Recruitment Marketing Critical to Attract Talent

Attracting and retaining talent is becoming an increasingly important issue for companies as they seek to remain competitive in a globalized and interconnected marketplace. For Human Resources departments, it is critical to use technology tools to create more efficient recruiting processes and scale businesses.

Companies have altered the way they attract talent. As traditional methods are no longer as impactful as they used to be, digital platforms have taken the lead as the most efficient and popular way to advertise jobs. Sebastián Domínguez, Vice President of Sales Latin America, Talent.com said that “The perfect candidate can be anywhere. Therefore, your job offer must be on the right digital channels.” 

To see how trends have transformed recruitment marketing, its history should be examined. Traditional methods relying on media such as printed press, TV and radio started to decrease their impact in the 2000s due to the introduction of Google AdWords, which allowed for sponsored advertisements  Then, 10 years later, the use of AI and tracking for customer targeting allowed companies to reach more potential customers and create digital environments to connect with them.

Most large companies already use a recruitment management system (RMS) to design, manage and personalize recruitment process. Domínguez said that an RMS enables companies to receive, evaluate and give feedback to applicants. RMS also lets companies maintain follow-ups with both their clients and applicants.

He added that companies need to understand that the “post and pray” concept is no longer efficient as it does not give the company control over the results of its job offer. Instead, other useful methods can be utilized to maximize advertising budgets. To establish such an approach, the ability to measure Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) is the most important step.

Domínguez emphasized the difference between organic and sponsored recruitment: An organic post is very likely to be missed by a candidate, but a sponsored one gives much more visibility to potential candidates. “It is easy to measure your recruitment strategies' performance to transform all investments into clicks and apps,” highlighted Sebastían Domínguez, pointing to three key metrics. Firstly, Cost Per Click (CPC) is the total budget invested in the campaign over the number of clicks received. This is followed by Cost Per Application (CPA), which equals the total budget invested in the campaign contrasted with the number of applications received. Thirdly, Cost Per Engagement (CPE) is the total internal and external costs associated with the recruitment campaign over the total number of engagements. “Knowing this data allows the company to understand the basis for growth in the upcoming periods,” said Domínguez. 

He continued that companies must define their goals to understand the weaknesses in the candidate process. To set such goals, companies must find an ideal business partner, define a specific budget and understand which digital channels are the most effective and grant the highest CPA. Attracting candidates looking for a job is insufficient: companies must make an effort to create digital marketing strategies to impact people who are interested in their industry and want to understand market dynamics.