiple job boards to fill their positions. Recruitment marketing builds more on the brand overall and attracts talent to the company first—then the job. Many times, a recruitment marketing effort is put in place when there are various positions available so the focus can be more on the company benefits.

We believe there are three key must-dos for executing a recruitment marketing strategy that appeals to candidates:

  1. Develop and provide clear benefits to potential candidates:
    • These can include the standard financial (e.g., 401(k)) and health coverage benefits but should also highlight remote working, employee betterment efforts, training and education, and growth opportunities.
    • What makes your company different? Is there a benefit that would make you stand out and attract candidates? That is what you should be promoting in your messaging and visuals.
  2. Emphasize the strength of your brand and the values that the company holds to position you as an ideal employer:
    • This can be done by promoting company reviews, employee features, and companywide events or giving back to your local community.
    • These more ‘under the hood’ looks at your company can give a prospective employee an idea of what it would be like to work for you outside of the general job description.
  3. Utilize channels in which you are likely to find candidates AND in which they are likely to find you!
    • This can be a mix of both digital and traditional channels depending on the types of roles you are trying to fill or the skill sets/qualifications needed.
    • Consider demographic and survey data—like the social media consumption of people ages 18–35 in New Jersey—to help craft the ideal mix of channels to ensure you are targeting potential candidates where they consume media.

Starting here can make finding and attracting top-tier talent a much easier feat.

Client Success Story

Marketsmith client PSEG Long Island was looking to recruit qualified lineworkers to its training program in 2020. Qualified lineworkers can be difficult to recruit due to the nature of the industry. Most qualified applicants (more than 5 years’ experience) will already be working for an electrical utility or a contractor. Identification of these individuals is not simple, so our content strategy and imagery needed to be strong and relevant to these potential recruits. Working in collaboration with the PSEG Long Island HR team, we developed:

  • A geotargeted media plan to reach experienced lineworkers effectively and efficiently
  • A strong creative communication platform—“Better Up Here”—to entice lineworkers to apply for a PSEG Long Island position

The results:

  • An increase in completed applications and qualified applications shows our media strategy contributed to an uptick in total applications during the campaign period of February–March 2020
  • Specifically on Facebook, the campaign generated a 0.68% overall unique CTR, outperforming our benchmark of 0.30% unique CTR by 126%.

It takes talent.

With the available workforce and economy continuously evolving, recruitment marketing is a must-have part of any company’s hiring strategy to gain a competitive advantage. Candidates are expecting more from companies, and with the breadth of available positions out there, you can’t blame them. To win at recruitment marketing, your brand must put its best foot forward with a strong brand message AND with what’s in it for potential candidates, and you must do it against an ideal media mix. Our team of marketing experts can help craft your brand message and ensure it reaches your ideal targets. Ready to get started? We’re here to help you find the talent.