Last week, we shared Part 1 of this two-part series on how to pivot your recruitment marketing strategy during this time, including tips about how to review your strategy, ideal candidate and messaging. This week, Tanya Williams, Chief of Everything for Digital Conversations explores how to balance employee retention with acquisition if you do need to recruit.
Now is not the time to neglect your employer brand. You need to stay highly visible, use more communication (not less) and maintain your talent market share through visibility and communication.
It’s a tough time for many organisations and individuals right now, with many people entering the talent market. For organisations with a number of competing priorities, we’ve shared a number of articles about why it’s important not to lose sight of your employer brand during this time. Employer branding, now more than ever, is about ruthless authenticity – if you are recruiting now, or when you recruit in the future when stability returns, this will help candidates make the best use of their time and energy.
Employee retention
Invest in creating a great retention and engagement strategy to give your existing talent the support they need with changing work situations. Keep communication lines open; this will be the key to retaining your A-players.
Start by figuring out a way to delight your employees now and do it in a way that’s sympathetic to their needs. Understand their needs, how they’re feeling and how they’re accustoming to new changes in their work environment and digital communication methods.
Acquisition
Certain industries such as healthcare, customer telesupport, cleaning and driving are experiencing great demands and need to bring on new team members, fast. If you are recruiting, ensure your recruitment advertisements are sensitive to the current situation, and you’re upfront about your current processes.
Your approach to acquisition should be adapted to the current situation. Ultimately, it goes back to re-evaluating your ideal candidate profile and identifying the skillsets you need.
Be mindful of your messaging
People are sensitive to the messages they are receiving now. So, making sure you are very mindful of the current emotions, state of mind and environment is vital.
It blows my mind the number of social media ads still running that seem so out of context and oblivious to our world right now. It seems these organisations have not taken the time to review what they are sending out into the world.
Why you should pivot not pause
- The “noise level” in your industry can drop when talent competitors cut back on their recruitment marketing. It also allows you to re-position your brand or introduce new employee benefits.
- You can use your brand to project stability for candidates during challenging times.
- The cost of marketing & advertising drops during recessions. The switch from a candidate-driven market to an employer-driven market means you can obtain high-quality talent and support people who are looking for opportunities.
- When you reduce your recruitment marketing spend, you can lose your “share of mind” with candidates. Don’t let your employer brand fall by the wayside.
What will happen if you pause?
- You’ll be left behind when the market gets back to normal
- It will feel like starting over but behind the starting line
- You will likely lose market share
- It will take you longer to recover
- You’ll lose current online opportunities to promote your employer brand.
Let’s summarise:
- Review your current recruitment strategy
- Re-evaluate your ideal candidate profile – are your ideal candidates from last month still your ideal candidates today?
- Re-assess your content and messaging – how will you fulfil your changing candidate needs? Do your marketing messages have tact?
- Be mindful of current emotions and use a considered and respectful tone in your advertising
- Find the right balance between employee retention and acquisition.
There is no doubt that the virus has and will continue to impact individuals and businesses. But we will get through this! Knowledge will be key to making informed business decisions. Stay abreast of industry trends and news and be adaptable.
Tanya Williams is the pink-loving, sparkly Chief of Everything at Digital Conversations. She wears many hats; entrepreneur, best-selling author, digital trainer, and she is a Social Amplification Specialist with over 20 years’ marketing experience. She works with recruiters to uncover the hidden gold in their existing assets, find ways to leverage every moment of your digital marketing without increasing your marketing budget and amplify your internal champions to increase your visibility. Her goal is to make the hero in your industry sector. She has a simple, no-tech-talk approach and thrives working with established recruitment companies to tap into the opportunities they might miss, using practical & relevant tactics to drive business outcomes.