An Exercise for Designing Your Recruitment Content + Marketing Strategy

(45-second read)

Startups –– This is an exercise you can use as a starting point for designing your recruitment content + marketing strategy:

1. List the places your candidates hang out online.
2. Brainstorm channel-specific content for those places.
3. Run low-risk experiments to distribute the content via organic + paid models.
4. Do more of what works. Leave the rest.

Content = Primarily written and video. Long-form content can be chopped up into easily digestible bites for social.

[Examples below]

Outside of the obvious social, email, and InMail channels, these are some ideas for generating awareness:

• Posting and interacting in niche online forums.
• Hosting virtual micro-events with senior leaders and other industry experts.
• Advertising on niche newsletters. (We did this. It works!)
• Podcast advertising.
• Influencers. (Yep, business influencers to promote your company as an amazing place to work.)

Lower volume of applicants + shorter screening calls + increase in conversations with the right people are all indicators that you’re doing things right.

And when it comes down to it, the only KPI that matters is new hires.

I know, this is a lot. This isn’t meant to be an overnight process.

Step 1: Brainstorm ideas + design the framework.

Here are examples of various types of content that can be used across a variety of channels:

• Long-form video content repurposed for social: James Hornick and I record our bi-weekly live Employer Content Show and then chop it into 3-5 clips per episode to share on LinkedIn.
• Written employee spotlights
• Written team spotlights
• Video team profiles
• Culture and inclusion
• Written leadership stories