It’s quite possible that the title of this blog will annoy some people, mostly HR professionals I would think, as it could be taken as they are not great at talent acquisition or the recruitment process. Quite the opposite, I think they are the perfect people to oversee the entire recruitment process. There is one element of the recruitment process however that would be better served if handled by another department in the organisation that has a different skill set, one that is more appropriate for the task of talent attraction.
Why marketing teams should be involved in the recruitment process
The video below is designed to explain the reason why I believe marketing teams should lead on talent attraction, not HR. The video covers the following points:
- My background and why I have some credibility in this area
- Employer brand and careers website / page
- What you should be communicating to potential candidates
- Ways that video content can improve inductions, training, company-wide communications, etc
- Your existing marketing > sales > customer service process and how this is adapted into a talent attraction > talent acquisition > onboarding process
- Return on investment (ROI)
- Summary
The video is 11 minutes long, but that is because there is a lot of ground to cover – so grab a cup of coffee and see what takeaways you can get from it. An 11 minute investment might well deliver your next cohort of incredible people, so a decent ROI. We’ve also added some nice graphics to make it an easier watch!
If you prefer to read rather than watch, here are the key points.
My name is Jovan Maric and I am the founder and Creative Director at Square Daisy. We are ostensibly a marketing company – we help our clients communicate a range of messages using video content as the primary medium. I haven’t always done this though. Back in 2001 I graduated as a HR professional and eventually became Group HR Manager for a small hotel chain. I am also an employer, running two businesses that employ a number of people. I have three perspectives – an employer, HR professional and marketeer, so i’m aware of all the challenges, strengths and limitations of this trifecta.
We speak to so many employers who are struggling to attract, recruit and retain great staff and their businesses are suffering because of it. They can’t move into new product development or new markets, they can’t satisfy existing demand, growth isn’t happening at the required pace or productivity is too low, and largely because more capable people are required.
But when we look at what they are doing to make their company appealing to candidates, it doesn’t scream “come and work for us!”. The website has a ‘page’ for careers where there is usually a couple of paragraphs, a list of the general or tangible benefits and then any available positions and the associated job descriptions, which are pretty formal and ‘dry’. Hardly inspiring. Especially considering the website is almost always the first place that any prospective candidate will go to learn about what you do and most importantly, what kind of employer you are.
Why aren’t people talking about the employer brand that is already in place?
The frustrating thing is that the vast majority of companies that we speak to have a great employer brand already in place. They are positioning themselves really well in many of the categories below:
- Culture and values
- Benefits and perks
- Training and development
- Progression opportunities
- Employee success stories
- Equal pay
- Equality, diversity and inclusion
- Environmental sustainability
- Community support and charity work
- ESG policies
- Retention rates
…they just don’t tell anyone about it.
Where is the best place to show all of this information?
Earlier in the blog we mentioned that many businesses have a careers ‘page’ on their website. This is where a major change can reap huge rewards, and guess what – it involves the marketing team. Move away from a page on your website and instead have a candidate focussed, dedicated microsite that is all around careers. A separate environment that has messaging not written for customers but for your next employee which contains detailed information on all of the items listed above.
But while marketing have the expertise and experience to liaise with web agencies to build it, or ask the existing web agency to expand the current site, it shouldn’t come out of the marketing budget, it should come out of the HR budget. This overcomes a major barrier – marketing teams are not targeted on attracting people, only customers. So if they are expected to pay for it, they’ll do it as cheaply as possible. If it is paid for by HR and people teams, it gets done properly. Now you have a vessel to point people to where you can shout from the roof tops about how great you are and why everyone should want to work for you. And the HR team own it.
The recruitment process already exists, it’s just called the ‘sales process’ now
Video is a great way to communicate outwardly to potential candidate that you are an employer of choice that values and rewards its people, is fair and equitable, tries to be a good corporate citizen and offers opportunity to progress. Essentially a great place to invest half of your waking hours five times a week!
