5 Key Mistakes to Avoid in Recruitment Marketing

We are all aware of a time when potential employers held all the power in the employer-employee relationship. Candidates fretted over things like impressing the interviewer, making them believe that they were ideal for the job and essentially bending over backward to win the employer’s’ attention. Fast-forward to the present time and you will notice that the dynamic has completely changed.

 

The web has made it easy for people to access several companies and job vacancies. More and more people are living independently and are willing to relocate to build a career. With so many companies fighting for the attention of top talent, working on your employer brand has become a necessity. You want the best talent for your company and reaching it requires strategizing; something more commonly known as Recruitment Marketing.

 

Even if you don’t use a sophisticated software, you must certainly rely on some recruitment marketing strategies to attract job-seekers to your company. Still, many employers make some glaring mistakes which stunt the effectiveness of their efforts. Here are some very common mistakes that you can easily fix to maximize the return of your recruitment marketing.

 

1. Poorly written job ads

Most job ads are nothing but long lists of requirements that the job-seeker must possess before they consider applying. They rarely mention what the candidate’s work day will be like and what the company will offer to keep them motivated. This puts up a psychological barrier to entry and prevents most job-seekers from hitting ‘apply’.

 

Employers also overlook the ‘ad’ aspect of the post and end up publishing robotic lists that dehumanize the job instead of selling it. To illustrate, here’s an example of how you can write the same thing and come across as a company with very different work cultures:

 

Bad job ad

 

“Required Skills:

-Thorough understanding of the elements of good design, HTML production and web process.

-Will be held accountable for the technical accuracy of their own work.

-Able to complete tasks independently and as part of a team.

-Ability to manage deadlines and production scheduling on numerous, concurrent projects.

-Perform effectively in a demanding work environment and show resilience to stress.”

 

This is a recipe for a disastrous applicant turnout. Here’s how you can make it better.

 

Good job ad

 

“We are looking for a talented Web Designer to join our Launch Team. As Web Designer, you’ll be responsible for the creative execution of designing sites for our incredible clients. You’ll have the opportunity to work with some of the biggest brands in the world all in the fun and relaxed environment of our headquarters in Sydney. From prototyping to launch, you’ll have ownership over each step in the creative process. You’ll create the experience and then work with our engineering team for the execution. The ideal candidate for this role must have an excellent online portfolio (with URLs of course) and good experience with HTML and CSS.”

 

This problem can easily be fixed by adding a human element to the job description. Make the role look like something the job-seeker will enjoy fulfilling on an everyday basis. Adding the company’s profile and a snapshot into your corporate culture can work wonders as well.

 

Bonus Tip: Try to avoid games when it comes to quoting compensation. Mention a salary range within the job ad to reflect your company’s value of transparency and fair game right from the start to make a great first impression on potential applicants.

 

2. Complicated Application Process

comlicated processCompanies tend to have long processes comprising of technical, behavioral and written tests/interviews with no clear end goal. The problem with this tedious process is simple: most candidates will abandon it halfway and will not return to complete it.

 

As was stressed in the first point, you must humanize the process and make it interactive. Making applicants jump through hoops to prove their worth before a person reaches out to them is an awful plan. Top candidates will only invest time in the application if the process is rewarding.

 

Keep in close communication with applicants and keep interactions personalized. You can use mail merge or other technology to at least address them with their first names, even if you’re using communication templates. Aim to extract only that information that you need because nobody has the time to fill records that fall under the ‘might be fun to have’ category.

 

3. Relying on a single candidate source

Diversity is key. Simply posting job descriptions on your company website won’t cut it. Job-seekers consult hundreds of different job boards and you want to make sure that your job ads appear on as many of them as possible.

 

Post on LinkedIn, Career Portals, encourage internal referrals and make sure to post on niche job sites to cut through the noise and get to specific candidates. For example, use Dice to source candidates for Tech vacancies, Sales Gravy to hunt Sales Executives and StackOverflow to find Programmers. Leverage social media recruiting fully to reach top candidates. You also can’t simply rely on organic posting. Invest in paid promotion on top job sites to boost the visibility of your job ads.

 

4. Overlooking your Careers Page

seo complianceWhen a job seeker is a looking to explore an opportunity at your company, the first place they will look to get more information is your official Careers website. They aren’t just looking for a job listing though. They want to know you as an employer. They want to understand the work culture, the workplace, career growth opportunities, the benefits you offer and the kind of products/services you’re working on.

 

Not having basic SEO can also cause serious damage. When job-seekers search for career opportunities in your industry, company or vacant job roles, being present within the first few google search results can be the difference between you capturing or losing great talent. To make this happen, ensure that all your web pages have meta-titles and frequently update your site with fresh, relevant and original content.

 

Given its centrality, having an outdated, visually unappealing and invisible careers page can be your most critical mistake. Without a stellar career website that is inviting and welcoming, you’ll see a lot of candidates taking a pass on even applying. We’ve often been advised to “dress for the job we want” because we’re more likely to achieve what we prepare for. This applies to hiring quality talent as well.

 

5. Neglecting the power of effective content

effective contentWhen building your employer brand, you need to keep candidates engaged with lots of highly relevant content about what work life is like at your company. By producing valuable content that job-seekers can absorb and share, you cast the impression of being dedicated to your future workforce. You also stand to develop credibility and authority, which is a big hook for candidates.

 

Be sure to use a variety of content types to keep job-seekers engaged. Use tools like employee testimonials, a recruitment blog that cover content like career advice, quizzes and news, a separate section for undergraduate students and introductory videos to keep prospects tuned in.

 

Getting Recruitment Marketing Right

 

Recruitment Marketing is a highly useful way of getting great talent onboard. Much like any other form of marketing, if you plan and audit your strategy, avoid the aforementioned pitfalls and consistently monitor your efforts for improvement, you will find that securing top talent this way is both easy and rewarding.