Innovative Ways to Attract Talent and Reduce Recruitment Costs

In today’s fiercely competitive job market, finding innovative ways to attract talent have become the key to success for businesses of all sizes. Simultaneously, organisations are increasingly looking for strategies to reduce the cost of the recruitment process. Traditional recruitment methods, such as expensive job boards, LinkedIn Recruiter licenses, and recruitment agencies, are no longer the sole options. However, there’s a cost-effective alternative that can save money while still delivering results: recruitment marketing, providing innovative ways to attract talent. This approach focuses on proactive engagement with potential candidates, harnessing the power of digital marketing, and leveraging existing talent resources to create a dynamic and efficient talent acquisition strategy. What’s more, recruitment marketing can help employers cut costs and build a robust pipeline of qualified candidates.

 

Innovative Ways to Attract Talent

Reactivating Existing Candidates: Building Engaged Talent Pools

When it comes to innovative ways to attract talent, think beyond traditional sourcing. One of the most overlooked resources is your existing candidate database or ATS. Over time, numerous qualified candidates may have applied for positions, but for various reasons, they were not hired. These individuals often get lost in databases, waiting for a suitable opportunity to reconnect. Recruitment marketing can bring these candidates back into the fold.

By implementing a strategic candidate reactivation campaign, employers can re-engage with potential talent and keep them warm for future opportunities. This approach minimises the need to constantly source new candidates, which can be costly and time-consuming. Moreover, reactivating existing candidates means tapping into a pool of individuals who already have some level of familiarity with the organisation, making them more likely to be a cultural fit and easier to onboard when the time comes.

 

Elevating Your Employer Brand

Employer branding is more than just a static careers page on your website; it’s a dynamic digital marketing programme that reaches the right audience at the right time in their candidate journey.

Yet too often employers underestimate the power of a compelling employer brand in attracting top talent. Perhaps they’ve invested in an EVP and careers site, only for it to sit there without the requisite promotion and engagement through recruitment marketing channels to pull talent back to the site again and again. What’s more, a strong employer brand not only attracts candidates but also encourages them to proactively seek out opportunities within your company. (It also can work wonders to engage and retain your existing employee base too!)

Recruitment marketing is instrumental in shaping and promoting your employer brand. Through targeted content, social media campaigns, and compelling storytelling activated through digital marketing and automation, you can create a digital presence that resonates with your target audience. This not only attracts top talent but also ensures that your employer brand is a positive and engaging force in the competitive job market.

Investing in recruitment marketing means strategically curating your online presence to communicate your company culture, values, and the benefits of working for your organisation. This can significantly reduce reliance on expensive job boards and recruitment agencies, thereby reducing your talent acquisition costs by creating an programme that engages talent again and again.

 

How to Reduce the Cost of the Recruitment Process

An Always-On Talent Acquisition and Engagement Programme

Innovative talent attraction is not about sporadic efforts—it’s about maintaining a consistent flow of engagement with potential candidates, irrespective of immediate job openings. Traditional recruitment methods often involve a start-stop approach. Employers launch recruitment campaigns when they have an immediate job opening, and once the position is filled, the process slows down until the next vacancy arises. This sporadic approach can lead to missed opportunities and inefficiencies in the hiring process.

Recruitment marketing introduces the concept of an “always-on” talent acquisition and engagement programme. This means creating a consistent flow of communication and touchpoints with potential candidates, regardless of whether you have an immediate job opening. By nurturing relationships and providing valuable content, you keep potential talent engaged and ready to join your organisation when the right opportunity arises.

An always-on approach not only saves money by reducing the need for expensive job listings but also ensures that you are continually building a pipeline of top talent. This proactive strategy can significantly decrease time-to-fill for open positions and improve the overall efficiency of your talent acquisition efforts.

 

Harnessing the Power of Employee Ambassadors

Your current employees are some of your most valuable assets when it comes to attracting new talent. They can serve as authentic ambassadors for your organisation, providing insight into what it’s like to work there and sharing your message as a great place to work with their social media communities.

Recruitment marketing involves galvanising your existing employees to become advocates for your brand. Encourage them to share their experiences, achievements, and insights on social media platforms. By leveraging the collective reach of your employees’ networks, you can expand your employer brand’s visibility and reach a wider, more relevant audience, all at minimal cost.

What’s more, sharing content on a personal profile on LinkedIn yields 536% higher visibility than a company page on average. The LinkedIn algorithms are designed for peer-to-peer sharing over commercial efforts, so arming your employees with content will ensure that more people see your EVP and core messages, plus it exposes you to new audiences that may not be actively following your company page.

Incentivise your employees to refer potential candidates, creating a win-win situation where they can help their friends and acquaintances find rewarding careers while helping your organisation reduce recruitment costs. Employee-generated content and testimonials have the added benefit of being authentic and relatable, making them more convincing to potential candidates.

 

Innovation in Talent Acquisition Doesn’t Have to Be Hard

Innovative ways to attract talent and reduce recruitment costs go hand in hand. Recruitment marketing is the key to achieving both objectives simultaneously. By reactivating existing candidates, elevating your employer brand, adopting an always-on approach, and harnessing the power of employee ambassadors, you can build an efficient, budget-friendly talent acquisition strategy that yields results. In today’s competitive job market, innovation isn’t just a buzzword—it’s the path to sustainable talent attraction and cost savings in your recruitment process.

Thrive helps organisations stand out from the crowd with employer branding and recruitment marketing. We help you attract great talent quickly and easily while reducing your recruiting costs and creating a continuous pipeline of talent.