Imagine this: You’re working for a small but capable team. As a hardworking (duh) Marketer, you spend a substantial amount of your time at work handling employee-related paperwork, screening applicants, and onboarding your new greenhorn buddy. Did we mention that’s on top of your existing day-to-day workload?

In other words, you’re probably doubled as a Marketing “guru” who churns out articles, creates exciting content for social media, and an HR professional on the side.

Oh, you’re wondering why a task is not in your job description? Well, suck it up. Working for a startup can mean wearing multiple hats — oftentimes all at once. The problem is you’re not trained, you’re not experienced, and you have limited resources (Don’t we all do?).

Not to worry, as a non-HR professional, it doesn’t mean you’re at your wit's end if you have a mountain of HR tasks to conquer. Every successful tactic requires a single touchpoint that makes your brand stand out and better connect with your target audience.

Talents = Customers, Postings = Products

The most fundamental rule in marketing is you want your customers to think they are getting more value from a product than what they are spending.

In an ideal world, talents deserve to be wooed and shown exactly why your company is the perfect fit for them. More often than not, hiring managers expect applicants to sell pitch themselves and ensure that these applicants check the right boxes when it comes to skill sets.

By the time you discover the one, that candidate has probably formed an opinion of the company and trust us, it’s not necessarily a positive note.

In a nutshell, start treating talents like your customers and job postings like your products.

Stop Hiding Behind Stock Photos

Been there, done that. We’ve all caught on to the template-looking career pages. Applicants are looking for an authentic/bonafide/genuine experience at work, so stop trying to up-sell them your cheesy stock photos and canned testimonials.

Imagine if an advertisement for Heineken used a generic image of people having a great time and holding glasses of unidentified liquid. As a consumer, it would be so off-brand that you wouldn't even identify let alone resonate with the company at all.

Let’s be real: Even if you spent hours upon hours combing the web for the perfect image, you’re ultimately choosing someone else’s work that vaguely represents your company. Try marketing job roles with actual employees and showcase a more accurate depiction of your company and culture for a change.

Hiring is Really Social Media Marketing

If you haven’t noticed, social hiring is one of the most productive recruitment marketing strategies. Various studies have shown that talents prefer using social media as one of the means to look for work.

Take it from this perspective: When a job posting is shared online, it is effortless for others to share with more people like themselves, hence, creating a domino/ripple effect.

On the other hand, social media hiring goes beyond just posting job roles. For instance, you could share content that showcases your company’s culture or the cool office space so you can organically attract talents. People love talking about companies with one-of-a-kind cultures and lifestyles so this form of content often gets buzz too.

LinkedIn isn’t your only hope

Searching for the right talent isn’t as simple as it seems.

Are you looking to attract fresh graduates, established professionals or something in between? Do you have job requirements such as crucial knowledge from a particular field or someone with a specific background? These are vital questions that can help you better determine the right talent your company truly needs.

Sure, LinkedIn houses a pool of talents but it can’t be the only tool you use when it comes to recruitment, right?

Most of us aren’t just looking for talents with the right skills — we want someone that matches our company's DNA, add to our culture and help propel it in the right direction.

What Hiring Managers You Wished You Knew

However long or short your average talent’s hiring journey, nurturing is essential to keep your brand top-of-mind.

Let your talents know exactly what they can expect from you, the company and the hiring process. Nurture them as you move along, and you can no doubt create a robust talent pipeline. Not to mention, a great employer value proposition!

Yes, it takes a heck load of planning (and a stellar set of tactics) to get the job of recruiting done right. But anything worth having takes some investment, right?

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