Finding your next star employee with Local Internet Marketing

The difference between a local consumer and a local job seeker is the product they’re researching online.

Finding good employees is one of the biggest challenges any company faces and just like selling your products and services locally you have to position your company to attract new employees.

That’s why your local online marketing plan needs to include your job candidate. There’s a term in the recruiting industry to describe the majority of candidates – passive candidates. Because they’re not looking for jobs they’re tough to find – and even harder to woo away.

When Shannon isn’t helping me with Local Na8ion she’s VP Interactive at the largest recruitment marketing ad agency in the U.S.. Shannon’s pet peeve is when companies spend millions on a new consumer campaign and fail to include the job candidate in the process. Your current and prospective customers that you’re trying to reach with your marketing are also candidates that could be your next best hire. Think about it, many of us choose or reject the companies we consider for employment based solely on how we experience that companies brand or product.

You just have to make small adjustments to your marketing strategy to include job candidates. Make yourself a careers page. When you run online or print ads include a link to your careers page and make sure there’s a careers link right on your home page. That way your consumer or B2B marketing gets people thinking of you as a preferred employer, not just a product or service. Check out this interview of Shannon on using social media for recruiting on Bill Vick’s XtremeRecruiting.org. Use examples of Shannon’s career’s web site projects for Discover, BofA, and Fedex as illustrations of the content you want to include on your small business careers web site.