Recruitment marketing is hot topic for #HigherEd HR teams in 2023. 77% of respondents in a?Chronicle of Higher Education?survey said “higher education is a less appealing place to work than it was a year ago.” 62 percent of HigherEd respondents?said that hiring today is more difficult than it was in 2022. Facing these new challenges, HigherEd HR teams are leveraging recruitment marketing in new ways. Below, we’re rounding up the top tips and best practices for your human resources team to take your recruitment marketing strategy to the next level.?
- Build an employment brand: In HigherEd, attracting talent isn’t as easy today as it used to be. The best to start if you’re launching a recruitment marketing strategy is with an employment brand. An employment brand is the identity and messaging that an organization communicates to potential candidates, and usually encompasses an organization’s culture, mission, values, and work environment. This should be?distinct from an institutional brand that your admissions team might be using to attract students—job-seekers and prospective students have different priorities. When developing and marketing this brand, think about what’s important for a job-seeker as they evaluate a position your institution: they’ll be looking at your website, social media, applicant page, and more. Check out this post for more.?
- Expand your reach: Most hiring teams across all industries use social media to share open roles. recruiters today use social media to share roles. If your team is building a recruitment marketing strategy, make sure that you’re sharing your job descriptions not just on your institution’s website, but on a variety of job boards and on social media. This increases the reach of your position, improving awareness of your institution as an employer and attracting a diverse set of candidates. Social media is especially important for hiring younger workers: 79% of job seekers use social media for their job searches, according to Glass Door. Plus, the best candidates for your role might not be looking for a new job right now. Those passive job seekers can be found on social media: 84% of adults ages 18- 29 use social media platforms and a majority of that group use those platforms daily. ?
- Leverage technology: Job applications submitted via mobile devices have now surpassed applications submitted via desktop. 85% of Millennials access the internet from their phones, and expect to access to work-related tasks from their phones. If your application isn’t mobile friendly, you’ll miss out on candidates. Quick and frequent communication is also key: surveys show?that more than half of job seekers will give up on a submitted application if they haven’t heard from the job poster within two weeks of applying. Leverage technology to schedule automated emails to keep applicants engaged in the hiring process, even if you’re just updating them that their status hasn’t changed. ?
- Build candidate pools: Make sure you’re keeping track of anyone who has expressed interest in open roles, even if they haven’t submitted an application yet. Anyone who liked or shared your job posting on social media or who signed up for job alerts through your applicant portal is halfway to an application—engage them when a role opens up that you think might be a good fit. It’s especially important to add candidates who have applied for a role to your talent pool. A hiring committee might end up with two qualified candidates, or someone who is a great cultural fit but is missing a critical skillset—don't lose track of these candidates who don’t end up getting the job! Keep them in your pipeline, share jobs with them, and revisit them for future roles.?
