In an increasingly competitive labor market, it’s vital to the success of your business to both attract and engage top employee talent.
Many employers are excited when they get a great resume submission or complete a positive initial phone screen. But the work to engage talent doesn’t end there! Hiring processes take time, and while you move your candidate through yours, there’s a good chance they’re participating in interviews with multiple other businesses.
Many candidates may also already be employed, but want to find a company that is a better financial and/or cultural fit. It’s up to you to show them why they should take a risk on a new opportunity.
Here are five recruitment marketing tactics to help you continue to engage top candidates - without investing too much additional time and/or resources.
1. Add a Chatbot to Your Careers Page
Chatbots are a great way to automate parts of your recruiting communication process. They can be loaded with responses to commonly asked questions, direct people to the pages or products they’re looking for, and help you gain valuable insights about what your candidates are asking.
For example, a chatbot can engage job seekers who are looking at your careers page by sharing information about the company culture, answering questions about the benefits of working at your company and explaining how to apply for an open position.
Outside of the initial setup, chatbots don’t require much effort on your part. It’s like having a personal assistant on your careers page that’s available 24/7.
2. Use Online Recruitment Assessment Tools
One of the more recent additions to the recruiter’s tool belt is the online assessment tool. When you need to narrow down a pool of applicants before scheduling interviews, you can use an assessment tool to do the job for you.
Recruitment assessment tools can measure everything from personality type to cognitive ability to skill level. You’ll most likely be able to find one tailored to your industry.
For example, if your assisted living community is looking to hire a nurse, there are assessments designed to gauge a candidate’s emotional intelligence and patient focus. If you’re trying to narrow down candidates for a manufacturing job, there are also assessments that can test mechanical aptitude.
Be mindful of the type of assessment you use. Taking the assessment shouldn’t lower candidate engagement during the recruitment process. If your assessment is too long or asks questions that don’t align with the candidate’s expectations for the role, you risk losing that applicant.
3. Add a Personalized Video
There are two primary ways video can help engage and process candidates during the recruitment process: 1) it can help keep top candidates engaged, and 2) it can help weed out less-than-stellar applicants.
During the initial application process, candidates don’t often feel a human connection with your company. The more often you engage with them, and more personalized that engagement, the more likely they are to stay interested in your opportunity.
When sending both initial and follow-up emails to candidates, add a personalized video. This helps establish and nurture a relationship with the candidate. Unlike an impersonal form email, this type of communication humanizes both you and the company.
There are many free, easy tools you can use to create a quick video. Remember, your video doesn’t have to be Oscar-worthy, just authentic.
Also, instead of just cutting and pasting the video link in the email — which might get it marked as spam — insert a screenshot from the video that is hyperlinked to the video platform where the candidate can watch the video.
You can also sort out candidates who don’t make the cut by using video calls. Before setting up an in-person interview with someone whose application has a few red flags, ask them to meet with you virtually via an online video call. If you don’t already have a digital communication platform, Google Hangouts is a free tool you can use.
4. Showcase Your Company’s Strengths
The best candidates are the ones who take the time to get to know your company before and during the application process. They applied because they liked what they saw, as opposed to just chasing a paycheck.
Don’t miss out on that enthusiasm. Instead, capitalize on it by showcasing your company’s greatest strengths and benefits. You can do this via direct channels, such as get-to-know-us packets and company culture videos sent via email to applicants.
You can also take a less direct approach by highlighting your company culture on your social media accounts and website. Chances are, candidates are taking a peek at your Facebook and LinkedIn pages to see what it’s really like to work there. Keep candidate engagement high by posting insights into your company on a regular basis.
5. Have a Comprehensive Recruitment Marketing Strategy
Boosting candidate engagement is only one part of the recruitment puzzle. If you want help planning a comprehensive strategy from start to finish, download our free guide, 5 Steps to a Recruitment Marketing Strategy:
