The Secret Sauce of High-Performance Recruitment Marketing

Editor's Notes

• #8: Recruiters today are under a lot of pressure. Candidates are more fickle than ever higher expectations of recruiters than in years past near-constant communication and tight feedback loops Competition for the best candidates at an all-time high Difficult enough to get someone worthwhile in the door and in front of a hiring manager. No time to plan for the future Recruiters have always expected to find and engage top talent As employer brand and candidate experience take precedence over efficiency metrics, many struggling to change gears.
• #9: Hiring better talent is the top priority for employers in 2014. Tall order. Everyone wants to hire the best because everyone wants to be the best. Title implies, the best are a cut above the rest In talent acquisition and in business performance. Few are prioritizing for success. Less than half of companies included attracting more talent and strengthening employer brand in top 3 talent acquisition goals. Fewer cited improving candidate experience as a priority. Each is directly tied to talent acquisition performance. The question that begs to be asked: “What are the best employers doing differently to enable better hiring?”
• #10: Before I get into that, I’d like to know how you are enabling better hiring in your company. As you can imagine, there are a number of ways to do it – as different organizations have different needs (and different budgets). This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it is a relevant list for today’s presentation.
• #11: Most effective hiring organizations today leverage advanced marketing practices in talent acquisition practices and strategy – to much success. Prioritizing employer brand and attracting talent. Not all recruitment marketing efforts are created equal. Many have attempted to mimic strategies employed by high-performing hiring organizations Few have strong grasp of the principles of effective recruitment marketing. Result = Generic value proposition, hollow employer brand, little-to-no candidate relationship management. Creates not only a bit of identity crisis, also makes a bigger mess of candidate experience. Success in recruitment marketing requires having a plan, deeper understanding of marketing principles and how to adapt them for use in talent acquisition.
• #12: For hiring organizations struggling to attract talent, one of the biggest hurdles to jump is establishing a working understanding of recruitment marketing – what it is, what it isn’t, and how it can impact a company’s ability to hire better talent. To that end, BHG published a report earlier this year that evaluated the keys recruitment marketing success, and provided actionable insights for improving efforts to build a healthy and attractive employer brand. We’ll be going over key findings today.
• #13: Talent acquisition has often drawn on elements of marketing and sales in the past. Today, recruitment marketing has become a more formalized process. At Brandon Hall Group, it is defined as: • All activities and strategies aimed at building and maintaining employer brand • Extending reach and exposure of career opportunities • All management of messaging and advertising of talent acquisition efforts As we’ll discuss, there are a few avenues to excellence in recruitment marketing. But before we go any further, there are a few things I’d like to clarify.
• #14: A number of misconceptions regarding what recruitment marketing is and isn’t – and what purpose it serves. Recruitment marketing is not the same as consumer marketing. Certain principles and practices that are relevant to both – few we will cover. Both aim for the same target (to improve the performance of the organization at large) One key difference: Few organizations have employees (or budgets, for that matter) dedicated to designing, executing, and managing recruitment marketing strategies and initiatives. Instead, many in TA tasked with doing the best they can with recruiters and resources on hand. Other big difference = recruitment marketing focused on marketing careers rather than goods and services – but you should have already known that. • Recruitment marketing is not another term for sourcing strategy. Efforts to strengthen employer brand and drive traffic to company career pages can often result in improved sourcing performance Scope of recruitment marketing goes far beyond sourcing. According to State of TA, 52% of organizations included recruitment marketing in their planning efforts. Recruitment marketing strategy and initiatives drive performance of key metrics in a larger talent acquisition strategy like employer brand and candidate experience. Speaking of sourcing and the scope of recruitment marketing… • Recruitment marketing is not limited to broadcasting open positions. Common mistake made by recruiters. Broadcasting open positions and career opportunities across the social web is too tempting for recruiters with an overwhelming number of jobs to fill. Org’s ability to provide value to everyone who encounters their employer brand – via a job posting or Facebook page – is an excellent indicator of that brand’s viability. Organizations that limit activity on the web (and social networks in particular) to broadcasting their “exciting opportunities” will find themselves consistently underperforming in their attempts to attract talent. Top candidates are more interested in what makes your company unique. More on both of these points later. • Recruitment marketing is not a facelift for an otherwise toxic culture. Fatal flaw in recruitment marketing efforts = notion that an organization can make itself more attractive to top talent by falsely propagating an attractive employment value proposition (e.g., an engaging work environment with room to grow for motivated candidates) in job advertisements and on the company careers page. May achieve certain results in the short-term, organizations that fail to deliver on promises may soon find themselves the subject of public criticism on sites like Glassdoor. It may be challenging to find an employment value proposition that is both true and attractive, but such is the challenge today’s most effective hiring organizations are tackling head-on. The good news is that candidates also value sincerity and transparency in an employer. Finding a way to turn that to your advantage is one of the biggest tests you will face if you want to achieve lasting results in recruitment marketing and employer branding.
