Recruitment marketing: 5 strategies to attract and retain employees

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It’s time for brands and agencies to adopt the same strategies to fill open positions as they do to attract and retain customers—good old-fashioned marketing.

Traditional recruitment efforts have been the province of HR departments working with tools that often include overwrought job descriptions and laborious application processes. Given the fact that more than 47 million Americans quit their jobs in 2021 alone—this approach is hardly up to the task of filling even some of those openings.

Progressive HR executives are beginning to realize that their CMOs and marketing departments can be their best friends. Attracting, retaining and growing talent are every bit as important as attracting, retaining and growing customers. Why not use a similar approach?

There are many instructive examples of how techniques traditionally associated with external marketing can be used to attract talent:

A Google billboard in Silicon Valley presented a complex mathematical equation to passersby and challenged those who thought they were smart enough to solve it. Once solved, the equation revealed a website URL—which contained another puzzle challenge. Successful candidates received the message: “Nice work. Well done. Mazel tov. You’ve made it to Google Labs, and we’re glad you’re here. One thing we learned while building Google is that it’s easier to find what you’re looking for if it comes looking for you. What we’re looking for are the best engineers in the world. And here you are.”

IKEA decided to target those who it knew already loved IKEA by putting “career instructions” inside boxes of IKEA products labeled “How to assemble your future.” Thousands of customers applied, and IKEA hired 280 employees who admired the IKEA brand. The reason for the success of the campaign was not just its creativity but also because it spoke to IKEA’s existing brand ambassadors, its customers.

When Volkswagen needed mechanics, it decided on an obvious but unusual placement—the undercarriage of cars in need of repair. Volkswagen intentionally distributed faulty cars with the message hidden underneath to service centers across Germany in anticipation of attracting experienced employees.

According to research by SHRM, companies that incorporate recruitment marketing into their hiring strategy can generate three times more applicant leads than those who don’t—leading to a 100% higher close rate on applicants. Additionally, research by Allegis Global Solutions found that running a recruitment marketing campaign can save companies up to 40% on total talent costs. On top of these savings, recruitment marketing boosts the employer brand and attracts an estimated 50% more qualified candidates.

Here are some tips to keep in mind before you start a recruitment marketing campaign:

Ensure your understanding of your brand is as strong regarding internal audiences as it is for external audiences (and no more blaming poor engagement scores on COVID).

Understand how your previous recruiting messages and strategies align with your brand positioning, promise and values. How well aligned is your brand internally and externally?

Invite your brand and/or marketing team to the initial discussion with HR.

Plot the journey of a potential employee against that of a customer. Is one more arduous than the other? If so, find out why.

Challenge the marketing team to meet, if not exceed, the standard for customer-oriented campaigns in terms of engagement and establishing a brand- or category-first solution.

Remember that competition for talent rivals competition for customers in today’s economy.  This will become especially true if, as expected, we’re headed into a recession and the grand game of musical chairs comes to a halt. A senior executive at a previous job summed it up well when she said, “You can’t build on just who is left over.”

A steady influx of new ideas and perspectives is critical. Now is the time for companies to focus their best marketing minds on ways to attract and retain employees. After all, those employees will help fulfill a company’s mission and vision. HR should therefore have the very best, most creative minds at their disposal.

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