Win the war for talent. Find out about the latest recruitment trends and techniques for attracting the best candidates.

1. Recruitment Marketing Insights 2016
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RECRUITMENT MARKETING
INSIGHTs
The content and social marketing techniques that
are changing the face of recruitment

2. Recruitment Marketing Insights 2016
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The role of HR has evolved dramatically since the
start of the 21st century. Creativity, flexibility
and a range of skills traditionally associated
with attracting new customers are now crucial in
attracting and engaging the right candidates.
The rise of content marketing and the continued growth of
social media are changing how today’s companies win the best
talent.
We set out to understand who is utilising these techniques, the
impact they are having now and the role they will play in the
future.
introduction

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We have gathered some useful data to help you:
- Secure more budget for recruitment marketing
- Discover what techniques and tools are in use across the
industry and how they can work for you
- Set clear KPIs and measure them effectively
A large percentage of our respondents agree that recruitment
marketing activities:
- Increase brand recognition
- Increase the number and quality of applicants
- Reduce the time and cost per hire
If you are unsure where to start or what to do next, this
report will give you some great ideas about how to proceed.
Why this report is for you

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Recruitment marketing has a positive impact on brand recognition, number
and quality of applications as well as reducing time and cost per hire.
IMPACT OF RECRUITMENT MARKETING
What effect has your recent recruitment marketing activity had?
Notsure
None-N/A-we
haven’tdone
anyrecruitment
marketingrecently
Improvedstaff
retention
Increasedbrand
recognition
Reduced
costperhire
Increasedthe
diversityof
applicants
Increasedthe
numberof
applicationsper
vacancy
Increased
thequalityof
applicants
Reducedtimeto
fillpositions
5%
9%
19%
23%
29%
32%
41%
36%
35%

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Regardless of company size or sector, HR professionals agree
on the importance of strategy, goals and values.
STRATEGY AND VALUES
Does your company have a well-
defined recruitment strategy
and goals?
Yes
No
7%
93%
Do you have clear company values?
Yes
No
3%
97%
Do you think everyone in the business
you work for knows and understands your
company values?
Yes
No
Not sure
62%
19%
20%

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97%have defined company values
but 39% aren’t sure if those values are fully
understood across the business. Making sure
your employees know what the company stands
for and why you’re different is an important step
in any successful recruitment marketing strategy.

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HR professionals are using candidate personas to find the right employees.
CANDIDATE PERSONAS
Do you ever create candidate
personas?
Yes
No
46%
54%
How useful do you typically find
candidate personas in helping you
reach ideal candidates?
Extremely useful
Quite useful
4%
60%
36%
Not that useful
If you don’t use candidate personas,
why not?
We don’t know how
We don’t think they’re very helpful
We don’t have time
26%
53%
21%
3%
Other

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54%create candidate personas,
and 96% of those find them to be a useful tool.
Effective personas help you to reach the right
people with the right messages at the right
time, attracting the skills your business needs,
achieving the right cultural fit and improving
staff retention.

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There are obvious trends in the types of content being used, but HR
professionals are experimenting with different approaches.
types of recruitment content
Careerwebsite/
microsite
63%
Employeeinterviews
/jobprofiles
55%
Joinuspage
44%
Newsletters
42%
Q&As
33%
Careerblogs
32%Guides
29%
Employer
brandvideos
27%
Videojob
advertisements
23%
Jobographics
14%
Slideshares
12%
Podcasts
10%
Which of the following types of recruitment content have you produced?

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Career websites, join us pages and employee interviews are popular options.
EFFECTIVENESS OF CONTENT
Please rate the effectiveness of the
following types of recruitment content: N/A
Very ineffective
Somewhat ineffective
Neither effective nor ineffective
Somewhat effective
Very effective
Employee
interviews/
jobprofiles
Q&As
Slideshares
Podcasts
Guides
Newsletters
Jobographics
Videojob
advertisements
Employer
brandvideos
Careerblogs
Joinuspage
Career
website/
microsite
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%

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Social media is widely used for distributing recruitment content,
with LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter proving most popular.
DISTRIBUTING CONTENT VIA SOCIAL MEDIA
Do you have any career/employer
brand-specific social channels?
Yes
No
62%
38%
Do you ever use social media to
distribute your recruitment content?
Yes - often
Yes - occasionally
20%
42%
25%
Yes - we’ve tried this once or twice
13%
No - never
Which social media platforms do you
use/have you ever used to distribute
your recruitment content?
Facebook73%
LinkedIn67%
Twitter50%
Instagram19%
Snapchat5%

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67%
use social channels to
distribute careers content
and more than 77% plan to continue using it in
the future, but only 38% have a dedicated career
or employer brand channel. Might it be time to
introduce specific recruitment social channels?

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LinkedIn is deemed most effective for distributing
recruitment content followed by Facebook.
EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA
FOR DISTRIBUTING CONTENT
Please rate the effectiveness of
these social platforms in distributing
your recruitment content:
Snapchat
0%
5%
15%
25%
30%
10%
20%
35%
40%
InstagramFacebook TwitterLinkedIn
N/A
Very ineffective
Somewhat ineffective
Neither effective nor ineffective
Somewhat effective
Very effective

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HR professionals are experimenting with paid
promotion on social media.
USE OF PAID PROMOTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Have you ever paid to promote recruitment content on any
of your social channels?
Yes
Not yet, but we
plan to try it
4%
Not sure
No, and we don’t
have plans to
31%
44%
21%
Which social platforms have you ever paid to promote
content on?
Facebook
65%
LinkedIn
65%
Twitter
33%
Instagram
24%
Snapchat
12%

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LinkedIn and Facebook are deemed most effective
for paid promotion of recruitment content.
EFFECTIVENESS OF PAID PROMOTION ON SOCIAL MEDIA
Please rate the effectiveness
of your paid content on these
social platforms:
SnapchatInstagram
0%
5%
15%
25%
30%
10%
20%
35%
40%
Facebook TwitterLinkedIn
45%
50%
N/A
Very ineffective
Somewhat ineffective
Neither effective nor ineffective
Somewhat effective
Very effective

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USE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
COMMUNICATING DIRECTLY WITH CANDIDATES
Do you ever use social media to communicate directly with
potential candidates i.e. sending personal messages?
17%
26%
19%
38%
Yes - often
Yes - occasionally
Yes - we’ve tried this once or twice
No - never
Which social media platforms do you use/have you ever used to
communicate directly with potential candidates?
Twitter45%
Facebook79%
Instagram13%
Other1%
80%LinkedIn
Snapchat5%

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Please rate the effectiveness
of these social platforms in
communicating directly with
candidates
N/A
Very ineffective
Somewhat ineffective
Neither effective nor ineffective
Somewhat effective
Very effective
EFFECTIVENESS OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR
COMMUNICATING DIRECTLY WITH CANDIDATES
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
LinkedIn TwitterFacebook Instagram Snapchat

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43%
use social media to
communicate directly with
potential candidates.
LinkedIn and Facebook are proving highly
effective for that purpose, with Twitter, Instagram
and Snapchat all proving viable ways to make
direct contact.

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These techniques are here to stay...
THE FUTURE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR RECRUITMENT
How successful have you been in finding and attracting
candidates via social media?
Fairlyunsuccessful8%
Idon’tknow,as
we’restruggling
tomeasureit
3%
N/A-we
haven’ttriedit
15%
12%Verysuccessful
Veryunsuccessful3%
Neithersuccessful
norunsuccessful19%
Fairlysuccessful42%
Notsure
Do you plan to continue using social media for recruitment?
Definitelynot2%
Probablynot5%
16%
Maybe37%
Definitely40%

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HR professionals have mixed views about asking
employees to help share recruitment messages.
USE OF EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY
Yes -
sometimes
Yes -
often
No -
but we’re
planning
to start
No -
and we
don’t plan to
Do you ever actively ask your employees to help you share your
recruitment marketing messages or content?
9%
26%
24%
42%
Which recruitment/employee engagement platforms have you
ever used?
Glassdoor
None - N/A - we’ve never used any
31%
32%
20%
Trap!t
4%
Social Chorus
14%
14%
24%
18%
Bullhorn Reach
Circulate.itDynamic Signal
Other

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Industry sectors vary in their approach to involving employees,
with healthcare, IT, retail, finance and engineering leading the way.
EMPLOYEE ADVOCACY BY INDUSTRY SECTOR
Yes - often No - and we don’t plan to
No - but we’re planning to startYes - sometimes
Do you ever actively ask your employees to help you
share your recruitment marketing messages or content?
Accountancy,
bankingandfinance
0%
5%
15%
25%
10%
20%
Business,consulting
andmanagement
Charityand
voluntarywork
Creativeartsanddesign
Energyandutilities
Engineeringand
manufacturing
Environment
andagriculture
Healthcare
Hospitalityand
eventsmanagement
Informationresearch
andanalysis
Informationtechnology
Insuranceand
pensions
Law
Lawenforcement
andsecurity
Leisure,sportandtourism
Marketing,
advertisingandPR
Mediaandinternet
Propertyand
construction
Publicservicesand
administration
Retail
Sales
Scienceand
pharmaceuticals
Teachingandeducation
Transportandlogistics
Othersector

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HR professionals agree that measurement is important –
but it can be challenging to get the right data
MEASURING RECRUITMENT MARKETING
Do you ever measure the success of your recruitment activity?
Yes
No
11%
88%
N/A
1%
Qualityofapplicants
Lengthoftimetofillpositions
Numberofapplications
pervacancy
Staffretention/churn
Diversityofapplicants
If you do measure the success of your
recruitment activity, what do you measure?
63%
Costperhire
Traffictoyourcareer
site/joinuspage
Engagementwith
recruitmentcontent*
Bouncerateonyourcareer
site/joinuspage
63%
57%
52%
46%
43%
27%
26%
18%
*shares,likes,retweets,etc.

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HR professionals agree on the
importance of measurement.
MEASURING RECRUITMENT MARKETING
How do you typically measure the success of your recruitment
content?
Web traffic / Google Analytics
Content tagging system / tracking system
18%
32%
Social media listening tools
47%
3%
Other
It’s difficult to
get accurate
measurements
We don’t
know what to
measure
It takes too
much time
We don’t
have the right
technology
We’re not
interested in
measurement
If you don’t measure the success of your recruitment activity,
why not?
50%
41%
27%
14%
5%

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88%
are measuring success.
Of these, 47% rely on Google Analytics, 32%
use sophisticated content tagging and tracking
systems and a further 18% make use of social
media listening tools. If you are not measuring
your recruitment marketing activity, this should
be the year to start.

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This research was undertaken by HR managers
in a range of companies across the UK.
ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
1%
8%
23%
24%
16%
28%
10-51
50-249
1-9
450-999
250-499
1000+
Number of employees in company

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Sector breakdown
ABOUT THIS RESEARCH
11%
11%
10%
12%
8%
8%
7%
4%
3%
2%
4%
3%
4%
4%
1%
1%
2%
1%
1%
1%
1%
2%
3% 1%1%1%
Charity and voluntary work
Energy and utilities
Environment and agriculture
Hospitality and events management
Information technology
Law
Leisure, sport and tourism
Media and internet
Accountancy, banking and finance
Retail
Science and pharmaceuticals
Transport and logistics
Business, consulting and management
Creative arts and design
Engineering and manufacturing
Healthcare
Information research and analysis
Public services and administration
Law enforcement and security
Marketing, advertising and PR
Property and construction
Recruitment and HR
Sales
Teaching and education
Other sector
Insurance and pensions

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our last word
Marketing and employer brand matter
Our respondents report that recruitment
marketing techniques help them improve
everything from the volume (40%) and diversity
(31%) of candidates to their brand recognition
(23%) and employee retention (18%).
Taking this approach also makes it easier for
your ideal candidates to find and recognise
your company as the place they’d like to work.
It’s worth putting in time, effort and budget to
master these techniques and make them even
more effective in your business.

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Our research was produced in
collaboration with HR transformation
consultancy Veran Performance
The research was conducted by OnePoll among
200 HR managers in a range of companies
across the UK.
If you have further questions about this study,
contact us at info@hellosoutherly.com.

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So how can we help tell your story?
We tell stories that engage your audience.
We use words, conversations, video and
pictures to tell your story.
We work online, face to face and in print to create
compelling content. But really, the medium by
which we tell our story doesn’t matter, it’s how
we tell it that makes the difference.
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