Plain and simple – the job market is confusing.
Over 500,000 jobs added in January 2023. Unemployment rate is the lowest since the moon landing in 1969. The recession word is lingering. Interest rates are still going up. Companies are needing more job orders for the first time in years.
Some companies need more candidates (still!) Some companies need more job orders.
So, what does that mean for your recruitment marketing?
It means your recruitment marketing needs to level up? Yes – if you need candidates or job orders. Recruitment marketing is still important.
Here’s why.
When You Need Job Orders
Let’s address the contrary thought first – when you need more job orders, you need more candidates.
Job orders are becoming more vital to your company, so time to fill continues to be an important metric to your company’s success. That’s why it’s important to not stopping and actually to keep improving your recruitment marketing when job orders are more scarce.
Pressure increases in the company when revenue decreases and job orders aren’t flowing in as easily as they were previously. When you get those new job orders that the sales team is working hard on finding, recruiters not having the active candidates ready to fill those open orders will not over well.
What can you do when you need job orders but want to keep up your recruitment marketing?
Really analyze those job orders. Research the job titles candidates are searching for and put those as the titles on your job postings. Make sure the salary is what candidates want. Anything you can do to reduce friction for your candidates is important. You need candidates fast. Make it easy for them find your job, fall in love with your job, and apply for your job. And if nothing else, make sure you are continuously walking through your application process to remove friction and get the best candidates to the front of the line from the moment you receive that new order.
When You Need Candidates
Some companies we are talking to still need candidates and a lot of them. Job orders aren’t an issue – their local market and industry has plenty of openings.
But they need candidates – quickly. What can you do when you still need a lot of candidates quickly?
As we talked about above, always reduce friction. Make those jobs easy to find, easy to get excited about, and easy to apply for.
Then let’s talk about your employer branding. Candidates will do their research – either in the real world, on social media, or across other websites. Let’s focus on your branding on social media and star ratings across websites.
Social Recruiting: What message is your company page sending? How does it connect with your target candidate? Are you sharing testimonials? Are you highlighting the success stories of your company? Really think about your content from the standpoint of connecting with the passive candidate who isn’t quite ready to change jobs, but when they are, they want to work for you. And finally, read the comments. Find out how candidates are connecting to your online brand.
Employer Branding: What is your star rating on Google, Facebook, and Indeed? What are you doing to proactively ask people to leave you testimonials? Not only do candidates have choices of multiple staffing companies, but they have choices of non-staffing companies in a similar industry with similar pay. If your star rating is 2.8, that’s an instant red flag about your company and the candidate will go to their next option.
Don’t Stop Your Recruitment Marketing!
Yes, it’s a little too counterintuitive to keep pushing resources to recruitment marketing if your job orders decrease. But, every fill of those job orders becomes even more important. If you don’t have the candidates ready to send to your new clients, that’s not setting your staffing company up for success.
If you need help with your recruitment marketing, reach out to our team. We’re ready to chat about all aspects of your recruitment marketing and provide a free analysis of what you’re currently doing. Click here to reach out to our team today!
(And for ongoing content throughout the month, watch our LinkedIn Live about recruitment marketing on Tuesdays, at 11 am Eastern on the LinkedIn profile of our director of recruitment marketing Matt Lozar.
