While the unemployment rate and available job openings in the U.S. are inching up, labor shortages continue to plague industries like health care and retail. On top of that, 10,000 Baby Boomers reach retirement age every day, causing a mass exodus from the workforce that creates knowledge-transfer challenges for industries like technology and manufacturing.

While some state government officials have explored unusual labor shortage solutions, such as relaxing child labor laws, unique untapped talent pools still exist. For example, while flexible and remote work policies have improved the employment rate among people with disabilities, the recruiting process still continuously overlooks this valuable demographic. Additionally, despite the rise in second-chance hiring, workers with criminal records are another underutilized cohort of the modern workforce. Regardless of these relatively niche opportunities, the need for innovative recruitment approaches to bridge the gap between job openings and the available workforce has become increasingly evident as the labor market evolves.

Overcoming the Limitations of Traditional Recruitment Efforts

The tried and true, traditional means of recruiting new talent haven’t changed in years. Most companies still rely on job fairs, job listings on the company web site, and staffing firms to reach job seekers. While these are still vital to many recruitment efforts and can contribute to an effective strategy, a few limiting factors remain. For example — and possibly the most limiting — these tactics only reach active job seekers who have expressed explicit intent to search for these opportunities. This gap can make it very difficult to engage with the entire potential workforce, including underrepresented demographics, which are critical for hiring a more diverse workforce.

In a hypercompetitive labor market, these traditional recruitment efforts are table stakes, and organizations need to add creative strategies to showcase their employer brand and target job opportunities to the right people.

Fortunately, the solution to this recruitment conundrum is something companies have done for years within their marketing departments. Companies can solve this HR problem by leveraging existing consumer advertising tactics and applying them to recruitment efforts.

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