Every industry in the world has been upended by COVID-19. Whether they are suffering from decreased business, like brick and mortar stores, or an overwhelming demand, like Amazon, nothing is “business as usual” right now. One piece of “business-unusual” that effects almost every industry at the moment is hiring. In hiring, adjusting recruitment marketing strategies for the times will be essential in maintaining reliability and value propositions for potential candidates. Recruitment marketing probably isn’t a top priority item for most businesses during this economic crisis, but a few simple tweaks on a careers page could go a long way. Changing a career site by acknowledging the situation, highlighting social distance perks, and auditing scheduled content are quick, impactful ways to modify recruitment marketing.
Acknowledging the Situation
Let’s face it. Everyone is pretty tired of receiving “COVID-19 Response” emails from every company who has ever collected their email address. Another email titled “COVID-19 HR Response” is probably acknowledging the situation a little too loudly, and it might just be the straw that made the camel unsubscribe. But things are different—hiring practices, candidate concerns, etc.—so acknowledgement is important. Putting a paragraph describing those changes on the homepage of a career site is straight-forward, widely visible, and not overbearing. Whether it is a link to another page with more information or a short feature near the top of the page, simply acknowledging to candidates that things have changed will help build trust and provide visibility.
Highlighting Social Distance Perks
No, this is not advice to highlight the “perks of social distancing” at a time like this. That message has had ample amplification already. Rather, companies should highlight the perks they have to offer to candidates concerned about social distancing. Virtual interviews are on the rise and, if they’re offered, they should be highlighted. If remote work is available, that should be featured in a visible way. A brief rundown of the team communication and productivity technologies demonstrates consideration for social distancing, even when in the office. This is nothing major, however for those active candidates that are looking for change but watching their health, a small nod to your social distancing perks could be enough to get them in the funnel.
Auditing Scheduled Content
A quick audit of scheduled content on your careers page is a great way to adjust recruitment messaging without spending a lot of time. It isn’t necessary to create new, COVID-19-specific content. Postponing content that doesn’t align with current objectives and repurposing old content that does is all that is needed. Maybe there is an article scheduled that describes how Jenny really enjoys going out to lunch with her team. Well, delaying that and reposting an old article describing how Benny developed deep connections with his team despite working remote would be quite prudent. If a company just put a freeze on all Medical Assistant hiring, the piece scheduled for next week describing a day in the life of a Medical Assistant could probably wait until later. An hour or two spent auditing, postponing, and repurposing content according to new hiring goals and work practices will improve a company’s recruitment marketing message for the next several months.
Being transparent and topical with candidates may not hit the top of a company’s to-do’s right now, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t time- and cost-effective ways to adjust recruitment marketing. Just a few small adjustments to a career site can really set a company apart from their peers at a time like this. The informative and topical messaging will only reinforce established employer value propositions, increasing the odds of that ever-elusive purple squirrel.