There are many options for handling your recruitment marketing, from allocating staff to handling it internally, relying on AI, utilizing an RPO, hiring a non-specialized digital marketing firm, or taking advantage of a marketing firm specializing in recruitment marketing.
It can be hard to tell what the best options are for your company. Regardless of what you choose, your job advertisements will get out there, and someone will apply. At the end of the day, it's not a question of will you get results, but which solution is most advantageous for your company.
Today let's take a look at both the upsides and the downsides to each option available to you.
Handling your Recruitment Marketing Internally
Upsides
An in-house team is completely versed in your company culture. Their love for your company and its mission drives them to succeed. It can be easier for your digital recruitment marketing team to communicate with your recruiters to optimize campaigns as they are internal.
Downsides
In many companies, your digital recruitment marketing team is not a separate, technically specialized, group; instead, it is often just one more task assigned to your already overworked and stressed recruiters. Your recruiters are wasting valuable time working on their digital sourcing channels instead of working leads in your pipeline, increasing the time it takes to hire.
When we think of the time involved with digital recruitment marketing, we tend only to consider the time it takes for your staff to prepare and launch a campaign. Unfortunately, most companies forget to budget the time each campaign needs to be reviewed and optimized, or if they plan for this time, they think in terms of monthly optimizations. Truly successful campaigns are not left to languish day after day without the attention of your strategists. They should be reviewed and optimized at the minimum weekly, if not daily. Beyond the time each campaign deserves to be successful, the other time suck for your team is in training. Sadly, many companies think in terms of one-time or yearly training. Digital Marketing is a fast paced ever-changing world. If your staff is not spending time each week keeping up with the changes to digital marketing, your campaigns will be less and less successful over time.
Relying on AI
Upside
AI can be a powerful tool to reduce your staff's time placing ads. Decreasing your staff's workload reduces stress and decreases the chance of burnout. AI allows you to keep your recruitment marketing internal without the increased cost of additional staff.
Downside
The problem with programmatic ad placements is the same problem we see with any hyper-logical program; where the numbers are is exactly where it is going. When choosing where to spend your money, it will look for what people search for and where the most volume is. That is where it will spend your money. On the surface, that sounds great. But, in reality, we see a lot of simple errors that cause money to be wasted. For example, if you have a job posting for a Class A CDL driver, programmatic will often spend budget on keywords like Class A CDL training. AI will pick this keyword because it gets lots of hits and will drive traffic to your post; however, this will not supply any leads for your position.
Unfortunately, today, we are a society that has developed a belief that technology is intelligent enough to rely on it to handle things independently. You cannot set it and forget it with programmatic ad any more than you can with manual ad placements; both require successful, consistent human attention and modification. Don't waste your limited campaign budgets on the wrong placements and keywords.
RPO
Upside
RPOs are good for companies that do not have the capacity to internally handle any part of the recruitment process. These companies are set up to handle everything from your sourcing, lead qualifying, interviewing and onboarding. This is the perfect choice for a company that wants to hand off the whole crazy mess for someone else to handle.
Downside
RPOs are not right for every company for a multitude of reasons, from culture clashes to lack of control. They require a long-term commitment, as this is a relationship that cannot be built overnight and be successful; so for companies that only have short-term hiring or seasonal needs, then this is not the most effective option.
When choosing an RPO, it is important that they have the same values as your company and truly understand your company goals. The wrong fit in this department can lead to imperfect employee placements that negatively impacts company culture and success.
No one knows better than your team who is a good fit for your company. Why would you ever want to leave that in the hands of someone else? The lack of control over who joins your team can be a real issue for many companies. As an RPO handles all aspects of your recruitment process, you don't get a real feel for your incoming employees and how they fit into your structures and culture. For many leaders, that lack of control or even just the feeling of a lack of control can damage the entire onboarding process leading to a negative view of your company by employees, which should be avoided at all costs during the Great Resignation.
Non-Specialized Digital Marketing Team
Upside
Hiring any digital marketing team to handle your digital recruitment marketing takes the burden of time and stress off your recruiters. Letting them focus on working their pipeline improves time to hire.
Downside
Digital marketing teams that are not specialized in recruitment marketing lack industry knowledge. Not all job boards are created equal, and not all campaign styles within job boards are equally effective. This leads to a huge learning curve costing time, money, and limited results. Knowledge is the key to effective results.
Specialized Digital Recruitment Marketing Team
Upside
Digital Recruitment Marketing specialists remove all the issues seen with the other options. They have the knowledge and experience to place ads effectively, reducing time to hire and cost per hire. They reduce stress on your recruiters by taking sourcing off their plates while filling their pipelines to the brim with qualified candidates.
Digital Recruitment Marketing services like Lionzone offer specialized tools to qualify leads, so your recruiters are not wasting time culling resumes. While they fill your pipeline with the best candidates, they leave choosing the best fit for your company into your capable hands.
Downside
The only downside with a company specializing in digital recruitment marketing is that they will want to maintain an open line of communication with your company so that marketing can pivot as you need.
IN CONCLUSION
Now, I know after reading all of that I N C R E D I B L E information you are probably thinking, "Wait, there's more?" YES. YOU GUESSED IT — It's time for the Sales Pitch! (I know you have been expecting it, so we won't disappoint).
I'm sure by now you have discovered that Lionzone Digital Marketing created this blog. Surprise! One of my absolute favorite features of our LZservices is that we don't believe in long-term contracts!
We believe this — If we don't earn your business every day, we don't deserve to keep you!
— Let us earn your business & assist your company with their Recruitment Marketing needs. You won't regret it. —
For more information about our services, please see https://lionzone.com/recruitment-marketing.
