Recruitment marketing: smart recruiting is smart communication

What do you stand for as an employer? How do you fill out your brand? What about the work culture among your employees? In addition to yourself, you also need to analyze your target audience(s). Who are they and what do they care about? Why should they choose you as an employer? What differentiates you from other employers?

Once you have outlined the profile of your potential candidates and it’s clear what you can offer them as an employer, distill your core message from this. This message, in addition to your offering, should also include convincing arguments.

Translate your core message into a distinctive, attractive and compelling story. No more uniformity: work with a (series of) recognizable visual(s) and striking headline(s) for a solid first impression, sufficient stopping power and a common thread for all further communication. Also adapt your story according to the candidate: different profiles within your company may require a different approach.

Before you start communicating to potential candidates, take a close look at your website. Are your job postings easy to find, clear and compelling? Choose understandable job titles that rank well in searches. Make your jobs scannable for mobile readers and end with a convincing call to action. Finally, simplify your application process for a better candidate experience and easier entry.

Also, look beyond your own website. Are your job postings being picked up by VDAB, Google and Indeed? What do referral sites say about your company? Do you appear on all platforms in the same recognizable way? And do you also collect data from VDAB, search engines, social networks and job boards to improve your recruitment?

Engage your employees first. An ambassador campaign often works quickly and is cheaper than an external campaign.

Still need external communication? Then publish your vacancies specifically on a combination of channels. Work on both brand recognition and awareness, provide information and arouse interest, activate and convert.

Combine search optimization and search advertising, targeted targeting on social media and job postings on job boards and niche platforms. If possible, reinforce with channels with broad reach, such as news media, out-of-home, radio and TV. Do you have only one or a few job postings? Then choose the most relevant channels for the target audience, but keep combining thoughtfully.

Don't get happy with your own website or is the online application process too rigid? Then choose low-threshold application opportunities on your selected recruitment media. Or even better: create an attractive (temporary or otherwise) vacancy and/or job site. Only a fool tries to build a house on rented land.

Review your campaign and website statistics regularly. Adjust where necessary and feel free to do an A/B test when in doubt. It gives you a better view of the most interesting channels on which you can focus your arrows next time.

Compare the cost per view, click and applicant (CPA) for each channel. Preferably, also look at the lead time and quality of recruitment. Granted, it's not always 100% possible or conclusive, but these statistics are usually more rational and reliable than our gut feeling.

And finally, look around, learn from others, experiment and measure constantly. Labor market communication never evolved as fast as it does today, so keep actively following trends.