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3 Ways to Leverage Your Communications Channels to Support Recruitment
It’s tempting to push pause on candidate engagement and communication efforts when facing uncertainty. Things are still changing on a weekly or even daily basis for many of us, as we continue to adjust to life in the midst of a pandemic. And with so much up in the air, it’s a real challenge to know how to push forward when we’re waiting for things to go back to normal. However, if you stop your communication efforts all together, you fall behind your competition and make it that much more difficult to get back up to speed when the time comes to hire in greater numbers again. Leverage your careers page and social media channels now to support current and future recruitment goals.
Whether hiring is still in flux or you’re returning to pre-COVID requisition norms, you must keep prospects in the loop, continue to showcase your employer brand, and allow your talent pipeline to keep growing. Otherwise, when we do get to a post-COVID environment, you’ll be working overtime to try to catch up on missed opportunities. If you haven’t already, it’s time to optimize your careers page and social media channels so that your pipeline is ready when you’re prepared to hire. Work smarter today for greater results tomorrow.
Transparency
One of the best ways to support your ability to continually recruit quality hires is a positive candidate experience. Factors that contribute to that experience range from how easy it is to apply, to how readily available candidates can obtain needed information and a company’s level of transparency. While many of today’s professionals face unemployment or are wary of job stability, communicating transparency is arguably more important than ever before at this time.
Candidates are coming to the table with questions in hand. They want to know if you’re hiring and how you’ve adapted in light of COVID-19. Have you implemented new safety protocols? Are you open to work from home opportunities, whether temporarily or going forward? Do you have new workplace guidelines? How are your team members staying connected? What’s different than it was five months ago?
Prepare responses to questions like these and share them proactively on your careers page. If you’re not hiring yet, that’s okay, but be upfront about it—be as transparent as possible. Consider adding a notification banner to the top of your careers page to briefly address how your company is adapting to the current environment. If you talk about your organization’s response to the pandemic proactively, it highlights your level of transparency and enhances the initial candidate experience.
Efficiency and Automation
When it comes to efficiency, think about what will benefit both prospective candidates and your organization. How easy is it for prospects to find the information they’re seeking? Can they find the answers to their questions on your careers page or do they need to spend additional time (yours and theirs) asking someone on your team? Questions related to COVID-19 and telecommuting are going to come up frequently. Save time by providing answers to commonly asked questions on your company website and other social channels.
An efficient and engaging way to communicate this information is through the use of a chatbot. Automation not only frees up your time as a recruiter, but also enhances the candidate journey and increases conversion rates. A 2020 study found that 95% more job seekers become leads, and 40% more job seekers complete an application on sites with chatbots1. By eliminating the need to answer redundant questions, you can use your time more efficiently for more strategic tasks.
In addition to alleviating your workload, you also have the opportunity to engage candidates outside of traditional workplace hours, as 66% of chatbot engagement occurs outside of 9 to 5 hours1. The ability to engage prospective candidates 24/7 while helping to move them through the funnel is a significant benefit.
Engaging Content
We’ve discussed the importance of proactively sharing information that prospects need to know and ways to deliver that information efficiently. But what do they want to know? What’s going to engage them and allow them to understand your employer brand and overall values? Don’t wait till we’ve returned to normalcy or you’re hiring in full force again to resume employer brand marketing. Consistently tell your company’s story so that you can continue to attract leads and convert them to invested candidates.
Your careers page and social media channels should exemplify your company culture, allowing a prospective candidate to imagine how they would fit in. Think about the variety of content you can create that showcases a day in the life of your existing workforce. This might look different than it did prior to COVID-19. What does your new normal look like? If you’ve transitioned to remote work, how do your teams stay connected? Are you doing anything interesting to stay in touch such as virtual happy hours? Leverage these activities to support your current and future recruitment efforts.
When it comes to social media, go beyond just rapid-fire job postings. Get your employees involved—they are your brand ambassadors. Push your employer brand to the forefront with photos and videos that highlight your hiring managers or employee testimonials. What success stories can you share?
One compelling piece of content can be used in a variety of ways. Turn a video into a blog, or share quotes in a social media image. Being active on social media doesn’t mean you have to create brand new content from scratch every day. But you should be consistent. Make sure everything is up to date and supports your values and brand.
The bottom line is, your careers page and social media presence have the ability to support the growth of your talent pipeline. Even if you’re not actively recruiting now or you’re recruiting to a lesser degree, don’t let your employer branding and candidate experience efforts fall flat. Work proactively to ensure prospective candidates become or remain engaged so that when you’re prepared to push forward in full force, you have a talent pool that is poised for the next steps to come.
