While HR professionals say recruitment marketing is increasingly important to meeting the challenges of talent acquisition, their understanding of the concept and how to get the most out of it lags, according to a new study by HR.com’s Research Institute. In addition, a lack of appropriate technical skills puts a drag on execution.
In its report, The State of Recruitment Marketing 2019, the Institute says TA teams may not be using the concept to its full potential. Just over a third, or 36 percent, of HR professionals say they have a high or very high understanding of recruitment marketing. That’s up from 32 percent last year. Only 28 percent say their organization’s use of RM is high or very high, a rise of 4 points.
Do employers user recruitment marketing to its full potential? An @HRdotcom report's not so sure. Worth reading. #HR #HRTech #Recruiting Click To Tweet“Realistically, HR and Marketing departments are no longer separate silos. The lines between them are blurred in today’s competition for top talent,” said HR.com CEO Debbie McGrath. “Recruiters will be more successful if candidates are attracted and engaged by intentional marketing tactics leveraging the employer brand, effective modern technologies and social media.”
Recruitment Alone’s Not Enough
HR.com defines recruitment marketing as being “the various activities an organization uses to find, attract, engage and nurture talented prospects before and during the recruitment process.” Job marketing, employer branding and referrals are all important parts of the equation. In many ways, its growing use stems from the constant competition for skilled employees and the spread of technologies such as social media and social networks.
But while the idea of “recruitment marketing” may be in the early stages of gaining traction, the concept itself isn’t new. For several years, talent acquisition professionals have talked about the way recruiting itself if becoming more of a marketing effort, with recruiters paying more attention to engagement, relationship building and matching for culture as well as needed skills.
That supports HR.com’s finding that HR departments in general will have to think and act more like marketers—and fine tune their skills in marketing, social media, technology and networking—if their recruitment marketing and talent acquisition efforts are going to succeed. Over two-thirds (69 percent) of HR professionals said recruitment marketing has become more important to their organization over the last two years, while 90 percent believe it will become even more important down the road.
Not surprisingly, technology is expected to play a major role in recruitment marketing’s development. The study predicts automation and artificial intelligence will become important components over the next few years. To keep up, TA and HR teams will need to improve their skills in marketing, social media, technology and networking.
Indeed, HR.com identified a lack of such skills among recruiters as a major impediment to recruitment marketing’s growth. “Organizations that want to ‘up’ their RM game should train recruiters in such skills and/or hire those who have these skills,” the report said.
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