It’s no secret that hiring the right people is key to business success. But, attracting and identifying great candidates the traditional way is time-consuming —and expensive. Today, an ATS alone isn’t enough. And, if your top-of-funnel strategy relies heavily on job boards or agency spend, your acquisition budget won’t get you far.
So, companies are turning to recruitment marketing: HR technology designed to help you attract and engage the best talent, and encourage them to hit ‘apply’. With the power of automation, talent pipelining and intelligent career sites, hiring teams can boost productivity, drive ROI, and find the right people, faster.
While the benefits are clear, recruitment marketing tools aren’t often cemented as an essential player in a HR tech stack. How can you present a compelling business case to gain stakeholder buy-in, and get the tools you need to set your team up for success?
How to build a business case for Recruitment Marketing:
Clearly outline the business need
Begin your business case by clearly outlining the problem you are trying to solve. You need to outline what challenges you’re facing —and their direct impact on business outcomes. Perhaps your current recruitment process is time-consuming, inefficient, or not yielding the quality of candidates you need. Maybe you’re struggling to fill niche, critical skills gaps, or looking to scale up your recruitment efforts. By identifying these challenges and tying them to overarching organizational goals, it’s easier to make a case for a new solution.
Consider:
- What are your core goals as a talent team?
- How do these impact broader organizational outcomes?
- What is the cost to the organization of not making a change?
Know your audience —and what’s important to them
It’s important to consider who you’re talking to when navigating stakeholder buy-in. For example, a CFO looks at the world differently to a COO. Make a list of who you need to engage, and consider what recruitment marketing means from their perspective. Consider their priorities, areas of focus, and level of awareness of this technology. This will help you tailor your message, know how much background information to provide. Including multiple viewpoints ensures you outline the value of this solution cross-functionally, and shows you’re thinking bigger than your own immediate team, and your own team’s objectives.
Consider:
- Who do you need to engage in this decision?
- What’s important to them —what are their goals?
- How will recruitment marketing positively impact their functions, and the greater business?
Set some benchmarks to outline what you want to achieve
Now that you’ve outlined your problem, and know who’s involved, it’s time to dive into the data. Choose some key KPIs connected to your business needs. Some to consider are:
- Time-to-hire
- Cost-per-hire
- DEI representation
- Sourcing channel effectiveness
- Employee churn rate
- Team agility and productivity
By understanding what KPIs are key to your success, and which you’re looking to improve, you can make ROI projections and outline with data how the proposed solution will solve your problem. These are your benchmarks, and will be vital in showing the real value of the solution down the track.
Consider:
- What are the key metrics you track to evaluate success
- Where are these metrics sitting currently —what is your benchmark?
- To be successful, what improvement do you need to see?
Show how the solution meets the business need
Once you’ve established your benchmarks, you’ll want to find proof points to support each one. Where have similar organizations seen success? Try to find a testimonial or data to show the projected impact of the solution.
For example, Clinch customers have seen:
- 50% reduction in agency spend
- 212% rise in career site conversions
- 70% reduction in sourcing costs
- 400% increase in referral hires
- And more. Our case studies are a great place to start!
Armed with data, you can paint a clear picture of anticipated ROI. There are also handy tools available to help you work out expected returns. The more specific your examples the better, so reach out to your vendor. Many (including us!) will be more than happy to share data, benchmarks and testimonials to help you to prove value.
Consider:
- How much could your company save using recruitment marketing?
- What impact will it have on quality of hire and time-to-hire?
- What case studies and data are available to add credibility to your business case?
Understand your budget and be willing to get creative
Carefully review your current budget and conduct a thorough cost-benefit analysis. While it would be ideal to have a new line-item added for recruitment marketing, for many businesses, budgets are set in advance —and tight. Recruitment marketing is an investment that can double your recruitment team’s productivity. Drill down into all your costs, and look for duplication or places you could redeploy funds: get creative with your budget.
Consider:
- Are there any areas you can reduce waste, or anywhere you can cut back?
- What’s the monetary impact of doubling your team’s productivity?
- How will the savings from reducing recruitment spend offset the investment in the software?
Partner with the right vendor
Don’t feel like this is something you need to do on your own. Good vendors will partner with you to build your business case. At Clinch, we have access to benchmarking data, case studies, referenceable customers and proven examples of ROI. We’re here to help you communicate how recruitment marketing will provide value for your specific use case.
A good vendor can also help fill in some of the unknowns that often set projects back: like timelines and scope for implementation. When can you expect to commence, launch and most importantly: see real results. We work alongside you and your team to plan resources and budget, identify roadblocks, provide a decision-making framework, and facilitate communication between stakeholders. This transparent approach helps to minimize objectives and set clear, realistic expectations.
Consider:
- Can your chosen vendor help you build your business case?
- What’s your vendor’s implementation process?
- What’s your vendor’s approach to on-going support?
Final thoughts
Taking on a new HR software solution is a big decision. But today, an ATS alone won’t get you where you need to be. To find the right people and reduce your recruitment costs, you need a recruitment marketing solution to help you drive more high-quality applications. By partnering with the right vendor, building the business case for recruitment marketing can be straightforward: it’s a solution that pays for itself.
At Clinch we’re proud of our partnership approach. From proposal, to our guaranteed implementation, and our all-inclusive customer service —we’re with you all the way through.
Want to get started?
Get in touch today to talk to a Recruitment Marketing Specialist and see Clinch in action.
