Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment Marketing

Job Distribution

Job distribution is the process of making job openings known to potential candidates. It is an important part of the recruiting process, as it helps to attract qualified candidates and fill open positions. The idea is to cast a wide net and make jobs discoverable in as many places as possible. There are a variety of channels that can be used for job distribution, including: Job boards: Job boards are websites where employers can post job openings for free or for a fee. There are many different job boards available, each with its own target audience. Company career site: A company's career site is a great way to distribute job openings to passive candidates who may not be actively looking for a job. The career site should be well-designed and easy to navigate, and it should include a comprehensive list of open positions. Social media: Social media platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook can be used to distribute job openings to a wide audience. When posting job openings on social media, it is important to use relevant hashtags and keywords to reach the right candidates. Employee referrals: Employees can be a great source of qualified candidates. Many companies offer referral bonuses to encourage employees to refer their friends and colleagues for open positions. The best way to distribute job openings will vary depending on the company and the position being filled. However, by using a variety of channels, employers can increase their chances of attracting qualified candidates for their open positions. How Job Distribution Works Most jobs that get distributed today are scraped or indexed by machines. A typical employer will have their jobs "scraped" from the career site/ATS by a programmatic job advertising company such as Appcast or Joveo. They then create a master index of those jobs and pay job board such as Indeed and Ziprecruiter to send candidate traffic to those jobs. The employer then pays a small fee for that click. In some cases they may be also be charged a higher fee if that click turns into an applicant. That is called PPA (pay per applicant). Job Distribution Vendors There are a number of players in the job distribution space. They are mainly programmatic software companies that use AI and machine learning to distribute jobs to a variety of the web's top job boards and charge employers on a per click basis (CPC). Here are the programmatic job distribution software companies that are widely known. Appcast is a leading programmatic job distribution platform that helps employers reach qualified candidates across a variety of channels, including job boards, social media, and their own career site. Appcast offers a variety of features that make it easy to manage job distribution, including: Automated job posting: Appcast can automatically post job openings to a variety of job boards and social media platforms, saving employers time and effort. Targeted advertising: Appcast uses data to target job ads to the right candidates, based on their location, skills, and interests. Reporting and analytics: Appcast provides detailed reporting and analytics on job distribution campaigns, so employers can track the results of their efforts and make necessary adjustments. Joveo is another leading programmatic job distribution platform that offers a variety of features similar to Appcast. Joveo also offers a few unique features, such as: Applicant tracking system integration: Joveo integrates with leading applicant tracking systems (ATS), making it easy to manage job applications and candidates. Machine learning: Joveo uses machine learning to optimize job ad targeting and placement, so employers can get the most out of their job distribution campaigns. JobAdX is a programmatic job distribution platform that specializes in reaching passive candidates. JobAdX uses data to target job ads to candidates who are not actively looking for a job, but who may be a good fit for the open position. Aimwel is a programmatic job distribution platform that offers a variety of features specifically designed for small businesses. Aimwel is easy to use and affordable, making it a good option for businesses with limited resources. PandoLogic is a large programmatic job distribution platform that offers a wide range of features and services. PandoLogic is a good option for businesses that need to reach a large number of candidates. They are owned by Veritone which recently acquired Broadbean, one of the oldest job distribution companies in existence. Recruitics is a data-powered recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. They offer a variety of services, including programmatic job distribution, ATS integration and reporting and analytics. AcquireROI provides programmatic advertising, custom candidate apply experiences, quality assurance, and consultation services. These are just a few of the many programmatic job distribution software companies available. When choosing a platform, it is important to consider the specific needs of your business and the features that are most important to you.

