Greater Somerset County YMCA Staff Recruitment Marketing

[ about ]

The pandemic exacerbated existing challenges regarding filling critical roles to maintain normal operations at Greater Somerset County YMCA. These challenges were evident to the public in the form of disruptions to regular pool schedules due to a lack of sufficient lifeguard staff, as well as the frequent cancellation of fitness classes and seasonal programming due to a lack of instructors. These circumstances threatened the organization’s pandemic recovery. Human Resources engaged the Marketing team to refresh the positioning of the Y as a nonprofit employer of choice in the area to support their efforts to recruit for full-time and part-time positions in 20+ areas at 12+ locations across five counties in New Jersey.

APPROACH & OUTCOME

A review of the prospective employees’ journey from awareness to application was conducted on the website and ADP (the HRIS through which prospective employees would formally begin the application process). Key audiences were identified, including aquatics staff, seasonal summer camp staff, school-age childcare staff, fitness and wellness staff, and youth sports programming staff. Marketing met with key stakeholders in each audience group to understand the unique benefits of working at the Y. Insights synthesized from these stakeholder meetings revealed positive responses unrelated to monetary compensation—yet strongly tied to culture and meaningful experiences that foster retention. Photography that spotlighted the genuine staff experience at local Y locations was identified and captured to help bring the messaging to life.

Insights from stakeholder meetings were leveraged in crafting new audience-specific messaging and CTAs designed to resonate with prospective staff in key areas of employment within the Y. Refreshed messaging was supported by original photography and a complete overhaul of the Careers section of the Greater Somerset County YMCA website. Photography featuring actual Y staff experiencing “everyday moments of connection” was integrated throughout the online prospective employee journey in the Careers section of the website, as well as in ADP Career Centers. Amplifying the newly targeted nature of staff recruitment marketing, digital and social media ads utilized seamless audience-specific photography and messaging from the ad or organic content to the landing page. The complete refresh of the Y’s positioning as a nonprofit employer of choice helped support Human Resources’ efforts in filling vacancies for mission-critical roles throughout the organization, at a time when hiring part-time on-site staff was a pervasive post-pandemic challenge.

This project is an example of the player-coach role I pivoted into while at Greater Somerset County YMCA as the organization recovered from impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, including significantly reduced staffing levels in areas like marketing, finance, and HR.

MY ROLE

Copywriting, Interdepartmental Liaison, Interviewer, Photography, Project Lead, Social Media Marketing & Web Design

KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS & TOOLS

• Strategy: Audience Segmentation | Brand Differentiation | Brand Messaging | Brand Stewardship | Campaign Management | Communications Strategy | Competitive Analysis | Cross-Functional Collaboration | Customer Experience (CX) Strategy | Customer-Centric Mindset | External Communications | Market Research | Nonprofit Marketing | Organic Social Media | Project Management | Reputation Management | Stakeholder Management | UI/UX Design | Word-of-Mouth Influence
• Creative & Production: Content Creation | Copywriting | Creative Problem-Solving | Digital Marketing | Event Marketing | Photo Editing | Photography | Presentation Design | RAW Image Post-Processing | Social Media Marketing | Visual Storytelling | Web Design
• Tools: Accrisoft Freedom Website CMS | Adobe Photoshop | ADP Workforce Now | Daxko Engage Email/Marketing Automation | Facebook | Google Docs | Google Sheets | Hootsuite Social Media Management | Instagram | LinkedIn | Meta Ads Manager | X/Twitter