If you’re one of those talent practitioners still denying the fact that recruiting and marketing have become more or less indistinguishable need to face the facts:

• Almost all talent acquisition activity occurs online
• The starting point for online consumers is almost unilaterally Google (or some sort of search engine)
• Career related results are returned in the same searches as consumer-facing keywords
• The online behaviors of consumers and candidates are more or less indistinguishable. All consumers are potential candidates
• Converting customers or candidates to a consumer or employer brand CTA depends almost entirely on user experience and interface.
• The purpose of marketing is to generate, develop and convert qualified leads.  The purpose of recruiting is to generate, develop and convert qualified hires.

This phenomenon has created an increased focus on employer branding, talent communities, social media enablement and a bunch of other stuff that’s all hiding the much more fundamental problem: even the world’s best employer brand or compelling company culture can’t fix a broken process.

Want to know more? Read the article « Candidate Experience: Rage Against The Machines »