A successful Candidate Nurture strategy aims to create engaged candidates who are ready to consider a job opportunity with the company when one becomes available. Once in the pipeline, maintaining and nurturing a relationship with each candidate is key to making the process effective.
“[Candidate Nurture] is an extremely viable and very important strategy for any talent acquisition professional to employ. It’s also one of the most underused strategies.”
– Paul Wills, Vice President of Talent Acquisition
The benefits of having a robust and engaged candidate pipeline are vast, but they boil down to the following:
1. Increased Veracity of the Pipeline
Staying in contact with potential hires means they feel actively valued and engaged, it also means that by interacting with and collecting information from candidates on a regular basis, the information housed within the pipeline is as accurate and up to date as possible. Accurate information reduces errors that could lead to time waste and missed opportunities down the line.
2. Reduced Time to Hire
Hiring a new employee is time consuming and expensive. By nurturing a pool of pre-screened, qualified candidates, time-to-hire, and therefore cost-per-hire, are significantly reduced.
“Some of the brilliance of this is reducing the reliance on job boards. I mean, we hear it all the time. We spend so much money on job boards but using it ‘one and done’ is not the way to translate that spend.”
– Stacey Shaw, Senior Director of Talent Acquisition
Maintaining current data means the pipeline has all the information a recruiter needs, like:
- Skillset
- Level of experience
- Areas of interest
- Contact information
3. Increased Brand Awareness
Sending out useful, interactive, and informative materials to candidates equates to a positive connotation with your brand. This is not a time to spam the pipeline; this is a time to engage with care, releasing quality content that will let the recipients know more about your company, what it’s like to work there, and most importantly, encourage them to stay interested and invested in working with you. Candidate Experience is key in the Candidate Nurturing process. Applicants who have a positive experience with any given brand are more likely to recommend their network to the company, reapply if they don’t get offered a job on the first attempt, and bolster the Employer Brand with reviews or testimonials.
How do I implement Candidate Nurture into my current recruitment strategy?
1. Use Existing Software Tools
“I think one of the terrifying things for a recruiter when they do these kinds of things or an organization when they try to set it up is the threat of purchasing yet another new software. Let me assure you, this does not have to happen within a new software.”
– Paul Wills, Vice President of Talent Acquisition
This strategy does not mean investing in a whole new tech stack. This capability is housed within applicant tracking systems (ATS) or candidate relationship management (CRM) software. Simply find your version and set up automated communications as much as possible. Sending personalized replies to a submitted application is easy to set up, and a minimum requirement in today’s competitive job market. These seemingly small steps mean a lot to applicants and mean even more when they are missing.
2. Think Like a Marketer
Regular communication with candidates is the key to fostering a positive relationship. This means being as transparent as possible with candidates. Good examples include letting them know how long the application process is with a roadmap, sending them helpful resources such as what “a day in the life” looks like for employees, or potentially sending them company newsletters. Get creative and feature what makes your company uniquely appealing. By maintaining contact with the pipeline regularly and providing value, the relationship built between candidates and the organization is one built on trust and mutual respect.
3. Listen
Facilitating positive encounters with your brand will bring rewards. By soliciting feedback from candidates on their experience with your organization, you can gain valuable insights into areas where improvements can be made. Listen to what applicants ask, take their positive and negative feedback, and improve your application process as you go.
To look more in-depth at Candidate Nurturing, listen to our TAD Talk with Talent Acquisition experts Paul Wills and Stacey Shaw. Candidate Experience starts with the job description, so don’t overlook any part of the process, thinking it might not make a difference. Every step is integral to the overall success of the Candidate Experience. Putting some extra effort into Candidate Nurturing means an easier hiring process down the road. Questions or comments about this topic? Let us know!