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

5 Keys to a Killer Recruitment Marketing Strategy

In today's competitive job market, it's more important than ever for businesses to have a strong recruitment marketing strategy. A well-crafted recruitment marketing strategy can help you attract top talent, build your employer brand, and fill open positions faster. If employer branding is the ingredient, recruitment marketing is the recipe that makes it work. Here are my five keys to a killer recruitment marketing strategy: Know your target audience. The first step to developing a successful recruitment marketing strategy is to understand your target audience. Who are you looking to attract? What are their needs and wants? Once you know who you're targeting, you can tailor your messaging and outreach accordingly. Create a candidate persona for each important opening and define the ideal candidate. Create a strong employer brand. Your employer brand is what potential employees think of when they hear your company's name. It's important to create a positive employer brand that highlights your company's culture, values, and benefits. You can do this by sharing positive employee stories, highlighting your company's social impact, and promoting your company's culture on social media. Come up with a EVP (employer value proposition) for why people should come to work there. Use the right channels. In today's digital age, there are a variety of channels you can use to reach potential employees. Some of the most popular channels include job boards, social media, and your company website. When choosing which channels to use, it's important to consider your target audience and where they're most likely to be looking for jobs. You can't just rely on Indeed or LinkedIn so consider programmatic job advertising to distribute your jobs online to many sources. Make it easy to apply. The easier it is for potential employees to apply for jobs, the more likely they are to do so. Make sure your application process is simple and straightforward. You should also make sure your job postings are clear and easy to understand. By removing barriers in the apply process you are guaranteed to improve your apply rates. Track your results. It's important to track the results of your recruitment marketing efforts so you can see what's working and what's not. This will help you fine-tune your strategy and get better results over time. Every employer hiring today needs to have a plan in place to recruit effectively. From SMB's to the Enterprise, recruitment marketing is a pivotal tool in filling the pipeline with candidates. By following these five keys, you can develop a killer recruitment marketing strategy that will help you attract top talent and fill open positions faster. Here are some additional tips for creating a successful recruitment marketing strategy: Be creative. Don't be afraid to get creative with your recruitment marketing efforts. The more unique and engaging your content is, the more likely it is to stand out from the competition. Be consistent. It's important to be consistent with your recruitment marketing efforts. This means posting new job openings regularly, promoting your company on social media, and keeping your website up-to-date. Be patient. It takes time to build a strong employer brand and attract top talent. Don't get discouraged if you don't see results overnight. Just keep at it and you'll eventually see the fruits of your labor. Recruitment Marketing Agencies Many employers outsource their recruitment marketing to an agency to take care of the creative process and implement their recruitment marketing strategy. These firms offer in house expertise that your talent acquisition team may be lacking. Some of the most popular agencies include; Radancy is a leading recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. Radancy offers a full suite of services, including employer branding, candidate experience, and talent acquisition. Symphony Talent is another top recruitment marketing agency that helps companies build their employer brand and attract top talent. Symphony Talent offers a variety of services, including content marketing, social media marketing, and digital advertising. HireClix is a boutique recruitment marketing agency that specializes in helping small and medium-sized businesses attract and hire top talent. HireClix offers a variety of services, including job board advertising, social media marketing, and email marketing. Shaker is a family-owned recruitment marketing agency that has been helping companies attract and hire top talent for over 20 years. Shaker offers a variety of services, including employer branding, candidate experience, and talent acquisition. Brevity is a full-service recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. Brevity offers a variety of services, including employer branding, content marketing, and social media marketing. Recruitics is a data-driven recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. Recruitics offers a variety of services, including employer branding, candidate experience, and talent acquisition. Bayard is a global recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. Bayard offers a variety of services, including employer branding, content marketing, and social media marketing. Stories Inc. is a storytelling-driven recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. Stories Inc. offers a variety of services, including employer branding, content marketing, and social media marketing. PowerHouse Talent is a full-service recruitment marketing agency that helps companies attract and hire top talent. PowerHouse Talent offers a variety of services, including employer branding, content marketing, and social media marketing. These are just a few of the many great recruitment marketing agencies out there. When choosing an agency, it's important to consider your specific needs and goals. A good recruitment market strategy will help you stand out in a sea of hiring companies. Either bring those marketing skills in house or let a good agency like the ones above help you.

