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Help Wanted, Marketing to Prospective Employees

7/31/2021

8 Comments

 
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by David Hagenbuch - professor of Marketing at Messiah University -
​author of 
Honorable Influence - founder of Mindful Marketing 

While eating lunch at a favorite restaurant recently, my son and I noticed that the menu was much shorter than before.  The Italian eatery was no longer even offering one of its standard selections, pizza!  After our meal, I asked our waitress about the simpler spread.  She explained it was because they couldn’t hire enough cooks to prepare additional entrées.
 
You’ve likely seen signs in restaurants, ads from retailers, and posts on social media from other service providers announcing pressing needs for more employees.  While the recent labor shortage has been a boon to job seekers, it’s been a bummer for many businesses that find themselves perpetually understaffed.  However, firms can turn their current recruitment challenges into opportunities if they rethink how they market to prospective employees.
 
Like many professors, I’ve invested considerable time helping students get jobs, both internships during college and career positions after graduation.  What has for decades been largely an employer-oriented sellers’ market has suddenly shifted.  Now employers are increasingly competing for new hires.  As a result, it behooves businesses to go back to school and brush up on their marketing, not to attract customers but to contract employees.
 
In a few days, I'll participate on a panel for that purpose, joining three others to engage employers in a discussion of how to recruit college students and recent grads more effectively.
 
Being both a marketer and a college faculty member, I hope to offer a unique perspective, mainly based on two-plus decades helping get students gainfully employed.  I’m fairly familiar with Gen Z’s preferences in the recruiting process.  So, in case there’s any overlap between the panel audience and this one--spoiler alert!  I’m sharing below my recommendations for more effective marketing to prospective employees.
 
It’s probably not surprising that this marketer’s suggestions flow from the 4 Ps.  Although there are several strategies I could encourage for each marketing mix component, I’ve singled out two for each, not because they’re necessarily the most important ones but because they’re the features/benefits that young prospective employees increasingly seek, which means they’re ones upon which employers need to double down:
 
Product 
  • Social Responsibility:  Gen Z’s desire to align themselves with organizations that make a difference is well-documented.  Its members want to have a positive impact on the world, and one of the best ways to do so is to work for “purpose-driven companies.”  Firms should be able to communicate clearly and concisely to prospective employees how they help people and the planet.

  • Attractive Organizational Culture:  Decades ago, when I was entering the job market for the first time, company culture was not on my radar screen.  Now most new hires want to know 'what it will be like' to work for a firm.  I often hear them offer desired descriptors like “low-stress,” “friendly,” and even “fun.”  Interviewers should be prepared to talk about their organization’s culture and point to specific examples.  They also need to model it in their interactions with prospects.

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 Place 
  • Work On-Line:  Through the pandemic, where work occurs has become an increasingly important point of interest.  Many people with whom I’ve spoken have suggested that they’ve enjoyed working from home; in fact, they’d like to continue to work remotely at least some of the time.  As might be expected, most Gen Zs are extremely comfortable with digital technology and very used to interacting with others virtually.
  • Work In-person:  At the same time, people also mention that they miss the impromptu interactions that would occur in office hallways and around the proverbial watercooler.  In taking jobs, many new grads move away from family and friends, so they’re hoping to make new, meaningful connections.  One recent graduate told me it’s harder for her to develop those relationships just from online interactions.  So, it seems that employers should provide at least some opportunities for face-to-face interaction.
 
Promotion 
  • Timely Communication: This past spring a senior student of mine was interviewing with an organization.  The process was going well, but more than once he expressed concern, e.g., “It’s been almost two weeks since my second interview and I haven’t heard from them.”  Granted, two weeks is not an unreasonable wait, but employers should be sensitive to the fact that more job seekers today have multiple options.  So, to not miss the opportunity to make a great hire, firms should at a minimum make clear their timeframe for follow-up communication and even better, move the recruiting process along a little more quickly than it has gone in the past.
  • Transparent Communication:  In keeping with the previous imperative, many college students tell me how much they value transparent communication.  Sometimes I push back and ask, “Do you really want to know everything an organization does?”  They reply, “No, but we don’t like when they hide important things or try to put a positive spin on something negative.”  In short, they want organizations to be open, honest, and genuine.  Companies should be careful to model these values in their communication with prospective employees.   
 
Price 
  • Appropriate Pay:  Professional sports fans often hear of pro athletes wanting to “get paid.”  It’s usually when a star’s current contract doesn’t compensate them in proportion to their productivity.  College-age prospective employees don’t have contracts, but they should ‘get paid’ in the sense that they shouldn’t be lowballed; rather, they should be offered competitive salaries and benefits at if not above market averages.  These young people aren’t looking to squeeze out every dollar they can, but they do have debt to pay and don’t want to have to live paycheck-to-paycheck.  Similarly, unpaid internships should be a thing of the past.
  • Work-Life Balance:  The greatest resource employees give organizations is their time.  Although the prospective employees with whom I speak are very willing to work hard, they rightly want to have sufficient time for other needs and interests outside of the office.  Employers should monitor and encourage healthy work-life balance.  They also should be ready to tell prospective employees about their systems for maintaining an agreeable life equilibrium.    
 
