5 Ways to Engage Candidates During the Hiring Process

Most companies don’t focus on engagement with job seekers because they see the hiring process as a situation where they hold all the power. They assume the applicants want the job, and the company can pick and choose without exerting much effort. However, the highest quality candidates will always be in demand.

If a company doesn’t actively engage with their candidates, they’ll lose some of their best potential employees.

How To Engage Candidates During The Hiring Process:

1. Sell Your Company to Job Seekers

No matter how glamorous your job opening or how well-known your brand, you should always do your best to showcase the employee benefits of working for your company. Take a lesson from Google, a company always happy to broadcast the perks of working in their fun and creative environment. Google receives over 1.5 million applications per year – this allows them to accept only the top .04% of candidates, the absolute cream of the crop.

2. Utilize Multi-Media in Advertising Your Company

Whenever possible, take advantage of video, images, and even music in career webpages, social media, and hiring emails. Research has shown that people absorb and remember information much more readily through media like video vs. text alone.

The more memorable and engaging your media, the more likely candidates will place your company at the top of their list.

3. Respond Promptly to Applicants

You may not be in a rush to fill your position, but it’s likely your applicants are eager to find a job. If you spend weeks and months sifting through resumes, you’ll find that the most qualified individuals have already been hired somewhere else.

Whether you’re interested in an applicant or not, it’s only courteous to respond promptly and provide regular updates. The more open your communication to applicants, the more positive your reputation among job seekers of all types.

4. Personalize Your Responses to Applicants

Applicants want to feel they will be recognized and treated as more than a number at your company. Strive to personalize your correspondence during the hiring process.

By using the type of software typically utilized for marketing campaigns, you can segment your applicants and connect more thoroughly with welcome emails, company information, updates, manager profiles, department newsletters, and more.

5. Keep Your Application Process Simple and Streamlined

Some companies subscribe to the notion that a complicated application process weeds out the unintelligent and uncommitted. In truth, a byzantine process will only reduce your applicant pool while frustrating everyone involved.

Make your online application as simple as possible. Once you’ve narrowed down your candidates, you can focus a more intensive examination on those who actually have a chance at the job.

Remember, it’s worth your while to build a positive relationship with all job applicants, even those unqualified for the position. You never know what future star employee you might find through recommendation, word-of-mouth, or the same candidate applying for a different position.