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

Creative Job Titles That Resonate With Job Seekers

When it comes to creating job titles, many companies struggle with finding the right words. They want their jobs to reflect their company culture, but they also want to be sure that the titles are searchable and appealing to potential employees. In this blog post, we will discuss some tips for creating job titles that accurately reflect your company’s culture while also being creative and interesting and straightforward. Job search site Indeed suggest taking a simpler approach when it comes to job titles. They consider a great job title are ones that a job seeker would search for. It should be a “industry-standard term”. They offer this example; For example, “Customer Service Representative” is a common job title for someone who answers customer questions. While you might be tempted to use a more eye-catching job title like “Phone Answering Superstar,” job seekers just aren’t searching for that term on Indeed. They’d prefer employers stick to job titles that job seekers “will find”. And this strategy has a purpose. When you stick to standard job titles, you’ll be more likely to reach more quality candidates. Creating Your Job Titles Start by considering the type of role you are hiring for and how it fits into your company’s mission. Think about the skills that you need and what kind of people could best fill the position. This will help you determine what kind of job title would be most appropriate. Next, consider how creative you want to get with your jobs titles. While many companies opt for traditional titles such as ‘Account Manager’ or ‘Project Manager’, some organizations may want something more expressive and creative like ‘Social Media Maven’ or ‘Data Driven Strategist’. The goal is to make sure your jobs stand out from others on the market, so think carefully about what unique terms might work for each position. Also consider how the jobs you are creating fit into your company’s values. What kind of language do you use to describe successful employees? This can help guide what kinds of job titles would be most appropriate and meaningful for each role. Give Your Job Titles Context I also like to give job titles more context by adding a descriptive word or two at the end of the job title. For example I recently saw an HR role on the job board EvilHRJobs that caught me eye. HR Generalist + Talent Wrangler (PT Remote) The first part holds the standard industry term but the rest of it gives more context about the role. It tells the job seeker that it will require some recruiting but its only a part time gig. That combination helps the seeker filter themselves out or in. Finally, keep in mind that these job titles should accurately reflect the responsibilities associated with each position. You don’t want a title that is too vague or doesn’t accurately reflect the work that will be done by the person who takes on this role. The job title should also be searchable and easy to find when potential employees are looking for jobs at your company. Creating job titles that capture the essence of your company while still being informative and creative is no easy task. By taking these steps, you can ensure that your jobs stand out among the crowd and attract the right kind of people for each role. Writing Your Job Description A job description should start with a clear and concise job title that accurately describes the role. This will help potential candidates understand what type of position they are applying for and whether it aligns with their skills and experience. It’s also important to use keywords in your job title that are relevant to the industry or position, as this can help you reach out to more qualified applicants. Next, provide a detailed overview of the jobs duties and responsibilities. Be sure to include all tasks related to the role so that candidates have an accurate idea of what they will be expected to do on a daily basis. Additionally, describe any special skills or knowledge that may be required for success in the position, such as programs or software used by your company. In addition to job duties, list the qualifications and experience required for the role. This should include both educational requirements as well as any relevant work history or skills that are necessary for success in the position. If you’re looking for somebody with a certain level of expertise, be sure to state this clearly so that candidates know what they need to have in order to be considered. Finally, provide an overview of your company and its culture. Candidates want to know what it’s like to work at your organization and how their job fits into the bigger picture. Talk about your values and mission statement, as well as any perks or benefits that come with working at your business.

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

What's an Employer Value Proposition?

