Recruitment marketing: how the right candidates find you

Recruitment marketing is marketing for your vacancies. You treat candidates the way you treat customers: you know who you are looking for, what matters to them, where to reach them and what you have to offer. In a tight labour market that is often the difference between a vacancy that stays open for months and one that gets good responses.

Why recruitment marketing works

The best candidates are often not actively looking. They do scroll through LinkedIn, Instagram or TikTok, read industry blogs and talk to colleagues. If you only post a vacancy on a job board, you miss that group. Recruitment marketing makes sure you are visible before someone starts looking, and that you convince them when they do.

The building blocks

1. Employer brand

Why would someone want to work for you? Not "a great team and a good salary", because everyone says that. It is about what is really different: the work, the people, growth, the culture. That is positioning, but for candidates.

2. Vacancies and career pages

• Write for the candidate, not for HR: what will you do, with whom and what does it bring?
• Be concrete about salary, hours and conditions where possible
• Show real people and real work
• Make sure the page is fast, mobile-friendly and findable through SEO and GEO, so in Google and in AI answers from for example ChatGPT and Gemini
• Make applying easy: a short form works better than a long procedure

3. Campaigns

• LinkedIn: strong for targeting on job title, experience and sector
• Meta (Facebook and Instagram): large reach, including passive candidates
• TikTok: good for younger audiences and an authentic look behind the scenes
• Google: for candidates who are already actively searching
• Retargeting: reaching people who viewed your vacancy again

4. Content and social

Show what the work looks like: employee stories, projects and a look behind the scenes. That builds trust, also for later.

5. Measuring

Don't just measure clicks and applications, but also quality: how many candidates pass selection and how many are hired? Only then do you know what a channel really delivers. Beware of vanity metrics: lots of reach is not a good candidate.

Recruitment marketing and recruitment and selection

Recruitment marketing and recruitment and selection reinforce each other. Marketing provides reach and inflow, selection the right choice. At Brandable we can do both: set up campaigns and assess candidates on content. Looking for someone to drive this within your organisation? We also place recruitment marketers, as freelancers, interim or permanently.

Common mistakes

• A vacancy full of clichés that looks like every other vacancy
• Campaigns, but a career page that doesn't convince or loads slowly
• Steering only on the number of applications
• Application procedures that are too long, so good candidates drop out
• No follow-up: candidates who never hear back tell others

Frequently asked questions

What is recruitment marketing?

Recruitment marketing is using marketing, such as employer brand, content, campaigns and measurement, to attract and convince the right candidates.

What is the difference with employer branding?

Employer branding builds your reputation as an employer. Recruitment marketing uses that brand to actively reach candidates for specific vacancies.

Which channels work best?

It depends on your audience. LinkedIn for specialists and professionals, Meta and TikTok for large reach and younger audiences, Google for active searchers.

Can you also place a recruitment marketer?

Yes, as a freelancer, interim or permanently through recruitment and selection.

More about placement at Brandable

• Recruitment and selection: finding a permanent hire, no cure no pay
• Temporary staff: extra capacity or expertise for a while
• Hiring freelancers: specialists for a defined assignment
• Interim specialists: someone temporarily taking over a role
• Interim marketing manager
• Interim project manager
• Hire a developer: including tech in the Brainport region

More and better candidates?

Tell us which roles are hard to fill. We look at your employer brand, vacancies and channels and think along honestly.

Get in touch or book a free strategy session.