I distinctly remember when I first heard the term Recruitment Marketing used. My thought at the time was “wait… you mean employers haven’t already been doing this?!?” As a business-to-business marketing professional for my entire career, the activities encompassed in recruitment marketing seem like no-brainers. Yet here we are years later and a recent study from HR.com shows that just a third of HR professionals rate the level of their understanding of recruitment marketing as high or very high.
Recruitment marketing and talent shortages
I suppose part of the reason recruitment marketing hasn’t always been at the forefront of talent acquisition activities is simply because it hasn’t always needed to be. After all, when there are a plethora of candidates knocking on your door, you don’t have to do much marketing to get more. Thus, the current flurry of activity around recruitment marketing technology, strategies and conferences is no surprise considering today’s talent shortages. I’d argue, however, that recruitment marketing should ALWAYS be at the forefront of talent acquisition because its plans help you hone in on your target candidate’s needs so that you can attract, engage and retain high quality candidates. That’s something that holds true in any talent market.
[Building your employment brand foundation]
A deeper look into recruitment marketing
HR.com’s second annual survey on the state of recruitment marketing highlights six key findings that are worth a closer look:
- How well do organizations understand & utilize recruitment marketing? (Spoiler alert: not nearly as well as they should.)
- What is driving & impeding recruitment marketing?
- Who executes recruitment marketing?
- What do recruitment marketing leaders tend to do differently?
- Do recruitment marketing leaders enjoy added benefits?
- What will the future of recruitment marketing bring?
Partnering with technology. Leveraging brand ambassadors. Executing content marketing plans. Key differentiators. Monitoring analytics. Developing targeted campaigns. These are some of the best practices shared at this year’s CXR Employment Branding Colloquium meeting and they are mirrored in this latest research from HR.com. CXR research shows that recruitment marketing budgets are starting to rise and recruitment marketing is taking on a larger, more strategic role. This marketing professional is excited to watch it happen.