Within today’s job market, getting creative with hiring solutions is more important than ever. An employee value proposition, EVP, is one tool employers can use to stand out from competition in attracting top talent to their organization. Gone are the days where simple promises of growth or the highest salary wins over the in-demand candidate. Rather, employers must present a comprehensive package that stands out amongst companies lined up ready to hire. According to Gartner, a technological research and consulting firm, an Employee Value Proposition is “the set of attributes that the labor market and current employees perceive as the value they gain through employment with the organization.” A well-developed EVP displays to a potential candidate not only the financial rewards being offered, but also the professional development opportunities, unique company benefits, or values and vision of the organization. An EVP may come in many forms such as a statement included in job ads, a video shared from company social media platforms, or one-pager shared with new employees. Regardless of the form it is delivered in, a successful EVP is one that company recruiters know well and is easily communicated to candidates. Every EVP should include certain elements that create a comprehensive view into the unique worth a company offers its employees. The EVP may be wrapped up in a share-worthy tagline, but almost always expands on several key components. Compensation The explanation of compensation in an EVP could include the company compensation strategy, system for raises and promotions, current employee compensation satisfaction, employee review procedures, and market comparisons. Benefits Benefits shared in an EVP should detail the basic medical, dental, and vision that is expected as standard and whether any percentage of premiums are covered by the employer. In addition to these basics, the company should share about their time off policies, retirement benefits, employee assistance programs, holidays offered, family leave, and any other perks included in total compensation. Forward thinking employees are always going to be considering the whole package, and one additional incentive may be the difference in being the employer of choice. Professional Development How is the company investing in its future by making employee growth a priority? Employees want to be re-assured that loyalty is not a one-way street when it comes to employment. Sharing how the organization invests in its employee’s growth can be a strategic differentiator in the market. Consider sharing whether the organization provides education reimbursement, professional networking opportunities, career planning, or training for advancement opportunities. Candidates want to know how their future work will be evaluated and how feedback will be provided. Work-Life Work life in an EVP clues candidates into what day-to-day values are prioritized in the company. Nike expresses their values in a EVP slogan, “win as a team.” Nike wants candidates to know they are a company who values working together to the make the world better through their products and services. Google claims to “build, design, code, create—for everyone.” They want to cultivate a diverse network of employees to join the ‘Googler’ team. Maybe the organization allows flexible work hours, advocates for clear work-life boundaries, or encourages healthy lifestyles; these are all important to share in an EVP. Finding creative ways to share the values the organization is focused on can help a company stand out and draw in candidates who feel aligned similarly. Culture An EVP could include a focus on company culture. Perhaps share that a vision of collaboration or company communication is a current emphasis. Answering what leadership style is prevalent could be a huge factor in candidate perspective. What efforts is the company making to create change via social or environmental responsibility? Employee value propositions can be a unique tool to foster buzz amidst both active and passive candidates. Companies can incorporate crafting an EVP during the annual goal setting process. By identifying not only company goals, but also ideal candidate traits, the organizational leadership can perform a gap analysis to pinpoint focal points. After creating the EVP from current goals, employers can initiate a roll out by defining where and how the EVP will be advertised to gain the best results. EVP’s should be evaluated on a yearly basis to ensure alignment with the everchanging and up-to-date company vision. Stephanie Mauney is a freelance writer and content curator specializing in Human Resources

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Stephanie Mauney

Recruitment Marketing

Job Aggregators - The Big List

Back in 2004 Indeed and SimplyHired launched our industry’s first job aggregators. Since that time, numerous players have emerged to take advantage of this trend. The end result is that jobs are now everywhere. Heck even Google got into the market back in 2017 with the Google for Jobs service. And Indeed eventually bought SimplyHired to remove them as a competitive threat. In between, there are seemingly dozens of so called job aggregators that want to help employers find talent. We’ll cover some of the biggest in this blog but let’s take a look at the difference between job boards and aggregators. Job Aggregators vs Job Boards Traditional job boards are marketplaces that simply allow employers to post jobs related to a certain niche: MarketingJobs.com, SupplyChainCareers.com etc. A job aggregator has always been a search engine first by indexing all the jobs from their client base and sometimes other job boards. Many aggregators now allow employers to post individual jobs in an appeal to small business owners. Job boards also now can scrape your jobs and are often backfilled with listings from players like Ziprecruiter. So the two channels have certainly merged features and functionality over the years. So should you use job aggregators. The answer is usually yes but here’s some reasons why; Comprehensive Search: Job aggregators server ever part of the job market not just a niche like a typical job board. They are a huge database of jobs. More Efficient: Job seekers love aggregators since it makes their search more efficient vs having to go to multiple sites. More Jobs: Because aggregators list so many jobs candidates can discover jobs they normally may have missed. It levels the playing field for small businesses. See Who’s Hiring: Aggregators are also a great research tool for staffing firms to see’s who’s hiring. Indeed even has a trend section to see which job keywords are trending. Top Job Aggregators Here is a list of the largest and most popular job aggregators: Indeed is the largest job aggregators in the world (by a large margin). Ziprecruiter is a ubiquitous player in the space that does a ton of advertising in order to generate traffic. Juju.com has comprehensive search results for millions of jobs found on thousands employer career portals, recruiter websites, job boards, and other employment sites all over the Internet. CareerJet.com is also similar to Indeed, but is available in more countries and in more languages than SimplyHIred. LinkedIn Jobs is more than a career social media site, it also aggregates job postings. GetWork (formerly Linkup) is an aggregator that pulls jobs exclusively from company websites. Talent.com is a global job aggregator with sites in 60+ countries around the world. Upward.net will post your jobs to 100+ other job sites. Jooble is an international job search website used daily by millions of people in 71 countries. Adzuna is another global player in the aggregator world. Also big in the UK. Maximizing Your Job Aggregators There are certain things you can do to maximize your use of these sites. Keep your job titles simple and use the right keywords. List your keywords multiple times throughout the description. Ensure your ATS has the proper XML feed so aggregators can scrape your data properly. Get listed on Google for Jobs (its free)

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

What is Recruitment Marketing?

