6 Tips to Attract, Engage, Convert, and Hire:

1. Mobile Friendly Company Website with a Careers Page

Having a professional website may seem clear and like a no brainer, but the facts are, some companies still don’t have a website. Today, job seekers searching on their mobile devices more than they ever have before. According to LinkedIn, over 70% of active jobseekers have visited a company career site from their phones. More than 40% have applied to a job on their mobile device.

If you have a website, that’s awesome! But if you don’t have a Careers Page, consider getting one up asap. Your careers webpage is the tool that gives you the ability to attract more candidates, educate them on your company, values and culture- thus encouraging job seekers to apply.

The days of posting a job opening and expecting candidates to apply are long gone. It is a job seeker’s market, and with unemployment at an all-time low of under 5% in the majority of cities, now more than ever you need more than a job opening to attract the very best talent.

Your careers page is a great place to share information about your company’s vision, awards, history, core values, culture and diversity, the leadership team, community outreach, team building activities, and benefits.

*Tip: Your careers page should be easy to find on your website. Don’t bury it!

Check out these companies with awesome career pages:

• Acquia
• Airbnb
• Amazon
• Bullhorn
• Seismic
• Tesla
• Wordstream
• ezCater

What will influence top talent to leave their current company to join your team?

2. Candidate Personas

When composing your job descriptions and constructing content to promote your company, jobs, and culture it is best to recognize who you are targeting to attract and hire.

Just as in digital marketing where you identify your perfect buyer persona (your audience and buyers), it is best practice to plan out your ideal candidate (a person who has soft and hard skillsets that align with the open position and equally as important, the company).

It is important to have a strong grasp on who performs well in the role for each position you are tasked to fill. Identify who your top performers are? What is does their background include? List out some of soft skills they possess.

Often, companies fail to hire top talent because they have impractical expectations around who the perfect fit for the position is.

Try not to get wrapped up in “perfect.” In reality, no such thing exists. Instead you can focus on attracting more candidates to your company and open positions.

3. Employer Branding

Do candidates know who your company is and how you treat your employees?

If a candidate finds your job while searching and applying on job boards, they will likely do two things: First, they will check out your company website. Second, they will review how current and past employees rated and shared their experience with your company on Glassdoor.

Candidates are seeking an inside look at the company. They want to see trust and transparency.

How is the leadership team viewed?
Is there room for advancement?
What is the salary, PTO, and benefits?
Does work-life balance exist?
What is the average tenure?

As people are continuing to consume content from videos, it is a great idea compose a video integrating these exact topics into the storyline! This video can then be shared on your careers page of your website, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter just to name a few!

Most importantly, share what makes your company unique and how you value employees. This will also give you a lot of insight into the strengths and weaknesses or your corporate culture and areas where you may improve. Consider it as a self-audit.

Tip: Attend and consider sponsoring career fairs. Meet college students and get involved with campus events.

4. Content Marketing

Consistent blogging is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to grow organic traffic. It’s also a great way to engage and nurture prospective candidates. Trust me, it is well worth it to invest the time. We still reap the benefits from visitors landing on our careers page from blog posts written well over 5 years ago. This is great for long term strategic positioning.

Consider what kinds of content are you creating and sharing with prospecting candidates.

This is where the lead nurturing component of inbound marketing comes in. When candidates apply to your open jobs, you want to ensure you are nurturing them throughout the entire recruiting process. Create content that helps them prepare to interview with your company. Don’t forget to share and promote that employer brand that you are working hard to build and grow we discussed earlier.

Sharable content includes blog posts, infographics, videos and tip sheets. Give them a culture code similar to how Dell does for candidates. If job seekers are already in your CRM system, you should be able to track their activity and send them helpful content to move them through the recruiting process, based on their actions. This is one of the most critical elements of the process – tracking your job seekers behavior.

This is also tremendously valuable information for you as a company to understand where your candidates are coming from, how they are finding you and if they are reading the content you are sending to them. This key metric is a perfect indicator of a candidate’s level of engagement or interest in the role.

5. Social Media

Social media has quickly become everyday place for a variety of interactions. It’s a great way for companies to build brand awareness and a strong community.

If you’re not already sharing your job openings or company updates on social media, you’re missing out an enormous opportunity to expand your reach and connect with solid candidates.

LinkedIn is the #1 professional networking site. Job seekers are actively and passively searching for new opportunities every minute of every day!

It is crucial to have a LinkedIn company page where you are sharing updates, featuring opportunities to join your team, and highlighting your corporate culture. Never hesitate to ask your network to share and help spread the word!

Facebook and Instagram platforms are a perfect place to highlight your company culture. Share videos and images of your team, company outings, awards received and community involvement.

6. Track Results

Where are candidates coming from and how are they finding you?

If you really want to assess, flourish, and enhance inbound recruiting strategies, you need to be able to track and measure.

Track the source of the majority of your new hires. Do they come from job boards, LinkedIn, referrals. email campaigns or online search? This will help you identify what your best and weakest channel is and how you can improve ROI.

Track on Google, in Pardot, and your Applicant Tracking System. Recruiting is both sales and marketing so incorporate best practices around both.

If you have questions or would like to know about how I’ve have helped recruiting agencies incorporate inbound marketing strategies, contact me today.