I can’t be the only one who is sick of hearing the word ‘pandemic’. But the reality is, the need for better digital experiences accelerated almost overnight. In a digital world, the reliance on one-click information, positive online experiences, and timely communication is the new reality for your clients and candidates. As a recruiter, this means you need to ensure your recruitment marketing strategies meet the needs of job seekers.
Clients and candidates need to sit at the heart of your marketing communication. That should’ve always been the case, however a focus on external job seekers is now more important than ever. In a pandemic environment, what should you be focusing your recruitment marketing energy on? These seven strategies are a good place to start.
Strategy #1: Have the right conversations in the right place
Messaging and platform choice should not be siloed. Your messaging needs to be clear and optimised to ensure you’re having the right digital conversations with the right audiences. It’s important that your brand and your content clearly define why a potential client would want to work with you, or why a candidate would want to engage in a conversation with you.
You need to critically assess whether your messaging does in fact resonate with your ideal clients or candidate. Vague industry talk and content that blends with every other recruiter doesn’t cut through the noise. Targeted messaging is important to show candidates that you’re someone they should pay attention to.
Your new audience might feel anxious or uncertain about the future. They want to work with people that can lead them with confidence and help them get the results they need. Your online conversation needs to align with your ideal audience.
(E.g. I worked with a boutique recruiter that told me their target audience was mostly female; however, their messaging and conversation wasn’t aligned with the audience. The data showed an obvious disconnect, but they were too close to their content to see it).
Strategy #2: Show your existing clients more love
In a competitive market, it can be hard to win business and attract candidates. This isn’t to say that you shouldn’t be looking for new ones, but you should be showing more love to the people you already have in your talent pool. Your database is an asset you own, and often recruiters are not nurturing the people in it. Instead of spamming your network with un-targeted jobs, take the time to interact with them and foster a sense of two-way communication. Ask them what they need from you, communicate with them regularly, and don’t be afraid to get personal.
Content that shares personal stories and real-life challenges sees much more engagement that content that is too corporate, lacking emotion, and hard to differentiate from everyone else.
(E.g. A recruitment firm in Sydney shared with me that they had over 80,000 people in their database, but they did very little to engage them. They were focusing most of their time and energy on new business and forgetting the people who were right in front of them. When they did communicate with their database contacts, it was all about their organisation and job roles. Stories and content weren’t personalised, and thus didn’t engage the audience and entice them to stick around).
Strategy #3: Improve your online portals
As a result of the pandemic-influenced lockdowns and travel restrictions, corporate business has largely shifted online. Put yourself in your candidates’ shoes, and consider the experience they have on your website, social channels, and the journey it takes them on. Will they be satisfied with what they see? Are you giving them the resources they need in a timely manner? Is it easy to source information and make a purchase?
Some of the simplest things get missed, especially if money is spent on fancy software and web development without considering the people behind the screen. Writing engaging web copy is great, but if you can’t deliver on what you promise, it can be hard to convert web visitors to applicants.
The age old adage of “show, don’t tell” applies to recruitment marketing strategies as well. Don’t tell me you are the best at what you do – show me! Candidates make up their minds very quickly about a company, and the first impression can be tainted if your website or social media presence is sub-par.
You cannot continue to do the same things in a rapidly changing, uncertain world, and that includes your marketing. If you want an unbiased assessment, please get in touch! I can show you the missing gaps that are costing you money.
Stay tuned for the Part 2 to explore the next four pandemic-proof recruitment marketing strategies.
Tanya Williams is the pink-loving, sparkly Chief of Everything at Digital Conversations. She wears many hats; entrepreneur, best-selling author, digital trainer, outsourced digital manager with over 20 years’ marketing experience. She works with recruiters to provide simple marketing solutions, uncover the hidden gold in their existing assets and find ways to leverage every moment of your digital marketing without increasing your marketing budget. Her goal is to make you 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.