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Top Marketing Strategies for Recruiting Success

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In today’s candidate market, recruiting is become increasingly intertwined with marketing.Marketing Strategies for Recruiting Success

A recruiter has to be able to sell a candidate on their firm and what they have to offer. With candidate’s putting themselves out there through outlets such as social media, recruiters have to in turn tell their story. With the integration of recruiting into marketing strategies, the ways you go about sourcing candidates is more complex than it has ever been.

Here is a simple step-by-step guide on how to successfully use marketing strategies for recruiting success.

  1. Create a Brand Strategy

How do you want people to view your firm? If a potential candidate comes across your agency, is it readily apparent from your brand that your agency would be a good place for them? Your brand needs to tell your story and convey your value.  Depending on your offering, your brand could range from broad concepts like “employer of choice” to narrow concepts like “Atlanta area’s premier event staffing.” 

Once you have identified your brand, how will you use it? Identify a recruiting strategy for your marketing efforts by determining how you will build your brand awareness. Your strategy should be coordinated and intentional. Everyone in your agency is an ambassador of your brand and your strategy should include how individuals will represent your brand as well. Your brand is the starting place for your marketing efforts, so ensure your brand strategy is clear and used consistently and deliberately.

  1. Build a Social Media Presence

84% of organizations use social media for recruitment; your firm should be part of that statistic. With more people than ever using social media as a way to job search, you should have an active presence across all major social media channels. LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are the top three sites that candidates use to job search. Social media participation should be driven at the corporate level with company LinkedIn and Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, and each individual recruiter should leverage their social media networks to further spread brand awareness and recruit new candidates. Take advantage and promote your firm only as a recruiter could while sourcing the candidates you want.

  1. Develop a Blog

Reaching candidates through social media is only one part of the puzzle. A blog is a great way to show them an inside look into your firm and provide them with valuable information for career development. Use your brand strategy and center your blog content on topics your ideal candidates would find interesting. Be consistent with how often you publish and stick to a schedule once one is developed. You want your call-to-action to resonate with your candidates and make them want to engage with your firm.

  1. Create a Social Community

With your social media networks and blog in hand, you need to take the next step and build a community around your involvement with candidates online. Build campaigns around a specific topic of discussion to involve candidates you need to source for open positions. Share not only your information, but also that of those you consider influencers of the positions you have available. You want candidates to see that the topics you discuss are the ones trending the most in their industry. By engaging your social community with information that is important to them, you make it that much easier to source the candidates you need.

  1. Lead Generation & Nurturing

Once you have begun to capture the attention of your community, you want to start converting them into potential candidates that you can bring into your firm. You want to utilize your recruitment software as a tool for finding potential candidates and keeping track of all levels of communication. Are they reading your blog? Are they engaging with you on social media? Once you have identified potential candidates, you can begin to nurture them with your marketing efforts. Track your talent through email campaigns, job postings and any relevant information about your company that captures their interest.

  1. Track Your Success

With any good marketing strategy, measuring the success of your efforts is as important as the efforts you put into it. Tracking your engagement and who you reach will help you build a more successful marketing campaign. Here are some key metrics to consider:

  • Social media engagement
  • Blog visitors
  • Email campaign engagement
  • New candidates

When you use marketing strategies as a recruiting tool, you will increase the success of your candidate sourcing. When recruiting and marketing come together, they build a brand image that is appealing to candidates and consumers alike.

5 Tips For Making a Recruiting Video that Works

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YouTube’s popularity is reflected in its more than 1 billion unique users each month, with 100 hours of video uploaded every single minute. Thanks to that vast audience pool, videos can boost companies’ visibility and, when used correctly, be a compelling way to tell your staffing business’ story. How can staffing firms create recruiting video content that stands out in the throng and generates value for your business?

We looked at three killer recruiting videos, analyzed what makes them effective and summed up our reviews into five tips for making a recruiting video that works.

1. Pinpoint your staffing company’s audience and answer their questions.

Start off by surveying your recruiters and sales team about the questions they hear most frequently. Then put yourself into your ideal candidates’ and clients’ shoes and answer those questions, including the types of job placements you offer and the benefits of working with your agency.