• #15: Most important misconception that needs dispelling = recruitment marketing – and the attention it has garnered in recent years – is nothing more than a term recently coined by bloggers, a concept that calls greater attention to work recruiters have been doing for decades. True that some of the most successful organizations have been attuned to the ideas we’re presenting today, the more pressing truth is that the vast majority of hiring organizations still struggle to deliver on some very basic tenets of recruitment marketing. Key practices in recruitment marketing are evolving almost daily – and often differ based on organization size and industry – there are a few basic tenets of success that ring true for all. Some ring truer than others, and based on Brandon Hall Group’s experience and research over the years, there are 5 tenets that ring true for organizations of any size and industry: Authenticity Engagement Cohesion Agility Measurement
• #16: Recruitment marketing is not intended to put a pretty face on the ugly reality of life in a toxic work environment. On the contrary, the most effective recruitment marketing strategies are powered by authenticity. The most authentic story is what current employees are experiencing – how company culture enhances that experience, what makes your EVP unique. Storytelling an integral part of highly successful employer branding efforts at companies like NPR and Groupon. By shining light on the talent they have, able to attract talent that’s often off-radar. Compelling employer branding is all about stories, and helping prospective employees get a sense of what the organization is all about. Stories you tell will differ from one person (and one role) to another, no one knows the true value proposition of your employer brand better than the people who live it every day. Note: Each work group has its own culture, and each story will be different – as it should be. After all, a software engineer will want to know what life is like for a software engineer in your organization. Whatever story you are telling, whatever value proposition you’re promising, the importance of authenticity cannot be understated.
• #17: The second on our list of tenets for high-performance RM is Engagement. In recruitment marketing, engagement takes a few different forms: the type of content you share the channels you’re leveraging to share it the frequency with which you’re sharing. Goal = to consistently engage talent by ensuring the content you’re creating and sharing provides value to your intended audience. To provide the most value, it helps to understand the ways candidates are coming into your recruitment process – which can be tracked to some degree through applicant tracking tools (or even Google Analytics). While Twitter may be an effective channel for some companies, there are countless other channels for engaging with active and passive candidates and driving traffic to your career site.
• #18: Getting into the more technical side of things, the third tenet of HP RM is Cohesion. The majority of hiring organizations are just beginning to understand the role that cohesion plays in recruitment marketing. In reality, it can be used to reinforce the elements of your employer brand that make your organization unique. In the most effective RM strategies, each initiative and campaign is connected to create a more cohesive employer brand. While the language used and the story told varies based on the target audience, the core message of “this is why people work here” remains the same – as does the look and feel of the content they’re sharing. That way, regardless of channel or medium used, the basic employment value proposition is consistently represented. However, one must look no further than a standard career site to see a number of missed opportunities For example, rather than tailoring messaging and information for the types of roles an organization is hiring for, the majority of career sites have a generic “About Us” message; information is limited to the specific jobs they are currently trying to fill. High-performing strategies, on the other hand, are using both company and career-related information in different ways to create a cohesive employer brand while giving candidates a look inside the different roles and departments that exist within the organization. Google’s career site is an excellent example of cohesion in recruitment marketing. (see Figure 2, following page) From the color scheme, to the design, to the messaging, the look and feel of the company career page shouts “Google.” Candidates can explore all of the various business units that make up the Google brand. Software engineers can learn about life at Google straight from the mouths of their software engineers. Product managers can get a sense for what Google values in product managers and the various locations where Google has product management teams.
• #19: Google’s career site is an excellent example of cohesion in recruitment marketing. From the color scheme, to the design, to the messaging, the look and feel of the company career page shouts “Google.” Candidates can explore all of the various business units that make up the Google brand. Software engineers can learn about life at Google straight from the mouths of their software engineers. Product managers can get a sense for what Google values in product managers and the various locations where Google has product management teams. Every organization has a unique culture – and a unique employee value proposition. While recruitment marketing initiatives should be tailored for maximum impact, lasting results depend on your ability to infuse each campaign with a cohesive employer brand.
