As a company, you spend a lot of time marketing to your buyers. As marketers, we spend a lot of time figuring out the best ways to reach them. While you’re busy selling what you do, don’t forget about potential employees. They’re an important segment of your audience. Recruitment marketing is about selling the aspects of your brand that attracts and retains the types of employees who will contribute to delivering on your brand promise. To reach candidates, you need a clear understanding of the types of candidates you need to reach, the messaging that will engage them and the channels they’re using to receive your message.
Make sure your company is mobile ready
According to the Pew Research Center, 95% of Americans now own cell phones. The percentage that own smartphones has climbed to 77%, up from 35% since the Center’s first survey of smartphone ownership in 2011. With unlimited resources at their fingertips, most job seekers are now doing their searching on mobile devices. A whopping 78% of Millennials used mobile devices to find jobs as of 2016. 73% of Gen Xers searched for work on their mobile device, and Baby Boomers are quickly adapting to this new method of looking for employment, with around 57.2% of Boomers active in 2016, up from just 51.2% in 2014. And for occupations that aren’t
The rising trend in mobile searches means mobile optimization of your company’s website is no longer a nicety – it’s a must. It also means that employers have new ways to get your brand in front of candidates through mobile advertising and geo targeting (We’ll cover more on that in our next blog post on geofencing strategies).
Add a careers page to your website
Prospective employees are already visiting your website. Once they arrive, make it clear why they should want to be part of your team.
Take a look at law firm Quarles & Brady’s career website, which goes well beyond the basic listing of job openings. The firm delves into company culture with “The Q&B Experience,” giving a quick rundown of employee and location stats before listing prominent awards and recognitions. The site entices prospective employees by highlighting the cities its offices are based in and opportunities for professional development, selling the employee lifestyle before job seekers have even made it to open positions.
Showcase employee culture on social media
More people than ever are using social channels to connect remotely via their mobile devices, and it’s become standard practice to research everything via theses channels – from the new connections made at networking events to prospective employees, and the other way around. Job seekers are without a doubt checking your company’s social channels to see if your culture is one they want to be a part of, and with a few simple steps you can be sure that it is.
Highlight company culture. Showcase that team outing or the results of a productive meeting at the office.
Make your employees relatable. Individual spotlights give employees a chance to shine as well as making visitors to your page feel more connected to your brand.
Encourage employee interaction on your social channels. No one advocates for your company better than happy employees,
Need inspiration?
It’s no surprise that the social media management pros at Hootsuite are leading the charge in selling their brand online. Their Instagram account (@hootsuite) is loaded with group photos of employees having a good time. Doesn’t their Paris office look like somewhere you want to be hanging out?