Knowing Your Waters

Throughout my career in recruitment advertising, I've had countless conversations with employers about positions they need to fill. Often, the discussion begins with a job title, a list of qualifications, and a request to advertise the opening. Those details are important, of course, but they don't necessarily tell us very much about the people the organization hopes will respond.

Think about two individuals who have the same professional qualifications. One may be motivated by opportunities for advancement, another by workplace flexibility or stability. One might be actively searching for a new position, while the other is perfectly happy where they are but could be interested if an opportunity addresses something meaningful in their career.

If both individuals see exactly the same recruitment message, it may resonate with one and be completely overlooked by the other.

That's why I encourage organizations to think about the audience behind the job description. What types of individuals are likely to succeed in the position? What might motivate them to consider a change? Where do they look for information about potential employers? What questions or concerns could influence their willingness to apply?

It's equally important to recognize that the people an organization wants to reach aren't necessarily the same as the people who have responded to its advertising in the past. Existing recruitment practices may be reaching only a portion of the available talent market, particularly when advertising channels, geographic assumptions, or job requirements have remained unchanged for years.

Taking time to understand those differences can lead to better recruitment messages, more relevant advertising decisions, and a candidate experience that reflects the people an organization actually hopes to attract. It also helps businesses avoid making decisions based on assumptions about what candidates want or where they're likely to be found.

In my experience, this is one of the most valuable places to apply advertising strategy to talent acquisition. The objective isn't simply to generate more applications. It's to develop a better understanding of the audience so the organization can create more meaningful connections with potential candidates.

When I talk about candidate personas, I'm not suggesting that every organization needs an elaborate document filled with demographic assumptions or invented personality traits. A useful candidate persona is a research-informed way of understanding the people who may be appropriate for a role and the factors that could influence how they evaluate an employment opportunity.

The process begins with identifying the capabilities and experiences that matter for the position, but it shouldn't end there. A more complete understanding requires looking at several related considerations.

When I'm helping an organization improve its candidate targeting, I like to begin by understanding the positions it needs to fill and the recruiting experiences that have shaped its current approach. That means looking at the requirements of the role, previous hiring results, existing recruitment channels, and the expectations of both recruiters and hiring managers.

I'm particularly interested in how an organization defines a qualified candidate. Sometimes that definition is based on requirements that have been used for years without much examination. In other cases, the organization may have a clear understanding of the technical capabilities it needs but hasn't considered the motivations and expectations of the people who possess those capabilities.

I also want to understand what the available information tells us. Depending on the engagement, that may involve reviewing labor market research, exploring industry-specific talent sources, examining recruiting data, discussing patterns in previous applicant responses, or evaluating the messages being used to promote opportunities.

An important part of this work is separating what the organization knows from what it believes to be true. For example, hiring managers may assume that a particular audience won't consider a certain work arrangement, while actual candidate research suggests there is more flexibility than expected. Similarly, a company may have invested heavily in a recruiting channel because it's familiar, even though other channels could provide more relevant access to its intended audience.

I use these findings to help develop a clearer picture of the people the organization wants to reach and the approaches most likely to create meaningful engagement. That understanding can then inform recruitment advertising, employer branding, sourcing strategies, and candidate communications.

My goal isn't to create an elaborate persona presentation that looks attractive but has little practical application. I want the organization to walk away with useful insights that can guide decisions about where to recruit, how to communicate, and what aspects of an opportunity deserve attention.

As with every aspect of talent acquisition, I also believe candidate targeting should be revisited over time. Labor markets change, business needs evolve, and people's expectations shift. A strategy built around a useful understanding of the audience today should remain open to new information tomorrow.