How HR and Marketing Can Work Together in Recruitment

As the economy stabilizes in the wake of the recession, the pool of qualified job applicants is shrinking. Gone are the days when the applicant pool was flooded with qualified candidates. Job seekers are becoming more selective, and employers have to work harder to attract the best and brightest. HR professionals are working with marketers to help not only streamline application management, but to aid recruiting efforts as well.

Interviewing as Highlighting Potential Paths

The quest to recruit quality applicants starts in the interview — and requires some effort on the part of hiring managers. Today’s hiring manager must help the potential employee visualize a long and fruitful career with the company in order to make the opportunity more compelling. Employers may benefit from practicing for interviews like a potential employee might, treating the opportunity like a presentation. “Candidates see the future now,” Sharon Hulce, President and CEO of the Employment Resource Group Inc., told the Knoxville News Sentinel. “Employers have to lay the path. Career-pathing is a process between supervisors and candidates, during which candidates share their one-year, three- to five-year and long-term goals. Together they set expectations for the education, work competencies and other requirements for promotion.” This places emphasis on the importance of the employer “brand” as something that would appeal to a potential employee. “The employer brand is a key trend across the HR and recruitment market,” says Sean Walters, co-founder and director of alternative recruitment solution firm, virtualRPO, “so in 2016 we’ll see a shift in the employer brand being put at the front as opposed to talking about specific jobs.”

Software to Aid Communication

Advanced HR software can revolutionize the process of communicating with applicants, leading to more personal interactions and fostering trust. Employees have the ability to research a company via online materials, both company generated and user generated. This makes it essential to create a positive personal relationship with applicants so that they can base employment decisions on more relevant personal details, rather than information coming from unknown sources with different motivations. Employers are encouraged to “listen to the tone” of employee conversations to pinpoint areas where there could be improvement.