What is recruitment marketing?

Recruitment marketing is the process of externally promoting your company’s employer brand through channels like your job descriptions, career site, social media, blogs and even in-person events like meetups and conferences. Your presence on company review sites like Glassdoor or profiles on websites like The Muse also counts as recruitment marketing. Imagine anything a candidate might come across while researching your company. Each of these touchpoints can be part of your recruitment marketing strategy.

Why is recruitment marketing important?

Ask your sales team how often they make a sale the very first time they talk to a prospect. The answer is likely to be never or hardly ever. This is why marketing is so powerful – it allows companies to create multiple touchpoints and build relationships with prospects over time. And the concept is the same for recruitment marketing. Instead of assuming that a candidate will see a job description and immediately apply (although it’s great when that does happen!), recruitment marketing is built on the idea that over time and across several interactions, you can tell a consistent and holistic story about what it’s like to work at your company. When candidates have already engaged with your recruitment marketing materials, they’re much more likely to be genuinely excited about working for you and aligned with your company’s values. In other words, the effort you put into recruitment marketing pays off with more engaged and informed candidates down the line. If you’re trying to prioritize a broader talent acquisition strategy that’s focused on building lasting relationships with candidates, recruitment marketing will be a critical component.

Employer branding vs. recruitment marketing

Employer branding and recruitment marketing have a lot in common since they both relate to how your company is perceived as a place to work. The key distinction is that employer brand refers to what the past, present and potential employees think of your company, as well as the internal work you do to define who you are and what your company stands for. You’ll arrive at an understanding of your employer brand by looking inward to your existing employees and running surveys and focus groups. Through this research, you’ll identify your company mission, vision and values.

Recruitment marketing, on the other hand, is the external work you do to attract candidates. This can involve all those touchpoints candidates have with your company before they join – job descriptions, career pages, social media, review sites, events and anything else you can think of. The work you do to define your employer brand will help inform your recruitment marketing efforts. And you’ll want to highlight the key values and concepts of your employer brand in your external-facing recruitment marketing efforts.