Recruitment marketing has become such an accepted part of talent acquisition that Google lists more than a million references to “every recruiter is a marketer” or some version of it. There isn’t a recruiting or HR conference today that doesn’t have a session or two on the topic, some feature marketing as the conference theme. What makes marketing so central to successful recruiting is the need for employers to stand out in the crowded marketplace in order to attract and engage with the talent they need and convert them into applicants they want and hire. In the past, when jobs appeared in the newspaper and workers had little access to detailed knowledge of an employer and its culture, recruiting was transactional, with the recruiter holding most of the cards. With the rise of social media and employer review sites like Glassdoor, candidates are more sophisticated and what they learn about an organization influences their decision about applying. That alone is reason enough for a company to invest in recruitment marketing. A second and perhaps even more significant reason is to reach those not yet looking for a job. With more open jobs than applicants and competition fierce for the best people, promoting a positive brand and building awareness of an employer’s values and opportunities develops interest in the organization and hopefully encourages passive candidates to become candidates. Defining Recruitment Marketing Recruitment marketing involves working across multiple-channels trying to get talent to click on your opportunities. It involves leveraging social media, showcasing the company and jobs on the career page, monitoring employer review sites and responding as necessary, ensuring good SEO in job descriptions while planning the job posting placement to most effectively target the desired candidates. As if that isn’t enough, recruitment marketing strategies extend to building and communicating with the talent in candidate pipelines and ensuring that the application process itself is as simple and easy as possible. As the list illustrates, the range of recruitment marketing activities is broad. For that reason larger organizations have dedicated marketers on their talent acquisition team and also work with recruitment marketing and advertising agencies. However, many smaller companies also work with outside agencies. Even more have their recruiting team handle the marketing. Whatever the process, all recruitment marketing has the same goal: to attract and interest talent in your company, building and nurturing the relationship to convert these potential candidates into employees. Though the strategies will differ, all have the same basic blueprint: to tell the company’s story by highlighting the work it does and the people who do it. The company career site becomes the window into the organization. Job opportunities are listed, but the primary focus is to show potential applicants what it’s like to work there. Recruitment marketers most effectively do that with video tours and employees describing their experience and what excites them about their work. On social media, recruiters will interact with potential candidates engaging with them in Q&A sessions or something as simple as a poll. It’s just as important to talk about the company’s mission and its role in society, as well as describing the company culture honestly and transparently. More than a few companies forthrightly admit to what many would consider a negative, for example that long hours and frequent weekend work is part of the job. While that may seem a negative, it warns off candidates uninterested in that type of culture. While “every recruiter is a marketer” may be more of a hope than a reality, it is true that every recruiter has a role in recruitment marketing. It may be as simple as improving the application process or keeping up with the Facebook page or posting company pictures to Instagram. The more touchpoints, a marketers call them, a company has, the more opportunities there are to promote the brand and communicate with candidates. In that sense, every recruiter can participate in recruitment marketing. At the end of the day, recruiting IS marketing. Contribution by John Zappe

