Content marketing is everywhere. Websites and newsletter are filled with articles extolling it, and not a day goes by without another company decided to take the content plunge. But what does this have to do with recruiting? Simple - content marketing has entered the recruiting space as content recruiting, a content-based way to build communities of talent for long-term, strategic recruiting. In this post, based on the RPOA webinar “Building Talent Communities Through Content Recruiting” given by speaker Joel Capperella of Joel Capperella, LLC, we answer today’s hottest question: what the heck is content recruiting?
A Paradigm Shift in Recruiting Strategy
To really understand content recruiting, we need to talk about a huge change that’s underway in the recruiting field. A sea-change in recruiting occurred with the advent of the internet, and players in the recruiting space leapt on the opportunity to automate and streamline recruiting processes. The result is that the technology landscape in recruiting is hugely complex, because of the industry trying to use the internet to make things easier for recruiters. Things like automated job distribution, resume parsing, applicant tracking and search engine marketing all aim to help recruiters take advantage of technology and data. However, we’re currently in the middle of a shift in focus away from making the recruiter’s life easier towards making life easier for the applicant or candidate. Apps and websites like blonk and Jobr allow candidates to job hunt and connect with potential employers from anywhere, at any time, and decide on the spot whether they are interested in a particular option. Recruiters aren’t the focus of recruiting processes anymore – candidates are.
Introducing Content Recruiting
Content recruiting is part of this shift in focus towards serving talent instead of helping recruiters. Simply put, content recruiting is using content to build long-term interest in your company and build a community of talent that recruiters can go to as part of their long-term recruiting strategies. Recruiting is about capturing the right audience, and content marketing allows you to specifically target the audience you want to reach in a way that shares ideas and wisdom instead of doing a hard sell on a particular opportunity.
Buying vs. Earning Candidates
Most recruiters buy their candidates instead of earning them, by paying for access to particular talent pools through ads or memberships. Content recruiting flips this model on its head by focusing on earning the interest and respect of talent communities through developing and sharing new, interesting, and valuable content that helps candidates navigate their options and find their perfect positions. It also makes recruiting more personal and changes your recruiters from faceless automatons hard-selling opportunities to champions of your brand and value ambassadors for your company.
Content Recruiting Generates Talent on the Long-Run
The recruiting landscape has changed, and marketing and recruiting now aren’t terribly different. To create a talent pool and make it your own, you need to treat it like a talent marketplace. Instead of looking at recruiting as a one-and-done transaction, you can build a loyal and interested following through content recruiting. Companies have two choices: (1) they recruit on demand (when they have an open position,) or (2) they recruit constantly as part of their long-term strategies. If your company wants to build a recruiting strategy that is flexible and reflects the needs and interest of your talent marketplace, content recruiting is your path forward.
Listen to Joel Capperella as he explains the complexities of recruiting and the rewards of content recruiting in this recent webinar hosted by the Recruitment Process Outsourcing Association.