• #20: In the realm of technology and development, the concept of agility has become a key driver of success – and it’s a key tenet of HP RM. Loosely defined as adaptive, responsive, and nimble, examples of agile technologies include social and mobile – two of the most catalytic forces in the enterprise of the last 5 years. Applied to recruitment marketing, the principle remains the same: the most effective strategies are readily adaptable to meet changing needs, be it targeted sourcing or rapid growth. Those organizations that subscribe to the notion that recruitment marketing is merely a flowery component of over-the-top sourcing strategies, or who limit employer branding to a career page on Facebook, are at a serious disadvantage in the business of attracting talent. Lacking a comprehensive strategy, they are caught unaware when they begin receiving two-star reviews on Glassdoor or when a major news site publishes an article on their less-than-glamorous work environment. While those organizations with the biggest budgets have greater resources to draw on in the event of serious snafus, there’s more to agility than damage control. It’s about understanding strengths and weaknesses, and the ability to make the most of limited resources. The most agile recruitment marketing strategies are built on the more elementary aspects of your employee value proposition and company culture.
• #21: As previously noted, one of the biggest hurdles to jump in recruitment marketing is to establish a working understanding of its purpose and potential. Although there are a number of success stories emerging in the blogosphere reinforcing the notion that there are hiring organizations winning the race to attract talent, these feel-good tales do little to improve your ability to garner leadership buy-in for a serious recruitment marketing strategy. For that, you need to speak their language: measurable outcomes, return on investment, and business impact. For that reason, Measurement is the last and perhaps most critical tenet of HP RM. Talent acquisition measures have rapidly evolved in recent years, thanks in part to an increase in the number of tools available to support more extensive tracking and reporting across various processes and initiatives in talent acquisition strategy.
• #22: A few popular metrics for measurement in RM include: • Return on investment for each initiative – including increases in job views, number ofapplicants, and number (and source) of referrals • Breakdown of performance for each sourcing channel – and opportunities for greateroptimization • Changes in web traffic – including originating source (search engine, social web, etc.)click-through rates, time spent on which pages, repeat visitors • Changes in other key metrics – including cost-per- hire, time-to-hire, and quality of hires With hard numbers backing the effectiveness and impact of your recruitment marketing efforts, presenting the business case for greater investment is easier to attain. Without it, you risk falling further behind in the race to attract and hire top talent.
• #23: While one or two of the tenets presented in this model may carry more weight for some organizations than others, high-performing recruitment marketing strategies consistently take care to build each into their game plan for near- and long-term success. By determining which tenets are most critical to your organization – and which ones will be most difficult to incorporate – you can begin designing your own plans for success. So… Which tenets are at the top of your list?
• #24: Recruitment marketing strategies and processes vary widely because every organization has specific needs that require a different approach to attracting and engaging talent. Though there are myriad tactics for driving performance in RM, I found five components that are commonly employed: Search Engine Marketing Social Media Marketing Candidate Relationship Management Content Marketing Employer Brand Management Each tackles the challenge of attracting talent from a different angle, and as such each presents its own unique challenges.
• #25: Let’s start with the more complex component of HP RM: SEM. Today, people use search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo for everything from checking the weather to dabbling in art history. They also use search engines to research myriad products and services, and are more likely to select a brand that is on the first page of their search results. Search engine marketing (SEM) uses website optimization and online advertising to improve the visibility of a company’s brand on search engine results pages (SERPs). Similar to its application in consumer marketing, today’s savvy recruitment marketers are using SEM to ensure their job postings and career pages are consistently showing up when candidates are searching for new career opportunities. There are a few techniques in practice today: • Search engine optimization (SEO) strategies. This requires marketers to research and identify keywords that candidates commonly use when researching career opportunities relevant to the employer. By researching similar keywords or phrases and then incorporating them in web copy and job postings, an employer’s open jobs are more likely to show up in candidates’ online job searches. Of course, SEO can be a rather complex practice, which is why many employers work with specialized SEO marketers to design, implement, and manage SEO strategies. • Pay-per-click advertisements. These are paid inclusions of employer brand and open jobs in SERPs – usually in a designated section of a SERP. When a candidate searches Google for “jobs in Austin, Texas” paid advertisements appear as part of the search results. The fees for inclusion vary based on popularity of the search terms and are incurred based on the number of searchers who actually click on the ad. As with any other component of recruitment marketing strategy, success in SEM requires a long-term strategy with clear goals. But unlike the other components of recruitment marketing, significant results in SEM are difficult to predict – and require a considerable investment of time. Performance in SEM is highly dependent on the ability to track and analyze the rankings of company career sites and job postings on SERPS, and keeping up with changes in search engine algorithms can be burdensome for recruiters.
