It’s common to associate “Fortune 500 company” with success because to achieve Fortune 500 status, an organization must get results – which is often the culmination of well-thought-out strategies, well-executed planning, and outside-the-box thinking.
At HR Tech’s virtual Tech Talk, I had the pleasure of speaking with a talent acquisition leader at one of those innovative companies, DICK’S Sporting Goods.
As a Fortune 500 retail company, DICK’S Sporting Goods must remain nimble and adapt its recruitment marketing strategy to meet the needs and expectations of an ever-changing talent landscape and fill specialized corporate and high-volume store positions. Their success lies in their attention to the full talent funnel and thinking differently about programmatic media to fill their funnel and cast a wider net.
How does programmatic media impact recruitment strategies?
Rick Jordan, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition at DICK’s Sporting Goods, knows the power of programmatic advertising technology. Rick notes programmatic media as a key lever in DICK’S Sporting Goods’ recruitment strategy — an area the organization has relied on as its go-to strategy to reach new talent.
Programmatic media supports Rick’s team in identifying staffing gaps within its nationwide stores, optimizing recruitment marketing efforts, and delivering against expected outcomes.
By optimizing its programmatic media strategy, DICK’S Sporting Goods can connect with top talent, wherever they are, in an automated and personalized way. This level of precision leads to faster hires and lower costs to fill and builds a solid foundation for a stellar recruitment marketing program.
When combining programmatic media with a targeted email campaign, DICK’S Sporting Goods saw a 64% increase in applications annually.
An added benefit is the diversity of hires. Programmatic media helps DICK’S Sporting Goods cast a broader net to meet and consider a more diverse group of applicants who could become colleagues.
How does programmatic media work for recruitment?
Programmatic media is not and should not be limited to just sponsored job advertising to active jobseeker audiences, but rather used as an omnichannel approach.
Today, programmatic media should also combine targeted display banners, search engine marketing (SEM), and nurturing/remarketing strategies to convert people into applicants. It should leverage an ecosystem that uses data, analytics, and machine learning in a goals-based format to target specific audiences for your recruiting message.
These sophisticated algorithms serve job advertisements to individuals who fit your target candidate profile and automatically optimize the ad buying process in real time based on performance metrics.
When optimized and incorporated within the full recruitment marketing matrix, programmatic media can drive better cost efficiency, improved resource allocation, and quicker movement of people through the talent funnel.
How does DICK’S Sporting Goods leverage programmatic media?
One of the key benefits of programmatic media for DICK’S Sporting Goods is the ability to automatically and consistently adjust to the needs of the business. It’s not a set-it-and-forget-it approach; it keeps refining, so the organization always spends wisely and gains the best outcomes.
Rick says because of programmatic media, “we’re highly connected and integrated with our store operations team, which enables us to have greater visibility into store staffing needs at all times. This visibility also means we don’t have to call our stores individually to ask ‘how’s your advertising’ because we already know. We first match staffing levels store by store with talent funnel metrics. Then we go to Symphony Talent and say, ‘here are our gaps.’”
That’s where our Symphony Talent team comes in. We work with DICK’S Sporting Goods to plug their data into an optimized programmatic media strategy based on those gaps and goals.
To get the best out of programmatic media, you must partner closely with your recruitment teams to understand those hiring gaps and identify areas and locations that need skilled workers. For example, DICK’S Sporting Goods has some sites that generate a lot of traffic and application flows, while others show less traffic. The key is to spend more dollars in the lower-trafficked areas and reduce spending in the high-volume areas.
And while that may sound like common sense, it wasn’t always possible to focus spending on target areas. At HRTech, Rick said, “Before, you might just throw some advertising out there because you think you need it. But you need to be very targeted, smart, and super data-driven regarding advertising across an organization.”
Programmatic media is not a post-and-pray tactic. It’s strategic; it’s data-driven; and best of all, it’s cost-effective and drives results.
Interested in watching the full Tech Talk with DICK'S Sporting Goods?
Check out the on-demand recording via the link below.