The parallels of recruitment, marketing and business development

Many years ago now, bright eyed and bushy tailed I bounced in to a fantastic privately owned advertising agency nestled in an idyllic country setting (aren't they all anyway?) on the edges of Harpenden, Hertfordshire. It specialised in Recruitment advertising, though did quite a lot of Automotive and public sector work too.  Michael K Howard or MKH they were most often referred to and were run by a small entrepreneurial leadership trio.  Big shout out to Jon Hill, Howard Walters and Bruce Miller, as I have so much to be thankful to them all for, (as well as my lovely colleagues of that time, many of who are still very dear friends, even without the shared interest of alcohol and dancing til late early hours). Well I am now the wrong side of 40!

Without probably even knowing it, the business owners naturally and loosely practised McGregor's Y theory of management and motivation with the entire staff, it was just their instinctive way of managing or not 'managing' depending on your point of view.  'Sink or swim' is how some managers often also interpret it, where staff once hired and in the job, were automatically assumed to be able to do the job well; find practical, creative and commercial solutions to any problem that would delight the client as well as much as the business owners at the same time. What an ethos and so empowering to the staff they entrusted with the responsibility to build their brand and business and always make the right decisions for the client and the company.

With a business model that proclaimed "we are only as good as our last job" and an absence of contracts that traditionally tied clients in to a fixed period of commercial engagement, regardless of how they felt about the level of service, the value they were getting or the overall quality of the partnership style, the 'in it together' promised relationship, the whole team in the business tried its hardest each and every day and loved every second of it (Ok rose tinted glasses maybe, but we loved the majority of it anyway and never had the dreaded Monday morning feeling, well I never did!).   The clients liked this approach too, after all they experienced the benefits and effort attached to this ethos and the business flourished and grew accordingly. No pun intended there as it was eventually acquired (for some time now) by The Accord Group of companies and is now known as Accord - Ad Value (with a similar approach to contracts I believe, though don't hold me to Accord on that one). Sorry, couldn't resist! Also whilst writing, drafting and editing this article they have rebranded, (that was quick work) and are now known more recently as Accord Marketing I believe.

So what does this have to do with the article headline of 'The parallels of recruitment, marketing and business development'?  Well, everything in my view. I believe having experience (some to a greater or lesser degree) in all of these areas gained initially at what was once MKH, a recruitment advertising agency, where business development and broader marketing know how was required in order to build a mini business within their business, that they share a lot of the same methods and approaches (and arguably benefits to employee and customer), as it’s all about persuading an audience to do what you want them to, until such time that you don’t want them to of course. I think recruiters call that kind of behaviour, self-selection or self-deselection.

As a CIM Chartered Marketer I'm allowed to confidently and proudly quote...

"Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably." 

The official academic definition from The Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM). 

The definition of Recruitment, according to the CIPD..."Recruitment is the process of having the right person, in the right place, at the right time. It's crucial to organisational performance"

They further add that... "Recruitment is a critical activity, not just for the HR team but also for line managers who are increasingly involved in the selection process. All those involved in recruitment activities should be equipped with the appropriate knowledge and skills."

You cannot talk about recruitment and marketing without acknowledging that "Recruitment Marketing" is a skill and category in it's own right, though I would now argue, that it's simply recruitment, where as the marketing aspect, by however means, is an automatic, given and essential part of it.

Though the marketing apspect of it, is made up of many elements that neatly fit together to create a compelling and sometimes powerful proposition when defined and applied well. Take Employer Branding. A company’s employer brand is its reputation as an employer and influences the emotional response and affinity of potential and actual applicants and current employees towards (or even away) from a company. It’s the trust they put in a company name and the essential thing about building trust is must be central to your approach and you must build it before you really need it, or have to rely on it and continue to keep building on it as wants and needs as an employer and an employee change both inside and outside of an organisation.

Recruitment marketing begins with an established Employer Brand rooted in the company’s Vision, Mission and Values. You need to develop that image and perception that will resonate with your ideal and preferred target audience, something that describes who you are as a company, what you stand for and why it is a good decision to join your company. That's Marketing Strategy and  Communications, just with a focus on candidate attraction and acquisition purpose and objective and not (like in business development) a customer acquisition and purchase one.

Your Employer Brand becomes your story to tell to the inside and outside world. It becomes an even more successful and interesting story once you include your Employee Value Proposition, (known as your EVP) which is typically the reason why people join and stay with a company. It is the message delivered to a target audience about who the business is and what you can offer as a company, as an employer and why this is attractive (or should be) to a potential candidate. This then becomes the backbone underpinning all of the individual and tailored recruitment marketing communications and advertising.

At the very top of this article I have included a historical yet significant and simple marketing comms model, called AIDA.  It was the first marketing model I ever learned (and althought the most simplest the most poignant) and it is probably the most useful one as a quick check and a 'So what' to ask yourself, in all that you (or someone else) creates on your behalf in marketing messages and audience engagement activities. Put yourself in the readers or even experiencers position and if you have a valid answer to 'So what?' to each aspect of your communication, design, content and delivery, be it an advert, a post, a press release, a brochure, a video, meme or an event, then you really are in marketing and have become a marketer!

The simple model is a great framework for any communication and I have extended it to demonstrate why it is so relevant in recruitment marketing and talent attraction or talent acquisition or resourcing or sourcing activities as it asks you to consider the following in your any form of your marketing be that advertising or communications;

• A – attention (awareness): attract the attention of the customer (candidate)
• I – interest (curiosity) of the customer (candidate)
• D – desire: (appetite) convince customers (candidates) that they want and desire the product or service (or job opportunity) and that it will satisfy their needs (responsibility, career progression, experience, pay, development, purpose, benefits, reputation, location etc).
• A – action: (apply) lead customers (candidates) towards taking action and/or purchasing (applying for your open job, attending an open day or signing up to your talent pool).

