Talent acquisition in high volume: Tips for creating a high touch candidate experience

 

Just because you have to hire a cohort of 1,000 entry level employees every year doesn’t mean your hiring process needs to be low-touch or non-engaging. Janine Truitt, a member of our Panel of Experts and Chief Innovations Officer at Talent Think Innovations, offers some excellent tips for talent acquisition leaders who have high volume needs. Truitt is an expert in innovative training and products that arm businesses with the knowledge and tools they need to succeed. Read her advice below on how large employers with at-scale hiring needs can still provide a high-touch and positive candidate experience.

Why should a recruiter care about the relationships he or she builds with their candidates? What is the consequence of not building relationships?

Recruitment is all about relationships. Building a rapport with candidates not only makes your company look good, but it opens the gateway to future referrals of their colleagues for your future needs. Another piece to note is that your reputation follows you. When you have spent a while in recruitment (particularly when you recruit for a specific niche), your reputation precedes you. One wrong move with a candidate several years ago can hinder your ability to recruit in the future or have you starting off on the wrong foot with a candidate who becomes a hiring manager you have to deal with in another company. It is a small world. Treat every candidate as you would wish to be treated—with respect.

What are some concrete ways that a recruiter can get to know candidates more personally?

1. Just like we do with internal employees, employers can send out pulse surveys to candidates they have further interest in after they have received the initial application. It could be a five question survey that is used to get the candidate to share their interests, goals and even something funny to break the ice. These should not be used as ways to weed out candidates (and the survey should indicate to candidates that their responses won’t cause them to be rejected), but instead as ways to get a broader perspective of the candidate before the formality of the interview. In return, the hiring manager and recruiter working with them can share some about themselves too. It’s all about grabbing the candidate heart and mind from the very beginning.

 2. One nice touch that goes a long way is when the recruiters sends handwritten notes to top candidates, thanking them for their time and interest. We tell candidates to write thank you notes after an interview, not remembering that the candidate is also investing time to learn about your company.

3. If one of your top candidates isn’t selected for hire, what usually happens? They receive a static notice from the ATS saying they weren’t selected. Many times they are forgotten and recruiters move on to find other candidates for future needs. Have a newsletter of sorts that goes out to people you were impressed with. In it, you can share company news and also invite them to respond about how they are doing. This is a great way of keeping your company top of mind with quality candidates. It also ensures that you don’t waste your slates of great candidates.

 

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What should the employer want the candidate to understand or feel at each step of the hiring process?

Searching for a job is both stressful and exciting. Employers should approach their hiring process with the assumption that the process should incites excitement in the candidates. Employers can ensure candidates remain excited by making sure they have a positive and seamless experience from the time a candidate sends a resume into their ATS to the interview with respective hiring managers.

Candidates should never be left in the dark about the flow of the hiring process. Letting them know up front what they can expect at every stage will put their minds at ease with knowing what to expect and prevent them from constantly calling and emailing recruiters.

 

What can employers learn from executive recruiters to make their hiring process more high touch? 

Executive recruiters understand that they are of service to both their employer client and equally so to the candidate. They utilize a very individualized approach whereby the candidate is being nurtured throughout the process and prepared to put their best foot forward as they are presented to a slate of clients.

Employers often claim that time prevents them from delivering at this level, but this approach is exactly how any candidate should be treated. Every talent acquisition team should be armed with the budget, staff and resources to ensure that the first interaction with the company is top-notch, not lackluster.

How does the current market and talent war play into this?

Today’s challenges/opportunities in talent acquisition include: multiple generations actively working together, the emergence of the multi-dimensional professional, a focus on personal fit over just needing a job, technology takeover, and varied work agreements.

Employers are going to have to meet people where they are in life. Just as marketing and sales have shifted to looking at more boutique and customized ways of reaching people within their target market, companies will have to do the same to reach the top candidate.

Today’s candidates are much more savvy and forthright about what they want and what they are worth. The want to work, but they want to do it for the right company and in a way that fits their lifestyle.

As pensions and other long-term company benefits continue to dwindle and/or shift, candidates are looking for more flexibility in return for their labor – whether it is working from home, working abridged weeks or working in a non-traditional role as a freelancer. Today’s candidates want options. The employers that offer up the most comprehensive slate of options or the ones who are adaptable to the needs and wants of the market will win the “talent war”.