Why does HR need to think like a marketer? Easy. Marketers see the value chain from start to finish. Think about sales flyers or coupons you receive in the mail, or that “free” download via the Internet. They will most often have an event or incentive code that you need to enter in order to receive your free gift or discount. This is the tracking system marketing professionals use to identify the exposure, acceptance, and ROI of the marketing campaign.

My own personal experience of late is the newest fad in DVD rentals – out of the Big Red Box at the supermarket. I received a free trial for one movie with my grocery receipt. Being a value shopper, I decided to give it a try. First, I had to find where the Big Red Box was. Once I saw it, it struck me as funny that I had never noticed it before, since I walked by it every time I headed out of the store.

So, I go to the Big Red Box, follow the very simple touch screen directions, enter my incentive code and voila! I have a brand new, free DVD rental for the night. That to me qualifies as value. The moral of this little story is I am now renting DVDs from the Big Red Box every week or so. I canceled my Netflix subscription, because while it’s conveniently dropped in my mail box, my travel schedule doesn’t allow me to watch as much as I thought. So the box, conveniently located at the grocery store ends up being much more convenient.

Somewhere, some marketing genius can now track my first free purchase (since I had to input that code) along with my steady four $1.49 purchases a month. You may say that $72 a year from good ‘ol Lizz is not a lot of money. I say, how many people did the exact same thing I did? The Big Red Box made $70.51 off a $1.49 investment from them. Did I also mention that they took business away from their competitor? That’s pretty good ROI.

Creating an employee value proposition
So, what does this have to do with HR, employment branding and creating an employee value proposition? If we, as recruiters, think and act like marketers, then we are constantly tracking, measuring, and assessing our ROI. Candidates may see our logo, our brand, our ads, but they may not be motivated to really look at us. There is nothing driving them to open their eyes or possibilities with a company they pass by – potentially every day.

Think like a marketer
Are you checking which job boards send you the most candidates? From those candidates, are you tracking how many are hired? From those that are hired, are you measuring how long they stay?

Sheer numbers alone are not enough to go on. If Monster sends you the most candidates, but those candidates are the least likely to get hired, should you continue to post on Monster? If Career Builder sends you the most candidates that get hired but have the shortest tenure, are they the best job board on which to spend your recruitment dollars?

Act like a marketer – Part 1
In the initial interview or screening process, are you asking candidates how they found out about the position? Most of you probably are – but what are you doing with the information? Anything? This should prompt you to create a database from these answers.

This process will help you track the ROI of your advertising dollars as well as set a metric for your employee referral programs. This may also illuminate data that show that a very low percentage of candidates are employee referrals. This would be a data point that could launch you into action to:

• Re-evaluate the value of your employee referral program
• Benchmark your employee referral program
• Interview current employees to determine why they are not referring people

Act Like a marketer – Part 2
Incentivize candidates. If you are in an industry that has a lot of entry level positions, incentivize people to apply. Instead of an ad in the classifieds, get creative with a coupon. Give something away that’s affordable or unique to your organization – something that a potential candidate would see as valuable, and would motivate them into action.

Remember the Big Red Box. I didn’t even see it until I was motivated to go find it. So, did I find it? No – it found me with its clever free coupon and incentive that allowed me to see added value and motivated me into action.