At a time when companies are fighting hard to attract the best talent, inbound recruiting is emerging as an effective solution for reducing the cost of candidate acquisition (source: La superagence. So how do you turn inbound recruiting into a formidable weapon?

Follow the guide!

What is inbound recruiting?

Inbound recruiting is a technique modeled on inbound marketing. Just as inbound marketing aims to attract customers, inbound recruiting aims to attract candidates through the creation of content. To do this, the company addresses talent directly via videos, articles, posts on social networks or newsletters.

The aim of this technique is to enable active and passive candidates to get to know and immerse themselves in the company's world, so as to inspire them to apply for job vacancies. In concrete terms, for inbound recruiting to be effective, it must take talent from point A to point B, with the idea of transforming it from a stranger to the employer brand to a collaborator.

But be careful not to place the cart before the horse! To offer quality content for target candidates, you need to first define your candidate persona(s).

No candidate persona? No effective inbound recruiting

Without a detailed understanding of the ideal customer, a company is moving forward blindly, and the efforts put into creating persuasive content fall flat as quickly as a balloon deflates. It's not for nothing, then, that the most successful marketing campaigns always begin with a definition of the target customer's characteristics.

In recruitment, the same rule applies. Before moving on to content creation, take the time to draw up a portrait of your ideal candidate. Specifically, what is their background? What job does he or she do? What are their skills and experience? How old is he or she? What are their expectations in terms of efficiency, performance, commitment and job satisfaction? What are their web habits? What social networks does he use?

Don't be afraid to go into detail. On the contrary, the clearer your picture, the better you'll be able to propose relevant and useful content. Don't forget to invite employees and managers to share their ideas. They have a first-hand perspective that's essential.

To attract talent, we rely on content that boosts visibility.

At this stage, you're a stranger to talent. Your objective is to gain visibility. So you need to be present on the search and communication channels they use every day, and offer interesting content.

These include posts/videos on social networks and blog articles/podcasts. When it comes to communication channels, there are many! LinkedIn, Instagram, TikTok, Switch, YouTube... The important thing is to choose the one most used by your target candidate.

For example, are you looking to attract designers in the 25-35 age bracket? Instagram seems ideal. Are you looking for young tech talent? Why not invest in TikTok or Switch? As for corporate and experienced finance or HR profiles, they'll certainly be present on LinkedIn!

When it comes to content, publish something that gives talented people a concrete idea of what it's like to work alongside you. Be open and don't hesitate to share your team-building activities, show off your new premises or your HR commitments. Always share topics of interest to your target audience:

• What's the company culture like?

• What's the career development policy?

• What about work/life balance?

And for even more credibility, use the employee advocacy method by mobilizing your employees to relay the company's messages on social networks or your blog!

Some inspiring examples of employee advocacy campaigns on LinkedIn:

• Starbucks with #tobeapartner

• BNP Paris with #UnexpectedJobs

Converting talent into candidates: the art of mastering copywriting

From the moment you're no longer a stranger to talent, your aim is to turn them into candidates. That's where copywriting comes in. This persuasive marketing technique involves convincing talent to commit to the recruitment process.

Among the most interesting channels to exploit at this stage is the career site. Immersive video on the company's premises, articles describing your CSR commitments, documentation on diversity and inclusion policy, job descriptions, company manifesto...

The aim is to show your value and what you have to offer, so as to forge a relationship with talent. In concrete terms, inbound recruiting is about giving them answers to the questions they ask: do I fit in with the company's values and culture? What are employees' day-to-day lives like? What are the objectives? Who will my future colleagues be, and what's the working atmosphere like?

But for this content strategy to be successful, you need to accompany them on their user journey. Specifically, where do you want to take visitors? For active candidates, it will be to discover job offers and your recruitment process. For passive candidates, you could encourage them to sign up for your newsletter to keep up to date with your news and job offers!

As an example, the Saint Gobain group has created the "Ma Vie Ma distri" project, a web-series on the behind-the-scenes aspects of their stores, with an employee elected by 1,000 of his or her colleagues to discover the trades and behind-the-scenes aspects of distribution. Episodes can be found on YouTube.

So, now you know how to make inbound recruiting an effective weapon for attracting candidates. So, when do you start?