It seems like every day there is a story in one industry or another about being in the right place at the right time and honestly, working on recruitment marketing is no different. Connections can be made at any time or at any place even if they aren’t relevant right away. Of course, there are typical methods of recruitment such as job board postings, direct mail and email campaigns, which are each effective in their own right, but what companies need to consider is that there are many other ways to recruit top talent. Here are three ways recruiters can make sure they are working smart instead of just…hard.
1. Start Building a Talent Pipeline
When recruiters need to fill a specific position, it is automatically urgent because chances are the hiring manager needed it filled yesterday. The fact is, transactional job ads will probably never disappear, as companies can’t predict all openings, but for areas that have regular turnover or an ongoing need, consider recruiting in a more preemptive manner.
In the 2016 blog article Your Talent Pipeline Playbook, iCIMS noted that, “according to iCIMS' Hire Expectations Institute, 52 percent of U.S. companies surveyed believe that building a talent pipeline or candidate pool is the top talent acquisition priority. However, only 22 percent of companies have a strong pipeline for critical positions, reports Human Capital Institute. In fact, research from Lee Lecht Harrison reports that 30 percent of employers described their pipeline as poor or nonexistent.” With so few companies working on a targeted talent network strategy, there is a world of candidate opportunity for companies to take advantage of. Building your recruitment brand and nurturing candidates for future roles is a great way to make sure you have options when the hiring manager begins to panic.
2. Create an Employee Referral Program
Did you know that 32% of quality hires come from employee referral programs? That’s right! Data from LinkedIn’s Global Recruiting Trends 2016 report suggests that employee referral programs drive incredible candidates. If you don’t have a referral program in place, consider offering the option to upper management as a solution to finding the right candidates versus a larger quantity of unqualified ones.
3. Fighting the Law (or Marketing Department)
Recruitment marketers and the marketing department sometimes have an uneasy relationship. We understand; it’s easy for the actual marketing department to feel threatened by recruitment marketing efforts, but in actuality there’s no reason for these departments to be anything less than harmonious. The recruitment brand is absolutely a different animal from the brand identity of a company, but they are two halves of a whole.
According to the LinkedIn report, “as organizations invest more in their employer brand, talent acquisition teams worldwide continue to share employer brand efforts with cross-functional partners. And who are they partnering with the most? Their marketing departments. A strong relationship with marketing will be key to employer brand excellence.” In order to get the best results, work to include your marketing department in your recruitment advertising plans. This sort of symbiotic relationship will allow you to cross share relevant stories on each others social networks and make sure that all brand guidelines are being upheld.
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