We’ll discuss how to progress those candidates through your hiring pipeline to ensure you don’t lose your next great employee before you have a chance to meet them.

Posted by  DanielleDesko

In today’s ever-changing marketing landscape, organizations can’t afford to rely on traditional tactics to generate and convert leads. Gone are the days of blasting out content to the masses in hopes of finding the needle in a haystack that wants to purchase your services – aka SPAM (no one likes that in their email inbox or on their plate) . Marketers must now rely on a more strategic approach that involves developing quality content and distributing it methodically to only those that are interested in the topic. So, how does this relate to HR?

The employee experience begins well before the new hire’s first day of work.  Organizations have an opportunity to build a strong brand and make a good first impression on candidates as soon as the recruiting and hiring process begins. Why is this important? Many good candidates take themselves out of the process or develop a perception of the organization based on their initial interaction with them. For HR, this is the perfect opportunity to showcase why your organization is the best place for quality candidates to apply. Just like marketers have to sell a product or service, HR managers have to sell the company in order to attract candidates.

So, how do you attract the best of the best? Start by developing what marketing professionals call a “persona” of the perfect candidate. What types of skills, abilities, experience, motivations, goals, etc. would the ideal candidate possess? Where does this type of candidate get their information or “hang out” online? What types of things are important in a job for this candidate?

Once the persona is identified, optimize your job posting with content that will attract this candidate. Be sure to distribute this job posting through various channels online where your ideal persona is likely to see it. Do they frequent LinkedIn for answers? Post it there. Do they belong to industry associations? Post it on job boards that your ideal candidate will view.

Next, make sure that your corporate online presence is in line with your company’s culture and values. Once candidates see your job posting, their next logical step is to look you up online. Social media is a great way to show off your company culture. Make sure your social media outlets are up to date. Use this space to post photos and news that really defines daily life at your company. Also update your careers page on your website with plenty of information and employee testimonials that will help the candidate get a good feel for your organization. 

If done correctly, this process will start to yield more quality candidates for your pipeline. In my next blog, we’ll discuss how to progress those candidates through your hiring pipeline to ensure you don’t lose your next great employee before you have a chance to meet them.