Build a Recruitment Brand, And They Will Come…(Part 1)

Over the span of each of your careers, I’m sure you can pinpoint at least one time in which you had a very unfortunate, if not comical, recruitment experience with an organization. That is, the company made some major blunder while recruiting you…for example, during an interview or a follow-up communication. If so, I invite you to comment and share your experiences, though please keep the organization anonymous to protect the innocent.

I’ll go first. During my first full-time job search right out of college, I was engaged by an insurance brokerage during a job fair. I went through a series of interviews and also took an employee assessment before being invited in for a final interview with the principal of the brokerage.

Everything was going just fine, and then he started to ask me things like, “what do your parents do a for a living?” and “are you married?” Wow. Those are some major interview no-no’s! While there is more to share to that story, you get my point. Needless to say, I decided not to pursue opportunities with that organization because of the implicit message their recruiting methods sent to me.

Now hopefully you have all had wonderful recruitment experiences, as well. You know, the organizations that really had their act together and left you feeling informed and valued as a candidate–whether or not you landed the position in the long run. What do these companies do differently to leave such a positive impression with you?

Odds are, these organizations have spent some time developing their recruitment brand. They have clearly identified the types of candidates that they seek, and have taken measures to consistently be up front with candidates about what should be expected from the recruitment process–sometimes down to the number of steps involved and the timing between each step. They appreciate the time applicants have invested in applying to their company, and while sometimes they are not able to personally address most applicants, they do use applicant tracking software in order to automate the process of sending responses to all candidates to explain next steps, or to thank them for their interest.

And because there are so few organizations who really live and breathe a true recruitment brand, you can imagine that the organizations who do spend the time reap the reward of a high volume of applicants. Build a recruitment brand and they will come…and the top talent will be included in those numbers, too.

So, with applicant flow covered, what can you do to manage the volume of applicants and really mine your database of individuals? Stay tuned for Part 2 of this blog to learn how you may use applicant tracking software as: 1) a launch pad for social networking; and, 2) a means by which to assign status codes to quickly categorize quality applicants for future consideration as job openings become available.

Image credit: tea candle in the dark by Markus Grossalber (contact)