Why Do HR Roles Increasingly Involve Marketing?
As the job market evolves, so do HR roles. Today's human resources professionals aren't just tasked with evaluating and hiring candidates for job openings; they're responsible for managing their employer's reputation, too. As HR professionals are increasingly called on to promote their organization and manage its reputation, they're required to have skills most commonly associated with marketing.
Here are three of the top reasons why business graduates entering into human resources need to bring marketing skills to the job.
1. They need to attract and recruit.
Today's HR professionals don't just wait for candidates to come to them. They actively seek out potential employees by marketing their businesses to people who would fit the organization. Recruitment marketing, HR Technologist says, applies marketing principles such as multichannel communication, targeted messaging, and analytics to attracting, engaging, and nurturing potential hires.
Further Reading: How to start a business: a small business checklist.
Part of this recruitment process involves keeping tabs on an organization's standing in the market. Using marketing analytics, for example, HR professionals track and evaluate data—an organization's ratings, for example—on career sites and its social media engagement with people in the job market. They might also use marketing tools to better understand how various communication channels work and to better assess which ones are most effective for reaching the type of job candidates an organization is looking to hire.
2. They need to promote the brand.
HR roles are also incorporating employer branding, another strategy inspired by the marketing field, into their day-to-day responsibilities. Branding tells the story of an organization's purpose, values, and vision. Forbes argues that because marketing and HR are equally responsible for promoting the brand—albeit to different parties—they should work together to staff the organization and bring in new business. They can do that, Forbes notes, by deploying a multimedia strategy that recruits top talent and showcases the business' strengths and by working together to craft the business' outward-facing story.
Many HR pros often work with their organizations' marketing teams to craft recruitment messaging that's consistent with the employer's brand. Forbes suggests that HR professionals should be involved in marketing strategies because they are usually best at communicating an organization's values, culture, and mission.
3. They need to be social media–savvy.
Recruiting people from digitally fluent generations means meeting them where they are—and that's frequently on social media. HR duties now could include creating and managing an employer's LinkedIn company profile, especially any sections related to the organization's work culture and hiring outlook.
HR specialists might also spend part of their day writing Facebook posts about job openings, employee achievements, and news spotlighting the organization's culture. They might monitor engagements on Twitter and other social media channels on topics that could affect the employer's reputation. Having a keen understanding of social media and how job candidates use social sites is key to being a successful HR professional.
HR and marketing: the perfect match.
One of the biggest HR tasks in today's hiring market is helping employers stand out from the competition. And because HR and marketing are in prime positions to craft and convey an organization's mission and goals, they're also in the best position to work together to drive business and recruit top talent.
Your HR career outlook will be much brighter if you start looking for ways to hone your marketing know-how now. Take a marketing class or talk with marketing professionals at your internship site and at networking events about how they collaborate with their HR colleagues. When you apply for jobs as a hiring expert with marketing savvy, you'll be bringing highly valued skills to the table.
