Recruiters know great candidates are hard to find in such a competitive market – and they don’t want to let them go. To truly understand the candidate, and successfully convert them to a hire, you must view the recruitment process from their perspective. Good recruiters know their candidates, but great recruiters understand their candidates.
Step into their shoes as if it were back when you were job searching right out of college. What did you ask yourself when you were choosing between a job at one company and another? What about the hiring process made you choose this job instead of the other one?
All these factors need to be considered when creating your recruitment process. It’s more than “Posting-and-Praying” – it’s about making the recruitment process easier, faster, and less expensive for recruiters, hiring teams and potential candidates.
Engaging candidate experiences lets recruiters focus on what’s important – people
Because much of the tedious work of recruiting will be automated, such as recruitment marketing campaigns and rejecting candidates, recruiters can leave every rejected candidate with a positive brand impression and keep qualified candidates close by. The time saved can then be used to strengthen your relationships with the hiring managers, giving you the opportunity to hone in on exactly what they are looking for, and to really get to know each candidate.
Candidates know when they’re being treated like just another number, and that just doesn’t fly in today’s competitive landscape.
When a team focuses on continuously engaging candidates in ways that make them feel important and valued, we start hearing from those candidates that we did an amazing job, whether we hired them or not. That’s a big win in any recruiter’s book!
Social media is more than a place to post pretty pictures
LinkedIn is recruiters’ most-used channel for recruitment efforts with 77%, followed by Facebook (63%). However, LinkedIn’s popularity has shifted dramatically. In 2017, 92% of recruiters used LinkedIn. Instagram’s popularity with job seekers is increasing its use among recruiters – a quarter of recruiters are now investing in recruiting efforts on Instagram, especially millennial recruiters (35%) and those working at technology companies (63%), double the amount in 2017.
A strong employer brand – and some good old-fashioned marketing – remains crucial to getting hard-won candidates in the door.
Top investments for growing an employer brand:
Social media (47%)
Company career website (21%)
Marketing and advertising (12%)
Hiring managers hire teammates faster
Artificial Intelligence (AI) for recruiting is an emerging category of HR technology designed to reduce – or even remove – time-consuming recruitment activities. With AI bringing to light more quality candidates at a faster rate, hiring managers are now filling positions faster without having to evaluate hundreds of unqualified candidates. Additionally, they can also use a mobile app to find out where their candidates are in the process and to submit interview feedback while on the go. All of this moves the process along faster and with greater frequency than ever before.
52% of talent acquisition leaders say the hardest part of recruitment is identifying the right candidates from a large applicant pool.
Marketing your current job openings is an important task, but understanding the candidates you are marketing to makes all the difference. Great engagement makes for great experiences and ultimately helps a candidate decide whether to accept or reject your job offer. Social media has become a huge part of the recruitment process for a reason. Now that social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat are the primary source of information, there’s no better place to start your candidate search. Companies who are willing to adapt and innovate will stand out – not only in the eyes of the candidates but also from the perspective of your entire hiring organization. Set yourself and your company up for long-term success by focusing on the most important thing – the people.
Is your company in the process of hiring?
Ask yourself these questions to make sure you’re prepared:
1. Where is your organization today? Where do you want to go next?
2. Do you have a compelling career website that supports mobile devices?
3. Are you managing your social channels with your employment brand in mind?
4. Is it easy for a candidate to apply to your job via a mobile device?
5. Are you leveraging your own employees to recruit for new talent?
6. Is your onboarding experience seamlessly connected to your hiring experience?
Kiana Corpus
Kiana Corpus is a San Diego native and the marketing manager at Jobtip, Inc. With her passion for Digital Marketing and Design tailored for Candidate Experience, Kiana has had the opportunity to work with a variety of clients in the US, Canada and Europe in a range of industries, including IT, healthcare, finance, transportation and engineering.