As a digital marketing company, we help businesses and nonprofit organizations of all kinds promote their brands online. Recently, several clients have sought our help specifically with promoting job openings within their organizations. And what we’ve seen is that the same principles of online marketing and advertising also apply to employee recruitment.
That said, it takes more than a simple “now hiring” ad to bring in qualified candidates. From tried and true recruitment marketing best practices to innovative ways to share job postings online, here are our top recruitment marketing ideas and creative ways to attract candidates to your open positions.
Recruiting new employees is one of the most important parts of running a company. Facebook and Instagram advertising are great ways to reach potential applicants. Especially considering the large volume of Generation Y entering the job market, social media recruitment strategies are becoming essential components of a successful employee recruitment strategy. These kinds of ads are having marked success in the recruitment industry.
There are many different types of Facebook ads for recruitment marketing. Some are designed to attract candidates who have the desired skill set and then filter them with a personality quiz. Others show employment vacancies or list company benefits to their followers while some show off the brand personality and attract job prospects in relational ways.
Here are some tips on how to recruit on Facebook and Instagram:
In conjunction with an intentional social media ad campaign, organic social media posts can give your efforts a significant boost. Asking current employees to share job opportunities on social media gives your positions more traction to reach an even wider audience.
Organic social media posts are a cost-effective and easy-to-use method of recruiting new employees with all the benefits of more traditional methods – namely reaching a wider audience and highlighting the brand in creative ways. Organic posts also allow you to show off the culture and employee experience of your company in a way that may not be possible with traditional advertising methods.
Videos are exceptionally beneficial to the online recruitment process. Showing potential candidates what it’s like to work in your organization helps them see themselves as a part of your company. This can help you make a personal connection in the same ways you would expect from traditional marketing efforts.
Additionally, testimonials from individual team members validate your recruitment marketing messages and give credibility to your claims. Combined with b-roll of the work environment, recruitment videos pack a powerful punch that can be repurposed on social media, on your website, and even in local television ads as needed.
Depending on the overall goals of your company and where you are in the life of your organization, you may need a more aggressive approach to recruitment marketing.
In regular digital marketing, a landing page is one that connects with an ad and redirects visitors to your company’s main website. You can leverage this for online recruitment as well, especially if you have a need for more direct branding or are recruiting for certain professional specialties and expertise.
Recruiters can use this tool in different ways, depending on what they need. They can use it as an introduction page, where they provide information about their company, who they are looking for, and what kind of person would be suitable for these roles. If they need specific skill sets, a landing page can be used to prequalify candidates before they get too far along in the process.
Furthermore, if for some reason your company needs to boost your corporate image to prospective candidates, campaign branding with a landing page gives you a home-court advantage to speak directly with candidates who click on your links.
It’s important to understand that digital billboards are not just for attracting customers. They are also a great way for hiring managers to find candidates who will be a good fit for open positions in their company.
Billboards may seem like an outdated way to advertise but depending on your geographic location, billboards are a consistently effective way to communicate with a wide audience. You’ve likely seen digital billboards along roadsides and city-centers alike (Hello, Times Square!)
Multiple benefits can be experienced when using this form of advertising from constantly refreshing interactive content to show-stopping branding and videos to attract new eyes to your brand.
Along with billboards, don’t discount the sustaining power of print marketing collateral. The decision to continue investing in print depends heavily on your industry. In some cases, it may make sense to combine print and digital marketing efforts to make it easier for candidates to apply.
For example, one client we support used postcard-sized handouts with a QR code printed on them to link to their careers/hiring page. These were passed out at an event and resulted in many new applicants. These are the kinds of innovative solutions that help recruiters tap into a larger cross section of talent and find more of the right people to fill open positions.
We are very excited about helping our clients find the right people for their open positions. Whether you need help reaching new job prospects on social media or combining traditional recruitment activities with interactive solutions, we would love to help. Please contact us today so we can schedule a meeting to learn more about your goals and needs. We look forward to hearing from you!