HR is Marketing

The ability to interact with a potential customer is powerful, your objective is to have them walk away and tell a story of their experience that resonates with their network or tribe. This opportunity is no longer limited to the sales and marketing department, you must empower everyone who works in your business from line staff to top executive, anyone with this unique opportunity to interact - even a brief "hello" moment - with your customers.

Your HR department is often the first line for a potential customer to interact with your brand. A summer student seeking work often looks at a job board, finds an opportunity that interests them, and researches your company for first impression. Then they apply to your company nervously waiting for someone to respond. In most times, no one responds! Even worst, this student has an interview but the interviewer is rude leaving a bad impression on the potential customer that they tell all their friends.

Here is an opportunity for the HR department to cajole the summer student by giving timely feedback or a follow up phone call especially when they didn't make it to the next round of interviews. Heck, go further by giving the student a gift card so you can convert a customer, "Please come back with your friends and let me know how we do!"

A summer student is easy, they are forgiving and impressionable. What if this story happened to a seasoned professional?

Ensure your HR team understands the value of each applicant, they are no different than the person lining up at your front desk or flipping through gallery photos on your website. This can be your competitive advantage to blow away your competitors.

P.S. HR is Human Resources, let's not forget the HUMAN part.