8 ways how to boost your candidate engagement.
The key to successful hiring lies in engaging candidates. With the right strategies and techniques, you can create an engaging recruitment process that will help you find the best talent for your organization. Engaging with potential employees shows that you value them and their time. It also helps to create a positive impression of your company as one that cares about its candidates’ experiences. It is especially important for high volume hiring when you can have potentially hundreds of applicants for one or more positions.
You are going to reject the vast majority of candidates, but you still want to make sure your recruitment process is as engaging and pleasant for the candidates as those candidates might be relevant in another process or they can recommend your company to their friend who might turn out to be your ideal candidate.
The most common candidate engagement issues include:
Long application process
Lack of communication
One way communication – candidates are unable to contact the recruiter/ company
No feedback after rejection
Here are our 8 Ways To Boost Candidate Engagement
Make candidates excited about working for you
The first step to engaging candidates is to be open and transparent with them. Let them know who you are, what your company does, why they should be interested in working with you and how a day could look like. You should also make yourself available so that potential hires can easily contact you with questions or comments about their job application process or any other concerns they may have. This will show them that you value their input and appreciate their interest in working for your organization.
Make it Personal
When it comes to recruiting, it’s important to make sure your conversations are personal and tailored to each individual candidate. Ask good questions about their experience, interests, goals, and expectations so that you can get a better understanding of who they are as a person and how they would fit into your team. Showing genuine interest in each candidate will help foster an atmosphere of trust between them and the employer which will ultimately lead to more engaged employees down the line.
Create Opportunities for Dialogue
Creating opportunities for dialogue is another great way to engage candidates throughout the hiring process. Make sure there is plenty of time set aside during interviews for candidates to ask questions or provide feedback on their experiences with your company so far. This will give them an opportunity to get a better understanding of what it would be like to work for you as well as give you insight into how well they would fit into the team dynamic once hired.
Stay in Touch Throughout the Process
You should stay in touch throughout the entire recruitment process—from when a candidate first submits their application to when they receive an offer letter (and beyond). Keeping open lines of communication by responding promptly to emails and phone calls will show that you value the candidate’s time and efforts. Additionally, providing regular updates about where applicants stand in the hiring process will help keep them engaged and excited about joining your team.
Provide Personalized Feedback
When rejecting a candidate, it is important to provide personalized feedback as to why they were not selected for the position. This shows respect and appreciation for their hard work throughout the recruitment process and can help create a positive impression of your company in case they decide to apply again or refer someone else. Make sure to always be respectful when giving feedback, as it reflects on your company’s character.
Focus on Making Connections
Finally, focus on making connections instead of simply hiring people who fit certain criteria on paper. Get to know candidates by asking questions about their experience and goals for their career path ahead. Doing this shows that you care about more than just skillset – you want someone who is passionate about what they do and fits into your corporate culture. Even if you don’t end up hiring them right away, making these connections can be beneficial in other ways such as referrals or partnerships down the road.
Automate what is possible
The goal behind automating is not to shorten the recruitment process but saving time to focus on the candidates instead of administration. Win time for your recruiters and let them do what they should – connect with candidates, build long term talent pools and relations, represent your company and win the best talents for you.
Ask for feedback
Collecting feedback about the recruitment process from candidates will not only show that you value your candidate’s opinion and want to deliver an excellent candidate experience but it also will provide you very valuable information about how and where to improve the process. Create a survey and send it to your rejected candidates to see your process form the candidates perspective.
Engaging your candidates during the hiring process is essential if you want to recruit people that are the best match for your organization. By building relations and being open for dialogue, you can ensure that your candidates feel valued throughout every stage of recruitment which will result in better engagement with both current and future employees down the line. With these tips in mind, start engaging today!
Fifteen years of experience in various areas related to working with clients in the highest standards of customer service, recruitment areas like employer branding, creating strategies facilitating the process, augmenting and building new teams.
