'We would rather our recruiters spend time getting to know people than trying to find them'

This article was produced in partnership with Talent World.

When it comes to talent attraction, it’s fair to say that employers are struggling right now. The pandemic acted as a catalyst for change in how, where, and why we work, leading to a candidate-driven market with high turnover rates and low retention figures.

And while employers are trying ever more inventive and colorful ways to attract and hold on to new hires, there’s one recruitment tactic in particular that’s gaining momentum in Canada.

Recruitment marketing

“Because of the current labour shortages, recruitment marketing is something that a lot of employers have been looking at recently,” says Jessica Rowen of TalentWorld. “For us, at TalentWorld, recruitment marketing is a way of supporting our recruiters - helping them attract and retain the best talent in a super effective way.”

As the Director of Marketing at TalentWorld and with over nine years of experience in the Canadian staffing industry, Rowen is well-practiced in the art of digital marketing – and clearly saw that certain aspects could be transferred into the world of recruitment.

“A lot of aspects of a Recruiters job – from job postings and sourcing messages to LinkedIn posts – can be optimized by applying digital marketing tactics to it,” she tells HRD. “We’ve trained our recruiters in the fundamentals of digital marketing so that they spend less time on candidate attraction and sourcing, and more time getting to know people. We believe the heart of a recruiter’s job lies in having meaningful relationships with people.”

“That’s really what makes us at TalentWorld so different to other staffing agencies – we have such a structured Recruitment Marketing training program, toolkit and support system for our recruiters to help them with optimizing the recruitment process while delivering an exceptional candidate experience.”

The training covers everything from how to treat a job posting like an advertisement to increase the number of applications received to how to personalize sourcing attempts so that people respond. And with over 30 tools and a dedicated team of marketing experts, TalentWorld recruiters have the support they need to see results.

“We’ve applied what we’ve learned in marketing over decades, from email to print to digital,” says Rowen. “From there, we’ve created training and tools for our Recruiter’s so they can get people more engaged and responsive to adverts. By adopting this methodology, and pivoting it to recruitment, we’ve seen great results.”

Rowen has seen TalentWorld’s Indeed Apply Rate consistently increase since implementing Recruitment Marketing over three years ago, with every year measuring double the industry average – incredible given the current tight market. However, Rowen is quick to point out that these results aren’t down to some secret recipe or magic spell – it’s just a good, adaptable strategy.

And there’s never been a better time to dabble in recruitment marketing. The ongoing labour shortage is crippling Canadian organizations, with employers desperate for top tier talent without breaking the bank.

It’s a rough situation for all involved – however, investing in this marketing style approach to recruitment or partnering with a staffing agency who has already, could give employers an edge over the competition.

“The way we look at it is candidate attraction and sourcing shouldn’t be the most difficult part of a recruiter’s job,” says Rowen. “We would rather our recruiters spend time getting to know people than trying to find them. Because the more people get to know people, the better the fit will be.”

And that’s where the beauty happens. As Rowen tells HRD, when recruiters free up more time to speak to their clients and their candidates, they’re in a much better position to make placements that last.

You can learn more about TalentWorld’s recruitment marketing strategy by downloading their whitepaper here.