10 Steps for Building an Effective Recruitment Plan

January 29, 2020
12:00 pm

Posted by Megan Zweig

Hiring the right talent for your marketing team starts with a great recruitment plan. Take it from me: after years of helping to shape the hiring process at DMA, I’ve learned some lessons that have spurred the development of practices that help us secure the best fit for each position at our company. Before you start looking for your next marketing superstar, consider these 10 tips and how they could complement your process.

How to Build an Effective Recruitment Plan

1. Update your online marketing assets.

Where is the first place job applicants look when researching your company before applying for an open job? Your website! Before you post that new job description, make sure your website and social media channels are presenting relevant and up-to-date information for candidates to sink their teeth into.

2. Use LinkedIn to find your new teammate.

Join the other 94% of companies recruiting through social media (including DMA) who include LinkedIn in the mix. According to the LinkedIn recruiting page, someone is hired every 8 seconds via this 17-year-old social media network. Using the new and improved job posting tool, recruiters can easily upload and schedule a job advertisement to target audiences and receive resumes via email. Looking for something a bit more grassroots? LinkedIn also gives recruiters the option to search for candidates based on specific criteria that match your hiring needs, making this platform as nimble as it is affordable.

3. Optimize your job description with keywords.

Clever wording of your job description can help would-be candidates find your available job easier via search engines. Using long-tailed keywords, such as “inbound marketing experience” or “consumer marketing/promotions experience with fresh produce,” to describe the position and ideal candidate will help connect job seekers to your available position.

4. Elevate what makes you great.

Speaking of job descriptions, companies often miss an opportunity to use job descriptions to elevate the company and highlight why a candidate should want to work there. A good job description should not only include the requirements of the position, but also serve as a marketing piece that sells your company. Even adding an opening paragraph that describes the company’s attributes, vision and mission, along with the role the position plays in achieving these goals, is a significant step for companies to consider.

5. Do your homework on salary.

Before you post your job description, be sure you fully understand the current salary range in your market for a position that is similar to the one that you’re trying to fill. Websites like Salary.com and Payscale.com offer job seekers and employers’ competitive salary ranges and insights for a wide range of positions, including marketing. Discuss money up front with your interviewees to ensure that their desired salary range is in line with the budget for the position you’re trying to fill.

6. Find “thoroughbreds.”

Don’t just leave it up to the right candidate to find you! As a leader and employer, you should be motivated to conduct your own recruitment tactics by embracing the power of the internet to find your next marketing “thoroughbred.” Using the carefully crafted keywords you included in your job description, visit websites and online job boards to locate and connect with candidates that meet your top criteria.

7. Use social media to vet interview candidates.

Once you’ve received resumes from prospect interview candidates, start the vetting process by conducting online research about each candidate using social media channels to do your due diligence and ensure each potential hire is a good fit for your company and team. Referring back to LinkedIn, here candidates showcase their capability to manage their own online resume and provide you with ample links to see other work and people they may have worked with in the past. Networks like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram may also uncover facts about your candidate(s) that may help you determine if they are the right fit for your team and company’s culture as well.

8. Schedule as many interviews as it takes to hire the right person.

Unless your company’s human resources department has an established process that dictates the number of mandatory interviews that you must conduct, I recommend that you use as many telephone and face-to-face meetings as it takes for you to find the right candidate. Dedication to this practice will allow you the space and time you need to ask the many questions that will help you arrive at a decision.

9. Give people in your organization the opportunity to interview your final job candidates. Providing talented people in the organization with an opportunity to interview your top candidates gives you added context and will help you gain additional perspective from subject matter experts and culture ambassadors within your organization.

10. Conduct reference interviews.
Request references from interview candidates at the beginning of the interview process. This gives you the opportunity to contact specific references throughout the process and have the opportunity to address specific questions you may have about a particular candidate.

Throughout the 15+ years that DMA Solutions has been in business, we’ve come to find that marketing is a “team sport,” so to speak. We recommend that in addition to the recruitment strategy we’ve outlined above, you look for people with proof as marketers that have a passion for what they do. With that in mind, you will realize your vision of building a team of talented marketers for your business in no time!