Top Tips to Create a Killer Recruitment Marketing Strategy

Over the past month, we dove deep into the world of recruitment marketing, talking with some of the best in the business. Now, we’re coming to the surface with top takeaways on everything from social media must-haves to unrivaled talent communities.

Talent Experience Live host Devin Foster was joined by Carrie Monaco, Product Marketing Manager at Phenom, who shared insights into bringing these strategies to life. We’ve got the highlights packaged up below, or you can view the full episode right here!

Showcasing a Genuine Employer Brand

From misspelled candidate names in emails to forced company highlight reels featuring ping pong tables and snack walls, Foster and his guests who joined TXL over the past season have seen it all.

But when Foster asked “Does this stuff really work when it comes to recruitment marketing?” The answer from all of them was a resounding NO. And Monaco agreed.

Discover how to elevate your recruitment marketing efforts with Phenom here.

As Jordan Scheltgen of Cave noted, recruitment marketing that focuses on fun office “extras” belongs to decades past. Candidates today are more interested in your values, culture, and work environment — and knowing how their own ideologies align with a company’s purpose.

Read the full recap of Scheltgen’s episode.

With these points in mind, Monaco, who specializes in recruitment marketing at Phenom, shared more ways to authentically show employer brand:

Refresh your career site with content depicting core values, culture, and work environment.
Send targeted recruitment campaigns to segmented candidate pools.
Create authentic spotlight videos featuring employees — why did they choose your company, and what do they love about work?

“There are so many ways companies can easily do this today, especially with technology like Phenom,” she said.

Let’s look closer at video.

It’s become a basic tenet of recruitment marketing: video is the way to resonate with job candidates. “People watch more videos than they listen to or read any other type of material,” Monaco said. “Videos are a great way to show off your brand.”

Once you have a collection of videos, don’t be shy about putting them out there, Monaco emphasized. Post them on your career site, all social platforms, and other digital channels.

”Candidates may start their journey off on YouTube, not your website. If you have a great selection of videos, you should place them on all social media channels – Twitter, TikTok, YouTube – anywhere you can. Because you don’t know where that candidate is going to be.”

Monaco said that the important thing to remember is that “candidates are really customers – that’s the key.”. Remembering this can help guide recruitment marketing tactics.

What’s the first thing we do as consumers when making a purchase? Research. Online reviews, product testimonials, videos… these all go into our decision-making process. Candidates are no different when it comes to choosing an employer.

So go ahead and sell your employer brand with authentic stories, testimonials, and day-in-the-life video testimonials.

Related reading: How Video is Changing Hiring

Creating a Social Media Presence

“Is it safe to say that social media is a must-have for all talent acquisition teams?” Foster asked.

“Absolutely,” Monaco responded. “Leveraging social media for recruiting is a great way to convey company culture and make connections with active and passive candidates. You get the best of both worlds.”

Her point followed a comment during last month’s conversation with Cliquify founder Amit Parmar, who pointed out that marketing can no longer be limited to general tactics like billboards.

Monaco agreed with Parmar, saying: “You need to be everywhere today, on all the social channels. It’s really important to your employer brand.”

Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, TikTok… candidates are there, and TA teams need to take advantage of that opportunity to generate brand awareness.

Grow a Talent Community

ChenMed, a healthcare company providing care for seniors, has recently grown their workforce from 2,000 to 6,000 employees — with the goal to add 4,000 more. Their winning strategy revolves around creating a thriving talent community, and you can read the full recap of their episode here

The organization uses content centering on employee stories to capture attention, and then invites candidates to stay in touch by joining the company’s talent community.

Especially when hiring needs are in flux, talent communities provide a way for recruiters to nurture warm leads. When positions open up, they can draw from a pool of qualified candidates who are already familiar with the employer brand.

In this way, talent communities help offset the cost of talent acquisition, preventing organizations from “buying” the same candidate multiple times. They also give recruiters transparency into the candidate’s journey, allowing them to develop the kind of personalized outreach that’s so crucial to standing out right now.

With the labor market constantly changing and a looming recession on the horizon, “talent communities are key for all organizations, no matter the size,” Monaco said. “They’ll help your brand stay top of mind through all of this uncertainty, and keep those passive candidates engaged for the long run. So when they’re ready to make their next career move, you’re going to be the brand that they think of first.”

Related resource: 2022 State of Candidate Experience

Talent communities that are managed by platforms with AI capabilities empower recruiters to fill job roles faster and more cost-effectively. By applying AI filters, recruiters can quickly segment candidates by location, interests, experience, and skills — serving up relevant content and matching positions.

“You have to use filters — that’s part of personalization and targeting,” Monaco said. “Filtering using Phenom’s AI technology can get your company the best-fit candidates at the right time. You can fill those roles faster, reducing the cost to hire, which is what everyone’s looking to do right now.”

In Monaco’s opinion, these three initiatives are most important to filling your pipeline with qualified talent:

Showcase your brand organically on social media.
Optimize your career site with fresh content like employee spotlight videos
Use filters to reach new audiences with targeted campaigns

Related resource: New Year, New Career Site

The Future of Recruitment Marketing

The promise that personalization and AI-driven automation hold is top of mind for Monaco.

“I think the future of recruitment marketing is a combination of engaging candidates with personalization, and the automation that comes with our AI technology,” she said.

In the meantime, the bottom line for recruitment marketing? Lock it down with a combination of a compelling career site plus targeted, personalized campaigns. And don’t forget the importance of measuring performance — dive into your talent analytics to refine and improve campaigns.

How Phenom Is Leading the Way

“Phenom is leading the way with our AI technology and the interconnectivity of our Intelligent Talent Experience platform,” said Monaco. It connects people, data, and interactions — and provides the analytics you need for every day and the future of your business.

Ready to maximize your recruitment marketing efforts? Book a personalized demo to find out how Phenom can help you achieve your goals here.

Maggie Blehar

Maggie is a writer at Phenom, bringing you information on all things talent experience. In addition to writing, she enjoys traveling, painting, cooking, and spending time with her family and friends.