• #26: As with any other component of recruitment marketing strategy, success in SEM requires a long-term strategy with clear goals. But unlike the other components of recruitment marketing, significant results in SEM are difficult to predict – and require a considerable investment of time. Performance in SEM is highly dependent on the ability to track and analyze the rankings of company career sites and job postings on SERPS, and keeping up with changes in search engine algorithms can be burdensome for recruiters. As such, relatively few hiring organizations today are having much success with SEM. Brandon Hall Group’s recent Talent Acquisition Benchmarking Survey found that 13% of employers found SEM to be more than moderately effective as a sourcing tool. Though that number may change as more high-performing organizations develop a deeper understanding of SEM practices, the majority of organizations are likely to continue favoring less challenging avenues of attracting talent.
• #27: Social media marketing, as it relates to talent acquisition, involves all activity and efforts to grow and engage a community of candidates across various social channels. This includes sharing relevant content and updates, active participation in industry forums, open networking, etc. While many recruiters took to social media immediately, seeing its potential for sourcing talent, high-performing organizations today are using it as a primary channel for driving their employer brand. As previously mentioned, one of the more elementary mistakes in recruitment marketing – and social talent acquisition in general – is the use of social media exclusively for broadcasting open jobs. Although social networks can be a rich source of candidates, relatively few will be interested in learning more about the jobs you are hiring for at any given moment. Rather, they come to the social web to build new connections and strengthen existing relationships, to learn more about the world around them and the experiences of their peers. As such, for recruitment marketing efforts to be successful on social media channels, they have to provide some value to the communities they target. While a growing number of talent acquisition suites offer social network integration so that users can easily share open jobs or content directly from the recruiting tool, successful social media marketing requires no significant investment in social recruiting technologies.
• #28: Candidate relationship management – another key component of HP RM – also has roots in consumer marketing – specifically, the practice of customer relationship management. It’s the practice of managing interactions with present, past, and future candidates, and often involves using technology to automate communications and track and measure the performance of outreach campaigns. CRM has become an important component of recruitment marketing strategies for many reasons, particularly as candidate experience continues to be a major distinguisher between strong and struggling employer brand. Candidates today expect tighter feedback loops, and high-touch hiring. Recruiters and hiring managers at companies small and large have difficulty meeting these expectations, with the majority of their time taken up by more pressing business needs. Demand for tools to support more robust and consistent CRM practices has spiked in recent years, and many solution providers in the talent acquisition space have begun increasing CRM offerings.
• #29: The thing about CRM is, it’s nearly impossible to manage without some sort of technology in place. Lacking the ability to automate and streamline communications, homemade CRM is often executed on an ad hoc basis with activity rarely (or inconsistently) tracked. The good news is that most applicant tracking solution providers today offer some basic CRM functionality. Within these systems, users can create and schedule one-off email campaigns that feature new job opportunities or spotlight upcoming hiring events. They can set up automated workflows for keeping candidates up to date in the hiring process, or they can keep tabs on top candidates by tracking activity on the social web. With technology in place to support CRM efforts, it’s easier to infuse recruitment marketing strategy with elements of diversity and agility. Campaign templates make it easier to tailor messaging for greater impact in key candidate demographics Dashboards provide insights into candidate experience triggers and performance Applicant tracking integration connects CRM initiatives with hiring needs for optimal talent acquisition results.
• #30: In consumer marketing strategies, content marketing leverages the creation and sharing of media (news articles, viral videos, topical research, infographics, photos, etc.) in order to inspire new business. Content is an integral component to a recruitment marketing strategy Use it in candidate communications, in branding campaigns, on your career site, via social channels and in a plethora of other places.
