Online recruiting sounds easy, but it’s also easy to spin your wheels. In today’s Advisor, expert Chris Peterson offers practical tips for defying the odds and getting great results.
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The Candidate Online Journey
Are candidates actually customers? That’s the question Chris Peterson ponders. You want to drive them to your website, you want to engage them, and you use “sales” to entice them. They sound like customers. You need to let them know who you are, what you are about, what your culture is, and why they should work there, says Peterson, VP of Digital Marketing at Versique, an executive search firm.
Peterson offered his tips at SHRM’s Talent Management conference and Exposition, held recently in San Diego.
Today’s candidates are going to research your company online, says Peterson. They will check:
- Social media presence
- Employees and what they say
- Company reputation
- Corporate job vertical research
… and they are going to look at specific job information:
- Is the site unique and informational?
- Does it answer the question, Why do I want to change my life for this?
- Does the job align with my skill set?
- Was I able to find it?
Peterson says that the high quality candidate/customer may be influenced by:
- The hiring manager and the HR department
- The interaction with the organization as a whole
- Intelligence gained from current employees
- Your brand visibility
- Your online reputation
- Your remarketing (ads shown to visitors after they have left your site)
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The candidate evaluates not only websites and personal interactions but also blogs, LinkedIn presence, Twitter accounts, Glassdoor comments, and so on.
It’s clear that your website plays a critical role today, says Peterson. Don’t keep your site on a job board, he recommends. It should be on your website. Furthermore, it’s important to recognize that Marketing and HR collide during this process, he adds.
Online Marketing Strategies
How do we increase candidate quality through online marketing strategies?
Consider the following areas where you may want to work to improve your status as a potential employer, says Peterson:
- Company visibility. Is the company known? Is information easy to find?
- Subject matter expert. Are company experts known in their fields?
- Employee intelligence. What do employees say?
- Online reputation. How are you viewed as an employer? “That’s a cool company!”
- Hiring management/HR department outreach. What is the experience of interacting with your organization like?
- Advertising/online ads. Are you out there?
- Content piece. Do you offer something of value (e.g., HR Salary Guide) that people will download and share?
- Brand visibility. What are you known for?
- Passive lead generation. Does your online presence result in inquiries by passive candidates?
- Target audience. Do you know where your ideal candidates “hang out” online? Are you active there?
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What tactics might you consider?
- Blog. Getting your name out there with thought leadership is important, Peterson says.
- LinkedIn. There are many options on LinkedIn that you should explore, says Peterson.
- Outreach
- Ads
- Promotion
- Facebook. Promote to your landing page, Peterson says.
- Ads
- Remarketing
- Google Adwords
- Review sites (Glassdoor, BBB, etc.)
- Marketing automation
In tomorrow’s Advisor, more tips from Peterson, plus an introduction to our new HR Playbook bundle!