Catherine Toms is one half (some would say the best half) of The Toms, a digital marketing consultancy that helps marketing teams to cut through all the noise in an evolving and shifting market.As an ex-recruiter she brings a unique insight into both worlds and actually works with agencies to think like marketers. “When a business takes a product or service to market, they are trying to clarify who their target market is and how they can best communicate why their product or service is the best. Recruitment is like this in the fact that the “customer” is a potential employee. Essentially there’s a huge synergy between the two”We’ve seen a big shift in the broader marketing world that the recruitment sector could benefit from following. Marketing talks about the customer, but most recruitment marketing talks about the business. 4:58 - Does a strong consumer brand benefit your employer brand? Or is it potentially a curse?There may be recognition of the brand but also perceptions that may not be true.The things we want from an employer are different to what we want in a service or product. 7:50 - How does a brand protect itself if it’s been through a round of layoffs? Across all sectors there seems to be uncertainty at the moment. People get a general sense of nervousness, what we find is that people who are looking to move are looking for genuine growth. Think about the questions that potential candidates may have. “If I’m last in, am I first out?” Etc. Brands need to be able to address these authentically and purposefully.11:58 - How would a company actually do this in real life? Think about FAQ’s on a careers page or Linkedin company page. Sharing what you can in public is a great thing to do. Have your hiring managers well prepared on how to answer these things in an interview.16:34 - The winning formula is when the impression a job seeker gets when they read an advert is then reinforced at interview, at onboarding and then through the tenure of employment. 17:35 - Recruitment needs to get more like marketing in the sense of getting more conversational. Particularly with things like job ads and the language we use. 19:20 - We’ve seen a big shift in the broader marketing world that the recruitment sector could benefit from following. Marketing talks about the customer, but most recruitment marketing talks about the business. 22:54 Conference bashing! Most corporate merch is Tat? “Bright minds and bushy attitudes” rule. 25:09 Write like you talk. You’re only ever talking to one person when you write job ad copy26:31 Data driven research on B2B marketing. 5% of any market is in buying mode at any time. Most companies only ever target them, not the other 95% Recruiting teams should be focusing on the 95% to build familiarity and trust for when they move into buying (moving jobs) mode.27:12 If we only ever appear on people's radars when we have a vacant job, we become very transactional. Because most people aren’t looking for jobs right now. We need to talk to people out of the market. Familiarity breeds confidence, we’re more likely to create this through consistent content. 29:26 Know, like, trust. How do you get your target audience to feel this? Via content that is valuable, interesting and informative. 32:15 Employee Advocacy can be massive for a brand and also quick and easy to create.33:56 Supporting social issues. Don’t bring cupcakes for IWD, talk about what you’re actually doing. Trust and credibility are everything.Links:https://www.thetoms.co/

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