Personalmarketing

Personalmarketing, often referred to as employer branding or recruitment marketing in HR practice, encompasses the set of activities a company uses to attract, engage, and retain employees. It combines communications, branding, and human resources approaches to shape the perception of the employer as a place to work and to influence the decisions of current and prospective employees.

Key elements include the employer value proposition (EVP) that articulates the rewards and culture, external and internal communication, candidate experience, and alignment with business strategy. It covers employer branding campaigns, career sites, job postings, and content across channels as well as employee referrals and onboarding processes.

Channels include corporate websites, social media, job boards, campuses, events, and recruitment agencies; internal channels such as internal newsletters and manager briefings; marketing collaborations; measurement of brand perception via surveys, applicant flow, time-to-hire, cost-per-hire, quality of hire, and retention.

Organization and roles: HR departments typically lead with support from marketing, hiring managers, and external agencies. The effort aims to improve talent attraction, reduce vacancy duration, increase offer acceptance rates, and enhance employee engagement and retention.

Context and considerations: In German-speaking regions the term Personalmarketing is common and covers both external recruitment marketing and internal employer branding. Critiques note that branding must reflect real conditions to avoid mismatch and can be challenging to measure ROI.