April 16, 2015
Whether people realize it or not, the human resources department must have solid relationships with its company's marketing and public relations departments. When it comes down to it, recruiting is marketing. It matches candidates with the right positions and organizations; just as marketing matches people or companies with the right products and services. So why aren't these two departments constantly in sync? From thought leadership to social media, marketing should be HR's best friend; and together they can ensure brand visibility and consistency, talent attraction and retention and a strong employee value proposition (EVP). Without this strategic relationship, the messaging marketing is sharing with the world may not match up to the conversations the recruitment team is having with candidates. It is a necessary partnership to any talent acquisition strategy.
The three strategies below can help you team up with marketing and public relations to not only attract the ideal candidates but also improve your organization's talent acquisition goals. 
Thought Leadership
Thought leadership is one of the first categories you should be implementing with your marketing and public relations departments to boost your talent acquisition strategy. When building a thought leadership strategy, encourage your employees to get involved through a blogging or subject matter expert program. Form strategic partnerships with industry experts who you can collaborate with on content. Become familiar with industry publications and their editorial calendars, and have your public relations department pitch topics your organization wants to contribute to. Having your company share its employees' expertise in will prove to candidates that you're an interesting and relevant potential employer for them.
Social Media Engagement
Social media is nothing new, but the real point of focus is how we can continue to innovate the use of this tool. The image you portray online and through your social presence has a profound impact on your ability to recruit and retain top talent. Making sure that you have conversations regularly with your marketing department will ensure you can share open positions, company happenings and news via social platforms. While it's typically thought of as an excellent tool for external job advertisement and promotion, social media can also be a great employee engagement tool from an internal standpoint. Sharing corporate social responsibility initiative photos or company outings via social media shows your current employees you care. It will also allow you to connect with industry influencers more casually. Be sure to have your marketing department follow key influencers on multiple platforms and engage with these individuals through chats, discussions and meet-ups.
Strategic Placement
Marketing professionals use strategic placement to get the word out about their company on multiple platforms, in hopes of reaching different audiences. Although its considered a traditional approach to public relations, pitching is still an effective measure for getting ideas out there. Build relationships with contacts at industry publications, blogs and other content publishers that candidates might leverage to do research. If your organization keeps coming up over and over again as a thought leader, candidates will be more likely to reach out or be open to conversations about career opportunities.
No matter what marketing and public relations avenues you pursue from a talent acquisition strategy standpoint, be sure to customize your approach to the audience you're seeking.
How are you using marketing and PR to expand your talent pool? We invite you to share your answers in the comments section below!
