21. February 2022

Five tips for your efficient HR strategy

21. February 2022

evernine editorial team

Are you, like many HR managers, currently facing the challenge of finding new talent and high professionals for vacancies in project management or in specialist areas such as marketing, development or consulting? We will show you new ways in HR marketing and give you five specific tips on how to innovate your HR strategy and achieve visible success in recruiting.

The shortage of skilled workers poses a major challenge for HR managers and decision-makers in companies these days: the applicant market seems to be empty and it is becoming increasingly difficult to find suitable candidates for advertised positions. It is no longer enough to simply publish a job advertisement on the usual portals and wait passively for incoming applications. The “war for talent” - the battle for applicants - is in full swing and in many areas, employers are now clearly on the short side of the market. Here we give you five tips on how you can create new momentum in your HR strategy and develop a concrete roadmap for successful HR marketing:

 1. Stand for something not for everything!

When deciding on a new job, it is often not the hard facts that are decisive in the end, but the soft values and the culture that a company stands for. Nowadays, almost all companies advertise flexible working hours, good pay and modern offices. However, this is now simply taken for granted by sought-after talent. These factors are no longer unique selling points.

In line with the motto “Stand for something not everything”, define values that are really important to you as a company and that you actively and authentically live out with your employees. You need to decide whether you want to focus more on corporate social responsibility (CSR) issues - such as compatibility with family planning, team cohesion or female empowerment - or whether you want to prioritize topics such as sustainability and ecological responsibility. It is important that you show your colors and do not focus on everything at once.

Ideally, develop your values with the team (see point 2) and describe them in detail on your website - ideally in a separate HR section - and on social media. Also outline your corporate ethics and responsibility there, how you promote your employees and dealings with customers. And here too: Don't try to be all-encompassing, focus instead. As an agency, we develop a so-called “theme house” for companies in order to identify the core values and present them to the outside world.

 2. involve employees and let them live the values

At our agency, we also promote the free organization of the working day from a work-life perspective. We call it our “New Normal” with a combination of working from home and using our flex office (with a hygiene concept in times of coronavirus, of course) - and we also use our video to recruit new talent (image source: Evernine).

Values need to be lived! Involve your employees by regularly asking them which values are particularly important to them - and actively involve them in the formulation of your values and corporate ethics. This will strengthen the company from within and the team's loyalty to the company. Only if employees have helped shape the values and the employer branding is right can you credibly communicate the company values to the outside world - keyword “internal marketing”.

You can then integrate your employees perfectly into HR marketing. For example, support selected and particularly authentic employees to become active on social media as company ambassadors.

Our tip: As the person in charge, give your employees the space to live the jointly defined values - be it on social media or by participating in charity programs and training courses.

 3. use the new possibilities of digital HR marketing

A successful HR strategy requires cooperation between the marketing and HR departments on a whole new level. On the HR side, make strong demands on your marketing department to use the new possibilities that your company already uses in marketing for HR purposes as well. Again, not all channels that your company already uses need to be used.

You should focus on these standards: A basic set includes a meaningful careers section on your website where prospective candidates can find all the important information about the company, the culture and the application process - try to give as personal an insight into the company as possible. Social media recruiting has also long since established itself as a basic in HR marketing. No company can ignore the career networks LinkedIn and Xing anymore. The advantage is that you can address suitable talent in a very informal way and thus also reach those who are not actively looking for a new job. When it comes to Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok and the like, question marks arise as to whether you need these channels. In addition to the basic channels, we recommend using unusual channels in conjunction with marketing where the competition does not appear.

For example, use the option of native advertising, i.e. native advertising with platforms such as Outbrain and Plista via the major German publishing houses, to draw attention to your job advertisement. Rely on podcasts from other platforms or on post-PR and digital campaigns in close cooperation with your marketing department. At Evernine, we repeatedly achieve great success for clients by placing HR videos on unexpected channels on the web.

 4. reach into your psychological bag of tricks

Even the smallest tricks can be an advantage in the competition for new employees (source: Evernine Group).

Of course, your competitors are not sleeping either and are active in new ways and channels. We therefore recommend reaching into your psychological bag of tricks to reach new talent on a completely different level than your competitors.

One idea would be to turn the application process into a game. If you have a lot of vacancies, a job matcher could be interesting, for example: The applicant leaves a few personal details on an attractive landing page - including personal questions - and the job matcher then throws up a suitable position including a salary estimate.

Or turn the tables completely: say goodbye to traditional roles such as “recruiter” or “candidate”. Apply for a suitable position with a talent based on your CV. Because what counts today are people who get to know each other and talk to each other. Keyword: Human 2 Human. 

New social tools can also be used for this: Send a voice message to your applicants via WhatsApp or send a personal video greeting via Instagram direct message. This is sure to surprise and leave a lasting impression.

 5. videos with that certain something

To achieve success in HR marketing, you need targeted strategies that are coordinated with each other (image source: Evernine).

HR marketing is increasingly relying on videos. And that's a good thing: visual storytelling and videos are the most popular content formats in the digital world. Whether on landing or job pages, in social media, in emails or on the career blog - videos achieve better results than text-only formats. This results in better click-through and conversion rates, more leads and ultimately more applications - the dream of every marketer and HR manager.

When planning your video content, focus on good and surprising storytelling to stand out from the competition. Find a gimmick and individual touch that suits your company and value system - think outside the box and remain authentic. For example, film in an unusual location that represents your company well. Or involve many employees and let them “pass the baton” to each other in the video in an unconventional way.

Very important: The focus is always on the motivation and enjoyment of the employees at work in the company - not the company's own products and services. As an implementing agency, we are always coming up with special stories about how companies can be presented by slightly exaggerating their values in a positive way.

We hope that we have been able to give you exciting insights into new ways of HR marketing and provide impetus for your HR strategy. As a communications consultancy and full-service agency, we would be happy to support you in highlighting the special features of your employer brand together with you and reflecting them in the best possible way across all communication channels.

Charlotte von Braunbehren, CHRO & Senior Communication Manager Evernine Group (Image source: Evernine Group).

In the areas of “Consult HR”, “Connect HR” and “Create HR”, Evernine accompanies companies from strategic planning, the development of communication concepts, the development of a suitable candidate journey, through to the conception of HR campaigns with the appropriate tool selection and provision of technologies and finally the implementation and execution of all measures - whether internal or external. Feel free to contact us directly!

“For me, the active involvement of the team in shaping the company values is particularly important. That's why we at Evernine rely on a mentoring program to integrate new team members right from the start and encourage them to actively help shape the agency and its values. Promoting junior staff also has the advantage that we can fill future management positions from the internal talent pool,” says Charlotte von Braunbehrens, CHRO at Evernine.

Further information on the current services and achievements of the Evernine Group in relation to efficient HR marketing can be found here.

Source cover image: Adobe Stock / Alex from the Rock

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