For Lindsay Parks, a career in Recruitment Marketing has been an opportunity to combine two of her passions: marketing and recruiting.
“I majored in marketing at Champlain College and then kind of just fell into recruiting, and later the opportunity to blend the two came about. It wasn’t something I had entertained prior to ‘Employer Brand’ becoming a buzzword. When it did, I couldn’t help but take advantage of the opportunity to combine the two passions,” she recalls.
Today, Lindsay is Talent Acquisition Social Media Manager at Travelers.
How Did You Become a Recruitment Marketer?
Getting started in Recruitment Marketing would have been a whole lot easier, Lindsay says, if she had mentors to help her. And that’s a key reason Lindsay jumped in to become a Rally Recruitment Marketing Mentor when we reached out.
If she had the chance to start again, Lindsay would have tapped into her network more strategically and deliberately. “It’s really hard to find your groove in the Employer Brand space when you’re feeling like the ‘new kid on the block.’ You have a lot of good ideas and you’re not quite sure how to make them happen.” (We’re excited to have Lindsay and our other Rally RM Mentors helping the next generation of Recruitment Marketers get their start.)
“I lucked out by having some great leaders in this space, but I think if I had just put pride aside and admitted to not knowing what I didn’t know and took advantage of other people’s experience, I would have been that much ahead of the curve,” she says humbly.
How Do You Define Recruitment Marketing?
“I think Recruitment Marketing is a blend of the messaging that you’re putting out there as well as the vehicles that you’re leveraging to share it. I think recruitment branding is when someone says, ‘I want to work for your company and this is why.’ Recruitment Marketing is really stirring that curiosity and piquing that interest. So, whatever means you’ve taken to do that is the marketing piece to all of this,” Lindsay said.
How Can Others Get Started with Recruitment Marketing?
While Recruitment Marketing as a practice has grown a lot in the past few years, some companies are still figuring out where and how to start. Lindsay believes the problem is not in understanding the need, but rather not knowing how to “get it off the ground.” And that’s why she’s excited to help others as a Rally Recruitment Marketing Mentor.
“Getting started in Recruitment Marketing can be really difficult when you don’t have a roadmap. So rather than treating is as sort of a side-of-the-desk project, you have to make it a full-time focus. Start with your leadership and get their buy-in so they can help you knock on the doors that are necessary to get this stuff off the ground,” Lindsay advises.
“Marketing, HR Comms, employer relations, legal, IT, complianc – there’s no such thing as too many approvals in the beginning,” Lindsay continued. “I think, oftentimes, that’s where the Recruitment Marketing torch kind of fizzles – not quite knowing where to go with this brilliant idea or how to get the buy-in from the folks that it matters to most.”
We’re excited that Lindsay’s here to help us move forward!
