The State of Recruitment Marketing 2019: Attract Top Talent and Build the Employer Brand to Achieve

Exclusive research by HR.com

             

The usage and understanding of recruitment marketing has seen noticeable growth since 2018. More and more organizations understand what it is and how it can help them sustain the competition for skilled employees in future workforce.

For the purpose of the report, let us define Recruitment marketing (RM) as “the various activities an organization uses to find, attract, engage, and nurture talented prospects before and during the recruitment process.”

In February and March of 2019, HR.com conducted the second annual study, The State of Recruitment Marketing, to examine the reasons behind RM’s emergence, the degree to which it has been adopted by organizations, which of its components are widely used and highly valued, which tactics and strategies are most closely linked to recruitment success, which technological solutions appear most promising, and how RM is likely to evolve in the near future.

Below are the key findings from the study:

Although the understanding and usage of recruitment marketing are up, RM is not yet widely mastered. A little over one-third of HR professionals (36%) say their organizations have a high or very high level of understanding of RM, up from 32% in 2018. Less than one-quarter (23%) say their organization's understanding is below moderate. Therefore, about three-quarters have at least a moderate understanding of RM practices.

HR professionals believe that both technological and skills enhancements will be necessary for the future of talent acquisition. Technology advances, especially automation and Artificial Intelligence (AI), are expected to play a major role in RM’s future. And, talent acquisition practitioners are expected to improve their marketing, social media, technology, and networking skills.

Competition for talent (70%) and the rise of social media (64%) are the two factors widely cited as driving the growth of recruitment marketing. Recruitment marketing is an appropriate strategic response to identifying, recruiting and hiring high-quality candidates.  Social media makes recruitment marketing possible, serving as a mechanism for engaging and attracting potential employees, even those who are only passively seeking new jobs.

Since recruitment marketing is an emerging practice as opposed to a well-established one, it is possible that some organizations are postponing investments in RM technologies until they’re convinced such investments will have an acceptable rate of return. Similarly, there is a scarcity of skill sets in an emerging area where technology and human management intersect. But this does indicate that organizations that want to “up” their RM game should train recruiters in such skills and/or hire those who have these skills.



To learn much more about the 2019 State of Recruitment Marketing survey and to gain 8 key strategic takeaways from this exclusive HR.com industry research, please read the complete report here: