BMI Healthcare faced challenges in recruiting specialists due to an outdated toolkit, limited resources, and an unknown employer brand. Their strategy focused on experimenting with social media like LinkedIn, tweets, and search marketing to source niche candidates cost-effectively. They prioritized niche roles over volume and found success using targeted Facebook paid ads, spending just $1.88 to acquire two qualified candidates from competitors in the desired location.

2. The BMI Healthcare Challenge
• New direct recruitment model
• Outdated toolkit and limited sourcing
• “Prove it” stakeholders
• Limited manpower and budgets
• Niche employer brand unknown outside
sector, and highly specialist roles
• Limited consumer brand
• Delivery of 2000 hires a year

3. Strategy and Planning
Formulating a social
“strategy” was easy for us:
• The must-dos are
determined by candidates
(you won’t always find
them where you’d expect
to!)
• Experimentation is
essential
• So is measurement
• Forgiveness vs permission

4. The economics of social media
• What should you compare social media to?
Job boards? Phone headhunting? PR?
• Effort versus reward
• Maintaining brand integrity
• Cost per conversion
• Sourcing versus branding: immediate versus
delayed pay-off
• Speak to 500 nurses, or the 5 with paediatric
oncology experience?

5. Our “shoestring” choices – and why
we made them
• Absolute priority: niche over volume
• LinkedIn (and lots of other tools) for sourcing
• Tweets
• Search marketing (technically not social, but
awesome)
• Facebook pay-per-click

6. Facebook PPC – Niche Recruiter
Heaven

7. Extreme Keyword Targeting

8. Extreme Employer Targeting

9. Total spend to acquire two highly
qualified candidates from
competitors in the right geographic
area?
• Ten minutes of recruiter time to write and
place the ad = £10
• Total ad spend = $1.88

10. Thanks for listening
• Do you have any questions?
• Do you want to know what I’m up to? I’m on
Twitter, @helene_w