WHAT IS RECRUITMENT MARKETING?
Hiring Has Changed. Marketing Needs to Keep Up.
In today’s competitive talent market, job postings alone can be harmful rather than strategic. Why? The best candidates evaluate you long before they apply, and they expect an experience that’s clear, authentic, and engaging. That’s where recruitment marketing comes in.
It’s the bridge between traditional hiring and modern marketing, helping you attract, nurture, and convert the right talent at the right time. As the world gets more complex, advanced recruitment marketing is more than a “nice to have;” it’s essential.
Recruitment Marketing in a Nutshell
Recruitment marketing attracts and engages the right top talent even before they apply. It combines the right messaging and the right activation to achieve the right conversion, all at the right time in the job seeker and candidate journey whether active or passive.
It’s about telling your story in a way that sticks, showcasing culture, values, and opportunities through career sites, social media, and beyond.
Unlike traditional recruiting, which starts when a job opens, recruitment marketing builds relationships early. The payoff: a stronger pipeline, faster hires, and a better candidate fit. It’s about meeting candidates where they are: online, on social media, and in their daily lives, and inspiring them to see your company as their next career home.
Why It Matters for Organizations Today
The way people search for jobs has changed. Candidates:
- Research your company as they would a big purchase
- Expect transparency about culture, values, and career growth
- Want personalized communication rather than generic job ads
Recruitment marketing helps you tell your unique story and build lasting connections with talent, even before you have an open role.
Core Tenets of Recruitment Marketing
Recruitment marketing works best as a connected system, not a checklist. These tenets are intentionally interdependent, and emphasis shifts based on performance, hiring demand, and real-time results. What leads at one moment may support at another, guided by data and outcomes rather than assumption.
EMPLOYER BRANDING
Your reputation as an employer is your calling card. Employer branding reflects who you are, what you stand for, and how it feels to work with you. When expressed consistently and honestly across channels, it builds recognition, trust, and long-term credibility with talent.
Employer Value Proposition (EVP)
An EVP is the promise you make about the day-to-day employee experience. It is rooted in research, not aspiration, and articulated through clear, believable language. We help uncover and define what truly sets your workplace apart, so expectations align with reality from first touch through hire.
Why an Employer Brand?
A strong employer brand builds trust in a crowded talent market, reduces friction in the hiring journey, and ensures candidates encounter a consistent, credible experience across every channel. When your brand clearly communicates the reality of working at your organization, you attract people who align with your culture and repel those who don’t, saving time, strengthening engagement, and improving long‐term retention. Investing in an employer brand creates clarity, sets expectations, and gives candidates the truth they need to make confident decisions.
TALENT ATTRACTION
Content Marketing + Social Media Strategy
From employee stories to behind-the-scenes moments, content and social channels give shape to your culture. This is where potential candidates learn who you are, how you operate, and whether they can see themselves on your team. Strong content builds familiarity before a role is ever opened.
Paid Media
Paid media supports speed and precision in reaching talent. Campaigns across job boards, search, and social platforms are used to connect with defined audiences based on role type, location, and hiring urgency. Digital and programmatic approaches allow for testing, refinement, and reallocation as performance data comes in, ensuring effort stays focused where response is strongest.
Analytics
Analytics grounds the entire Talent Attraction strategy by showing what resonates, where candidates drop off, and where to shift effort for the greatest impact. It creates a clear feedback loop that allows for quick optimizations and keeps resources focused on the tactics and channels delivering the strongest results.
MARTECH
Martech brings the system together. It includes the tools and platforms that support attraction, engagement, and conversion, often through a mix of internal systems and trusted third-party partners. When properly aligned, martech connects media, content, career sites, and CRM efforts, helping reduce friction and improve the path from interest to application.
Candidate Nurturing + CRM
Not every candidate is ready to apply right away. Candidate relationship management keeps the conversation going and connects candidates with jobs that fit their experience and interests through timely, relevant touchpoints. Sustained engagement through email, text, events, and more helps maintain awareness, nurture silver medalists, and encourages action when the timing is right.
Career Site Development
The career site is a primary decision point for candidates. Clear navigation, thoughtful content, and intuitive paths to apply or join a talent community all matter. A well-built career site supports discovery, answers unspoken questions, and removes barriers that can otherwise stop qualified candidates from moving forward.
ANALYTICS
Analytics grounds recruitment marketing in evidence. By tracking performance across channels and touchpoints, data reveals what is resonating, where candidates drop off, and how effort should shift over time. Through clear reporting, we guide your strategy and continue to refine it so the focus stays on delivering results.
Dashboards and Reporting
Our personalized analytics dashboards give you real‐time, 24/7 visibility into your entire recruitment funnel, from media performance and budget allocation to candidate journey analytics and source contribution. With integrated reporting across paid and earned channels, you gain a holistic view of what’s working, what’s not, and where to optimize next. Each client is supported by a dedicated Data Strategist who provides in‐depth reporting, personalized recommendations, and ongoing insights, helping you walk into every leadership conversation with confidence. Our Track‐to‐Hire dashboards transform the way teams manage campaigns, offering granular, actionable intelligence that elevates efficiency, validates performance, and drives long‐term hiring success.
What is Recruitment Versus Recruitment Marketing
Recruitment focuses on filling open roles now.
Recruitment marketing focuses on building relationships with potential candidates and existing candidates today and building a healthy pipeline for the future. When you have an opening, it ensures you have a warm audience that’s ready to engage. Recruitment marketing brings your employer brand to life through every touch point across your marketing activities. It influences how your brand is perceived across the entire talent lifecycle.
Success Metrics That Matter
To measure recruitment marketing impact, there are several important metrics to track. Our approach to analytics is to track all paid and earned sources, monitoring the following to get a holistic view of your entire candidate journey; and where (and where not) to invest your budget.
- Career site traffic, engagement, and time spent on site
- Application conversion rates
- Cost per qualified applicant
- Time-to-fill and quality of hire
- Talent pipeline growth over time
- Social media engagement
- Talent community engagement
- Event sign-ups and engagement
Shaker's Approach to Recruitment Marketing
At Shaker Recruitment Marketing, we combine data-driven strategy with human insight. With 75 years of experience, we know how to help you stand out and succeed.
Our Expertise:
- Branding: Defining your unique employer value proposition (EVP) and creating authentic brand experiences that resonate with your target candidates
- Talent Attraction: Developing multi-channel strategies that reach candidates where they are, with content and messaging that drives engagement and action
- Martech: Implementing technology solutions that automate nurturing, improve candidate experiences, and provide actionable insights
- Analytics: Measuring what matters, optimizing continuously, and demonstrating clear ROI on your recruitment marketing investments
Recruitment Marketing in Action Across Industries
Recruitment marketing isn't limited to specific industries—it's a strategic approach that works across sectors, from healthcare and hospitality to technology and logistics. The principles remain the same, but the tactics and messaging adapt to each industry's unique challenges, candidate expectations, and competitive landscape. Whether you're competing for nurses in a tight healthcare market, attracting tech talent in a competitive landscape, or building pipelines for skilled trades, recruitment marketing provides the framework to build sustainable talent attraction strategies that deliver results.
Let's Build Your Talent Pipeline
Ready to attract, engage, and hire the right talent more effectively? Let’s talk about how we can help you connect with the right candidates. Before your competitors do.