Your Job is Your Product: Marketing Principles for Candidate Sourcing

Candidate sourcing is as much about marketing as it is about recruiting. When you create a listing on a job board, or through social media, you are trying to sell your company to potential talent. You compete with rivals for this talent, as any retailer would when selling a product. In both cases the same marketing principles should apply.

Optimize Your Job Title

The job title is the first thing anyone is going to see, and it is crucial to any successful candidate sourcing campaign. Keep your audience in mind and avoid overly technical language. Many managers want to be witty and creative in the job title but it is okay to keep it simple - remember what keywords potential applicants will use when searching. It is also worth remembering that the advertised job is rarely the title seen on the business cards of your hire.

Avoid Red Flags

Since the internet is becoming saturated with job postings it is important to keep in mind several things that might turn an applicant off from applying with you. Be sure the job posting is fresh with a recent date. If a posting becomes stale it will no longer get views. Stay up to date with candidate sourcing technology - it doesn’t look great when your competitor allows candidates to apply using their LinkedIn profile through applicant self-service to their HRMS system, and you are asking them to fax over a résumé and cover letter.

Write A Killer Description

The most important thing that goes into a great job description is to get as much information as possible. Talk to the hiring manager as well as the other individuals who will work in the department with this new team member. Find out their needs so you can determine the right words to attract the right fit to the position. Not only should this description provide a clear USP for the role, it should be written with SEO in mind and contain clear call-to-actions relating to the application.

Maximising the Reach

Publishing posts on the major job boards isn’t enough today. Companies are seeing the most return from combining these traditional strategies with social candidate sourcing. This shift in best practices is mirrored and assisted by changes in HR technology. Many modern HRMS or ATS now include functionality to instantly push job advertisements to social networks, such as LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as major job boards. This social candidate sourcing is also encouraged within these systems from crowd and employee referrals.

Promoting the Job

You can promote your postings by starting conversations on social media, targeting adverts on LinkedIn, encouraging employee referrals, and more. Why not add a YouTube video to your job post which can showcase your company? Publish this through your company's YouTube channel, which is already stuffed full of engaging employee testimonials and showcasing your excellent company culture, right?. The more you engage in social media communication the more approachable your business and ultimately your jobs will be.