Forget what you thought were solid recruitment advertising strategies of even a few years ago. In the present, hiring trends are evolving. The job market is candidate-driven, and organizations that fail adequately to appeal to today's candidates risk losing them to the competition.
Modern recruitment isn't just about hiring, it's about the experience. According to the Brandon Hall Group, companies that invest in their candidate experience improve the quality of hires by 70 percent. Better quality of hires builds upon a company's reputation, which attracts more ideal candidates, and so on. Investing in modern recruitment strategies delivers incredible benefits for your overall candidate experience; here are some reasons why:
It's about the brand
Modern recruitment must start with employer brand. Once you have your brand story outlines, vetted and sealed, it's time to deliver your unique brand to the world with the goal of drawing interest from your ideal candidates. By delivering a relevant, personalized experience, candidates develop a relationship with your organization, even if they aren't thinking about applying. Without a dynamic employer brand and recruitment advertising, that relationship might never begin. However, effectively appealing to the rational side (compensation, benefits, scheduling, and so on) of someone's interest as well as the emotional side (contribution, impact, meaning, pride, and more) strikes a chord with ideal candidates that drives them further into the hiring process and closer to becoming productive, important employees for your company.
It's driven by the omni-channel
With today's hiring trends, every step of the candidate experience must be designed with the omni-channel in mind. For example, an ideal candidate may discover your company on a preferred social media outlet, visit your company hiring website, exchange emails or text messages to learn more, and apply via a mobile device. Organizations must be strong at every phase so the process seamlessly progresses for the candidate and provides rich, strategic data for the recruiter.
Take, for example, what we did for Northwell Health. We rolled out a full omni-channel recruitment solution for the healthcare provider that included an entirely new corporate brand, streamlined career site content, content marketing, and smarter recruitment media buying. The results were impressive: a 15 percent conversion rate increase on the career website, a 23 percent reduction in overall media cost per hire, and a whopping 89 percent increase in media-attributed applications. With this commitment to an omni-channel experience, Northwell Health is capturing the attention of ideal candidates and not letting go.
It's powered by AI
Recruiting departments today must find a happy medium between fostering real engagement with candidates and using data and automation to source those candidates. Artificial intelligence is emerging as a key tool to help with the latter. Madeline Laurano of Aptitude Research Partners explained the emergence of AI, saying that "organizations need help with less bias and more science." She continued:
"They want help making decisions, and making the right decisions, with solutions that they can trust, that are based on data, that can help them identify the right set. This really speaks to the value of AI."
By investing in AI, you automatically focus spend toward the channels ideal candidates are frequenting, with an emphasis on the positions with the most priority to fill. Artificial intelligence doesn't take the human factor out of talent acquisition, but rather, gives you the tools necessary to take creative efforts to the next level.
It powers the candidate journey
Candidates learn about your company on social media or a job board. They visit your hiring website. They engage with your recruiting department to find out more. Perhaps these candidates apply. They are interviewed. Their skills are assessed. They go through an onboarding process. They begin their first day.
In past recruiting strategies, these were unconnected steps. But with modern hiring trends, they are all part of a journey a candidate takes a journey that recruiters can weave and track with today's end-to-end talent solutions. The way you advertise your brand to candidates early in their journey, for example, will resonate long after they like a social media post or visit your hiring website. This journey lasts all the way to their first day on the job, through their employment with your brand, and in fact, it continues even if they leave. Remember your employees are candidates as well. Advocacy doesn't have to end when an employee exists your organization, that is why delivering a positive experience throughout the journey is critical for the health of your brand.
It fuels employee advocacy
To iterate what was mentioned above, modern recruitment doesn't end at hire. If your brand is dynamic, if you connect with candidates on the channels where they are most comfortable, and if you successfully create an experience that leads to a candidate accepting a job at your company, this new employee has the potential of becoming much more than just an employee. Incorporating modern recruitment advocacy into hiring trends lets you activate engaged employees to help recruit a new pool of talent. Patrick Rooney, Symphony Talent's chief marketing and innovation officer, had this to say about corporate citizenship within the scheme of the candidate's journey:
"Great talent attracting great talent will become the culture as the organization harnesses the power of trust in employee advocates. ... I am excited for what lies ahead and the future of careers."
Advocacy shouldn't be seen as a final step, but rather, as a renewal of the recruiting cycle. Modern recruitment is ongoing, with every part of the candidate's journey (as well as the recruitment process) tied into every other part. This 360-degree approach will serve companies well no matter how hiring trends change in the future.
Where do you see hiring trends headed in the coming years?
