A brief look at the dramatic changes in recruitment that have made marketing skills an industry requirement
When you look at the challenges we were facing in 2019 compared to now, the changes can feel staggering. The Korn Ferry Institute was warning of a global candidate shortage of more than 85 million people by 2030.
Yet, flash forward to today and things have swung in the opposite direction. The job market has been flooded with talent as unemployment rises.
This might seem like a great opportunity for recruiters. But it's not nearly that simple.
Shifts towards remote working have resulted in changed priorities in candidates eager to continue this new work-life balance, with many of them moving out of cities for a chance at rural life. How companies have looked after their employees throughout this year has also become a key employer differentiator recruiters will need to communicate effectively. And newfound social media attention (often negative) over how recruiters are interacting with candidates will be challenging for those who lack effective marketing and communication skills.
With these changing conditions, recruitment marketing is becoming a necessity to attract and retain candidates with shifting demands in an agile and empathetic manner.
"Companies are making investments in this area," said Amy Warner, director of talent acquisition at recruitment software company iCIMS. "Employers are creating new roles dedicated to recruitment marketing in order to effectively promote their culture and values and attract well-fit candidates because recruiting is harder than ever before."
Recruiters without recruitment marketing skills are not only less effective in their roles, but they may soon become obsolete, said Lori Sylvia, founder and CEO of Rally Recruitment Marketing, an online community of 14,000 HR and talent acquisition practitioners learning recruitment marketing best practices.
"The candidate journey is influenced at every stage by marketing strategies—search engine optimization, landing page conversion optimization, digital marketing, content marketing, social media engagement, reputation management," she said.
Recruiters that fall behind in using digital and social strategies are going to get left behind, not to mention put their employers at a huge disadvantage in the competition for talent.
Start thinking of your candidates in terms of their journey to employment.
Software specifically for recruiters to manage and track every communication.
How creating content can build your reputation and attract inbound candidates.
Use data analytics to monitor how engaged your candidates really are.
Communicate with potentially thousands of applicants with help from a chatbot.
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