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

Employer Branding for Changing Times

2020 memes. I’m sure you’ve seen them all across social media, making light of the horror show that this year has been for most people, from pandemic to murder hornets to race, class, and political warfare. Toss in things like layoffs, furloughs and professional struggles, and traditional employment branding can seem tone deaf or out of place. Priorities have shifted for customers, employees, and job seekers. Who cares about ping pong tables and free donuts when if everyone works from home? Who cares about how many awards your company has won when your employees are turning over and customers or not renewing? Who cares that you offer competitive pay if workers are more concerned about stability? People are not moved by dry technical copy or compliant corporate-speak. Nor are they influenced by superlatives like “exciting,” “cutting-edge,” and “dynamic.” It takes more to stand out to a society with so much being thrown at them. This is really difficult to do in the digital age of political correctness, and so there is the understandable tendency to want to play it safe. But safe and proper are not what drive people towards a common goal. The branding that gets results today takes a stand on a specific set of values and is shamelessly, vulnerably authentic. Here are a few ways you can shift your branding strategy from what used to work to what works now: Old way – promoting how great a place it is to work and how happy people are. New way – talk about your challenges. Dostoevsky said (and I’m liberally paraphrasing here), that if you gave people everything they wanted and everything was perfect all the time, the first thing they’d do is smash something, just to have something unexpected or interesting happen. We are adapted as humans to require some security, but we are most alert and alive when we have one foot out in the unknown and are working to attain something. Talk about where you’re headed as a company and what problems need solving. Old way – culture and work environment are unknown or misperceived until after people are hired or decide not to pursue employment. Potential employees have no idea what it’s like to work for your company unless they know an insider. They are otherwise relying on maybe a statement or video on your career page, asking the Recruiter or Hiring manager, or checking out Glassdoor reviews (and then crossing their fingers). New way – Have your employees promote your culture and work environment on social media, company website and hiring ads. Give top candidates an insider to connect and interact with, and the ability to have an informational interview that is not tied to judgment of their qualifications for the position. If you’re afraid to do it, maybe your culture isn’t worth promoting. Old way – creating a website and social media pages, using them passively and leaving hiring ads to the Recruitment team to post. New way – doubling down on efforts to get brand recognition. Get your name out there with strategic SEO, partnerships and collaborations with other companies, and increasing your number of brand ambassadors to include as many employees as possible doing all of the things above. Employer branding is an evolving message that needs to be calibrated for shifting times. Hopefully these tips give you an idea of where to start. QUICK TIP 5 ways for enhancing your employer brand through texting. Send potential candidates news about your Great Place to Work Award. Push out ‘day in the life’ content about what its like to work there. Alert them of the latest job opening via opt-in subscription. Break down your top perks and benefits for working there and share those. End your messages with your EVP (employer value proposition) to reinforce branding.

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

Not Hiring? Build Your Talent Community Instead

Since many companies have had to freeze hiring or layoff people due to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis, a lot of them are still posting jobs in hopes of “pipelining” candidates. One industry insider told me recently as many as 50% of employers are actively still posting with no intention to hire. But this strategy has one big flaw. It exacerbates the resume black hole for candidates who are looking to find work now. Instead of this tactic, I recommend employers look at building and curating their own talent communities if you truly want to fill your pipeline for future hiring needs. A talent community also provides a slew of long term cost saving benefits especially when it comes to job advertising. The bigger your talent community is, the less you have to spend on external marketing in the future. Your organization already has the foundation of a talent community. It’s the database that sits right inside your ATS but most companies fail to use it properly. A talent community is merely a group of people who have shown interest in working for your company at one point or another. It could be as broad as everyone who’s applied and been rejected or as narrow as your “silver medalists” – those that you interviewed but didn’t hire. These networks usually manifest themselves in an online format which allow you to maintain a relationship with the candidate over time using channels such as email, social media, and video to communicate industry news, job alerts and other updates about your hiring plans. By staying in touch with prospective candidates, a talent community allows you to maintain that relationship the next time a job opening occurs as well as building your employer brand for when they are ready to make a move. If I were building a talent community from scratch, the first order of business would be to hire or assign someone to be the community manager. This person would be responsible for building a digital relationship between you and your candidates through the above mentioned content tactics. Talent Communities Are Not Lists The Talent Community should not be thought of as just a list of people that you communicate with, it should also be a place where they can talk to each other. A number of cloud based software platforms like MightyNetworks or Hivebrite already exist which allow anyone to build a dedicated, private online network. It just takes effort and consistency to make it work. Candidates (especially the good ones) need a good reason to join your talent community. They don’t want to be marketed to with just job alerts. They want to learn and grow in their field and it’s your job to help them do that. One great example of a talent community that works is by a European company called Specsavers. They are an optometry retailer with locations in about 10 different countries. Their talent community is called Green Club, and it’s not branded as Specsavers at all. It’s a login website, with a message board, video content, professional development courses, events and more. It’s become a powerful tool to augment their optometry hires year in and year out. You can setup your community as a pre-screen tool as well by asking some qualifying questions during the signup process to give you better data about the candidates who are joining. Once they’ve signed up you can create and curate content that interests them. In a past role in recruiting I once set up a twitter account to retweet news from the industry my company participated in (ecommerce). I found RSS feeds for all the major news sites that covered the space and rebroadcast their headlines to the twitter account which was branded as a free resource for the industry “powered by” my employer. It became a solid channel to build our brand and share job leads. If you don’t want to go that far you can do something like what the LinkedIn Talent blog does each week. They put together a list of the 10 Must Read Articles for Recruiters each week. This type of content curation is easy to do for any industry. 3 Ways to Use Texting in Your Talent Community Send potential candidates a monthly update on upcoming hiring plans. Offer text based job alerts according to their preferences. Send them a monthly reminder with one of the perks about working for your company. In addition to industry news, you should be sharing content such as company news, interview tips, hiring manager spotlights, career paths, new hires, hiring process FAQs, perks and benefits and related events. Within your talent community, whether its just an email list or a full blown online platform, don’t bombard your members with content. Sending them an email every few weeks with relevant news and if possible segment those emails based on their job type interest. Over time, as your community grows it becomes another channel that you own which will certainly reduce your reliance on outside hiring sources that you are paying for.

