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Talent Acquisition

What’s the Number One Pitfall in Recruitment Marketing?

While there are many advantages to recruitment marketing there is inevitably going to be something that can go wrong with it. It could be the way the company rolls it out or simply because not enough thought has gone into just how it could work to your advantage.

This week our panel of experts share with us what they think could go wrong with recruitment marketing and why.

Joe Shaker

The wrong message.  That can stem from not knowing your value proposition, so what you’re pushing is inauthentic or untruthful, to not knowing your audience, where your message is then irrelevant.

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Joe Shaker is the President of Shaker Recruitment Marketing.

Maren Hogan

Not planning out your personas or your content and lead funnel ahead of time. Also, rarely, if ever, revisiting the job requirements and advertisement for evergreen or frequent reqs. Also also, relying on vanity metrics rather than hires and quality of said hires to dictate your future strategy.

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Maren Hogan is CEO and Founder of Red Branch Media.

Jared Nypen

For me, the number one pitfall is inaction. Recruitment marketing can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t need to be. It’s okay to start small and not be perfect. Some things will work; some thing won’t. And, that’s okay!
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Jared Nypen is the Vice-President of talent at Great Clips inc.

Lisa Jones

Too much content, not enough marketing!
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Lisa Jones is the Founder and Director of Barclay Jones.

Mark Cavanagh

The downfall is in the detail, whilst the development of intricate campaigns and perfection in execution is important this can often be the biggest drain on a marketing recruitment function. For an Industry which is results driven, you can often see stakeholders getting involved in the minute details of a marketing-led programme. Trust in your team to deliver often wields better results and if you’ve hired well in the first place they will be able to give you a step by step guide to the successes and failures of any recruitment campaign.

Mark Cavanagh is the Marketing Manager at The One Group.

Charlotte Jones

Recruitment marketing along with the candidate experience and employee experience directly impacts the employer brand as well as the development of quality talent pipelines.  As a recruiter marketer, activities will involve spending plentiful resources on attracting and engaging talent while the candidates’ perception of their experience is not optimal.  Therefore, it’s critical to align the candidate experience, employee engagement and recruitment marketing strategies for a prosperous recruitment marketing return on investment.

Charlotte Jones is the Recruitment Marketing Manager at Lockheed Martin.

Phil Strazzulla

Not making progress due to internal bureaucracy, lack of conviction, or lack of execution. I see so many teams that seem paralyzed because they have way too many stakeholders they need to make happy, aren’t sure what project to focus on, or see their projects fall behind due to day to day fires and/or an overly complicated strategy to get a given project done.

Phil Strazzulla is the Founder of NextWave Hire.

Shelby Burghardt

Your career site/job postings – If your career site isn’t designed well and doesn’t contain the information potential candidates need to make a decision about joining your company, then your recruitment marketing efforts will not pay off, because that tends to be where you drive all of your traffic. If you can get their attention and drive them to your site, that’s great – but you need to be able to continue to encourage them to click and apply by providing them with the necessary information they’re looking for. If they land on your job description, it is essentially the last chance you have to encourage them to apply. Your job descriptions need to be well-branded, compelling, informational, and have a clear call-to-action.

Shelby Burghardt is the Global Talent Brand Manager at Thomson Reuters.

Rebecca Drew

I think one of the biggest pitfalls in recruitment marketing is businesses not making the most of their number one asset – their employees, who are such a naturally rich source of authentic content for brands. By encouraging them to like, share and comment on your content, they’ll essentially become brand ambassadors – and it’s a cost-effective way to build your talent brand and voice. Not only will it make your employees feel more invested in the company, but it will show professionals what it’s really like to work for you and also help you tap into your employees’ networks – opening up a new pool of potential candidates.

Rebecca Drew is a Manager at LinkedIn Talent Solutions.

Bennett Sung

This was difficult to narrow down. Even with all the blog warnings and data-privacy compliance laws, the number one pitfall for all marketers is the practice of “spray and pray.” It just and will never work. The effort to segment your list, write persona-based content and leverage features within recruitment marketing technologies that allow you to acknowledge the prospective candidate by his or her name to better personalize the interaction will leave a positive impression.

Bennett Sung is the Head of Marketing at Allyo.

By Ushma Mistry

Editor & Content Strategist at Link Humans, download our new eBook now: Measuring Employer Brand: The Ultimate Guide and check out our latest product The Employer Brand Index.