How To Delight Candidates By Applying Inbound Marketing Principles To Recruiting?
Get better results by treating job seekers like customers
Posted on 03-17-2022, Read Time: Min
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The “Great Resignation” in progress has been anything but great for companies struggling to retain quality employees and attract new ones. And “resignation” might not be entirely accurate, either, because it could imply that employees are helpless to do anything but resign in the face of jobs they don’t like.
Perhaps a better way to examine the current labor situation is to frame it as a “Great Rethinking.” Employees are rethinking their priorities, not only in terms of pay and benefits, but also with how their jobs fit into their personal lives and world views. This has led to a buyer’s market of sorts for the American workforce. People won’t hesitate to leave a job for something that pays better wages or emphasizes their livelihoods over work output.
Perhaps a better way to examine the current labor situation is to frame it as a “Great Rethinking.” Employees are rethinking their priorities, not only in terms of pay and benefits, but also with how their jobs fit into their personal lives and world views. This has led to a buyer’s market of sorts for the American workforce. People won’t hesitate to leave a job for something that pays better wages or emphasizes their livelihoods over work output.
The stakes clearly have changed for companies, and the competition for talent has become fiercer. In this new reality, organizations are discovering they already have tools to find, target, and delight that talent: the inbound marketing best practices they use to find, nurture, and convert customers.
The Inbound Connection
Recruiting was already a priority for many companies before the Covid-19 pandemic turned the workplace upside down. Now, organizations must find ways to make connections with candidates far beyond what people might find on a job board.
That’s how inbound marketing can make an impact. Just like a brand might appeal to a sales lead, the employment brand of your company must appeal to job seekers. This can include:
That’s how inbound marketing can make an impact. Just like a brand might appeal to a sales lead, the employment brand of your company must appeal to job seekers. This can include:
- Resources — Anything from information about your company to general articles on timely career topics (e.g., making the most of PTO, how to be successful in a remote office, and so on)
- Chances for interactions, including webinars, live job fairs, Q&A sessions, and other channels to connect with candidates
- An intuitive application process that not only makes life easier for the applicant, but also gives recruiters the ability to quickly segment out the best candidates
If your organization is already proficient in doing these things for customers, applying them to employee recruiting shouldn’t be too difficult. However, you will need to pinpoint your messaging toward the audience—in this case, job seekers who are being picky—for your marketing to resonate.
The Job Seeker Persona
Before you get started with investing in a full-blown recruitment marketing campaign, take a step back to make sure you and your team are aligned on the persona you are targeting. This is different from your company's buyer persona. You’re solving different challenges. Consider what the job seeker in this market cares about and what your company can offer. Are your core values and culture aligned to this persona’s needs?
When building candidate personas, work with your recruiting team to better understand what the rock star applicants look like, what common questions are asked early on in the interview process, and what channels have worked best for the recruiting team to find candidates.
When building candidate personas, work with your recruiting team to better understand what the rock star applicants look like, what common questions are asked early on in the interview process, and what channels have worked best for the recruiting team to find candidates.
Core Values and Culture
The “Great Resignation/Rethinking” has shown that solid wages and benefits aren’t always enough to satisfy the modern employee. Your core values and company culture matter just as much, if not more, with job candidates.
First, consider your messaging. Is what you have posted on your website not only prominent, but also reflective of what you stand for and what will appeal to your ideal candidate? Also, think about the things that make your organization different. Discover why people are or aren’t applying to your company. In addition to conducting exit interviews, ask your current employees what about your organization and culture makes them want to stay.
Once you have updated your messaging matrix to also resonate with job candidates, apply this intelligence to your content and your channel. The company’s about or culture page is an obvious place to start, but also incorporate messaging into recruiting campaigns.
First, consider your messaging. Is what you have posted on your website not only prominent, but also reflective of what you stand for and what will appeal to your ideal candidate? Also, think about the things that make your organization different. Discover why people are or aren’t applying to your company. In addition to conducting exit interviews, ask your current employees what about your organization and culture makes them want to stay.
