What is inbound recruiting?

As you know, the recruitment landscape is constantly changing. One key aspect to consider is meeting the needs of candidates who are researching hiring companies more than ever. That’s why offering relevant information to talents and setting the stage for a relationship of trust with them is so important.

Want to learn more about this principle and other aspects of inbound recruiting? On the menu: how to optimize your recruitment!

What is inbound recruiting? A talent magnet!

A comprehensive HR marketing strategy, this type of recruitment relies on a strong employer brand and the creation of relevant content. Its attraction cycle for prospects has several phases with different goals: awareness, consideration (or research), conversion, then loyalty and referral. The work, therefore, doesn’t stop once you’ve hired a candidate!

The great strength of inbound recruiting? Getting more qualified applications and a higher conversion rate. The reason behind this success is simple: the resumes you receive come from prospects who are better informed about your organization, its company culture, and, in general, the expectations linked to the positions to be filled. People make an informed choice: they already have an idea of the adventure they want to embark on with you.

Inbound recruiting vs outbound recruiting

Inbound recruiting means attracting candidates to your company. Outbound recruiting refers instead to searching for and contacting prospects.

More concretely? In the first case, it’s as if you were presenting talents with a tempting buffet of content, testimonials, and information to address their different needs and questions depending on where they are in your candidate journey. Prospects can then help themselves depending on their appetite (active or passive job search) – or keep your attractive offers in mind and come back when hunger strikes.

As for outbound marketing, it groups various more direct contact tactics. Consider methods like cold calling, cold emailing, cold messaging, or headhunting. A brilliant mix of both approaches is often optimal to reach as many people as possible.

How does inbound recruiting work?

Its ultimate goal? Attracting the best applications by making your company known and regularly feeding your talent pipeline. Here are the key steps of this strategy:

1. Define your recruitment needs – such as the positions to be filled, the types of candidates you’re looking for, the resources available to achieve it, and the time you have.
2. Identify the SEO keywords your target audience is likely to use to provide them with content that answers their questions. This step also involves familiarizing yourself with their concerns and habits (websites visited, favourite social networks, hiring obstacles, etc.).
3. Develop a content strategy tailored to your goals and target audience, and diversify the platforms for its distribution. This strategy is responsible for delivering a relevant message, at the right time, and in the right place. For example: social media campaigns, an employer brand–focused newsletter, a career page or microsite, etc.

Your objective is to enable candidates to easily find you, learn more about your company, and apply with ease.

Your team is also a major ally in recruitment! Since candidate habits increasingly resemble those of potential clients (and their research before purchasing a product or service), you can rely on the power of social proof. People generally trust the testimonials of real humans more than a company’s discourse about its products or work environment.

Take advantage of this by giving the mic to your staff or colleagues in an employee video, a referral program, or an employer brand ambassador initiative. Your teams will feel valued, and prospects will feel more confident. A win-win!

Inbound recruiting: a winning recipe for your recruitment strategy

There is obviously no ready-made ingredient list for attracting and engaging your candidates. Still, this strategy remains one of the most profitable for improving the performance of your recruitment campaigns. Whether it’s about targeting different possible conversion points in your candidate journey or revising your employee value propositions (EVPs), our employer brand and HR marketing enthusiasts have what it takes to craft a strategy that’s up to date. Give us a call!