Clients to any business, agency or otherwise are the equal equivalent of customers to any business and moreover, candidates to external or internal recruiters for a position of employment. As techniques and a greater level of understanding of people behaviour both in and outside an organisation increases, so does the understanding of what works and how well it works in regards to not just reaching them, but attracting, communicating, engaging and educating them about an ‘offer’ or even a cause. More and more it appears to becoming quite a tight fit of specific criteria that's required for every different business, their version of their job roles and interpretation of the specific purpose within their organisation of how it fits into their structure and offering to customers and what it is responsible for delivering both internally and externally.

This in turn defines what their marketing, advertising and attraction strategy and the methods used including the what, where and how they communicate with their target audience, their future employees if you will. After all, most retail brands now recognise that all employees and customers can be either, or both at the same or at different times throughout their lifetime and given the number they deal with in both positions, they would all do well to ensure all experiences are the best they can be through all dealings, touch points and interactions. No longer are the two personas or audience classifications clearly divided or seperately defined. In such a well connected world we are now quite simply an single individual with many facets and roles and scenarios and excitedly full of all kinds of opportunities and potential!

Identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably...

So as in the definition of marketing, recruiters have the same challenge. To attract candidates, for now and for the future, to anticipate what they want from an employer and job (and how they can compete in the sector or relative job discipline to be the desired or preferred employer) if they can be. As well as influence them throughout the entire application and on boarding process and ensure they stay long enough (and be productive enough whilst there and as earlu into the role as possible), to have made the whole cost of the acquisition effort financially profitable for the organisation. Entirely the same considerations and objectives exist in business development, unprofitable clients are not particularly desirable for any business. When I describe the recruitment process as profitable, I'm referring to the broader impact aspect of cost and profit in the customer value chain, of which too many of or the wrong types of roles as open hires, as well as excessive staff attrition and employee absence has a great impact on not just the bottom line but the future potential of the business as a potentially selected supplier and as an preferred employer. Finance teams know all too well that there are two ways to make money for an organisation, reducing cost and increasing profit. Both are critical to long term success and sustainable growth.

Just like in business development activities used for prospecting to gain a client, understanding what actual type of business or client that suits a specific type of solution provider as an organisation, (particularly a media agency as in my example), is all about the 'fit'.  Its vision, values, cultural fit, the type of people employed, as well as the all-important ability to provide, (the equivalent in recruitment might be the recruiters essential competency and confidence assessment evidence) for assessing candidate fit, who knows what will be developed soon for candidates to evaluate the fit of the employer for them. In business development its typically made clear at a pitch presentation with glowing case studies and engaging creatives meant to wow the prospect to sign up soon after if not on the day.  In-house recruiters or agency providers undertake similar methods and approaches, advertising and marketing activities in a whole range of media to attract would be candidates, using different campaigns for different role profiles or for purposes. It may be to fill vacancies right now or to build a talent pool to dip in to when needed or to nurture other more experienced talent for the future when key openings arise. The recruiters talent pool is much like a company needing instant customers and cash flow today by selling less complex offerings to keep the business ticking over as well as nurturing prospect relationships for bigger more valuable clients that buy less often with longer buying and sales cycles but have bigger impact to the business potential.

Making best use of their version of an ATS is an essential approach to managing the 'lead' or applicant process and journey or is that actually a CRM  type solution as marketers and business developers use?...  to build relations, manage communications and content to different personas and audience segments perhaps in order to deal with a special project or spike order of required resource now or to meet seasonal staff demands soon upon them.

Yet despite all the considered and best practice efforts they may go through, including all of the careful rounds of filtering, short listing and selection to eventually finalise the perfect employee for a given role, ultimately select their top 3, decide on a specific candidate that is definitely 'the one' only to then make their pitch; the job offer. They find out that they’ve (the ideal hire) have decided the role isn’t for them (or the actual business isn’t) or have been offered something better or worse, just didn't respond at all?!  The parallels of recruitment, marketing and business development... converging or just sharing big data, evolving technology and best practices?

Cost of acquisition and retention...

Just as clients are sometimes difficult and definitely expensive to acquire, employees are expensive to attract and gain too, particularly those talented ones. Not surprisingly they also share similar characteristics to those prospects in client attraction and acquisition that have the attention of the marketing and business development teams to acquire; in that they have unique needs and expectations of their supplier (or employer) through the entire experience including the 'recruitment' process itself and once they are actually on board.

And a media agency, as in my very first reference example, though it could be any organisation trying to gain customers, as a supplier or indeed as an employer with a candidate or new employee, they have to quickly understand expectations and individually apply their promised service and value proposition to that client just as an employer has to do with a new employee. That way they are more likely to ensure the start and continuance of a productive, contented, enjoyable and profitable relationship, for as long as the lifetime of the 'contract' or engagement. People and clients do move on of course, which is positive or should be for everyone involved where it can be, but that's another article worthy subject all on its own. 

Lastly employees just like clients take quite a lot of effort to retain, though much less so if the right level of effort is applied at the right point throughout the lifetime of the relationship and for mutual benefit ad the 'match' at thebeginning was a good one of course. 

If you'd like to discuss any element of employee attraction or recruitment or employer advertising and marketing, or even business development and marketing, I love a good natter around the subject (as you may be able to tell) and particularly about forward thinking, reality based, person focused solutions, so connect with me and get in touch.