If you think about your sales process right now, it might look quite similar to the graphic below. There is a point where marketing has completed its role and then hands over to a sales or customer service / onboarding function.
So why couldn’t this approach work for recruitment? Marketing take the lead for talent attraction and then hand over to the HR or people team for recruitment and onboarding? Marketing have all the requisite skills required to achieve this – identifying the type of candidate that you are targeting, curating a series of messages that makes the organisation and the role desirable and establishing where is best to position those communications so they get seen by your ideal employee. You highlight why you’re a better company to work for than others and you develop a compelling call to action that encourages them to apply for the role. This is all very much in the marketing wheelhouse.
What is the return on investment for recruitment videos?
With any investment of time or money, you want to be able to see some ROI, and there is plenty of return when you explore video recruitment as a tool, and invest in engaging video for potential candidates:
- Reduced recruitment costs – by making the initial recruitment process more immersive it will lead to more direct applicants, reducing agency and third party introducer fees – a tangible, financial ROI
- Better applicants – If you use agencies, giving them more tools to work with will increase the quality of applicants they can approach, engage and encourage to apply, giving you a better and more diverse selection candidates to choose from
- Increased productivity – fill vacancies more quickly due to an increase in applications
- Lower staff attrition – attract employees that are better aligned with your culture and values from the outset through better candidate marketing
- Increased loyalty and productivity – highlight to existing teams how great an employer you are and how lucky they are to work at the organisation
- Talk to more prospective applicants – stand out from the crowd at career’s events and expo’s with a magnet video playing on your stand
- Use the content for awards applications – content that highlights the CSR / ESG elements of your organisation can be used as part of awards submissions and played at awards events
- Improve onboarding, induction and internal communications – welcome videos from senior leadership figures sent across just before their first day in the job can massively improve positive impressions of the organisation and generate greater loyalty, you can deliver consistent induction and health & safety training on the first day and communicate to the whole company with updates
It’s hard to film now we’re hybrid, how would it work?
There are many ways to create talent attraction videos – filmed, self generated content, animation – whatever fits your brand and your needs. Some different examples are below:
A filmed production for Wilton & Bain to highlight the culture within the business using interviews from a two camera shoot, cutaway b-roll and on screen graphics.
This video was produced using a mix of professionally filmed footage as well as user generated content which was then integrated into an animated rig mocked up to look like a video call, which highlighted the core strategic pillars for employers.
My New Venture was a start up looking to recruit a team however had no offices or team to film at that point, so used an animated video to highlight the core culture, values and benefits for staff.
To demonstrate the diversity within the business – of both roles and people – we scripted a production for Raven that involved members of staff from across the organisation delivering each line to highlight what the company stood for.
For this video we showed the process of a large tree being cut down across several hours while the MD and GM both explained all of the benefits of working for this forward thinking company.
This video shows an example of how a welcome video from the CEO or MD can be a great way to generate loyalty to the organisation from day one.
For many businesses there is a rigorous application and recruitment process which candidates should know, this animated video highlights the various steps that each applicant will go through.
This is a short social engagement video which is fast paced and communicates the key values in the business and demonstrates the diversity of employees, as well as some pretty cool offices!
Glue Reply have an Accelerated Careers Programme framed around being a ‘Tech Superhero’ and as such wanted this communicated in a fun and dynamic way. We created this animation that ties into the superhero theme but explains both roles and progression opportunities across the business.
Summary
- Marketing need to be involved at the top end of the recruitment process to lend their expertise
- HR need to be given some dedicated budget in order to create engaging marketing collateral
- Every company should be creating a dedicated careers or candidate website that is immersive, inspirational and engaging – and it shouldn’t come out of the marketing department’s budget
- Video assets should form a core part of the talent attraction toolbox, not restricted to just a single production but instead a suite of videos that move candidates down the funnel
- Video content doesn’t always have to be filmed
If you’re struggling to attract the best and the brightest or communicate your employer brand, get in touch and we can have a discussion around where we can help.
