On WorkHappy.net, Seth Godin lists the The top five mistakes entrepreneurs make when they market.  To borrow from his list, here’s how Seth’s five principles apply to employment marketing and recruiting practices:

1. Expecting gratitude in exchange for having done something that was hard.  Don’t let buzz fool you; sometimes companies with well known reputations have to work that much harder to attract the best of the best.  A strong name brand doesn’t mean you will necessarily attract strong applicants ... especially in the long run.  Companies who coast on their name cache may find their complacency to be the root of their future recruiting issues.  Capitalize on the buzz now but build a strong foundation through effective recruiting messaging and programs, and be sure to let potential applicants know the WIIFM (what’s in it for me).
2. Spending money as a substitute for doing something great.  If your recruiting department is endowed with good funding (shocker, I know!), spend the money wisely.  Flashy campaigns can attract lots of interest, but if your back-end processes, systems, and people aren't world-class, your extra candidate generation efforts will go to waste … quickly.
3. Not realizing that it's your company, and your marketing better be as good as everything else. You’ve got a great corporate culture, great career opportunities, and great employees.  Does anyone know?
4. Listening to other people. If they're so smart, why aren't they running your company?   Recruiting departments always have an army of stakeholders from HR to business clients to candidates.  You could gather feedback, conduct surveys, and pull research all day long … but at some point, you just have to do it.  You are the recruiting expert afterall.  Take risks.  Recruiting isn’t a traditionally innovative field so if one of your risks pays off, it will pay off big.
5. Failure to measure.  Track, report, review.  The key to a successful recruiting plan is all in past data.  Data integrity rocks! :)

gretchen