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Bless you recruitment marketers, surrounded by recruiters avidly trying to hit target, asking for pretty pictures and business cards, asking for you to organise events, create PDFs, memes, job adverts and PowerPoint decks! And at the same time you all say to your boss and I...

I want to add value

I have written about the approach many recruiters take to their marketing departments, in that they treat them like the CID – the colouring-in department.

Recruiters Are from Venus

And bless you recruiters, stressfully avidly trying to hit target in a pre / during / post / wherever-the-hell-we-are Brexit world. With clients having the same access to recruitment tech (LinkedIn) as you, and all you want is the candidate to apply / turn up for interview / dazzle the clients and start on time (and stay long enough!!!) And at the same time you all say to me

I want my marketing department to add value

So the colouring-in department is avidly crayoning their value into the recruiters’ pipeline… And it’s often lost in translation. Marketing departments are often surrounded by colours and, wait for it, criminals.
I want to highlight another CID that I see in recruitment marketing:

The Criminal Investigation Department

Is Your Recruitment Marketing Department the CID?

When I work with recruitment marketers – all levels from Strategic Global Heads of Marketing and tactical Marketing Execs – I often start by reviewing the perception that the sales (recruitment) team has of the marketing department. It is often disconnected, blame cultures exist, marketers feel devalued (but keen to add value) and sales dread being asked to do marketing “stuff”.

Marketing is not seen as true sales support, rather it’s seen as more administrative than that.

Hours of “change requests” to make sales more effective by creating PowerPoint decks, mailers which don’t generate leads – potentially lots of “colouring in” and not enough convertible leads.

Sometimes the lack of perceived value which marketing brings to sales is driven by what seems to be stringent rules about what recruiters can’t do… and we know how recruiters love rules!

Marketers Are from Mars. To Police or Protect?

The marketing department is often seen as “policing” sales. Branding Guidelines are issued with guidance on how to position a logo and which version of blue you need to stick to.

LinkedIn Recruiter, Job Board and Broadbean licences are audited and given and taken away. The goal of every marketer to protect the recruitment firm but in the process (and likely due to lack of resource and time) they police, rather than protect. Hence the 2nd CID kicks in.

The goal is sound, but the outcome often divisive. Lots of “no you can’t do that!”, “can you stop doing that?” “have you read the brand guidelines?” Rather than time for...

Have you thought about…?
I know that you’re trying to… I’ve come up with…
I saw this online last week and know it’ll help you solve…
I know you have a campaign for… I’ve got something that’ll really improve…

Marketers Need to Be Allowed to "Get" Sales

Recruitment marketers need to be allowed to “get” Sales, generate leads, demonstrate value and get into the thick of a growing recruitment business. They need to be given the time, mentoring, and information to develop clear paths to successful sales-led strategies, or they risk simply saying “no” to people who tend to not take no for an answer.

Then the crayons and handcuffs are retired in favour of genuine value-added services delivered by marketers who are seen as crucial to the sales process.

I train and mentor recruitment marketers to deliver the 4Cs - candidates, clients, colleagues, and cash!

HIIT Us, Recruiters!

Our high intensity interval training - Recruitment HIIT - helps recruiters source, convert quicker, and develop healthy pipelines, and recruitment marketers attract, engage, and retain candidates, generate clients, and colleagues (3Cs).