We’re hearing a lot these days about the difficulties that businesses are having in recruiting sharp new employees. And indeed, the competition for top talent continues to increase as job seekers have exposure to a wide range of options and varied work environments.

Therefore, it is more critical than ever for employers to think of their companies’ marketing and communications efforts as being focused on their workforce development, in addition to selling their products and services. Of course, the two are very intertwined. Usually the same corporate traits that make you appealing to prospective customers also make you attractive to prospective job candidates. Your organizational values, vision and goals are just as important to your future employees as they are to your valued customers. However, sometimes companies forget that it is important to compellingly package and promote what is best about them to their internal as well as to their external audiences.

If your organization is in a hiring mode, you need an actual marketing and outreach strategy for identifying, reaching and influencing your best job candidates. This plan looks a lot like an external, customer-focused marketing plan:

• It starts with a well-crafted and authentic messaging and positioning statement which identifies why your company is a good one to work for and is based upon what you believe in and value.
• Review your job descriptions to be sure that they are interestingly-stated and stand out from other companies with whom you may be competing. Spice them up, as you would an external marketing message.
• Your recruitment plan should incorporate research into the mindset and preferences of your key potential employees. What is important to them, and what motivates them the most? What are they looking for in an employment situation? How do they prefer to receive information about job availabilities?
• It should take a broad view of the search process, reaching out to both traditional and non-traditional referral sources, with your well-defined messages about what you offer that is different and better. If you have a particularly difficult spot to fill, consider using a recruitment service that specializes in the type of candidates you are looking for.
• Ask your own existing employees to be a part of your search process, supplying them with information and supporting communications materials to help you spread the word within their circles of influence. You may even want to offer them a bonus for identifying a candidate whom you hire.
• Word-of-mouth should be a core component of your outreach strategy. Make a comprehensive list of your contacts who could be instrumental in identifying appropriate candidates and who would even reach out to them on your behalf, if asked.
• Digital outreach and social media will be the backbone of your tactical efforts these days. Allocate a budget for this effort that is adequate for the task at hand.
• Go where your research tells you they are, whether it be conferences, job fairs, college campuses, and/or community events which attract your target audience.

In short, pay as much attention to how you package and market your company to potential employees as you do to potential customers. After all, you can’t have one without the other!