Marketing Your Company to Future Employees
Recruiting is one of the most important aspects of an organization that can directly impact your bottom line. Top talent can not only produce great work, but add to an organization’s unique workplace culture as well as become experts in their given industry with the right career growth and development. However, at the same time, the recruiting industry is in a rapid transition phase. For instance, Gary Grossman, President of Permanent Division explains, “In contrast to the recession, when open positions were scarce and employers had their pick of job candidates, today the demand from businesses for talented employees is at an all-time high. This has created a candidate-driven job market where job seekers and working professionals have the upper hand on employers. Businesses are increasingly competing with each other for talent, and job seekers know it.”
Job seekers are calling the shots and employers need to learn how to not only market to them, but retain them for the long run—which can add stress to HR and hiring departments. Combining recruiting marketing platforms with HR software can help these departments streamline the hiring process while, at the same time, give the applicant a good understanding of the organization they’re applying for. Below are three examples of organizations that best market their company to future employees and how it’s helped streamline the hiring process for HR departments as well as add to the company’s bottom line and culture.
1. Uber
The multinational online transportation network/app is changing the way we grab rides around town. Because Uber is looking for new opportunities to expand in cities to satisfy the rising demand of riders, it’s allowed them to create innovative ways to recruit new and qualified drivers to their organization. Their recruiting efforts, known as “Operation SLOG” (Supplying Long-term Operations Growth) markets to prospective drivers through driver incentive programs to developing better support systems and response times.
Furthermore, vehicle financing option for drivers helps them get the right tools/systems they need to succeed at Uber. Plus, this is great way for Uber to connect with their drivers, who range from young people looking to earn extra cash to retirees wanting to set their own schedules. They explain, “Uber is always adding new ways to enhance driver opportunity. The vehicle financing program helps drivers purchase new vehicles at better prices –allowing drivers to expand their business and delivering turnkey solutions for a more profitable future.” With these recruiting tactics, Uber is not only marketing to their future drivers, but giving them opportunities to grow and add to their community company culture.
2. Domo
Domo CEO, Josh James, is a great example of making recruitment personal. For instance, a couple of years ago, James was pursuing a talented sales rep who was currently making $400,000 a year and matching that salary alone for three years wasn’t going to land this guy. So, James had to make his pitch at the salesperson’s home, while enduring his cat allergies. James explained, “When you find them, you do unnatural things to get them to work in your organization, and then that rubs off on so many more people.” James also said he wasn’t worried about matching his salary because he knew this talented employee would close additional deals that would be much more than that salary. James took a risk, but proved that CEOs need to do what it takes to hire top talent because it will positively affect your organization’s bottom line.
3. Deloitte
The Deloitte brand, that provides audits, consulting, tax and advisory services around the world, saw an opportunity with social media recruiting in the Netherlands. In 2010-2011, Deloitte in the Netherlands had a hiring target of 1,000 people. The job market they faced was extremely difficult where only 10% of the workforce (both employed and unemployed) were looking for new employment. Deloitte’s solution? Creating a career website that in turn would create a funnel of candidates all while strengthening the brand.
This website integrated social media, contacts, geolocation and content management all to one place. Furthermore, the website helped recruitment staff and HR create communities with their profiles (connected to their social media sites, personal phone numbers and emails) so they could easily reach out and find talented future employees. This community environment the website provided helped future employees feel a part of the organizational culture even before accepting the job offer. Lastly, their social media accounts were unique in that they each offered different content across channels. For instance, Twitter was used to post jobs, events and new blog posts while YouTube contained videos of current employee testimonials. Deloitte demonstrates that employers need to think outside of the box when it comes to online and social recruitment marketing and how it can make HR systems more efficient.
All of these organizations show the importance of marketing the right way to future employees in order to help them grow and stay long term within the organization.
Malcolm Rowlings – Business Management & Staffing Consultant
