Recruiting is a Marketing Tool?

Passion Led Us Here - Recruiting is Marketing

Recruiting is a marketing tool for your business. For small to medium businesses, it’s often the first time a candidate hears about who you are, what you do and how you do it. And that my friends, is marketing! It’s important to consider your recruitment and hiring process from a marketing perspective and think about what potential employees and the industry as a whole are learning about you through your recruiting. 

Start with the Job Ad

How many times have you gone through job postings on a site and thought, “good grief, who would want to work there?”  The requirements don’t make any sense for the job title and duties outlined. The duties sound like a long list of things a previous employee refused to do. There is no description of the company, where they are located or any sense of their values.

You don’t want your company presented that way.

Job ads should be carefully created 

You want to convey to applicants:

  • Who you are and what matters to you as an organization
  • What the accountabilities are for the person in that role
  • What background do you want applicants to have
  • What is in it for the applicant?
  • How do they apply?

You want applicants to get excited at the prospect of working with you! 

Interviews

Have you read the interview ratings for your organization online? Have you read them for other companies? Have you read them for your competitors? 

When you see comments like, “I was left to wait 35 minutes past my interview time, so I left,”  or “the interviewer asked me if I was a cat or dog person, and when I answered cat, I felt like that was the wrong answer, and I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with the job I had applied for,” do you cringe?

Interviewing candidates is a great opportunity to make one-to-one contact with a person who may already be a customer, or has the potential to be one, even if they do not get the job.  You want applicants walking away feeling like they were welcomed and respected. 

You want applicants saying great things about their interview experience as much as you want to hear great reviews from customers.

After the interview

You have completed your interviews and are mulling over the candidates, now what? Take some time and follow up with the candidates to make sure they know the next step(s) and the anticipated timeline.  If you have reached a decision and a candidate has accepted the offer, make sure to reach out to the unsuccessful applicants in a timely fashion, to let them know they will not be moving forward or were not chosen for the role.  Remember to be kind and thank applicants for their time.  

You want to make sure they have felt respected, and their time valued throughout each step.

Recruiting is Marketing

A job ad, like a banner or pop-up ad, gains thousands of impressions. Look at them as an opportunity to not only find the best candidate but also an opportunity to make a great impression about your company to people who might otherwise not have known who you are, what you do and what you value!  An interview is that incredibly valuable one-on-one contact. By making the candidate feel respected, they will not only remember the experience but will likely share that experience with friends. They might give you a fabulous review online and, even if they aren’t the right fit for this job, they could connect you with the perfect candidate. 

Do you need help with writing job ads, or having the best interview questions to find the best candidate for your organization?  We can help!