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So you’ve heard that recruitment marketing can make your hiring easier, but what does it actually look like in practice for your company? Head of Marketing, Jo Cockle, runs through the 33 Talent roadmap in implementing recruitment marketing into your hiring strategy.
The Marketing Funnel
Consider the simple marketing funnel: Awareness, Interest, Decision, and Action. The recruitment marketing process works similarly - by focusing on attracting and nurturing applicants, you can rework the hiring journey from late-funnel persuasion to pre-funnel engagement. In other words, you’re engaging candidates before there even is a job-seeking process.
There’s a reason why 77% of CEOs surveyed by PwC say they see the availability of key skills in human capital as their biggest business threat. Even in the age of automation, companies still need people. Implementing a successful recruitment marketing strategy can bridge the gap between the sought-after talent pool and high-functioning companies that need to hire. The relationships formed in the early stages of the funnel eventually converts people into applicants, then brand evangelists, and then leaders in your organisation.
The 33 Talent Roadmap
As a team of experienced recruiters, marketers, business owners, and consultants, the way we approach our Recruitment solution ensures no stone is left unturned. We start with an Employer Branding workshop by one of our ICF-accredited coaches, utilising coaching methods with key stakeholders to explore the founding ethos, values, and vision for your company. After we extract a mission statement and framework to base our strategy, we’ll guide you through building important employer branding assets like a website, careers page, employee handbook, and pitch decks.
For example, the careers page is a crucial part of the jobseeking process - this is where you’ll drive top-funnel leads and encourage them to apply so it should feel consistent to the rest of the site but also include powerful, persuasive copy from current employees. You’ll want to make sure applications are painless and easy, especially when 1 in 5 candidates give less than 10 minutes to a job application or 2-3 pages on a mobile application before dropping off.
With your core EVP and branded assets, you now have a foundation to build on. Unlocking the best talent to come to you means crafting a message that is attractive and authentic, carrying the ‘brand story’ through the funnel (from inclusive job advertisements to employee content) using a coherent content strategy. Our team will work closely with you to develop a content hub that brings your company to life; this may be video, copy, or graphics for a LinkedIn campaign that we use to boost your online reputation and increase traffic to your pages.
The final part of the recruitment marketing roadmap is also the most complicated one: candidate nurturing. Perhaps a job seeker has seen your smashing social media posts and decides to join your talent community on your website, now what? Nurturing candidates means engaging with them, ensuring they have a delightful interview experience, and creating a standardised and positive onboarding process. It’s helpful when mapping out your candidate journey that you’re thinking through different personas. For instance, a software engineer vs. a talent acquisition consultant will have different pain points and activities associated with their candidate experience. And it pays off to pay attention to this: good applicant experiences can ripple positive long-term effects for organisations regardless of whether the candidate was actually hired. Applicants are more willing to consider the company again at a later period, tell friends and family to do the same, or leave positive feedback online. Nurturing candidates should be an evolving process...experimenting, learning from data and improving recruitment efforts as your company and team progress.