For any marketing business, one of the keys to success is being able to consistently recruit top emerging talent. This is particularly important given the fast-moving and competitive nature of the marketing and advertising industries.
This guide is focused on providing you with easy to implement tips to help you confidently connect and recruit the best emerging marketing talent. Because emerging talent brings fresh ideas, creativity, and innovation to any business they join.
The Challenges Behind Recruiting Emerging Marketing Talent
Let’s take a moment to consider some of the challenges marketing businesses face when finding and recruiting emerging talent.
Setting expectations and values
Finding emerging marketing talent pools
Attracting and testing the right talent
Time-intensive talent sourcing
Providing training and support to emerging talent
Whilst these challenges make hiring emerging marketing talent a daunting task, they are by no means a limitation on your ability to find and connect with top talent. Let’s look at some simple tips designed to help you overcome these challenges.
Tips To Help You Recruit Emerging Marketing Talent
Set Expectations From The Start
When it comes to recruiting the most exciting and up-and-coming talent it can be easy to build a long wishlist of skills and must-haves for a candidate. However, it’s important to remember what you are looking for. When you place experience barriers on entry-level roles you only end up shrinking your talent pool. It’s much better to recruit for things like aptitude, values, and future potential.
Furthermore, studies show that employees who are purpose aligned are happier and more productive (HBR, Garton and Mankins), so it’s important to be authentic about what you do and why you do it. Ensure that you are open about your values right from the first job post. These same values should then be reflected on your website, social media, and marketing material. Because you are more likely to attract talent which is aligned with your company and employee values.
Utilising Emerging Talent Pools
Perhaps the hardest part of hiring emerging marketing talent is finding great candidates. To overcome this, you should spend your time where the talent is. For example, forming placement partnerships with universities can create mutually beneficial entry-level opportunities for emerging marketers to hone their skills, whilst bringing fresh ideas and perspectives to your business. If you’re finding it difficult to manage multiple relationships with all of the universities to find the best talent then you might find it easier to go where the talent aggregates.
Job boards often aggregate all of the available talents on the market. They can sometimes provide great marketing talent however, more often than not, they can result in wasted time and unsuccessful applicants. This is why niche talent platforms such as can be the best way to discover the up and coming way talent. For example, Experlio, a creative talent platform, not only allows employers to connect with the best emerging marketing talent but also allow them to engage with them to understand their skills quickly and remotely.
Evaluating A Marketing Candidate’s Skills
One possible way to gauge a marketing candidate’s skill is to include a role-specific challenge in the application. Think along the lines of, asking candidates to create an example social media post, a short writing piece, or a snappy graphic. Ask for a short rationale explaining the approach they took. You should be aware of local rules and legislation about asking candidates to participate in these challenges.
Please be mindful of the candidate’s time and efforts for this activity. You may wish to compensate them for their work. Whatever the small task is, keep it role-specific. Alternatively, ask creatives to share a copy of their digital profile with you.
Reducing The Time It Takes To Find Talent
Recruiting fresh talent can be a time-intensive process, often because it is difficult to find and connect with talent. Because of this, it’s important to utilise tools that enable you to interact directly with your marketing talent. Recruiting through social media platforms can be one way to do this.
Social media recruiting not only allows you to engage directly with emerging talent but also gives your business exposure to a savvier generation of talent, many of whom are also part of the emerging talent businesses seek. Especially in the marketing industry, most young talent feels comfortable and confident on social media, another advantage over more traditional and daunting recruiting platforms.
Supporting Your Emerging Marketing Talent
Young and emerging marketing talent will often have more anxiety when starting a new role than their more experienced counterparts. This may be exacerbated by the fast-paced nature of the marketing and advertising industries.
To support your new marketing hire, it’s important to schedule regular check-ups and structured training. You can also use apps to track employee mood, productivity, and feedback to ensure they feel supported and confident in their new role. Meaningful employee support can become a competitive advantage for your business and will set you up to attract and retain top talent.
Emerging Marketing Talent Recruitment, Where To Go From Here?
Emerging and young talent thrives on digital recruiting, as it equals the playing field by bringing the employer into the digital sphere, where these employees feel most comfortable. Simply put, if an employer wants to source the best emerging talents, they have to go where the talent is. Choosing to employ an entry-level marketer is a great choice to build the long term prosperity of your business. Whether that’s as a marketing agency or an enduring brand.
Remember, giving someone their first big break can create immense loyalty in your employees. So it’s important to remember that it’s an investment of time and resources for a long term relationship. Having the opportunity to shape someone’s thinking around your brand can invite creative ideas and a strong alignment with brand values as they’re not bringing poor old habits along for the journey. This is your chance to shape the sort of marketer that your brand needs, whilst leveraging fresh perspectives and ways of doing things.
For more advertising and marketing career tips, check out these Marketing.com.au articles:
Chris Evans, director at Experlio. I have more than five years experience in the industry and, over that time, I have built up a specialist experience marketing.
