What is ZMOT ?
Behind this strange acronym lies the little revolution that led to the rise of Content Marketing and then Inbound Marketing, so by extension the 'Inbound Recruiting.
Originally, the phrase "First Moment of Truth" (FMOT) was coined by Procter & Gamble to refer to the few seconds in which a consumer hesitates to grab a product from a supermarket shelf.
Introduced in 2011 by Google, the concept of ZMOT (for Zero Moment of Truth) literally refers to the zero moment of truth, the moment when everything happens before things even begin. That is, on the Internet.
This is the Big Bang of the relationship between an individual and a company, so to speak. It is the crucial time when a potential customer will type a few keywords into their favorite search engine and check out the list of results.
Depending on whether or not the company has a link (and its position) in the SERP (results page), the moment of truth will have shifted to the beginning of a possible relationship or to...nothing.
The ZMOT of recruiters, the grail that no one cares about
91% of candidates begin their job search with an Internet query. That's a whopping 300 million queries specific each month !
You might therefore think that this moment of truth is a crucial issue for recruiters in the same way that it has been for over a decade for digital marketers.
Not so!
For many (too many) recruiters, the " zero " moment of the first interaction between a candidate and an employer brand is completely ignored.
To make it more meaningful, we'll use The Super Agency's ZMOT !
Let's imagine that a young person full of talent is interested in the jobs offered in the Inbound in Montpellier.
In 9 cases out of 10, she will type into Google a keyword like " job inbound montpellier " for example.
On the results page, the link to Super Agency's website appears in 5th position, just after results from specialized sites.
This ranking might seem all the more surprising since we don't post any job offers specific to Inbound at the moment. Also, we don't communicate that our agency is based in Montpellier because our market is national.
The answer is simple : because Google likes us !
In fact, we've been publishing at a steady pace for the past 3 years on Inbound-related topics, which Google's algorithm, Rank Brain, interprets as " the right thing to do ."
In addition, we offer a comprehensive and optimized Google My Business profile that allows the engine to identify us geographically and return an appropriate response to the potential candidate, allowing them to find us easily.
Bref, optimized content works to be quickly identified on the web!
The concept of ZMOT is intimately tied to new candidate behaviors, the emergence of digital employer branding, and new approaches to attractiveness such as Inbound Recruiting.
Beyond the quality of the content offered, the moment of truth emerging in the virtual sphere will be influenced by the company's presence on social networks, its ability to create a bond within the communities of talent it has built, the reviews left on sites such as Glassdoor or Viadeo, etc.
All of these elements allowing the candidate to make a first opinion on a future employer have been created by the rise of digital, since the late 90s as shown in the following diagram:
To have an impact on all the constituent elements of the employer-branding digitally and thus be able to tilt the recruitment ZMOT to the side that suits you, it is essential to rely on a real strategy.
This one involves:
By methodically and consistently working on these 5 aspects of your digital presence as an employer, you will dramatically increase the online candidate experience and be able to attract top talent.
In summary, work on your ZMOT and everyone will win!
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