Recruitment is about Cultivating Relationships, Not More Recruiters
Every organization needs good people. Not exactly the same people as the competitor down the street, but probably similar skill sets, and with a desire for talented contributors.
We often work with clients to better imagine what the right candidate looks like in the company, and then start to frame the experience that will attract that specific personality. This idea of the ideal candidate or an example person with all their human traits, experiences, needs and hang-ups is simply summarized as the "persona" around which we build an experience.
If you've ever done this exercise, you've discovered that the "ideal" candidate for one role looks different than the "ideal" candidate for another role. (And this is also true for marketing - each marketing campaign will have a slightly different mix of "ideal" persons you are hoping to reach and engage with your message).
If you want Premium, why are you Marketing for Generic?
No one wants the least personable, barely-graduated-from-their program. But these people find jobs too. And the organizations that hired these "so so" folks probably went through the very same cycle that you are conducting, while you hope for awesome-sauce.
Leave the antiseptic in the exam room.
Tell stories of connection and purpose, and draw the best candidates to you.
Too often, the process looks identical across organizations and industries:
Give a quick review the existing job description that lists out key tasks, accountabilities, and experience requirements for the job,
Ask Marketing to post it to your website, post to a few job boards (broad interest as well as maybe a few industry-specific boards),
(Maybe) share the position requisition with a valued recruitment partner that has been successful in the past, and
Wait.
(Maybe) send a few HR people (not necessarily your employees doing the work today) to talk at a job fair about how great your company is.
And then wait some more.
And then comes Hope. With each view and submission to your job description, you hope that this new applicant
Is appropriately qualified,
Is pleasant to work with,
Shares your organizational values and interest in your mission, and
Brings more to the table than just another warm body.
But hope is not a recruitment strategy. The reason why recruiters tend to have more success engaging high quality candidates is that they build relationships before your job posting needs to be filled. They've built a network of both employed and in-transition professionals that may be the 'just right' fit for a current or future client, and they put that contact information into their relationship database (CRM).
The problem is this - unless your in-house recruiter is actively building relationships across all your functional teams - you're likely not going to get to know strong candidates on a first name basis. Depending on the role,you're probably paying 20-30% of the annual salary of your next hire to a recruiter that is (hopefully) matching strong talent to your role and culture.
Hopefully, but not always the case.
And the strongest technical candidate isn't necessarily the best fit. Traditionally, that 20-30% premium spend on a recruiter’s candidate is essentially for an introduction. You are paying them to search through a network of relationships that are often impersonal, and usually very casual. Great recruiters work to get to know you both your organization as well as the many talented individuals they meet every day, but for national searches or to find non-traditional candidates this simply isn't going to work.
If you're recruiter isn't asking specific questions about work life, walking your halls, sitting into meetings, and listening to people talk about your mission BEFORE they start pitching candidates, you're at risk for overpaying for great talent that is a bad fit.
Most organizations argue that a "great fit, good candidate" is superior every time to a "great candidate, good-enough fit".
A "good enough fit" doesn't
spend the extra time needed to deliver personal and memorable experiences to patients, the kind that extend your mission.
drink deeply from your culture the same way, and your patients will feel they were part of a (passion-less but) efficient transaction.
invested when times get a little tough, or hard decisions are made, or when personal life considerations argue for relocating.
You don't just want a qualified candidate that is available to fill your job. You want the best talent you can find that helps make your organization better.
You want to be connecting with happily employed top talent. The the most talented people we know - bright, personable, diligent - find themselves highly employable. They aren't busy trolling the job boards, looking for opportunities at unknown organizations with new management teams and unfamiliar cultures. They are doing what they do best for the organization they're with, delivering results and building relationships with patients. These are the people you want.
But here's the trick: for all your searching, it is more likely that they will find you before you find them.
Top talent is curious, they are passionate, and they are always looking for ways to be better at what they do. If you want to attract (and retain) great talent, become an organization that invests in stoking the passions and sharpening the skills of exceptional people.
Recruitment marketing isn't bragging. It's story telling. Not a surprise that a group of communications experts would say that telling stories is powerful? Fair enough.
But stories are magical. They are memorable.
And stories speak to our individual passions in a way that sterile job descriptions never will.
When you are doing great things to build and grow a mission-driven workforce, you need to let people know what you're doing. And by sharing your story about building a great place to work, you'll catch the attention of others that are still looking for that "great fit" place.
21st-century recruiting is increasingly a content marketing approach: sharing meaningful details and examples of how your unique culture delivers on the mission. This isn't just potlucks on Instagram, or employee recognition on Facebook, we're talking about stories that illustrate your commitment and investment in your people. And by extension, the quality of experience for your patients.
Tell stories about how you bring your mission to life for your workforce. Are you telling your stories about:
How you invest to grow the talent you have, and help them deliver at the highest level possible in your organization?
Opportunities that you create to allow people to move around the organization instead of leaving it?
What you do to bring amazing people onboard, and get them ramped up to speed both in the clinic but also connected in the community?
What unique experiences - magical moments - happen in your clinic each day that result in memorable moments for your staff and patients?
Leave the antiseptic in the exam room, and create job descriptions with heart. Are you sharing opportunities that excite people? Does your organization:
Speak to the impact this role will have in your community?
Use language that sounds and feels like your unique culture?
Go beyond the "how" the work is to be done speak to "why" the work matters in your community and for your patients?
Be known for something. Anything. But think about what your unique reputation is that will draw people to you or clearly discourage them from joining a culture that won't be a right fit.
Are your top practitioners innovative? They need to be speaking at conferences that spotlight their passion and your culture of innovation.
Are you the most community-engaged clinic continental US? Play host to regional events, and tour visitors around your community to spotlight the many ways and places you are connected and making an impact.
Do you have the best quality of life? Support interns and residents in documenting their work AND living experience while spending a few months with you during their education.
Do you leverage your culture and community impact as part of your recruitment campaign - if so, share your experience!
If you’re not seeing enough marketing in your recruitment strategy, we can help! Schedule now for a no-obligation, 30-minute consultation. You can also learn more about our Recruitment Marketing services, helping clients tell powerful and engaging stories about impactful careers with their organizations.