Radio Is the Perfect Medium for Recruitment

Companies are scrambling to hire the right candidates to fill their teams. Thanks to the historically low unemployment rate, traditional employment advertising is probably not working because there are fewer people searching for jobs. How do you reach qualified candidates who are not actively looking? This dilemma exists for everything from entry-level/low-skill jobs to highly-skilled trade jobs. This demand offers an opportunity for the innovative radio salesperson who knows their market and how to uncover new prospects.

Traditionally, employers have used the help wanted ads in the local newspaper to get new employees. That has evolved to national websites like Indeed.com and ZipRecuiter.com (both of which happen to be very large radio advertisers themselves). These national outlets can reach those who are actively looking for a new position, yet they do not CREATE DEMAND.

Radio, and your station, can offer prospective employers a new way of recruiting members to their team. You can create demand by reaching employed people who may not be actively searching for a new job or career change by piquing their interest with a targeted, creative ad that addresses why they might want to make a change.

How do you do this? Here are a few steps to help you grow your station’s Recruitment Advertising.

1. Determine the industries and specific businesses that are looking to fill numerous openings. This can include medical centers and local government entities. Who are the largest employers in your market that drive the local economy? They are prime for radio recruitment.
2. Find the decision-maker. Most large organizations have a recruitment office. If not, then contact the HR department. Make sure you have the right person, the one who can say yes. Do not be discouraged if your initial contacts are met with phrases like:
   • “We don’t have a budget”
   • “We don’t use radio to find employees”
3. Make your case for radio and your station. This step can go in several directions depending on the prospect. Have they used radio in the past? Have they advertised on your stations for recruitment or to promote their business? What relationship do you and the station have with this recruitment prospect? If you have history, then this is a great time to build on that to show yourself as an additional resource for their recruitment. If you have no history with the prospect, then you will need to do some digging to find out their recruitment history as well as to research their business.
4. Build your presentation. The main focus will be to show how your station reaches the ideal candidate they want to hire and that you are more cost-efficient than their current recruitment efforts. Consider the following items:
   • Profile of their ideal candidate.
   • How your station reaches this ideal target (number of people, % of audience, looking for a job, plans to change jobs, current job position, etc.). This is your qualitative information.
   • Why Radio – create demand from those not actively looking. Show at-work and in-car listening.
   • Proposed Schedule – use prime dayparts but also consider nights to reach those currently working night shifts (they might want to change).
   • A great closing statement! Succinctly state why you are a great partner for the prospect.

Radio is a great medium for recruitment. Be excited and confident about how to help these employers fill their opening to grow their businesses. Show them you are their first resource for their recruitment needs, and you will close more sales in this tight labor market!