Navigating the Competitive Recruitment Landscape: Marketing Strategies for Success

Summer is a wonderful time to update your firm’s recruiting marketing efforts because there are many opportunities to showcase employees, highlight your firm’s benefits, and demonstrate your firm’s community commitment through volunteerism.

7 Strategies to Prepare Your Recruiting Efforts

However, taking the leap to find the staff you need requires preparation. Here are seven ways to increase your chances of finding the right people for your firm.

• Highlight your company culture: Emphasize your company’s values, mission, and work environment to attract candidates who align with your culture and are likely to thrive at your firm. Think about what makes your firm special. Find a way to differentiate yourself that isn’t trite and speaks directly to your ideal candidates.
• Develop an employee referral program: Encourage current employees to refer qualified candidates for positions by offering incentives or rewards for successful referrals.
• Highlight career growth opportunities: Emphasize the potential for professional development and advancement within your organization to attract ambitious prospects looking to progress in their careers.
• Develop a strong employer brand: Invest in building a compelling employer brand online and offline that showcases your company culture, values, and opportunities for growth. Attract talented professionals who align with your organization’s vision.
• Optimize your website for recruitment efforts: Include information about the firm’s benefits, what employees love about the culture (employee videos are great for this), and lists of open positions. Search engine optimization (SEO) efforts can help recruiters to find your open positions fasters. So, add that to your list as well.
• Manage your brand on review websites: You may not be thinking about the review sites like Glassdoor, Indeed, or Google My Business, but prospective employees are. Check your reviews, actively post on Google My Business, and suggest that employees post positive reviews about the firm.
• Leverage YouTube advertising: Did you know you can use YouTube advertising to target prospective employees? It’s true! By targeting people by life events on this platform, you have a greater chance of finding the right talent.

6-Step Recruitment Marketing Plan

Recruiting without a plan is like building a house without a blueprint. Here is a six-step recruitment marketing plan to improve and monitor your efforts.

1. Set goals. Emphasize your company’s values, mission, and work environment to attract candidates who align with your culture and are likely to thrive at your firm.
2. Define roles. Set specific qualifications and expectations that explicitly explain the responsibilities and the required items versus the preferred qualifications needed for the position.
3. Establish target candidates. Emphasize your company’s values, mission, and work environment to attract candidates who align with your culture and are likely to thrive at your firm.
4. Identify recruitment channels. Sure, there are LinkedIn, Facebook groups, and other social media platforms, but is that where you will find your candidates? Maybe old-school networking, attending events where your target candidates hang out, or inviting people to events you host would be more effective. Mix things up and track the success (or failure) of each.
5. Allocate resources. Document and itemize expenses and results of paid or organic services throughout the recruiting period.
6. Create a content calendar. This step helps to provide a breadcrumb trail for the efforts throughout the recruitment period.

Final Tip & Examples

Think outside the box when it comes to job advertising. If your brand voice allows, give humor a try. Here are some examples.

If you love cleaning up messes you didn’t make, you might be perfect for our tax audit specialist position. Learn more about the messes we tackle, our firm, and this exciting opportunity. [insert link] #BeAuditYouCanBe 

If when you hear “mind the gap” you think GAAP, we are looking for you. Join our team of tax professionals that specialize in [insert industries]. Learn about our opportunities, who we are, and what we offer as a firm. #MindTheGAAP

Are you like a spy that can uncover errors, omissions, or outright fraud? Do you have the mind of a “numbers person” with the curiosity of an investigator? We want to speak with you about an exhilarating forensic accounting position at our firm. Scan this QR code for more information. [insert QR code] #ForensicAccountingRocks

Do you have the ability to organize information and present it in a way that is simple for business executives to work with? If planning and budgeting, external financial reporting, risk management, and profitability analysis are right up your alley, we should chat today! Give me a call at [insert recruiting number]. #ManagementAccountant

With the hiring challenges facing accounting firms today, start thinking outside the box. Focus on the kind of people you want to hire, prepare your website, and develop a marketing plan to target them.

The Association for Accounting Marketers has several consultants to help you tackle this daunting task. Reach out to them today for more information.