Apply now, apply here, apply today. Apply! Apply! Apply! Many companies focus solely on the bottom of the recruitment funnel with their main objective being getting candidates to apply for their roles. If this is you stop! You’re doing it all wrong.

Ok, you may get a small number of applicants, but, are they really the quality of candidates you are looking for? A majority of companies post to job boards using the apply now button as their only call to action. On average there is a 60% drop off rate of candidates who start an application process with a company that use this strategy. This is down to text-laden job descriptions, jargon, not having a mobile-friendly process and a long list of qualifying questions, to name but a few.

If you put no effort into your hiring process, candidates won’t but any effort into applying to your roles. Of course, the main focus for talent acquisition and HR is to fill their roles as quickly as possible but what about when you have openings next month or next year? How do you go about capturing and nurturing those candidates for the future? or will it always be a case of panic hiring to obtain “talent”?

Competing For Talent

The recruitment landscape is getting more and more competitive by the day and competing for top talent using recruitment marketing and employer branding has become the forte for many HR departments. Not applying this process means you are wasting at least 60% of your recruitment marketing efforts, time and budget. Companies are beginning to think about their candidates as consumers.

|  55% of talent leaders see employer branding as the top investment priority in 2017.

Like consumers, they have a variety of choices when it comes to researching and choosing their next career. The only way you will get a candidate to invest their time in applying for your roles is to build a relationship with them before they even begin the process. This allows you to get a competitive advantage over any competition. People don’t apply to companies anymore they apply to brands.

Capturing & Nurturing

Talent pipelines are a great way to capture and nurture candidates. Job advertisements simply are not enough and neither is advertising your roles on your careers page. You need to interact, act like a brand and fill your pipelines with qualified talent before you even begin hiring.

If you go about recruitment marketing and employer branding the right way you will have have the choice of talent instead of preparing for battle on the recruitment landscape everytime you have a job opening. Don’t continue to lose interested candidates and don’t focus on the bottom of the funnel, start at the top!

The future of recruitment is marketing.  Be one step ahead of the game.