Successful personnel marketing aims to make the company appealing to highly qualified and motivated employees in the long run and to strengthen retention to existing employees.
Personnel marketing applies common marketing strategies to human resources. The company presents itself to possible applicants and potential future employees and aims to gain an advantage on the competition. In this case, the employer is the brand (employer branding) and vacant positions or a job in general are the product.
There are two applications: external and internal personnel marketing.
External personnel marketing focuses on the presentation and perception of the company. Every contact between potential applicants and the company should be positive, with the aim of increasing and consolidating awareness and traction.
In order to achieve that, the company presents itself at trade fairs and events. Additionally, training opportunities and programs for emerging talents are advertised, and trainee programmes and career days are offered. The process of external personnel marketing is relatively time-consuming – it does, however, yield long-term benefits. It simplifies recruitment processes and increases the number of interested and qualified applicants. This is why companies often invest in external personnel marketing, even if no vacancies are listed.
Internal personnel marketing, on the other hand, is aimed at employees that are already working at the company. Starting with the process of Onboarding after joining the company, which should make workers feel integrated into the company from the beginning, the job should consistently be perceived as positive and desirable, while negative associations should absolutely be avoided.
Team events, social benefits and opportunities for continued education are also part of internal personnel marketing. The company invests in the retention and loyalty of its employees in order to keep staff turnover sustainably low. Internal marketing can also help ensure that junior employees stay with the company after their training and that employees remain with the company for a long period of time.