Tired of begging for applicants? What if top candidates came to you—excited, pre-qualified, and ready to apply?
You don’t need a Fortune 500 employer brand. You need a recruitment magnet—a system that attracts the right talent on autopilot.
Here’s your 30-day blueprint:
Week 1: Fix Your Foundation
Day 1-3: The “Ugly Truth” Employer Brand Audit
✅ List 3 real company flaws (e.g., “We move fast—documentation isn’t our strength”)
✅ Find 3 employee pain-to-pride transitions (e.g., “We used to have chaotic sprints → Now we do focused deep work blocks”)
Why? Candidates trust real over perfect.
Day 4-7: Build a “Sneak Peek” Careers Hub
Replace your generic careers page with:
🔹 Unfiltered employee video testimonials (ask: “What’s the hardest part of your job?”)
🔹 Team-specific microsites (Engineers want tech stack details, sales wants OTE examples)
Pro Tip: Use Tango or ScreenStory to let employees record quick video walkthroughs.
Week 2: Create Irresistible Content
Day 8-10: Steal This “Anti-Job Post” Formula
Instead of:
❌ “We’re hiring a Senior Developer!”
Post:
✅ “How We Scaled Our API to 10M Requests/Minute (And Why We Need Your Help)”
Works 10X better because it’s about them, not you.
Day 11-14: Launch a “No Pitch” Talent Community
- Create a free resource (e.g., “2024 Remote Work Salary Benchmarks”)
- Gate it behind a talent community signup
- Nurture with exclusive content (e.g., team AMAs)
Example: Webflow’s “No Code Camp” built a 50K+ talent pipeline.
Week 3: Hack Competitor Weaknesses
Day 15-17: Run “Trojan Horse” LinkedIn Ads
Target employees at competitors with:
🎯 Non-recruiting content (e.g., “How we reduced meeting time by 40%”)
🎯 Contrarian takes (e.g., “Why we don’t do Leetcode interviews”)
Ad Example:
“Hey [Competitor] marketers—we just open-sourced our campaign playbook. No strings.”
Day 18-21: Weaponize Glassdoor
✅ Respond to every review (show you listen)
✅ Fix 1 recurring complaint publicly (e.g., “After feedback, we added quarterly promotion cycles”)
Data: Companies that respond to reviews get 2X more applications.
Week 4: Automate the Magnet
Day 22-25: Set Up a “Talent Drip” System
- Tag candidates by skills in your ATS
- Send quarterly value emails (industry trends, company updates)
- 90% give value, 10% ask (e.g., “We’re hosting a UX workshop—want in?”)
Day 26-30: Launch an Employee Referral “Surge”
🚀 1-week referral contest with:
- Transparent leaderboard
- Instant rewards (e.g., $500 for first 3 hires)
- “Why I referred” stories from team members
Result: Zapier saw 47% more quality referrals with this approach.
Key Insight: Stop Chasing, Start Attracting
Traditional recruiting = asking for attention
Magnet recruiting = earning attention
Your 30-day cheat sheet:
- Be brutally transparent (flaws → fixes)
- Give value first (content > job posts)
- Fish where the fish are (competitor talent pools)