Once you have updated your messaging matrix to also resonate with job candidates, apply this intelligence to your content and your channel. The company’s about or culture page is an obvious place to start, but also incorporate messaging into recruiting campaigns.
Your Lead Database
Many hiring platforms already will sort out candidates by their qualifications, experience, salary requirements, and more. By taking an inbound marketing approach, you can sort out job leads before they even reach the application stage.
Just as customer information can be segmented, the data from candidate leads can be used to target content, retarget marketing, identify the best prospects, and tailor efforts toward getting them more information. In this way, you’re adapting a lead pipeline into a candidate pipeline. You can introduce lead scoring and prioritize candidates, tracking your efforts to see what’s working and what is not.
Furthermore, your existing sales and customer pipeline new leads could be used as an extra source of job leads depending on your business and industry. Imagine recruiting from a pool of leads, who already know your brand, your values, and your commitment to excellence—and all the tools and best practices are already in place to manage the process.
Just as customer information can be segmented, the data from candidate leads can be used to target content, retarget marketing, identify the best prospects, and tailor efforts toward getting them more information. In this way, you’re adapting a lead pipeline into a candidate pipeline. You can introduce lead scoring and prioritize candidates, tracking your efforts to see what’s working and what is not.
Furthermore, your existing sales and customer pipeline new leads could be used as an extra source of job leads depending on your business and industry. Imagine recruiting from a pool of leads, who already know your brand, your values, and your commitment to excellence—and all the tools and best practices are already in place to manage the process.
Craft Campaigns
All your efforts to find, nurture, and convert leads via an inbound recruiting strategy will fall flat if candidates are bored with the content you’re delivering—even if the messaging is on target. Getting creative with your campaigns is essential to piquing leads’ interest, whether prospects are actively considering applying or just curious about what your company has to offer.
Consider these ideas to delight candidates, and remember, nothing is off the table when coming up with your own unique campaigns:
Consider these ideas to delight candidates, and remember, nothing is off the table when coming up with your own unique campaigns:
- Plan virtual job fairs and other events in which leads can talk live with people in your company. Record these events so that prospects, who can’t join live, can still participate.
- Think outside of the box with email campaigns. The usual nurturing fare (e.g., “Check out this article” or “Come to our webinar”) is fine, but also craft emails that highlight the core values of your organization and spotlight employees, accomplishments, and initiatives.
- Beyond virtual job fairs, host webinars exploring topics that aren’t directly recruiting but get attendees to associate the topic with your organization. For example, plan a general presentation on how to thrive as a remote employee—and, conveniently, your company offers remote work.
- Retarget people who have visited your careers page with paid ads so that they keep you in mind once they’ve left the website.
- Publish blog articles—perhaps as an offshoot of your careers page—to offer a steady stream of content that, again, doesn’t have to always be directly recruiting the reader. Series of articles keep readers coming back to your website, and posts can be collected into an e-book, newsletter, or similar resource that offer value to leads while capturing valuable info from them.
- Take advantage of social media, which opens up new channels and allows for creativity and right-sized content for your target candidates.
- Create advertorials—sort of like infographics—which can be designed to highlight the roles at your company that are open, qualifications needed, and anything else that gives people pure information about opportunities at your organization.
Ultimately, you want to show prospects and candidates how working at your company can enrich their lives. By treating job seekers like customers during the recruiting process, they are more likely to believe they’ll be a priority if they’re hired by your organization. As the mindset of today’s workforce continues to evolve, that focus can be a difference-maker.
Author Bio
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Hannah Shain is the Director of Marketing at SmartBug MediaⓇ. She leads all things demand generation, brand, marketing automation and more at SmartBug. With more than 12 years of professional marketing experience, Hannah develops marketing initiatives that drive pipeline, increase lead velocity, and build a lovable brand. Connect Hannah Shain |
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