Digital Recruiting 101: How To Win Top Digital Talent

Digital Recruiters are at the forefront of the new digital world. In this new digital age, more and more recruiters have gotten up to speed. They are using digital platforms to target ideal candidates and manage their jobs. These new digital recruiters have evolved with the times and they no longer match the image of the shady back-alley recruiter. These new digital recruiters are reputable and legitimate. They are operating out of a genuine need for a job and not for personal gain.

With that being said, there is still a lot of confusion about what a digital recruiter is and how they can assist you in hiring top creative talent.

What is a Digital Recruiter?

A digital recruiter makes the entire process of hiring easier for the hiring manager and the candidate. Their primary goal is to simplify the recruitment process and make the hiring process faster and more efficient. They match digital talent with open positions and refer qualified candidates that best fit the client’s position requirements.

A digital recruiter works with clients at all different stages of the hiring process and helps find candidates, manage candidates, and conduct interviews. They can also help with scheduling interviews and managing the entire hiring process, depending on the client’s needs.

Digital recruiters are a great resource for companies that need to hire creative talent, but don’t necessarily have an in-house team to do it, the resources or the staff expertise. In these cases, a digital recruiter can help expand your company’s hiring network and help you find the best digital candidates with the right skills.

What do digital recruiters actually do?

They match candidates with open positions and refer qualified candidates to hiring managers. As a result, a digital recruiter manages all of the job search process from beginning to end.

They are ultimately responsible for the careers of their candidates, and in order to match their clients with the best candidate for the job, they must partner with their clients in order to understand their requirements and desires.

As digital recruiters, they also possess knowledge of digital marketing and the latest skills and market training to stay on top of the latest industry knowledge and talent networks. Through social, video, inbound marketing and onsite events, they can engage their talent and build long-lasting relationships, allowing their clients to take advantage of their expertise and network.

Digital recruiters know how hiring works, and when you need to go beyond the traditional job boards like ZipRecruiter and Indeed, a digital marketing or creative recruiter will use their platform to your advantage. They know who to contact, and what information the hiring manager will need to be competitive in the market. Particularly in a tight labor market with a large constraint on talent with niche digital skills, this is advantageous to employers.

A digital recruiter's job includes managing client expectations, meeting hiring managers and taking briefs, going to market, sourcing talent. The recruiter will leverage all channels, such as advertising, resume databases, LinkedIn, in-house human resource management systems, and referral schemes. Digital recruiters assemble a short list of top candidates and provide hiring managers with recruitment advice. In addition to scheduling interviews, managing feedback, negotiating offers, and tracking paperwork, digital recruiters take care of all these tasks.

What skills does a digital recruiter have?

Digital recruiters are good at building strong, lasting relationships with hiring managers. They can create a digital presence, which is key to expanding their network. As well as writing quality social media content, they can utilize social media to grow their digital footprint and increase their digital presence.

They are also comfortable communicating with people at all different levels of the company. They can work with all types and levels of hiring managers, from the CEO down to the managers.

Digital recruiters are also familiar with how job search algorithms work and how they can be manipulated. These candidates are always looking for ways to improve their digital strategy and find candidates with the right skills using these algorithms.

Experts in the field. A good digital recruiter, creative recruiter, has often become trusted counsel to their clients and has a place at the table where organizational decisions are made, because of their thorough grasp of their domain.

Sales professionals who know what they're doing. Successful creative and digital recruiters today are skilled salespeople who refuse to take no for an answer.

Your marketing recruiting specialists. The recruiters understand exactly how to construct a talent pipeline, engage those leads, nurture the digital talent and use their negotiation skills to get the best deal for both parties.

Thinkers with a strategic mindset. In their recruiting role, digital recruiters create and continuously fine tune their sourcing and branding strategies to target and attract active and passive candidates.

Adept in marketing. These digital marketing recruiting experts use their storytelling skills to boost their company's talent networks, and they craft targeted creative job adverts that target their audience on the right platforms at the right time.

Technology know-how. Digital learners. Technological experts that which enables them to achieve measurable results.

Savvy interviewers. They have outstanding interviewing skills, and a knack for focusing their candidate interviews on past performance. They will probe the talent to understand the motivators, besides determining their cultural and technical fit against the company's requirements and preferences.

Why is a digital recruiter better than a traditional recruiter?

Traditional recruiters are often generalist focused on finding qualified candidates, even if they’re in your industry. These recruiters may not have as much experience as digital recruiters in finding people with the right digital marketing skills.

Digital marketing recruiters often have the education, training or experience in one of the functional areas, which allows you to gain additional insight beyond the typical resume on the creative candidates. As recruiting specialist, they will leverage their digital and creative marketing networks to discover and engage both passive and active talent.

Digital recruiters also have a better understanding of the market. One of the primary motivations of the digital marketing recruiter is helping their clients design an attractive recruitment marketing campaign and offer package.

How do you find a digital recruiter?

First, review your hiring needs. Sit down with your hiring manager and discuss your hiring needs. What are you looking for in a candidate? What skill-set do you want in a candidate?

Once you’ve got a list of needed skills, start searching for digital recruiters. digital job boards are a great place to start.

Check out the digital recruiter section of digital job boards. They will often have a search function built into their site.

Bottom Line

With all the advantages mentioned above, it’s easy to see why digital recruiters are so popular. They have a lot to offer, and they are here to stay!

If you’re looking to expand your hiring network, or you need help with your job search, a digital recruiter could be a great fit for your company.

When you require the best creative recruiters, Accendi Group's recruiting and staffing creative services division can help you attract, engage, and employ the right individual for the appropriate creative position.

Visit our recruiting services page to discover more about how Accendi's creative and digital marketing recruiters can help your company navigate an increasingly competitive creative labor market.

This article was written by Managing Partner, Fawn Hentrel.