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Chris Russell

Recruitment Marketing

How to Scale Recruitment Marketing

I’ve heard from a number of employers this year who are looking to scale their recruitment marketing efforts in order to attract more applicants using less resources. Many companies have small teams and recruitment marketing duties often get shifted to HR professionals who weren’t trained on the various ways to market your jobs. If you are an HR department of one you probably understand this more than anyone. As attracting talent gets more technically challenging, a number of tools and techniques have emerged to reach many candidates with the click of a button. To maximize your scaleability you’ll need a few important assets; a job XML feed that contains all of your job listings, a modern ATS and a solid social media tool. Note: If you don’t know what an XML jobs feed is, just ask your ATS. Most applicant tracking platforms provide a job feed as part of the service. Here are my top five solutions to ramping up your recruitment marketing campaigns through technology platforms. Programmatic Job Advertising: Still spending time posting jobs manually? There’s no need to with programmatic job vendors like PandoLogic, Recruitics, Joveo and others. These platforms take all the jobs from your ATS and automatically distribute them to many job boards at once. All you do is set a budget and the technology does the rest by sending money to the jobs that need the clicks. For example if a job hasn’t gotten enough applicants after a certain timeframe the algorithm will automatically start to spend more to reach more candidates. Programmatic advertising is perhaps the cheapest and most effective form of job seeker traffic you can buy today. Automated RSS Campaigns: This is one of the best kept secrets in marketing. I frequently use MailChimp to send automated email newsletters. If you have an RSS feed of jobs or blog posts you can automate that content by creating an RSS Campaign inside their platform. You simply enter the URL of the feed, choose a day and time to send it, add your logo or choose a template and press the launch button. Then once new content gets put into that feed the email goes out according to the schedule you set up. I think this functionality exists in tools like Hubspot as well. Texting: No surprise here, but adding a text recruiting platform to your HR tech stack will supercharge your efforts and save you valuable time by reaching more candidates. 90% of texts are read within 3 minutes vs. 80% of emails that are never read at all. Those are convincing numbers to make the switch now. ATS Triggers: Just about every company needs to review and revamp their automatic message triggers in their applicant tracking software workflow. This feature (which any good ATS has) sends a message via email or text to the candidate alerting them of their new status. Those messages should inform the candidate to what’s happening to their application and where they stand in the process. If you aren’t leveraging those alerts to their maximum use you are not optimizing the candidate experience. Social Media Tools: Social media management tools like Buffer, Dlvr.it and Zapier allow you to send and track job and other career content to your followers. They feature RSS publishing campaigns like I mentioned above and more importantly you can schedule and recycle important content. Zapier even has several ATS integrations with platforms like Workable, BambooHR, Greenhouse, BreezyHR and many others. Employers can set up automations called “Zaps,” to build candidate nurturing funnels that provides custom content to candidates based on their actions. For example when a candidate is added to a specific Breezy HR stag, Zapier will share the details as a Slack message. Leveraging these tactics will, for many of you, become a set it and forget it solution, thus leaving you more time to connect with those most important to you…the candidate. Do you have other suggestions on scaling recruitment marketing? I’d love to hear them so drop me a note on our contact page.

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Chris Russell

About Emissary

Emissary is a candidate engagement platform built to empower recruiters with efficient, modern communication tools that work in harmony with other recruiting solutions.

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