Why (and how) Your Marketing & Recruiting Teams Should Collaborate

With such low levels of unemployment, your recruiting tools matter. And while applicant tracking systems, job fairs, LinkedIn, and other recruiting tools can be helpful, we want to remind you of one more tool to use: your marketing team. When recruiters and marketers work together, both teams truly benefit. Here’s why and how your marketing and recruiting teams should collaborate.

Marketing content = More candidates

According to HR Tech analyst Mary Kaylor, most people don’t truly grasp any messaging until they see it a fourth time. Luckily, with more content and messaging from your marketing team, your recruiting team will have a better chance of resonating with potential job candidates. 

To attract more applicants, work with your marketing team to develop:

• Employee spotlights. Who’s on your company’s team, and what are they like? Give potential applicants the inside scoop.
• Videos about employee events. What’s it like to work for your company? Help them imagine being a part of the team.
• Culture stories. Did employees rally to support a coworker in a difficult time, or did they take time for a community service project? Make sure your candidates know about the stories that make your company so special.
• Benefit descriptions. Your benefits should live somewhere on your website outside of your job descriptions. What are the perks of working at your company?

Keep in mind that as you share more specific content about what it’s like working at your company, you may lose some candidates’ interest. This is a good thing, though! By being specific, you’ll attract candidates who would truly be a good fit for your organization. 

Collaborate on social media

Sometimes marketing teams feel nervous about promoting job openings on their company’s social media because they feel like the messaging is going to two different audiences-- customers versus potential applicants. However, customers seeing occasional posts about job openings may see them as a sign of exciting growth for your company. Meanwhile, other content allows candidates the opportunity to learn more about your business and its customers.

That being said, social media is all about balance. According to Hubspot, you should post no more than twice a day on Facebook and LinkedIn for maximum engagement. Twitter, on the other hand, doesn’t really have a post limit. Nonetheless, work with your marketing team to figure out what the ratio should be of job postings to other content. Mary Kaylor recommends separating job position posts with five other pieces of content. Such content can absolutely include the content pieces mentioned above.

Align your culture and brand

HR teams spend endless hours developing and maintaining company culture, and marketing teams spend just as much time developing their company’s brand. Although these meetings don’t often take place together, they should! Your culture should be portrayed through your brand. When these two company traits align, you end up appearing much more transparent to both customers and candidates.

“The marketing and HR teams at Verified First collaborate most on communication, as both of us care deeply about ensuring what we say and do maps to our company values,” said Karen Redetzki, Vice President of Marketing at Verified First. “With every word, tone of voice, and gesture, we are mindful about living up to who we say we are, and each of us is communicating the same thing.”

Are your marketing and recruiting teams on the same page? Consider taking Denise Lee Yohn’s brand culture assessment as a start. Then, be sure to sit-down with your marketing team, exchange goals, and establish a vision that incorporates both teams’ capabilities for the future. 

Collaborating with your marketing team can feel like a time-consuming step to add to your recruiting process, but it’s worth the extra effort. To make up for this additional use of time, use a fast and efficient background screening provider.