With the Internet, the way business is done has changed. Relationships between consumers and companies, as well as those between recruiters and candidates, have been profoundly disrupted by the arrival of digital and its many applications.

This situation requires developing new approaches, more inventive and more cross-functional than before. 

Inbound Recruiting, by relying on the production of premium content, the use of social networks, and the qualification of candidates' profiles, fits perfectly into this logic.

It can probably be called "disruptive", even if it is "only" to adapt to new candidate practices.

But in concrete terms, what is the Inbound Recruiting ?

Fundamentally, it is thought of in the manner of marketing, with the establishment of permanent elements and the organization of campaigns. 

While each campaign must adapt to client realities, here are 17 must-do steps to set up this new approach to recruitment.

Planning

Defining your goals, designing a candidate profile, and creating an editorial calendar are among the planning steps.

1 - Engage your organization's management - take the time to explain to key people in your organization what inbound Recruiting is all about.

It's important that they understand that investing in a campaign like this will make everyone's job easier - not just the recruiters - and save the company time and money in the long run!

2 - Define the value of such a campaign to your company - every time a potential candidate is exposed to your brand, you'll want them to remember what you do, what's special about you, and keep in mind why you're different from others.

Top talent isn't motivated solely by a good salary. They also want to work with a company that has a clear vision and values its employees. 

3 - Create a profile of your ideal candidate- At the base of the 'Inbound Recruiting, there is the creation of attractive content that will bring your targeted candidates to your website.

What are your ideal candidate's interests? What social networks are they checking out? It's essential to build Candidate Personas that will guide you in your content creation. 

4 - Set up social media accounts appropriate to your target audience and launch a blog - With your detailed study of your Candidate Persona, you'll know which channels to deliver your content to reach them.

5 - Do a SEO analysis upfront - Is your site using the right keys to attract the right leads? Make sure you have an onsite and offsite strategy, consistent with your target.

6 - Use an editorial calendar so you can deliver interesting content over time - Inbound Recruiting only works if your content is read by the right people. So be sure to make your content truly relevant.

Use an editorial calendar to plan your recruitment campaigns and events. Be consistent in quality so your future recruits choose to return!

The Launch

Creating free resources, designing a journey aimed at conversion, and investing in social media are among the launch steps.

7 - Don't just use your employees' testimonials, but their stories as well - Create videos, ebooks, blog posts, and social media posts that set you apart from just "great place to work."

What are your specifics that make you unique? Give concrete examples of everyone's stories within your company. This allows you to be more authentic.

8 - Build a free resource page - This page offers informative content and provides focus on your business and company benefits.

When potential candidates are Googling and looking to learn more about you, it would be nice if they could find all the information they need on your  resource pages.

9 - Do some Guest Blogging with publications your candidates love and use Link Building to help new candidates find you - Identify the sites your candidates love and respect. Doing Guest Blogging will seriously boost your credibility and see interested candidates coming to your site.

10 - Create Call-To-Actions and promote your offers to your various audiences - Place Calls-To-Actions that will drive traffic to your offers. Put your  Calls-To-Action in your blog posts, throughout your site and on social networks.

11 - Use Landing Pages that will offer special content for your candidates - With the right tool, you can A/B test your Landing Page to see which works best.

12 - Invest in social networks  - Use social networks to promote your blog posts and your offers to candidates across the most relevant platforms and build your community.

There are very effective publishing tools that allow you to schedule your posts and track fan engagement on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

Your employees are your first employer brand ambassadors. Give them permission to post on their behalf on social media and you can reach out to people in their circle who might be interested. 

13 - Put a plan in place to Lead Nurturing - Email promotion is one of the most effective ways to share content and maintain relationships. Maintaining relationships on an ongoing basis with your leads is essential in building the relationship.

A person who doesn't want to apply at first contact may prefer to stay connected through your monthly newsletter about your news. The day she is ready to change companies, she will think of you right away!

14 - Segment Your Candidate Leads - It would not be wise to fill your leads' email inbox with messages that are unsuitable for their profile or business. There are many ways to segment your leads.

Start building an email listing. You can for example segment contacts based on their status in the engagement cycle or their interest in posts. These possibilities are based on the history of content they have downloaded or events they have attended.

Use lists and workflows to develop a Nurturing process tailored to your personas. This way, you'll only offer your leads information they like. 

15 - Be responsive - Connect immediately with candidates who visit your site. Many CMSs allow you to receive a notification when a visitor identified as a potential candidate is browsing your site. 

Les mesures

Analyze and monitor to better adapt and improve.

16 - Measure the performance of your recruitment process - Measuring ROI is essential. You will need to observe which social networks are driving the most traffic to your site and which blog posts are getting the most traction with candidates.

This data analysis will allow you to constantly adapt your content to reach the most people. Also, if you have a Salesforce CRM, you can connect it with your tool (like Hubspot) to manage and analyze your recruitment cycle. 

17 - Know what the competition is doing - More than ever your company is competing to hire top talent. You can monitor their activities on social networks and see their rankings on Google. This information will be valuable in your strategy. 

Invest in inbound Recruiting and you'll have a comprehensive view of each candidate's journey.

With time and a special effort in Content Marketing, you will create an effective conversion tunnel for top talent and high-potential candidates will come knocking at your door.