I was speaking to a company owner last week who let me know he spent over $125,000 a year in job postings on major job boards. I was FLOORED! When I asked him about the quality of the candidates he got from those ads, he said that he received average or less-than-average candidates but that “I use it for the PR”.

This company thought that by providing regular postings, they would look like a desirable employer to current job seekers. However, they were completing missing the candidate pool they wanted to attract– high performing, currently employed achievers! My recommendation, stop using recruiting as public relations and instead use your PR for recruiting. Branding your company as a premier place to work and keeping it in the minds of the star talent you want to attract is usually much simpler and certainly can be more cost effective than using traditional job boards.

So, how can you market for recruiting? Here are three ways that can have a long term positive impact on your candidate pool:

Your Employees Are Your Best Recruiters: Having manager and employee testimonials on GlassDoor.com, YouTube and/or your company’s website can be one way to show the positive attributes of working with your organization. I always hear concern that there will be negative reviews as well, and this is true in everything. Negative reviews are a great way to get feedback, fix problems and further refine your candidate screening process. For example, if your training program is lacking and that is mentioned in reviews, that can be a chance to reiterate that the people who do best are the ones with the motivation to self-train and learn on the job. And if your company is not offering a referral bonus, you can be missing out on hiring top performers, like your current employees, who already have a vested interest in the company because of their personal connections there. A little bit of money paid in recruiting bonuses can equal huge saving in recruiting costs, turnover of training down the road. Referral bonuses have one of the strongest returns on your recruiting dollar and engaged employees are the ones that make these referrals.

Affiliate With Your Target Candidates: Another way can be sponsorships to professional organizations and events whose members and attendees your company would want to attract. Seeing your company‘s name regularly may mean you are at the top of those candidate’s mind when it comes time to make a career move.

Give Back First: A third way can be encouraging employees to donate their time to a great cause or providing paid volunteer time. That generosity can make your company very attractive to the people in your employee’s personal circles and those with similar passions. And by volunteering together, that goodwill is being returned in the form of greater teamwork and synergy in those groups.

Recruiting can be a long term investment into developing relationships with the people your company will need as it grows. Posting a job and filling a position can be transactional but creating a buzz of your company as a great place to work can have ROI for years to come!

For more information on marketing for recruiting, hiring techniques or how to get the best out of your people, contact Dixie Agostino at Dixie@switchgearrecruiting.com