Recruitment marketing: you’re doing it all wrong…

Even if you’re the best resourcer in the world, it’s probably likely that when you do look for a new hire, the approach still isn’t quite right. We’re not getting on our high horse here – we’re looking at this objectively, backed up by statistics, and the fact that hundreds of thousands of organisations are still having to pay perm recruitment fees or extortionate job board media costs.

Let’s just quickly agree that the term ‘recruitment marketing’ is a bit misleading:

- Recruitment is all about finding the right person for the job, and helping them along their journey as they settle into their new role

- Marketing is all about gaining exposure for a product, service or something else, usually putting it in front of a targeted audience

Two completely different things, right? And marketing is just one element of recruitment.

And with 85% of people agreeing that modern recruitment looks more like marketing than ‘old fashioned, telephone-banging, stack-em-high-sell-em-cheap recruitment’, the old ways need to die fast.

And you can do just that with three magic words, borrowed from the world of marketing, and easily applied to recruitment.

Think

Picture a lovely cold can of Coca-Cola on a hot day. What do you think? Gimme gimme gimme, right? That’s because Coke has managed to make you think that that lovely beverage will improve your day, and therefore your life.

So you need to make your candidate think that your role will improve their life.

You just need to supply a rational take-away that will sow the seed of self-improvement. This could be a question, information about your company that is truly unique (come on, dig deep), or a feature of the role you’re advertising that would make your target market stop dead in their tracks.

By making your candidate think about something game-changing before they’ve reached the job title, salary or benefits, you’re one step ahead of the anonymous job roles plastered all over the job boards.

And you won't make them focus on thinking about whether or not they can afford the rent with the salary advertised on the job ad.

But if you can’t think of a game-changer that will force the candidate to think, you should probably address that with the decision maker involved with the role. If your role doesn’t stand out from the crowd, then you’re going to seriously struggle to find the best people.

Feel

Back to that lovely can of fizzy greatness. You can see the condensation on the side. The ring is pulled, and an extremely satisfying spray of gaseous coke flies into the air. A bee whizzes by.

Sorry, got carried away there.

But look, we’re talking about that magic marketing thing of feeling. Be honest, did the job ad you read to make you want to take the job you’re doing now make you feel anything?

Tap into the candidate’s inner psyche. Talk about how they’ll have more time with their friends and family thanks to flexible working. Explore the awards you’ve won for the super work you’ve done, and show the candidate how they could be on the podium one day. Mention how the day-to-day is like nothing they’ve ever experienced before.

Talk about your culture too. The way you leave people to get on with what they need to do, while offering an open door if they find they’re struggling to do it, resonates so much more than ‘you’ll work closely with your line manager/ supervisor…’

This is infinitely more powerful than a bullet point list of benefits and a few sentences explaining they’ll need a degree, five years of experience (never say that, it’s illegal) and the willingness to work outside of contracted hours to ‘meet business needs’.

Do

This is the hardest part of all, thanks to the fact that only about 5-6% of those who read your advert will consider applying (the actual application rate could be even lower than that).

The doing part is also known as the call to action and it’s the holy grail of marketing – the point of purchase, the subscription, the thirsty reader tapping their phone on the card reader in exchange for that wonderful icy can of coke on a hot day.

Master this and you can save literally thousands of pounds on recruiter and job board fees.

You could recap on the thinking and feeling parts, before delivering the killer question of ‘are you ready?’

Or you could make it super-duper-easy for the candidate to start their journey. Don’t even ask for a CV, covering letter or any of that boring nonsense. Ask them to write a few bullet points explaining their needs, wants and desires. Offer an option for a ‘call back’ and pick up the phone.

You could even talk about your culture, EVP (please do one of those ASAP if you haven’t already), your values and beliefs, or something really pertinent about what your organisation does. Gen Alpha, the people currently sitting their A-levels and planning for university, will consider ethics, culture, internal opinions and a company’s standing on wider issues before the think about salary, so make this an integral part of your ‘do’ element as a future-proofing exercise.

Oh, and on your lovely little button on the bottom of the job ad, delete ‘apply now’. And replace it with:

- Make a difference

- Join the team

- Work differently

- Start your journey

- Let’s do this

A little bit of endearment doesn’t hurt.

Are you struggling with recruitment marketing in 2022? Have any of these thoughts and ideas made you think differently? Are you already doing them? Share your experiences with us on social media, or drop us a line for more handy help and advice around recruitment, culture and everything else to do with employer branding!