Recruiting the right person for a job vacancy is extremely difficult. That’s because hiring talented and ambitious people is central to the immediate and long-term future of a business.
For this reason, you don’t want to get it wrong.
Your recruitment tactics should focus heavily on hiring people who, once they start their new job, will work well alongside current employees, won’t rock the boat, and who will add another much-needed skillset or level of experience to your already-existing team of employees.
Doesn’t sound that easy, does it? There’s a reason for that: it’s not.
You, as someone in charge of recruitment, have a duty to achieve all of those things. It’s 2016, so you’ll already be a LinkedIn All-Star and you’ll think you can write a strong job description. You’ll be a dab hand at reviewing applications, approaching people for interviews and contacting referees to see if an applicant is telling the truth – but are you aware of how you can utilise content marketing to find the most talented candidates and take your talent search up a notch?
Here’s how.
1. Developing personas of the person you want to hire
This is more of an internal matter and not something you will publish online. Personas will help you to find the exact type of person you want to hire, and will help you create a job description around the specific things, such as skills and experience, that you are looking for.
Marketers and advertisers develop personas so they know exactly who they want to target with their content or advertising, while you, as a recruitment expert, should draw up your very own personas to help you find the right candidate.
Your persona might include:
- Skills and experience
- Personality traits
- Ambitions
- Personal interests
Once you’ve created your detailed persona, use a checklist so you can tick off relevant bits of information that tie in with what you’re looking for during the recruitment process.
Read: what you need to know about your prospective customers that you don’t already
2. Shooting attractive company videos
If you want your business to stand out over similar companies, video content is a surefire way to express what makes your organisation better. It’s only natural that people want to work for the best in their industry, so you should aim to produce something credible and interesting which really shows off your company in its best light (see our own video above as an example).
Videos, more than any other type of content, are easily-digestible and will get your message across quickly. When you consider our reported dwindling attention spans, well-produced and eye-catching videos embedded on social media will ensure your company appears to be a desirable place to work.
Use all types of content to show off your company culture and give insight into how your business operates, whether that’s dynamic content, such as videos, or company updates in the form of blogs or quick social media posts.
Read: how using images can increase online engagement
3. Advertising with well-written job descriptions
If you’ve got a job to advertise, it’s a given that you will want to attract the very best candidates. For this to happen, you should write a thorough job description that, through simple SEO techniques, ensures the vacancy is visible online.
People still use search engines to look for work, so search engine optimisation is crucial. Include things such as location and salary along with a strong job title. You’ll already know about specialist job boards such as Indeed and Monster, so post the job on there. There’s LinkedIn too, but we talk about that a little further down the page.
Things to think about when writing a job description:
- Think carefully about the job title, keeping it concise and clear
- Be as specific as possible
- Don’t assume: spell out all abbreviations clearly
- Incorporate keywords naturally, don’t force the issue or your ad will look spammy
- Include detailed location information
- Get a creative writer to look over what you’ve written – they’ll help sell the opportunity
- Be truthful
- Keep the format clear and simple
Read: how to write copy that converts
4. Using social media wisely
Technology-savvy individuals are never far from their mobile devices, using them for everything from reading emails, checking the weather, and speaking to friends via social media or instant chat.
Nowadays, social media is prominent in candidates’ job-search tactics, with LinkedIn being the most-used network because it’s geared solely towards professional communications – however, you should utilise other social networks to increase the reach of your job post too.
It does cost, but you should post your vacancy on LinkedIn and optimise it accordingly. Include all the details needed to ensure your ad appears in the search results of the type of person you want to attract, or appears – via the automatic algorithm – in front of suitable candidates who might be a good fit.
{{cta(‘1c847881-48ed-4f63-860c-a94b200bde8a’)}}
Short on budget? You can post your job ad organically via your own personal newsfeed. This will ensure your own followers see it, then, if enough people like or share the update, then its reach will grow exponentially.
Finally, make sure you use social media to suss out whether a candidate is serious about joining your business and to see what they get up to in their personal time. Look at their historical posts, and things such as spelling, political allegiances or other things that will outline if they are a suitable or not.
Read: theEword’s social media blog archives
5. Get the lowdown on content marketing at our next free training event
theEword excels at getting businesses noticed and we can help yours too – we’ve worked with recruitment companies and businesses in other sectors to ensure they’re visible online, which is central to helping their businesses grow.