Redefine your recruitment strategy and take an omnichannel recruitment approach in order to create a memorable candidate journey.
The process of filling in a new job opening can be costly in terms of time and money. Recruiters have the challenge to find a candidate that masters the required skills, while fitting in the company culture. On the opposite side, candidates have challenges in finding the right fit for their career.
However, there is nothing more gratifying than the moment the process ends with a good match for both, recruiter and candidate.
The candidate journey
The candidate journey describes the road taken by a candidate that applies for a job.
As a recruiter you want to take into consideration all the touch points the candidate comes in contact with, and make sure you respond with consistency in all of them.
Step 1 – Awareness
It starts with the process of making the candidate aware of your company and your job openings. This stage is tricky to define. Because the active candidates might take the action to apply the moment they come in contact with your brand. For other candidates, it might take a lot of time and research before they make the decision to apply.
As a company, you are not in control as to which touch point the candidate first comes in contact with. But you can optimize you channels, so they are interconnected and your brand is omnipresent.
Delighting the candidates and give them a good and smooth candidate experience from the get go. This lets you develop relationships with your future candidates long before you will need them to apply for a job.
According to The Future Of Recruiting Study made by CareerArc, 64% of job seekers with a poor candidate experience would be less likely to make a purchase from that company. The bad experiences influence the present, but are also influencing their future consumer behavior.
Bad experiences also affect and influence candidates in other ways. The same study shows that 55% of job seekers that have read a negative review on the company decide to stop applying for the job. Having this information lets you take charge of your reviews, and the way you respond to them.
Step 2 – Consideration/interest
The second phase in the candidate journey is the consideration / interest phase. This is where the candidates gets converted into applying. During this phase the candidates have multiple interactions with your brand and employer brand.
Not all candidates will spend time to check you out and understand you company. However, around 69% of active candidates will take their time to do so. The candidates that are really interested in your company will do their research and try to grasp your culture from the available information. You want to meet them prepared and let your Employer Branding strategy charm them into taking the action of applying.
Step 3 – Application and hiring
The final phases in the candidate journey are application and hiring. The hiring process ends with these two phases. All the efforts taken in the initial phases will pay off when candidates need to take action and apply for the job.
All the previous phases will also determine the way they will apply. If they have a high interest in you, they will put an extra effort in their application, showing you how they are the best fit for your company.
For the candidate journey to be a successful and positive experience for all involved parts, you as a company can put in place a recruiting strategy.
Omnichannel recruiting strategy
Whether we are aware of it or not, omnichannel marketing is all around in our interaction with brands. This terminology is typically used in a marketing or retail sense. But why not be an innovator and apply this to the HR department?
The terminology, omnichannel marketing, means mixing all the touch points a customer goes through. Digital and interpersonal interaction and giving them a continuous experience.
Give the candidates a personalized and memorable experience across channels and devices, that align with your goals and culture in a form of flow of convenient interactions.
In a practical sense, it means that no matter the channel or touch point the candidate comes in contact with, their experience continues, rather than start over.
Think of it as of watching a movie on Netflix. You start on your tv, then when you open the app on your phone or tablet, and you can continue watching where you left off. This is exactly the kind of customer-centric approach you can use so that your company’s candidate journey. Make it as seamless as possible, while allowing companies to deliver a consistent and effective brand message. Thus aligning your recruitment strategy with consumer behaviour.
Consumer behaviour is influenced by a number of factors including marketing strategies, economic conditions, personal preferences and group preferences. Recruiters can tailor the recruitment strategy to optimise the reach of qualified potential employers and create a strong talent pool.
Key points
To sum up, think of all the touch points you have with your candidates and design a consistent communication flow, in order to give candidates a great candidate journey.
Your brand consistency represents the pattern of expression that determines the way your company is perceived by the outside world. So putting a extra effort in the way you present yourself will improve the candidates perception.
For more ideas for memorable experience and touch points with the younger generations, consider the following article: Recruit the best talent through video or explore our website here.