According to Anna Wright, a social media consultant for LinkedIn, the content itself needs to remain clear and informative, staying away from a sales focus. We see this “non-salesy” approach in the first recruiting video we analyzed, which was created by Humana, a health benefits company. This recruiting video is very clear about what the corporation does, employees’ opportunities for advancement, the types of jobs the company typically needs to fill and the desired background of candidates they’d like to hire.

2. Highlight your recruitment firm’s differentiators.

Your next step is pinpointing what makes your recruiting company different from the others out there. From the niche industries you specialize in to proven results, show your audience why your company should be their number one choice for recruiting. Leverage video to connect with your audience, highlight your success stories and prove the value you can offer in finding the right talent for the right job. Recruiting software can provide you with data to incorporate into your video, whether you want to highlight team performance or other achievements.

Frontline Source Group made a video that ramped up their visibility with more than 25,000 views. Their strategy including highlighting the many awards they’ve won and the specific industries they target.

3. Incorporate sound, personality and your staffing agency’s culture.

Now that you know your audience and differentiators, it’s time to think about adding pizzazz to your content. This killer recruiting video, which comes from Shopify, has a defined focus on what makes their company different, with added zest from funny interviews and music.

The video incorporates unique music to set the tone of the company’s quirky culture, enthusiastic sound bites from employees and shows the personality of the company. Your recruiting company should include clips of compelling interviews with top clients, successful candidates and internal employees to add personality and charm to your video.

4. Add interesting visuals that support your recruiting firm’s success.

You may choose to include some hard data in your recruiting video, which is fine as long as you don’t let it slow down the video’s pacing and energy. At points in the video where you’re offering statistics or basic information, use visually interesting video, moving graphics, and presentations to cover the “talking head” who’s delivering your staffing data.

Your audience doesn’t want to see one person drone on—after seeing the person who’s talking, cover what they’re saying with valuable, pertinent graphs, grids, bullet points and video. For example, if you’re offering statistics regarding the percentage of successful placements, you could cover most of the sound with a short graphic containing moving elements and then return to moving video.

5. Develop a compelling story about your staffing agency.

You may have heard the saying, “Facts tell, stories sell.” This is particularly true when you’re creating your recruiting video. Staffing firms need to focus on what interesting story they can tell and who will be the main characters.

The Shopify video has a narrator who leads viewers through the information provided and sound bites from staff, acting as the main character of the piece. If possible, focus on a successful client or candidate, or have one of your employees serve as the point person for the video. Then create a compelling story that connects to your targeted audience with energy and style.

Recruiting video content can be a powerful vehicle for getting your message out to numerous candidates and clients. When done well, video allows your staffing agency to connect with your audience on multiple levels—a personal touch as well as with statistics and data that prove your value.

Learn how you can leverage other social media outlets like YouTube to help your recruiting agency grow with our webinar, Social Media Tips for Recruiting & Staffing.

Recruiting Software Blog Staffing Insights: John Vanderkin, President of Employers Overload (Part 2)

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The staffing and recruiting industry is operating in the midst of an uncertain time.

The steady, yet not thriving, economy, federal government actions (or inactions), and the introduction of the Affordable Care Act have all made an impact on the industry. As result, recruiters are working hard to use the latest in staffing software and recruiting software, designed to provide the right solutions to employers and workers. Industry professionals are focusing their attention on adapting to the changing needs of employers during an uncertain economic and legislative environment.

John Vanderkin, President of Employers Overload, an innovative workforce staffing company, spoke with us about the impact the ACA and the federal government shutdown has had on the recruiting industry and what we can expect to see in the future.

Current employment market looks positive

The November jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor details that total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 203,000 in September 2013. This is positive news. In addition, the unemployment rate dropped three tenths of a percent to 7.0 percent.

“The current employment market is picking up. We are seeing more hiring in the manufacturing and distribution industries as well as more opportunities in general clerical and administrative positions. This increase is certainly not a robust return to previous hiring levels but it is an encouraging sign that we hope will continue to accelerate,” said Vanderkin.

The potential repercussions of the ACA on the staffing industry?

As the Obama Administration works the kinks out of the deployment of the ACA, many employers are trying to adapt their recruiting software and processes to implement the necessary changes. The staffing industry is simultaneously trying to better prepare for the potential repercussions of the ACA (read the Bond White Paper on staffing industry perceptions of the ACA).

“The staffing industry should not become an avenue for companies to try and avoid the ACA requirements, but the ACA creates some opportunities for the staffing industry if companies adopt the use of certain staffing industry services. Used properly, the staffing industry can help a company minimize some of the impacts of ACA,” said Vanderkin. “Utilizing temporary employees for short- term business growth or projects can alleviate the tracking and notification requirements that a company needs to follow for ACA. Using temp-to-hire services to fill permanent positions can help to reduce turnover and avoid more costly ACA administration tasks until the company is sure that a candidate will really be a good fit for the organization.”

He went on to say that “the ACA has also created numerous challenges for the staffing industry. The increased costs associated with longer term temporary project placements, administration and tracking of the ACA requirements as well as educating the staff and candidates of the staffing company are just a few of these challenges. As staffing organizations recognize the increased costs of administrating and paying for the ACA, they will need to determine how to pass those costs along to their clients in a fair and reasonable fashion.”

Working with partners to prepare for the ACA

Staffing and recruiting professionals may have to advance their use of new recruiting software technology solutions to better prepare for the implementation of the ACA – especially as the various deadlines come into play. Vanderkin told us that his organization is focusing on educating key members of the company to take point on various ACA-related responsibilities and projects.

“We have done a tremendous amount of work to prepare for this change. We have spent a great deal of time educating key members of our staff, we continue to meet with customers and businesses within our service areas to educate them about the ACA and its effect on staffing, we are working closely with our software vendor, Bond International, to enhance our applicant tracking system so we can meet the requirements of ACA and we are continually working to answer questions by our candidates and employees on how the ACA will affect and support them,” said Vanderkin. “Keeping abreast of the changing ACA regulations is an important task of a staffing vendor and we provide this service and support to our customers to ensure that they have the latest information to base their hiring decisions upon.”

By implementing strategic tools, recruiters will be better able to meet the needs of clients. Comprehensive tools like staffing and recruiting software that boost productivity and efficiency in the office are the key to better preparing for the potential upheaval that the ACA will create.

Governmental budgeting issues and its impact on staffing

The 16-day partial federal government shutdown in October certainly made an impact on the rest of the economy and public opinion. Even as lawmakers now (in mid-December) work to pass a two-year budget agreement that may provide some stability, there is still much uncertainty on the impact of any budget agreement on the economy.

“I think any government uncertainty is bad for economic growth and unfortunately we have had a long run of government indecision to contend with. This uncertainty has had a very big effect on hiring and overall economic growth. The government shutdown in October had an effect on this overall issue but in and of itself, it will not have a major impact on hiring across the broader American business community,” said Vanderkin.

Looking forward, continued improvement in employment figures demonstrate a pickup in business demand for staffing as sales increase. This need is reinforced by continued business uncertainty, in that there is still a reluctance to hire more FTE’s until a reasonable level of economic stability is reached.

Staffing Insights: Jon Osborne, VP of Research, Staffing Industry Analysts, on Key Staffing and Recruiting Trends

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The staffing and recruiting industry seems to get hotter with each passing day. New reports and changing hiring trends show staffing and recruiting professionals servicing nearly every industry. From the rising percentage of contingent labor to businesses preparing for the Affordable Care Act, to increased automation and improved usage of recruiting software and staffing software, the staffing and recruiting industry is rapidly adapting to changing market dynamics in order to succeed.

Jon Osborne, Vice President of Research & Editorial at Staffing Industry Analysts, sat down with us recently to talk about current trends and the future of the industry. At Staffing Industry Analysts, Osborne leads a team of research analysts who create thoughtful insight into the staffing industry and provide access to market research. Let’s see what he has to say about key trends impacting the staffing and recruiting industry, and how recruiting and staffing software fits with key trends.

What’s a key trend impacting the staffing industry?
“Within the last several months, the proportion of jobs that are part time has spiked enormously. So far, 77 percent of jobs created this year were part time and that’s what making all the news. However, when we look at that [figure] over a longer period of time, while it’s still elevated, it’s hardly as impressive,” said Osborne. “More broadly, we have the lowest ratio of full-time employment as a percent of population since 1983, at about 47 percent, and the low-point then was only temporary. We’ve been at the 47 percent level for a few years now, since 2010, and I don’t know another period that it has been like that for as long.  All this may affect the types of assignments requested by buyers and generally is indicative of continued weakness in the job market.”

What are the benefits of a contingent labor force for businesses? 
Contingent labor provides flexibility to a business so that it may scale up or down as needed. This flexibility allows the company to make effective changes to the size of its labor force depending on the strength of the economy and market demands for its products and/or services. In fact, there are trend watchers who predict that by 2020, 40 percent of the U.S. population will be  acting as free agents.

“This last recession was a bit of a learning experience for a lot of companies,” said Osborne. “If a buyer had a significant portion of contingent labor then they were well able to absorb the shock of the economic downturn. Organizations that typically only employ full-time, salaried workers found it much more difficult to adjust as necessary and had to turn to layoffs. This is very disruptive to your labor force and to cut, for example, 5 percent of staff is demoralizing and also results in high outplacement costs. Having a small layer of contingent workers, even 5 to 10 percent, allows a business to protect its permanent layer of workers. Contingent workers don’t have an expectation of long-term employment. As a result, no one [in this employment situation] bets the farm on a contingent job and so there’s much less damage to morale if the economy takes a downturn and cuts to contingent staff have to occur.”

“The number of contingent workers is growing, we have been surveying larger companies since 2005 and we are seeing that organizations are continuing to grow the number of contingent staff. When we first started tracking [the percentage of contingent staff, it] was around 10 percent and now it is 16 percent and expected to grow to 18 percent by next year.”

What are the benefits of the contingent labor trend for workers?
The growing percentage of contingent jobs being offered is not only beneficial for businesses. Workers in industries that fall under the professional sector, like finance, healthcare and tech, are demonstrating that the trend is providing a number of benefits.

“On the worker side, there is a demand in professional work for flexibility and also for higher wages. People who work on a contingent basis in IT or healthcare are typically doing it for lifestyle reasons. You can make $80 an hour for a few months and then live in Bali for a few months, and pick up another gig when you’re ready,” said Osborne.

Obviously, the perks of the contingent trend are felt by more in-demand professions. Fields that require expert understanding of niche practices like those in the technology and healthcare sectors are providing professionals with access to more competitive advantages. Osborne went on to provide us with an example of careers with high and low demand and how the contingent labor trend is impacting employment in those fields.

“Occupational therapists have a very low unemployment rate. Employers are having such a difficult time finding quality workers for this field that staffing firms are tracking them from the moment they get accepted into a training program—before they’ve even taken a class; the wages for this job are high and the occupational therapist is able to set the terms. They choose when to work and employers pay more per hour,” said Osborne. “On the other end, clerical and office workers experience a more ‘try before you buy’ situation as companies like to hire temp workers to see if they are a good overall fit for the position. It’s hard to tell in an interview if the person is right for the job. So a three- to- six month contract provides a period of time to test the person’s fit.”

Why hire a staffing firm?
It’s not uncommon to hear detractors ask “what’s the point?” or “why do you need to hire them?” in reference to staffing firms. People often pose the question of whether it would be cheaper to handle hiring internally. However, despite these questions, there are many sound reasons and benefits to hiring a staffing or recruiting agency, such as access to leading recruiting and staffing software, to fill one or more positions in a company, especially contract or contingent employment positions, according to Osborne.

“Have you ever bought a sandwich? That’s just outsourcing a meal. [Staffing] is no different – it’s outsourcing at its finest,” he said. “As consumers, we outsource almost everything. We don’t build our own car or our own house. With staffing agencies, companies are turning toward a specialist who has mastered employment, turned it into a science and has been trained for the job – making the entire employment process faster and cheaper.”

Staffing Insights: Industry Consultant Amy Bingham on Staffing and Recruiting Trends Driving Business Decisions

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The latest numbers are in and everyone is talking: The use of contingent labor is growing in force and workers and their employers are becoming increasingly comfortable with the change. This trend is causing more businesses than ever to invest in the services of staffing professionals equipped with the most advanced recruiting software.

We have Amy Bingham, managing partner and staffing industry consultant for Bingham Consulting Professionals, LLC, speaking with us today about the recent developments in the sector.

The increasing trend of contingent labor
News reports celebrating the increase in hiring are common. However, unlike in previous decades when the nation was recovering from an economic slip, the positions being created are not necessarily permanent, salaried work. Reuters reported that three out of four of the nearly 1 million hires made in 2013 were for part-time positions. This number represents a great opportunity to ensure that recruiters are as efficient as possible with the right recruiting software.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of adults employed part-time was 8.2 million in July 2013. While part-time and contingent labor are different, the increases in both categories indicate a growing trend toward greater employment flexibility in the marketplace.

“I think that one trend [in the staffing industry] is the increased use of contingent labor. The increased adoption of contingent labor services by employers is the result of skittish hiring due to the economy. This has resulted in a sluggish jobs picture, unemployment rates that remain stubbornly high and consumer confidence levels that are up one month and down the next,” said Bingham. “The adoption of the ACA is also increasing costs associated with hiring. All of these factors weigh heavily on employers and when they have the option to shift those costs to staffing agencies they do so, which has boded well for the industry in the past few years.”

Bingham continued on to say that “the staffing industry remains strong, but it is moderating. Most of the national firms have announced their revenue increases over the prior year are down in the low single digits. There is some leveling off, but that is to be expected relative to the wave the industry has been riding for the past few years.”

The adoption of managed services impacts the recruiting industry 
The increased use of contingent labor is not the only trend Bingham sees impacting the staffing industry. According to her observations, the widespread use of management services is also changing how business is conducted and the staying power of the staffing industry.

“Another trend impacting the industry is the widespread adoption of managed services and vendor management services, which continues to exert downward pressure on industry margins,” Bingham said. “I think that employers will continue to rely on the staffing industry to manage their labor costs. [It could be more cost-effective], for example, for a company to break one full-time position into two part-time jobs. I believe businesses will look to creative solutions to manage rising labor costs.”

Generational reactions differ on the switch
Like many things regarding the workplace, the different generations will have mismatched opinions and reactions to the growing presence of contingent labor.

“We will likely see more work being parsed out in contract type positions and project roles, and an increase overall in part-time employment. For an employee that is accustomed to holding a full-time job, it could be challenging to adjust to the evolution to more part-time work,” said Bingham. “I think that generally, Gen Y is not skittish, they are typically very confident and they look to work as a series of experiences. Instead of expecting to hold one full-time job for 20 years – they are much more open and will embrace the changes associated with an increasingly contingent workforce. Aging baby boomers who are looking for more flexibility will embrace this type of work as well. Gen X could be challenged as this group is in the throes of raising families and therefore will be more inclined to seek the stability of full-time employment.”

Changes in the marketplace impact staffing firms
All of the trends previously mentioned are impacting staffing professionals, but mostly on the reactionary front toward employment. However, in the recruiting world, agencies are also changing processes by increasing consolidation. One of the best ways to consolidate is utilizing the right recruiting software.

“I think we are going to continue to see more consolidation among staffing firms and more short-lists of preferred suppliers within their customer base which will increase competition,” Bingham told us. “In the next few years, we will likely see margin compression in professional staffing sectors that haven’t experienced this to the same extent the commercial staffing sector has. We are already seeing this in healthcare, and in industries like accounting, finance and IT. As a result, staffing firms will have to get smarter about how they deliver their services, using technology for virtual delivery models so that they can drive down their costs and reduce delivery costs.”

She continued on to say that “within staffing organizations, more staff training will be required as the market continues to change and the way they talk to buyers of staffing services requires adjustments to effectively take their message to market.”

The importance of selling the staffing service
As employers continue to tighten their figurative belts, it’s important for staffing agencies to perfect sales and operations tactics to gain clients and prove to customers the value of the service. By implementing the right recruiting software, staffing agencies are able to create value to pass onto their customers.

“The staffing industry understands first-hand how the employment landscape is changing, and it is more expensive to employ people today than in the past,” said Bingham. “[It’s therefore important to] craft the right message on a sales campaign and package that message correctly. Staffing firms will need to package their value propositions and take the company message to market in a way that resonates with employers.”

The recession taught many businesses how to make do with less and how to increase efficiency. As a result, it is the job of a staffing agency to prove how services can reduce operational expenses in the long term and show a return on investment.

“A staffing firm can be a significant enabler of workforce management for employers – even more so today,” Bingham said.

Three Key Staffing Trends Drive Increased Opportunities for Staffing Agencies

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Staffing and recruiting professionals who have weathered the interesting economic conditions experienced in the past year may already be experiencing some key trends. However, other people may be just beginning to notice the subtle changes to the market which will make having the right recruiting software critical. According to a study from technology staffing firm Yoh (a Bond International Staffing and Recruiting Software customer), 88 percent of major U.S. employers surveyed expect that their 2013 rate of hiring will meet or exceed the rate of 2012. Of the companies that answered positively for increasing hiring within those 12 months, 83 percent predicted that they will increase staffing levels by at least 3 percent, reported the Society for Human Resource Management.

The survey was administered by Amplitude Research during January 2013 and used the responses of 150 human resource executives and hiring managers at some of the largest employers in the nation. Each of the companies surveyed had revenues of at least $750 million and a workforce of at least 1,500 people.

“The optimism evident in our [study] is tempered by persistent economic uncertainty and operational efficiency that has reduced demand for workers,” said Yoh President Lori Schultz in a statement about the findings, according to the source. “In addition, as the workforce grows more complex through, for example, the use of contract labor, a majority of organizations will be left flat-footed since they haven’t adjusted their workforce planning habits to account for this complexity. Now more than ever, systematic workforce planning is crucial to quickly sourcing, recruiting and hiring top performers.”

While there are still concerns over the economy due to the slow climb from the recession, many businesses and staffing and recruiting professionals are finding that the change may be slow, but it is happening.

Here are three key trends you may or may not already be noticing:

1) Increased contingent forces. Almost every staffing and recruiting professional will say that they are seeing an increased number of contingent, temp and part-time work being offered. This trend is being seen in both the service and professional services sectors as employers look for greater flexibility. In the IT sector, the use of contingent labor has proven successful as those workers gain higher salaries and greater control over what projects they work on instead of traditional benefits. Other professional industries are looking to adopt this model to boost employment numbers. As this trend develops, utilizing the best staffing and recruiting software will position your agency for success.

2) Competition is fierce for top talent. Due to the increased usage of contingent labor for projects, companies are finding, especially in certain industries, that there is a lot of competition for workers. For jobs like occupational therapy in healthcare and infrastructure development engineering for IT, there is a dearth of qualified personnel who have the talent, experience and personality for the job. As a result, staffing and recruiting professionals who work in these sectors are being forced to compete, offering these workers competitive benefits and interesting projects to lure them away from other potential jobs. The right staffing and recruiting software will ensure that you are able to stay competitive in these sectors.

3) Companies are struggling with workforce planning. According to the study from Yoh, many companies report that they struggle with workforce planning. Recruiters and staffing professionals outfitted with unified staffing and recruiting software can provide a comprehensive consultation service to these organizations and help meet their needs.

While many of the companies who were surveyed reported that they intend to increase hiring in 2013, only 13 percent had a workforce plan with defined standards and milestones. By hiring a staffing professional, a company can better create a step-by-step workforce plan that could better reduce risks associated with bringing onboard a large number of people in a short amount of time.