Some sectors, like healthcare, already know well the challenges of employee recruitment and retention:  For years, hospitals have labored to hire enough doctors and nurses.  Now, many employers share their pain.  The above prescriptions can bring some recruitment relief while also helping firms feel better, knowing that they’re practicing “Mindful Marketing.”



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8 Comments
Rachel Edwards
8/12/2021 06:47:24 pm

As a consultant working with a client on employee recruitment, this article was very timely! Thank you for the excellent insight on how employers should be marketing to prospective employees.

Reply
Rebecca
9/3/2021 01:32:28 am

As a student who was on the job search looking for a part time job a few months ago, I found this article very interesting. I like how the article mentioned that “the recent labor shortage has been a boon to job seekers” because that is something I noticed during the process of finding a job at the beginning of the year. I remember being confused because I never expected to have so many options for places to work, due to my lack of experience at this age. While it's a good position to be in as a job seeker, I never took the time to look at it from the perspective of the employer. Since there is so much competition at the moment, I definitely think that it is essential for employers to reconsider their approach in order to appeal to young job seekers. I especially appreciated the part about "Work On-line" because the dynamic of the workplace has changed drastically over the past year and a half and it's important for employers to adapt to the new normal, especially with the younger generation being the job seekers.

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Ben
9/3/2021 01:04:38 pm

Thank you for this extremely relevant and insightful article. There are some incredibly helpful tips to help businesses recruit new hires, as well as positively change their organizational culture. I have also noticed the wide-spread understaffing in my local community. It seems like every business has a help wanted sign and is offering higher than normal pay. I recently saw a Gas station offering $19/hour for cashiers, and a restaurant offering a $1,000 sign on bonus for servers who stay longer than 6 months. This environment is very different than in years past, where jobs were hard to find and employers had the upper hand. Now employees are looking for high paying jobs that are also a good fit. You hit that point perfectly in this article. I am sure it is a good time for college students to be entering the job market as there are many opportunities.

When you consider this from a macroeconomic perspective, what do you think is the cause for these understaffed businesses? Is it unemployment benefits, COVID, lack of pay, poor culture? It is interesting to consider the driving forces behind the current labor market.

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Tyler
9/15/2021 11:04:17 am

As a college student, I noticed this shortage all summer long as it pertained to the jobs that I had. I was working at a golf course and we were always short staffed and not always able to keep up with the work needed to be done by the end of the night. Along with this, the pay was terrible and there were no benefits. I also had a job at UPS where the pay was very competitive and I had full benefits with the exception of time off. I will definitely be coming back to this article when I'm on the job hunt in the future.

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Kyle
9/15/2021 09:55:16 pm

This is very relevant, not solely due to current hiring troubles, but can be applied to future situations in which similar scenarios may arise. From experience, being understaffed really changes company culture, not just within one operating location, but company wide. It often seems that companies forget about the so called "little people" who are often left to handle disputes from upset customers, inequalities in wages between tenured and new hire employees, and faced with poor management within their workplace. While impossible to solve these issues at every location, it is certainly worth looking at a sampling of locations to better determine how to attract employees and give them a reason to stay and grow with that organization. This article is certainly helpful, not just for students looking for their first career after higher education, but also for companies to evaluate their practices.

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Jeb
9/15/2021 09:56:52 pm

Great insight into a problem that is shaking the economy. It can be so difficult now to find good college-age workers or just workers in general. This all is coming from college-age workers finding a better opportunity cost in hanging out with their friends than working a paid job. As a college-student, I know how busy I can be with schoolwork and extra-curricular activities. If I was to get a job now, it would definitely be vital for incentives and good communication to be used. When looking at other factors for the high amounts of job openings, the COVID-19 pandemic and quarantine is what put people on unemployment. The stimulus checks is what kept people on unemployment instead of returning to their jobs. How do you think the employment rate will recover?

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Jenna Lutz
12/7/2021 08:11:34 pm

I enjoyed reading the Macy's vs. Amazon article. I think Amazon wanting to put their billboard up over Macy's is very unnecessary. I feel like Macy's is just the iconic store and sign in NYC and Amazon does not need the extra advertising. I feel like they are trying to stomp out Macy's, when everybody already knows all about Amazon.

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Cole
12/9/2021 11:23:45 am

This article gave new light to the fact that many workplaces are struggling to find employees. Although the current circumstances in the world and in this country might be the main contributor to this problem, there is extreme relevance to the new hiring process that is emerging in the US. Many of the things that were cited as important in this article strike with me, but a few that did the most are as follows. Work atmosphere is very important to me as work is where i spend most of my time. Also in person capacity is important as I thrive working with others, having the ability to work with others even under current circumstances is vital to me. I hope to find a job that I love some day and I know that I will be thinking of these things.

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