Key takeaways:
- Consistently track core metrics: Maintain focus on key metrics like engagement rates, cost-per-quality application, and career site traffic to prove the ongoing value of your employer brand, even during hiring slowdowns.
- Maintain executive buy-in: Regularly update leadership on recruitment marketing efforts by showcasing data-driven wins and the long-term impact of campaigns, ensuring sustained support even when hiring demand is low.
- Leverage internal resources for cost savings: Maximize your budget by utilizing in-house talent and resources like employee brand advocates, internal creative teams, and shared social media budgets to maintain authenticity and visibility.
During hiring slowdowns, proving the ROI of talent marketing becomes even more critical for employer brand and recruitment marketing leaders, as they work to maintain brand visibility and a strong talent pipeline.
During a Talent Marketing Board panel on sustaining initiatives during hiring slowdowns, our members shared best practices for proving the continued value of employer branding when hiring demand decreases.
We’ll highlight the strategies our members at Verizon, Ally, and Citizens said are crucial for proving the ROI of talent marketing.
1. Constantly Track Key Metrics Such as Engagement and Quality of Hires
Talent Marketing Board members emphasized that core metrics must remain constant during hiring slowdowns.
As Len Abbazia, Associate Director of Recruitment Marketing at Verizon, explained, “Metrics don’t really change… we still hold our media accountable to deliver against the KPIs that we set each year as it relates to employer branding.”
At Verizon, Len said the primary focus is on engagement rate for organic content, which tracks how posts resonate with the audience through likes, comments, and shares. These are then compared against industry benchmarks.
On the paid side, Len and his team closely monitor cost-per-quality application, which measures the cost of attracting candidates who meet or exceed job requirements and advance through the interview process.
Metrics don’t really change… we still hold our media accountable to deliver against the KPIs that we set each year as it relates to employer branding.
Len Abbazia, Verizon
Keshama Hart, Talent Sourcing and Diversity Recruiting Manager at Ally, echoed these sentiments.
“We also continue to track the number of hires, but we understand that even when hiring slows down, there’s so many other things that are impacted when it comes to this work,” she said.
For example, engagement metrics and quality applications allow talent marketing leaders to maintain visibility and pipeline activity, even when there are fewer open roles.
For Allison Amenta, Vice President and Head of Employer Brand Marketing at Citizens, hiring slowdowns offer an opportunity to focus on areas that are often overlooked.
She highlighted the importance of monitoring career site traffic, particularly from referral sources like social media and SEO, to better understand how branding efforts drive potential candidates to explore job opportunities.
2. Maintain Leadership Buy-In by Showcasing the Long-Term Impacts of Talent Marketing
One of the most critical aspects of sustaining talent marketing efforts during slowdowns is ensuring continuous executive support.
“You don’t want to just tap your executives when you need something,” Len said. “You need to bring them along for the full ride.”
By keeping executives informed about ongoing recruitment marketing initiatives, you can ensure your leadership team remains invested in talent marketing even when hiring pauses. Len noted that this ongoing communication builds advocacy and ensures talent marketing remains a priority.
Allison highlighted why it’s critical to have executives who naturally understand the value of strong EVPs, especially for those with smaller teams.
“What’s important for us at Citizens is we have strong buy-in from the top,” Allison said. “Our CHRO believes in the value of the EVP and brand, our talent acquisition division, and working with learning and development.”
She added that having a good foundation of people who value employer branding efforts can make or break your talent marketing initiatives. It’s also key to align your employer branding efforts with business objectives to maintain buy-in from executives.
Keshama discussed the importance of consistent data reporting and showcasing long-term impact to executives.
Her team follows a monthly cadence, reviewing data to highlight wins and the downstream effects of their efforts.
“We can see that someone who was interested in January got hired in June,” Keshama said. “And by understanding that — when there is a hiring slowdown, and something might not be on the radar right now — the work that we do now has a strong impact for the work that we might do in the future.”
She also noted strong support from both marketing and HR leadership, which is key to sustaining initiatives even when hiring isn’t immediate.
The work that we do now has a strong impact for the work that we might do in the future.
Keshama Hart, Ally
3. Quantify the Long-Term Impact of Talent Marketing
Another challenge during hiring slowdowns is quantifying the long-term value of talent marketing investments. Len discussed the importance of demonstrating how employer branding efforts build awareness and generate quality candidates that are ready to be hired when roles do become available.
He mentioned that Verizon’s talent network strategy, which nurtures passive candidates, can decrease time-to-fill and improve hiring efficiency in the long run — a key selling point for business leaders.
“That’s always music to their ears because this is where we have an instant pool that we can tap into right away,” Len said. “To prove this, we reference the ROI from our paid and organic campaigns that we’ve run in the past.”
Allison added that measuring candidate sentiment on platforms like Glassdoor is helpful for tracking how effectively employer branding efforts are influencing potential candidates and existing employees.
“We put a lot of focus and time on Glassdoor to see if the brand is resonating with candidates,” Allison said. “We continue to look at those third-party sounding boards for the work that we’re doing.”
We put a lot of focus and time on Glassdoor to see if the brand is resonating with candidates.
Allison Amenta, Citizens
4. Balance Short-Term Savings with Long-Term Gains
Our members also addressed the delicate balance between managing short-term cost-saving initiatives and preserving the long-term value of the employer brand.
During times of cost-cutting, Len stressed the value of leveraging internal resources and fostering authenticity in employer branding.
Verizon, for example, relies on a network of employee brand advocates with strong social influence to promote the employer brand across their channels — essentially providing free advertising.
“We also look at internal photos and videographers and have an in-house studio that we’ve partnered with,” Len said. “We also have operations teams for our retail teams if we need someone in the field or need pictures of some of our retail folks. One thing we are very big on is authentic employee photography. I am very proud to say that our career site has 100% employee photography. There’s no stock imagery. We want to bring that authenticity to our employer brand, but we rely on some of our field folks.”
Allison said her team leverages internal assets, similar to Len, including in-house resources and an external agency for media buys and career site hosting. They constantly evaluate their budget, assuming it will remain flat, and adapt by reallocating funds from underperforming ad units to new tactics.
Their close partnership with the enterprise social team is also key. In this partnership, they share goals, and the social team provides extra budget to boost career content, allowing talent marketing to save their own resources while amplifying their employer brand.
I am very proud to say that our career site has 100% employee photography. There’s no stock imagery. We want to bring that authenticity to our employer brand, but we rely on some of our field folks.
Len Abbazia, Verizon
Keshama added that she meets weekly with team members to discuss current and future hiring needs, which helps them align their marketing efforts with business priorities.
“We look at what positions have been filled and the expectations from a financial standpoint for future positions,” she added. “That helps us save dollars because we’re not throwing it out to the wind. We can be more strategic about the specific groups that we want to target based on our immediate or even future hiring needs.”
5. Discover More Actionable Insights from Your Peers Leading Talent Marketing at the World’s Largest Companies
Proving the ROI of talent marketing during hiring slowdowns requires a combination of data-driven metrics, long-term vision, and strong leadership buy-in.
By focusing on quality engagement, building internal resources, and maintaining executive buy-in, talent marketing teams can continue to demonstrate their value even in challenging times. But consistently proving the ROI can be complex for senior talent marketing leaders at large companies.
If you’re a head of employer brand and recruitment marketing, you can join your peers in the Talent Marketing Board to learn top strategies for navigating hiring slowdowns.
Our members share their strategies daily in our confidential, vendor-free community and provide best practices to advance your efforts and address emerging challenges.
