Candidate Engagement
What it is, why you need it, and how to encourage it
Want to hear a secret that isn’t really a secret at all?
We’re in a talent crunch.
That’s ridiculous, you say. Unemployment is at near-record highs. Right now, people are begging for jobs.
Well, that’s true. For the moment. But before the COVID pandemic, we had a talent crunch. Just twelve months ago, employers were begging for experienced, capable people to fill their job openings. And while our economy has been shifted into neutral, if not reverse, those experienced, talented people are still needed. It’s just that the jobs that they’re needed for are on the back burner. For the moment.
Someday, sooner or later, the pandemic will end. And when that happens, we’re going to go right back to where we were before all this started – right back into a shortage of talented people.
The smart thing to do is to take advantage of this time to start positioning your company to be able to get the first chance at those in-demand people before the rest of the economy is fully aware that the talent crunch never really went away.
The best way to do that is to fully engage your candidates.
Candidate Engagement
Candidate engagement means that a candidate is excited at the potential of coming to work for your company. You’ve seen this before – maybe you have a friend or a colleague or a work buddy who gets starry-eyed over the idea of going to work for, say, Google. That look in their eye? That’s candidate engagement. And your company can have that.
But, you’re going to have to work for it.
You can catch the attention of a candidate, but to truly hold on to it, and to get the most of it, you need to make sure that the candidate has a positive interaction with your company, even if they don’t come to work for you.
Why is Candidate Engagement a Good Thing?
Okay, so Google has a lot of fans who want to work for them. What does that mean to you? And why should you try to get that kind of excitement for your company?
Candidate engagement helps to develop your talent pool
Your talent pool is a group of potential candidates for your company. Some of them may already work for you and be interested in internal positions, others may have been considered for a job that they didn’t get and are still interested in working for your company.
The people in your talent pool aren’t limited to a specific skill set – you can have anyone in your talent pool. Your talent pool is the first place you should look when you have a new opening.
Your talent pipeline, on the other hand, is the people who are being considered for a specific job with your company. Your talent pipeline fuels your talent pool. Once someone joins your talent pipeline, you’ll be able to engage them as a candidate. And if you do it right, they’ll still think your company would be a great potential employer even if they don’t get the job. A deep talent pool is essential for talent acquisition because it leads to better hires in a shorter time frame.
Engaged candidates don’t ghost
It’s hard to think of something more frustrating than candidates who ghost – candidates who get into your hiring process, even going through an interview or two, and then just disappear, not returning emails or phone calls.
You know who doesn’t ghost? Engaged candidates. When someone is in touch with your company and is excited, they don’t disappear. If this doesn’t seem like a big deal, talk to your HR department. Odds are, they have very strong opinions about candidate ghosting.
Engaged candidates become engaged employees
Engaged candidates who are hired become engaged employees and engaged employees are stronger performers with lower rates of turnover. They’re happier in their jobs, and that strengthens your corporate culture, as well as your company’s bottom line.
How to Increase Candidate Engagement
Getting people excited at the possibility of working for your company may seem like a difficult task, but there’s one thing you can do to make it easier – use your empathy. Stop looking at talent acquisition in terms of which positions you have open and start looking at it in terms of attracting top talent. Even the phrase “candidate engagement” starts with the word candidate. Your hiring process should put your candidates first because they’re the future of your company.
Make it easy to apply
Candidate engagement starts with a clear job description. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise. People want to know exactly what kind of job they’re looking at, including the duties, qualifications, and the benefits your company offers. If you provide candidates the details of the position, they’ll be able to decide for themselves if the job matches their abilities and their ambitions.
You should also take an objective look at your company’s job application. Would you take the time to complete it? A long job application is frustrating, and it discourages people from applying to your company. In fact, nearly sixty percent of people report not completing an application because of the length and complexity of the app. Keep your job application simple and direct so that applicants aren’t discouraged early in the hiring process
Another thing that discourages candidates is the resume black hole. Think about it. How many times have you applied to a position and never heard anything at all, not even confirmation that you applied? Did that make you feel positive toward the company? Probably not.
Setting up an automated response to acknowledge receipt of an application or resume may seem like a simple thing, but it will do wonders for the way candidates see your company.
Generate excitement
One of the best ways to increase candidate engagement is to generate excitement about working for your company. Make sure that you offer plenty of information for candidates to review. Things like office videos, employee blogs, even virtual employee meet and greets can be a great way to hold the attention and interest of your candidates.
There’s a word for all of the materials you can make available to candidates – collateral. Talk to your marketing department about how to develop talent acquisition collateral. After all, they’re your resident experts at expanding your company’s message and reach. Partner with them to make sure that your talent acquisition efforts meet with your company’s standards and get their help in polishing your message.
The high touch hiring process
Technology has made it easier than ever to stay in touch with candidates. Texting, email, and social media are great ways to maintain contact with applicants and people who haven’t applied to your company yet. You can use chatbots to answer basic questions about working for your company, and you can even use a good, old fashioned telephone to stay in touch with your candidates. This is especially useful when you have candidates who are actively interviewing. Make sure that they stay in the loop and aren’t discouraged if the process takes longer than they’d like.
What about candidates who don’t get the job?
You can’t hire everybody, but you can make sure that the people you don’t hire are treated with dignity and respect so that they feel comfortable remaining part of your talent pool. After all, just because this job wasn’t the right job doesn’t mean you won’t have a job for them at a later date.
When you have to turn someone down for a job, let them know as soon as possible. It’s important to be direct, but be sensitive. Rather than say, “You didn’t get the job because you don’t have enough experience,” you can say, “We had some really great candidates to choose from, and even though we couldn’t offer you this job, we want to stay in touch,” Again, use your personal empathy to write a rejection letter that you would like to receive.
Smoothly transition into employee engagement
Just because you make a job offer to someone and they accept it is no guarantee that they will actually come to work for your company, especially as more employers realize that we still have a talent crunch. So during the time after someone accepts your job offer but before their first day, be sure that they still feel engaged with your company. A good way to do this is by beginning the onboarding process before their first day. For instance, you can send them the documents they’ll need to have on their first day, such as their state and federal tax deduction forms. You can also provide information on your company benefits package. And be sure to include your soon-to-be new employee with your team remotely.
Almost everyone who applies to work at your company will be rejected. But if you’re looking at applicants as a binary question of whether or not you’ll hire them for the position they applied to, you’re ignoring their potential. Keep the lines of communication open and you’ll find that your talent acquisition efforts will be more successful. You’ll also have a good head start on employee engagement.
