1. Pinpoint who you’re looking for
‘Pinpoint who you’re looking for’ is the first chapter of Boost, the third book of The Hiring Playbooks, 5 ebooks that will turn all your hires into wins. Created by the Homerun team.
This chapter will help get the best ROI for your job post, focus on the channels that work, refine your messaging and reach more talented people.
The best way to improve your hiring strategy is to approach it like a marketing campaign, not a chore to get out of the way as fast as possible. Now you’ve got your job post, sorry, your job story in place, you need to make sure it reaches the right people. There are two ways. The first is to simply place it on the media outlets or social media platforms with the biggest audiences. Sure, this
approach will ensure that a lot of people will see your post, but it’s far from certain that the right person will be among them. Instead of this ‘bombing’ approach, we suggest you use precision targeting (‘sniping’, if you’ll forgive the military metaphor) to make sure you hit the target. Whichever tactic you prefer, you’ll save a lot of time and money by promoting your job posts where your candidates hang out (both online and off.) This immediately gives your post a much better chance of being seen, shared and interacted with by your target audience. But before you can do that, you first need to figure out where these magical hangouts are.
How do I find where candidates hang out?
1. Investigate the hiring landscape
There are two parts of the hiring landscape, and they both begin with c:
Candidates and Competition. Let’s meet the candidates:
Passive Candidates
Passive candidates make up about 75% of the global workforce.
People in this group aren’t actively looking or applying for work (e.g. by
searching job boards, reaching out to friends, or checking LinkedIn),
so you shouldn’t make them your priority. However, the majority of this
group remain open to new opportunities so you shouldn’t neglect them
either. Who knows, your amazing job post could be the thing that turns
them into a member of the next group…
Active Candidates
Active candidates make up a smaller portion of the workforce (a
quarter, give or take a few percent), but they’re much more likely to
apply for your jobs. That’s because these are the people who spend
every moment they can refreshing job boards, calling friends for favours
and submitting applications.
It’s important to reach both types of candidates because:
• Passive candidates make up the majority of people, so you’re
more likely to find someone with the skills you need in this pool.
• Active candidates are more motivated, and some reports show
that they are more likely to be engaged at work than passive
candidates.
The Competition
It’s always worth keeping an eye on what you’re up against in the
war for talent — you can learn a lot about how to reach the candidates
you want by looking to your competitors. A quick search on Google
and social media (with the keywords for the relevant job function and
sector) will reveal where your competitors are advertising and how.
Research your competitors to find out:
• Who they’re targeting
• Where they’re advertising their job posts
• What they’re offering candidates
Once you’ve got this information, think about why they’re doing what
they’re doing, where they’re succeeding, and what you can learn from
them — then do it better.
Willem van Roosmalen, co-founder Homerun:
“The recruitment game has changed. The days when you could simply
post a job listing in a newspaper are long gone.
If you embrace a personal approach to reaching potential candidates,
you’ll have a much bigger chance of making the perfect hire.”
2. Make candidate profiles
Once you’ve established what’s out there in the hiring landscape, it’s
time to zoom in on the person you’re trying to reach. Go back to the
information you collected in your job brief and employee surveys and
use it to sketch out a quick profile (or two) of the people you want
to reach. A good way to make these profiles really come to life is to
give them names. It’s a lot easier to get inside the head of Stefan and
Jessica than Candidates #1 and #2.
Focus on more than just Jessica’s work persona: in addition to the skills
she has, consider her hobbies, taste, style, where she likes to hang
out, and who she’s influenced by. A clearly defined character should
emerge. When it does, reach out to your team and get their input. They
might love Jessica, they might hate her, but you need to know what they
think about her, as they’ll be spending a lot of time with her (or Stefan)
in the future.
Ask your team:
• Where they go when looking for work (sites, social networks,
events)
• What work-related websites they like to visit
• If they attend any work-related events or meetups, and if yes,
what they are
• What social networks they use most frequently
• Who they’re influenced by (blogs they read, people they follow)
• Which online publications or websites they frequent
Use their answers to add to your candidate profiles — if they’re a match,
you’re in luck.
3. Make a candidate map
Okay, you’ve assembled a lot of data on the hiring landscape and your
ideal candidate. Good work. Now it’s time to bring the two together to
work out where you’re going to place the posts. Carefully mapping out
where your target audience spend their time will make sure that you
speak to them where they can hear you.
To do this, list all the places that you want your imaginary candidate
to see your job post and connect with your employer brand. These
could be social networks, niche job boards, event nights — wherever it
is, try to be as diverse as possible, but also realistic. There’s no point
concentrating on dream scenarios, as it will waste your budget as well
as your time.
What do I do next?
Start promoting your job post! Read our article: Boost your job post:
Reach out to your candidates, and learn how to promote your job post
with exceptional skill and grace.
All Images by Studio Spass.
