Recruitment is an interesting professional, particularly when it is executed by those top notch Recruiters who know their stuff and really add value to the process. To be a great Recruiter today you need to have an exhaustive skill set; excellent sales and marketing skills, great researching skills, brilliant influencing and negotiation skills, keen networking and information sharing abilities, technological astute and much more. To continue to thrive in today’s marketplace as a great Recruiter, when technology is opening up the communication and information sharing channels, and job seekers and businesses are looking for more transparency and value add, we all have to rise to the challenge and lift the bar.
A terrific article called ‘Recruitment Marketing Is The New Black’, by Jim Durbin highlights how and why recruitment has and is continuing to evolve. “Recruitment marketing used to mean writing job ads and placing them in newspapers. Today, it covers a wide range of disciplines that includes creative, copywriting, SEO, web analytics, pay per click, video, blogging, and social media marketing. The new goal is getting in front of the right people at the right time, and that’s a marketing function. To be successful, it requires that every touch-point. Providing accurate information to channel candidates into the correct funnel is the most efficient use of your recruiting time, freeing your employees up to interview and match, rather than sort and sift.”
Today’s recruitment marketing success starts with a targeted recruitment marketing strategy to source the right talent for your respective job vacancies. It continues through to building relationships with your audience (the job seekers) and having a long term strategy. A high volume, one dimensional cast the net wide, and tick and flick approach no longer works. As job seekers become savvier with higher expectations, it only makes sense that we evolve our recruitment strategies if we are to attract and retain the best. In Jim’s article he highlights that this point.
“Rather than simply asking where the candidate heard about the position, questions should focus on what worked to influence the candidate during the employment process. Where did they get information? What information was helpful? Who was helpful? Companies who embrace a thorough strategy of recruitment marketing will find it easier and easier to hire the best employees. Those who focus on short-term sales or long-term process-oriented hiring will find it easier to hire those who are left.”
For most of us the evolution of the recruitment process is challenging and tough, as we have to continue to work smarter (with less funds & resources) and sometimes we have to work harder. Most importantly though it is exciting – really who would want things to stand still and be the same old!