• #31: When applied to talent acquisition, content marketing initiatives engage an ever widening pool of candidates by piquing their interest in your employer brand, and ultimately inspiring them to apply for, or share, your open jobs. Some companies, like Groupon, have dedicated blogs where employees take the spotlight, and are invited to share their stories of success. Others, like Land Rover, fill their career portal with content for candidates of all types. Most commonly used form of recruitment marketing content is the job posting. For decades, job postings have followed the same general format: Job title, description, and responsibilities are presented, minimum qualifications are listed, and some company information is provided. Unsurprisingly, this format does little to capture the interest of candidates today, who are hyper connected and constantly consuming more interesting content. Attempts to make job postings more engaging have presented a unique challenge for hiring organizations, with many unknowingly committing a major recruitment marketing snafu. Employers want to attract as many quality candidates to their job postings as possible – and many recruiters have begun “jazzing up” their postings with more eye-catching language such as “motivated team,” “fast-paced work environment,” or “rewarding opportunity.” With websites like Glassdoor rapidly gaining prominence as a resource for reviews of companies, their culture, and hiring process, however, employers are being held accountable for their ability to deliver on the value proposition they present to candidates. Employers must take care to ensure job postings fairly represent both the role and the company – or risk candidate backlash when they fail to deliver. The trick – for job postings and any other element of your recruitment marketing strategy – is to ensure content is both engaging and authentic. While it’s tempting to chase quick wins, inauthenticity can haunt an employer brand indefinitely. Identifying the most compelling elements of your company’s employee value proposition may require a bit of self-evaluation, but it is far better to present an honest picture of life at your organization than for your employer brand to be tarnished by candidates’ accusations of false advertising.
• #32: Just as recruitment marketing is much different from consumer marketing, so does employer brand differ from consumer brand. Whereas consumer brands are customer-centric, employer brand is a measure of the viability of a company’s employee value proposition. Employer brand management – the fifth and final component in our HP RM roundup – involves any and all activity associated with improving the company’s ability to attract talent and maintaining a positive image and reputation. This includes crafting recruitment marketing messaging to reinforce the company’s employee value proposition, as well as reconciling an employer’s reputation with the image it presents to candidates. The concept of employer brand has been around since the turn of the century, and has quickly become one of the prominent drivers of recruitment marketing strategy. Until recently, however, there have been relatively few solution providers offering advanced toolsets for measuring and managing employer brand. As a result, only big-budget hiring organizations with the resources to partner with specialized agencies were able to develop and execute effective employer branding initiatives. The rest were left to their own devices. Today, there are a number of resources and technologies available for monitoring and managing employer brand. The most basic of these tools allow hiring organizations to customize the design of company career sites and social profiles, often enabling embedded video and images. More advanced functionality, like that featured in Glassdoor’s employer solution, enables employers to closely monitor candidate sentiments regarding their brand – even reviewing specific words and phrases associated with pros and cons of the company.
• #33: Today, there are a number of resources and technologies available for monitoring and managing employer brand. The most basic of these tools allow hiring organizations to customize the design of company career sites and social profiles, often enabling embedded video and images. More advanced functionality, like that featured in Glassdoor’s employer solution, enables employers to closely monitor candidate sentiments regarding their brand – even reviewing specific words and phrases associated with pros and cons of the company. While these kinds of tools are relatively new, they are already bringing considerable value to branding strategy and initiatives – especially in measurement capabilities. Similarly to CRM, the success of employer brand management practices is heavily dependent on having technology in place to monitor and maintain employer brand performance – as I’m sure Rod Lacey, and his team at 1-800 Contacts can attest.
• #34: Before I hand things over to Rod, I have one final question: Which components of HP RM are you using today?
• #35: There are many paths to excellence in recruitment marketing – and vary widely based on the individual needs of an employer. Here to share 1-800 Contacts’ journey is Mr. Rod Lacey, VP of Human Resources and Administration. Rod?
• #44: Based on a 2012 study by Corporate Responsibility Magazine… 69% would not take a job with a company that had a bad reputation, even if they were unemployed!  84% would consider leaving their current jobs if offered another role with a company that had an excellent corporate reputation.  And most in $75-100K salary range would only require a 1-10% salary increase to consider such a move (Source: Allegis Group Services & Corporate Responsibility Magazine’s Annual Corporate Reputation Survey, Aug 2012)
• #45: Social media has transformed the way consume information, introducing new channels and accelerating the speed at which we share data, info, and stories. 70% of consumers trust reviews and ratings as a source of brand information (Source: Nielsen’s Global Trust in Advertising Report, Oct 2012 Today’s candidates… are highly influenced by peer reviews and ratings There’s been an explosion of information transparency that candidates have now come to expect when researching jobs and companies 95% employees say reviews from those on the inside are influential when deciding where to work (Source: Glassdoor Site Survey, October 2013) So it’s not surprising that today’s candidates seek that same kind of transparency and authenticity in their job search Your employees are already going to sites like Glassdoor to write what they think about what it’s like to work at your company.