Marketing and Human Resources (HR) are two very different functions that are rarely interconnected. However, they’re on either end of the spectrum of an organization’s daily operations.
While
HR management looks inwards to make the most of an organization’s workforce, marketing has to position the organization globally and create connections. However, both departments have one common core that every organization can leverage - they are people-oriented processes. Proven marketing principles can empower the HR initiatives in your organization.
“Companies that do not make customer experience a priority will struggle and quickly fall behind.”
- Jeff Pedowitz, President and CEO, The Pedowitz Group
Many hiring strategies fail to communicate the right message and values to job applicants. In addition, human resources branding is disconnected from the usually on-point and thoughtful company brand. It creates dissonance for employees, hampering the opportunity to attract future employees of the brand through them.
Here are five essential marketing lessons to help you unlock the hidden potential of modern HR management and build a robust and universal employer brand.
Employer Branding - a Powerful Marketing Tool
Just as a consumer brand is designed to reach potential customers and position the brand as a valuable solution, employer branding can achieve similar goals to attract talent. In addition, a coherent employer brand demonstrates commitment and positions you as a positive, valued employer. Here are the components of employer branding to focus on while marketing human resources
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A dedicated career page - the official company website acts as a virtual headquarter of an organization. While a dedicated careers page is an intrinsic part of all company websites that many organizations neglect to leverage. It is an opportunity to speak directly to existing and potential employees.
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Workplace - The workplace is where employees spend most of their time. Even if remote work takes precedence today, a showcase of the inherent work culture, whether work-from-home or work from the office, can be a decisive factor in converting the suitable candidates into employees.
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Social media branding - employee communication is built into your digital identity. How you speak to employees and to-be-employees sets the tone for things to come. Showcasing what goes behind the scenes makes the connection to people more authentic.
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Company events - company events are an essential part of internal human resource branding. They offer the dual opportunity to demonstrate the commitment to social wellness andthe overall work atmosphere to job seekers.
Listen to RECRUITERS’ Managing Director Gerald Doyle talk about the best way to create a
positive onboarding experience:-
https://youtu.be/Gvdz-z0w0c8
For instance, the Airbnb careers page is a brilliant overview of its work for the company. With great pictures, concise messaging, an apparent reference to employee benefits, and a prominent display of employee mission and values, Airbnb does a brilliant job of reflecting seriousness and dedication to one of its most important assets - its people. The simplicity of its career page is an excellent example of how an organization can do a lot with less by letting its
work culture do the talking.
The Ideal Candidates are your Target Audience
Most marketers will tell you that speaking to consumers in their voice is a significant aspect of communication. Reaching the right people is a matter of demonstrating an understanding of their needs. To solve customer problems, you must first meet them where they are.
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Fulfilment-analysis - Reaching the right talent pool requires you to understand the problems you are solving thoroughly. Amplifying the core requirements and skillsets of a job to the right people is critical in attracting the suitable profiles.
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Job descriptions - Writing compelling job descriptions is like writing a creative brief - they must comprise the expected deliverables, attitudes, and parameters that inform and inspire candidates to engage by applying.
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User experience - Attracting the right talent is just the beginning. You must ensure that candidates go through an applicant user journey that is smooth, relevant, and worthwhile.
Brillio is a leading software company. Their hiring strategies have creatively embodied such practices. The company focuses on outlining core competencies for every role, assessing technical and behavioral skills, and focusing on diverse cultural backgrounds and skills. Brillio demonstrates a keen understanding of the work they do and the people they need. By leveraging such approaches, the company achieved a staggering offer to acceptance ratio of 86% in 2018.
Designing a User Experience - for your Employees
Employee experience, such as consumer experience, is the bedrock of business growth. As a result, organizations focused on improving the user journey throughout the employee life cycle also enjoy the increased engagement.
From tech that boosts productivity to enabling more successful collaboration, from functional workplace amenities to empowering HR policies, everything that makes it easier for an employee to do his job well is the employee experience. Just as your product or service solves a problem, you must find a way to make employees part of the value-addition and address how you as an organization enable a mutual solution.
Amplifying the Right Values
As a business, your ultimate objective is solving a consumer problem. It is one of the pillars of enduring consumer loyalty.
Marketing thrives on identifying the need that is closest to the consumer and addressing that. In the same vein, HR must identify what the employees seek the most from their work. Employees who feel valued and recognized for their productivity work better and stay longer. This is not incidental.
Focusing on the bigger picture can help you align your short-term HR policies to increase employee engagement and loyalty.
Technology is your Friend
Marketing is an ongoing journey that religiously uses technology to power its success. The accurate measure of superior marketing is the willingness to track, test, analyze and fine-tune a campaign or maximize results.
Analytic thinking is a pillar of marketing, and HR executives can adopt this marketing principle. As a result, you can maximize the use of new tools, technologies, and applications to measure engagement, track employee sentiment, and continuously tweak processes to meet organizational objectives.
Another marketing lesson that can inspire HR is the ability to stay connected with consumers. Having a two-way line of communication is even easier to maintain with employees than with consumers. However, keeping people engaged and excited is the real challenge that marketing can teach HR to tackle using tech.
To Wrap Up
Marketing recruitment services may be a new area of HR, but it is an important one. At the pace the world of business is changing, people's experience - both internal and external- is becoming a vital driver of business outcomes. As a result, HR leaders looking to introspect and adapt to their changing roles as strategic advisors must capitalize on the intersection of marketing and HR principles.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a marketing recruiter do?
A marketing recruiter focuses solely on developing persuasive human resources branding. As a marketing and HR executive, he is responsible for curating employee testimonials, crafting recruitment-minded content, and leading qualified candidates to become job applicants.
What does a recruitment marketing plan include?
A recruitment marketing plan will treat candidates the same way you treat customers to attract qualified talent. Determining your goals clearly and identifying your target talent audience is the first step. Next comes optimizing your career content and sharing new content through social media and your career page.