Research confirms that men and women look for jobs differently. While men apply to job descriptions -- even if they only meet 60% of the criteria -- women apply to narratives. That’s why storytelling and recruitment marketing content is so important to attracting great talent. 

While many recruitment marketers, recruiters, or even marketers struggle to understand what kinds of content works best, Fairygodboss customers use these 3 recruitment marketing content ideas to attract diverse candidates.

1) Feature Role Models 

A huge part of recruitment marketing is deeply understanding your target audience. That’s why recruiters need to start thinking like marketers. When you do, you’ll realize that one of the leading concerns among women job seekers is “will they feel like they belong?” 

To address those concerns, companies can develop and share employee stories of successful women thriving in your workplace and in leadership. There are several strategies to do this. But, the most important thing to keep in mind is that the stories need to align with the particular segment of the population you’re looking to attract.  

For example, if you’re looking to attract women MBA candidates to your internship rotations, stories like Suhasini Bhargava’s at PIMCO, From Intern to Full-Time: My MBA Internship Experience at PIMCO, really convey the message that their MBA internship program is a path to full-time work and future success.

If you’re looking to attract women veterans -- who are fiercely loyal and trained leaders -- this story from Seagate’s Patricia Frost From Major General to CHRO: How I Found a Rewarding Civilian Career After 30 Years In the Army walks through what it takes to make that important career transition from military to corporate. 

If you’re wanting to attract women leaders, or ambitious and career-focused experienced women who want to be leaders in the future -- stories like Danna Demos’ There’s No One-Size-Fits-All Blueprint for Success — My Career As an Exec Is Proof from Bank of America are quite inspiring. 

While stories and examples are great, the truth is you probably want to know if this actually works, right? Fairygodboss customer Qualtrics found that when they share employee stories, they increased applications from women and underrepresented candidates from 34% to 50%. They actually achieved applicant parity through employee stories! 

2) Highlight Your Company’s Commitment to Diversity 

Women are 1.5x more likely to apply to a job if the company publicly supports diversity, and Black women are two times more likely to apply with a company that publicly supports diversity. Companies can do that by highlighting employee resource groups, an inclusive employer value proposition, and diversity-focused career development programs. Below are some examples to help you turn these recruitment marketing content ideas to life. 

In articles like This Resource Group Celebrates Being Black in Tech -- Here’s How its Members are Igniting Change, Facebook does a great job at featuring leaders and members of their Black in Tech ERG. Notice how leaders and members are highlighted not only for their work accomplishments but also their passions outside of work. 

Additionally, a focus on career development and promotions are highly important to women and underrepresented employees and job seekers. Financial Services company, SoFi, shares insights about their “Grow” mentorship program that focuses on fostering the development of underrepresented teammates in SoFi — Dedicated to Career Development for Its Diverse Employees.

3) Show Why Women Love Working at Your Company & Benefits Women Actually Want 

Another major concern among working women is whether the benefits offered will allow them to live the lives they want to live while also thriving at work. In other words, will the workplace support their personal and professional goals? 

In a recent job seeker survey, Fairygodboss found that behind compensation and pay, flexible work was the second most sought after benefit among job seekers. Additional research confirmed that companies who publish and promote flexible work policies in recruitment marketing, employer branding, and job descriptions see higher application rates and more diverse hires. 

When leading UK insurance provider, Zurich, shared the company’s flexible work policy on 80% of its job descriptions, they more than doubled applications from both women and men and increased the number of women in new leadership positions from 37.5% to 50%. That’s right -- Zurich achieved gender parity in new leadership hires in just one year.

CareerArc found that employees are the most trusted sources of information among job seekers, and employee stories and reviews are the most credible sources of information among job seekers. What’s more, after a company’s career site, employee review sites are the second most utilized source for researching potential employers and jobs. 

Especially now at a time in which 5 million women have left the workforce due to burnout and women’s participation in the labor market is at a 30 year low, focusing on supporting employees and their wellbeing is critical. Understanding this, PNC offers several health, wellbeing, and financial benefits to support employees holistically. In 5 Ways PNC’s Benefits & Living Well Program Helps Employees, they spoke about some of those benefits including Employee Assistance Programs, pension plans and Health Savings Accounts, and telemedicine. 

It’s no surprise that new mothers are superheroes -- learning how to navigate a new way of life and work. Royal Bank of Canada has some incredible benefits to support new and working moms in their transition. In 5 Emotionally Intelligent Ways RBC Expanded Its Benefits to Help Workers During COVID and Beyond, RBC shares how benefits like Milk Stork -- delivers breast milk from new mothers to babies while moms are on the road. They also have at least 11 weeks of maternity leave, offer tuition reimbursement, and more.  

For families that do want to have children but are struggling, fertility care is an incredible benefit. Quicken Loans shares about their family planning and care offerings in More Women are Looking for Fertility Benefits — Here's How This Company Sets the Gold Standard.

While recruitment marketing isn’t always easy, with these 3 recruitment marketing content ideas and examples, you’ll be able to create highly compelling campaigns that connect with women and underrepresented job seekers.