Create a recruitment marketing strategy in five easy steps

Finding the right employees for your company is no easy task. According to recent statistics from CIPD, “There is currently a highly competitive market for experienced employees, reflected in survey feedback. The majority (85%) of respondents are facing skills shortages with one third (36%) indicating that they experienced significant skills shortages in the last 12 months.“  So where does a recruitment marketing plan come in?

If you want to find the best financial service talent, you need a good recruitment marketing plan to ensure they’ll bring their wealth of skills and experience to you.

What is a recruitment marketing strategy?

The first step in understanding how to do recruitment marketing is knowing what a recruitment marketing strategy is. Only then can you properly apply the following ideas to your recruitment strategy – and indeed, to hiring the many other kinds of professionals you need to keep your company running.

In a nutshell, a recruitment marketing strategy is a reliable, repeatable system you use to make your company visible to good talent and reel them in. A good strategy will paint a positive (but honest) picture of your company and attract talent that will complement your needs and values.

Why does a brand story matter?

Have you ever heard the phrase “brand story”? If so, chances are you’ve wondered what it meant. If not, it’s time you familiarised yourself with this important concept. This is a narrative about your company that transforms you from entity to brand.

While it’s often applied to selling, it is also useful for recruitment. If you haven’t yet outlined your brand story, make sure you do so – either on your own or with the help of expert recruiters.

Top 5 recruitment marketing ideas

In truth, building a better recruitment marketing strategy will take time. Expert help is the fastest way to overhaul your hiring practices and see success in bringing in the best people, but it’s not the only approach. Take a look at the following top five recruitment marketing ideas.

1. Enlist the help of specialist recruiters

Not sure what you’re doing when it comes to recruitment marketing? That’s okay. Step 1 in your plan is very, very simple: enlist the help of specialist recruiters to minimise the amount of work you have to do and maximise your success. Choose your recruiter carefully as they’re an extension of your company brand: picking a recruiter that aligns with your company values will allow you to:

• Gain access to a market where you want to make your brand visible
• Take advantage of the recruiter’s experience to engage the target market
• Market intelligently and conserve talent search funds
• Create job adverts that appeal to those you want to hire

2. Enhance your website careers page

The careers page on your website can be a really great employee attraction tool…if used well!

So here’s your cue to refresh and upgrade your careers page! It doesn’t have to just be a list of current vacancies - it’s a chance to tell your brand story and give candidates a window into your company, to see the type of people who work there and give them an idea of the company culture. 

But how do you convey all of this on one small page? Some ideas could be: 

• Videos of existing employees talking about their career journey with your company
• Talk about benefits package and other reasons they should work for your company
• Tell the story of your corporate social responsibility - aligning your company’s values with those of your employees could give your company a real chance to stand out as a good employer. A recent PWC survey has shown that employees have a particular interest in their employer's impact on the environment and society with the majority feeling that these areas are very important.

Additionally, it’s important to review your job adverts and descriptions for gendered language - doing so ensures that your job and company appeals to the widest possible audience. Natasha Welehan, Principal Consultant with Savvi Recruitment explains how:

“The reason it's important to know this is there is quite a lot of research out there that says if an ad is very masculine focused in terms of the language that's being used - and these can be words you might not have even thought of like, ‘competitive’ would be a masculine coded word, ‘ninja’ - really popular word at the moment, everyone's a ninja especially in the tech industry, that's a masculine coded word - but these words, this language in the job ad can actually put women off applying whereas there is research that says if the ad is feminine coded men just aren't really bothered.”

Tools like Gender Decoder, Text.io and Text Analyzer can be really useful in helping you identify gendered language.

Natasha also recommends looking at the actual job advert itself. Looking at a long wish list of requirements within your job description or your job advert can put women off applying.  Keep your list focused on the truly essential requirement. Think about what this person will need to perform well in the role.

3. Keep track of review sites

Part of recruitment marketing is maintaining the right image. It’s important that you pay attention to your public profile and ensure it always represents who you actually want to be.

Accordingly, keep track of sites like IrishJobs.ie, Indeed, Glassdoor and LinkedIn Jobs, where former employees can post what they really think of you. 

Positive reviews can be leveraged in your company’s marketing, to give prospective talent a taster of what it’s like to work in your company.  You can keep a track of negative reviews and address them too, but try not to get too bogged down in them.

4. Use job boards selectively

Job boards should play a role in any recruitment marketing strategy. They are an excellent resource to engage with active talent.

However, job boards are expensive, so don’t simply blanket your postings all over the internet. Instead, be strategic, opting for the ones most likely to highlight the individuals you need at your company. If you don’t know which boards to prioritise, ask a professional recruiter for help.

5. Don’t forget about social media

Smart marketing now uses all platforms.

Banks and consultancies are utilising different social media channels to highlight their brand story.

Therefore, part of your recruitment marketing plan should include being active on social media. This is a great place to showcase the day-to-day goings-on of your company and make sure it attracts people who will add to your culture and bottom line.

Get expert recruitment support today

Looking for the customised help you need to reach a new level of recruitment success? Savvi Recruitment Consultants is here to help. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you recruit top finance talent today!