With today’s labour shortage, recruiting is becoming a game of snakes and ladders. The best recruiters know that the talent acquisition process starts long before a candidate comes across a job posting.

A good recruitment marketing strategy can help you differentiate yourself from your competition and immediately convey your company culture and establish your reputation as an employer. Here are five benefits of taking a marketing approach to your recruitment strategy.

1. Strengthen your employer brand

Before someone even chooses to become a candidate, they will have the opportunity to evaluate your employer brand. Smart recruiters know this and act in advance to ensure you have brand strength and to encourage resonance of your brand with top talent. It can be highly beneficial to refine your brand, share your key wins and the best attributes of your culture and to be proactively and positively present in the marketplace. A strong employer brand will help attract top talent.

2. Your existing talent are ambassadors

Find your happiest and longest-serving employees; then find out what makes your company so attractive to them. This is where the marketing department steps in to share their stories. If you’re trying to recruit the next crop of students, ask former interns who have accepted a full-time position at your company to attend recruiting events, make themselves available to answer candidates’ questions, and proactively contribute to recruiting activities. Encourage more tenured employees to network at industry events and recommend your company to former colleagues. They know your culture best and can make helpful recommendations on who might be a good fit.

3. Be active on the Web

The benefits of online recruiting can be enormous. A Recruitsoft/iLogos Research study of 50 Fortune 500 companies found that the average company reduced its recruiting cycle by about six days by posting jobs online instead of in print, by an additional four days by accepting applications online instead of on paper, and by more than a week by screening and processing applications electronically. With such efficiencies, it’s no wonder that 90% of large U.S. companies are already focusing on online recruitment activities.

In other words, in an environment where competition for talent is fierce, companies that master the art and science of online recruiting will attract and retain the best people.

4. Expand your reach

Strategic recruitment marketers don’t just wait for candidates to stumble upon their job openings. Instead, they look for top talent where they already are and take a multi-channel approach to their recruitment marketing activities.

That means social media, third-party job boards, industry sites and even paid ads. With active outreach, you’ll spread your employer brand far and wide to attract a more diverse audience.

5. Focus on quality over quantity

The best marketers develop customer personas to guide their content creation. Similarly, recruiters can develop candidate personas that fit their company culture and recruitment plan.

By strategically focusing your recruitment marketing efforts on the ideal candidate, you can select the people who fit your candidate persona and thoughtfully grow that talent.

Tip

Share marketing data with HR. Depending on your industry, the people you target as customers may be ideal candidates. Marketing campaign performance data can help talent acquisition teams understand who to hire, as well as when and where. For example, early career professionals may be more active on Facebook or Twitter, more experienced professionals may be more easily reached via LinkedIn, and people with certain job skills may be more receptive to communications sent via business contacts or high-level recruiters.