Post your job and pray. That's all there is to marketing your job openings, right? No, no, no! You need a strategic approach. Just because you throw something onto the Internet doesn't mean people can find it.
The world wide web is a big place, you know. According to Pew Research Center, a whopping 77 percent of Americans are online on a daily basis. And of that 77 percent, 26 percent are online almost 24/7 and 43 percent reveal they go online numerous times a day. This isn't shocking; and you must keep this in mind for recruiting employees. Take control of your job visibility and promotion, so you get noticed in the right place, at the right time online.
This is digital recruitment marketing. The key word here is "digital." Tapping into those online channels to reach job seekers is critical to successful recruitment today.
According to SHRM, companies that utilize online recruitment marketing methods can create three times more leads, 10 percent higher revenue and a 100-percent higher close rate.
Digital marketing is unfortunately the one part of the recruitment process either completely missed, misunderstood or underserved. Afterall, job marketing and promotion is extremely involved, but it's a necessity. It's "involved" because it's a mix of different strategies, avenues and mediums. In fact, we like to call it a "marketing mix"! (Clever, huh?)
Smartphone domination has transformed the job search.
According to the Pew Research Center, 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone. And we're not just talking about millennials. Sure, in the 18-to-29-year-old age range, 92 percent own a smartphone, but 88 percent of 30-to-49-year-olds do, too. And they're using them to search for jobs.
Percentage of People Who Search for Jobs on Mobile
- 78 percent of Millennials
- 73 percent of Gen Xers
- 57.2 percent of Baby Boomers
Hiring top-performing candidates is the goal of all talent acquisition departments, right? If not, it should be. And when developing your organization's employer brand, your online presence should be the priority to ensure you attract top talent for your business.
Here are a few things to address when tackling your digital recruitment marketing:
- Your job application process. Put yourself in a job applicant's shoes. How is your company's online job application process? Is it easy? Seamless? Intuitive? How long does the application take to complete? Can they complete it on their smartphone? Remember, 77 percent of Americans own a smartphone… you MUST ensure that your site is mobile responsive and your jobs facilitate an easy mobile application process.
- Your company's online reputation. Just as you want to know as much as possible about your job candidates, your job candidates want to know as much as possible about your company. Google your company and see what comes up on review websites such as Glassdoor. Beef up your company pages, adding details about your company culture, photos and more.
- Your job advertisements. Promoting a job effectively takes time and money. At the very least, post jobs on your website organically (without paying). Afterwards, invest in advertising jobs on websites that make the most sense for your job candidate persona. Having a candidate persona is a huge digital recruitment tool that will give you a good understanding of the typical behaviors and goals of your target candidates.
- Your search-ability. Everyone wants their job openings to be seen right? Let's hope so! And there are best practices to drawing such attention. Start with your job description. After crafting a wonderful, specific job description, then perform an online search of your own. Use Google Keyword Planner or Google Trends (free!) to discover the best terms to use. Make sure your site is SEO-compliant by checking up on the visibility and rank of your website in the search engine's unpaid results' listing.
- Your social media presence. LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc. -- there is no convincing needed, we know these sites are important digital recruitment channels. Make sure you are tracking the ads that you put out on your active social media accounts. If you don't, you have no way of knowing which ads are most effective.
Long story short: You simply cannot be bad at digital recruitment marketing if you want to succeed in recruitment.
Ready to improve? Download our eBook, The World-Class Recruitment Guide for everything you need to know.