Finding, and retaining, good employees is difficult under the best of circumstances. Factor in record-low unemployment and the lingering effects from the pandemic, and many manufacturing companies are facing labor shortages. Leveraging the power of technology through digital marketing recruitment can help you attract top talent.
Digital recruitment marketing tactics are a great way to give your company a competitive edge. They can help eliminate a lot of the hurdles manufacturers face when hiring.
Recruitment is Costly
According to RecruiterBox, the average cost-per-hire in the manufacturing industry is $5,159. Recruiting and hiring top talent can be a strenuous process for any manufacturing company. There are a number of different variables associated with the cost of hiring including the medium you are using to recruit, as well as the position you are trying to fill. The most common methods of recruiting, and their associated costs, are:
Unfortunately, there is no magic formula to consistently attract qualified candidates using the above recruitment tactics. It is a constant process of trial and error. This is why the vetting process is important. The average cost of training per new hire costs $3,000, so you really want to find people who are going to stick around for the long haul.
The silver lining? The manufacturing industry boasts higher retention rates than other industries, with employees staying at the same company for an average of about five years. You just need to find the right people — and digital marketing recruitment can help!
Digital Marketing for Recruiters
Gone are the days when employers could simply place a newspaper ad for a job opening and find qualified candidates. In 2000, about one-quarter of all jobseekers used the internet to find work. Today, that figure is closer to 80%. That makes having a strong online presence a necessity for recruiters seeking job applicants.
Chances are, you’re already familiar with many digital marketing tactics. You can incorporate most of these into your recruitment efforts. Instead of trying to reach customers, you’re looking for candidates — otherwise, the concept is the same.
One of the key benefits of using digital marketing for recruitment is the ability to target very specific groups of candidates. At the same time, it enables you to promote your company — especially important given that 75% of candidates research a company’s reputation before applying for a job.
The following digital recruitment marketing strategies will help you find the perfect candidate.
Why Digital Recruitment is More Effective
We have thus far focused on digital marketing strategies to improve your recruitment and retention. It’s what we do and what we know. You may feel that traditional mediums like billboards, commercials, or print are more within your wheelhouse or align better with your company’s brand if you’re not that active online. You may have had success with these mediums in the past and have a great relationship with your local TV or radio station. The only problem with this traditional advertising approach is that you’re paying for views that don’t resonate with your message.
Take a billboard, for example. What percentage of people driving by are actively looking for a manufacturing job? In our experience, a $5,000 ad spend can go a lot further digitally than it can on something like print. When you recruit digitally, it is also a lot easier to measure who is coming to your site and where they are coming from. Having access to metrics like these enables you to double down on what’s working and cut out what isn’t.
For instance, let’s say you’re posting to job boards and social media and find that far more candidates are coming to your site from social than they are from the job board. If that is the case, you’ll probably want to focus your efforts on social or even look into advertising there.
Having said that, we don’t want to deter you from what has worked in the past, but would like to at least encourage you to try something new to see if it can increase the speed, efficiency, and quality of your hiring process.
Adopt a Digital Focus for Success
No matter what way you look at it, hiring is expensive because of the amount of time it takes to recruit and interview qualified candidates. This is why retention is so important. The longer employees stay at your company, the less you will have to worry about hiring. When you do have to hire, it is our hope that you can utilize digital marketing resources to make your recruitment efforts as effective as possible. The landscape in the manufacturing industry is changing and employees now have to be more skilled to operate machinery utilizing newer technologies. In the same way, the recruitment process has changed as well, and you should be able to mirror that change in your recruitment efforts by adopting a digital focus.
If you feel your digital efforts can use a boost, feel free to contact us. We understand that navigating the digital landscape in the manufacturing industry can be a tricky process and that no two companies are alike. The reality is that you may be leaving money on the table or losing out to your competition if your website and marketing are not on the cutting edge — and this is especially true when it comes to hiring.
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