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Build a Recruitment Brand, And They Will Come…(Part 2)

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You may recall from “Part 1” of this story the emphasis I placed on creating and nurturing a recruitment brand for your organization. Because whether or not you address it, you have a brand…so make sure it is a recruitment brand you are proud to support!

In this post, we’ll take a quick look at how you may use applicant tracking software to help maintain the recruitment brand you worked so diligently to create. Specifically, we’ll look at an ATS as a launch pad to social networking platforms; as well as, a means by which you can easily use status codes to move candidates through the selection process–while keeping those candidates informed.

But first, after my last post I invited ExactHire client, Right On Interactive, to share how they create and maintain the Right On Interactive recruitment brand.

Here are Right On Interactive’s President Troy Burk’s thoughts on the subject:

  1. “We educate as much as we evaluate. We realize that throughout the entire recruiting process we must continue to show the value of the opportunity, the potential for personal growth, and future direction of our company. The candidates are interviewing us as much as we are interviewing them.
  2. Be honest with the candidates. We talk about the specifics of the position, the requirements, and what our expectations are for performance. False expectations on either end will end in disappointment (on either side).
  3. If a candidate is not a good fit for the position, we will try to help them network with others that might be a better fit. We have done this with several individuals and helped them find the right position (with another company).”

It is clear that Troy’s organization understands the importance of mutual respect in the selection process, as well as how to leverage networking to help candidates.

So how can you use an ATS to exponentially increase the size of the audience that has access to your job postings? With ExactHire’s applicant tracking software, you have the ability to allow candidates to “share” your job listing with friends and colleagues via the biggie’s like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, but also over 285 other Internet sites! And, if you have been paying special attention to your recruitment brand and how it dictates that you treat your applicants, you are much more likely to have site visitors that want to share your openings with others. Your recruitment brand is creating fans for your organization.

Social Networking Links | ExactHire ATS

When you have the social networking under control, then it is time to keep applicants engaged by managing them through your selection process within the ATS. The administrative side of the ExactHire ATS allows you to use both applicant status codes and job status codes to assign a progress label to every applicant for each position to which he/she may have applied. Then, you may run a quick report that allows you to use status codes as search criteria to drill down to specific lists of applicants that deserve a follow-up email from your organization. Use the ATS to send emails to multiple candidates at once, and create a recruitment brand that embodies consistency in candid communication. Your applicants will note your efforts, trust me.

Image credit: Road Herd by Ed Thomes Photography (contact)

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

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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)