Why employers need marketing flair more than ever

In the current skills shortage, attracting top talent is at least as important as attracting new customers—which means marketing needs to be part of every recruitment strategy.

Job ads alone will no longer cut it—in today’s market, you need to be targeting passive talent, people who are already in jobs. That means it’s no longer just a matter of employers interviewing candidates—in the new normal, candidates interview you. So how do you ace that interview?

First of all, you need to define your employer brand and proposition—the company culture and values and the opportunities you offer—and embed this in all your marketing and recruitment materials. Effective storytelling will get your message out there; content is king.

Make sure your company website and social media are as engaging as possible. Investing in professional video content to bring more personality to your brand can be well worth it. Your LinkedIn page should feature organic content like staff profiles, and feature the careers page prominently instead of hiding it away.

As well as refining your content, you need to understand your audience—what kind of media do your target candidates consume, what do they want in an employer, and what do they do with their free time? Get insights from your current employees on their interests and goals, and use these to develop candidate personas for each role. Be aware of your diversity, equality and inclusion messaging too, and make sure all the content you share reflects your company values.

Once you’ve got all this established, you can use marketing and strategic ad placement to target your ideal audience. This is why you need to get your marketing functions aligned with recruitment, whether that means bringing in outside expertise or upskilling in-house staff. Don’t let recruitment slide to the bottom of your marketing priority list; attracting customers means little without the staff to serve them.

Marketing and recruitment are both about attracting people. Knowing the latest, most relevant tools to attract targeted audiences can really set you apart from the competition. If your budget allows, working with a recruitment marketing expert is the best investment you can make in today’s competitive recruitment market.