The first steps to top talent attraction

The first thing to bear in mind when considering your talent attraction strategy is this: what, where and how people search for jobs has never been so easy, so varied, nor put candidates so completely in control.

There’s no loyalty to any particular agency or job board; searching takes place anywhere, everywhere and at all times.

The introduction of Google for Jobs means candidates need only search once to find relevant vacancies. Add Artificial Intelligence into the mix and it’s no wonder that recruitment currently appears to pose such huge challenges.

Certainly there is a strong argument to be made that candidates currently dictate the recruitment process – specifying how they want to be contacted about roles or leaving reviews that shape other potential applicants’ opinions.

And you can’t even rest once your talent has been onboarded; according to Indeed, two-thirds of us look at other jobs within 91 days of being hired at a new company, giving rise to the concept of the ‘constant candidate’.

So when it comes to talent attraction, how can you make sure you stand out in this über-competitive and rapidly evolving market? Our answer? By bridging that gap between what candidates expect and what they receive – namely, offering the human touch.

Humanising recruitment

You’ll have heard the term ‘trusted advisor’ being bandied about in recent months – the idea that a recruiter isn’t simply firing off CVs, but instead takes the time to really understand a candidate’s drivers and motivation, providing them with guidance, interview coaching, timely and constructive feedback, and generally delivers an enhanced experience. Importantly, they develop a two-way, reciprocal relationship. That’s what candidates want – a trusted advisor who has their best interests at heart.

It makes a massive difference; 84% of candidates surveyed by Indeed who received detailed information prior to interview, rated the experience at least three out of four stars – despite not even getting the job. And you can assume plenty of them praised the company via word-of-mouth, too. That’s the point: recruitment is, and always has been, about relationships and the vast majority of recruiters agree that “building connected relationships with candidates is an essential part of being a great recruiter”.

Given building relationships is one of the most innate and ancient human activities, talent attraction should be easy, right? Sadly not. With such changes in expectation, recruiters can no longer depend on traditional, transactional methods and behaviours – especially with AI’s increasing presence. Many people worry about AI and machine learning, believing the scaremongering media claims that it will make roles redundant, but that’s not what we think is happening. We see AI as an enabler of the humanisation of recruitment, not as scary, job-stealing machinery. AI can remove the drudgery associated with the job while providing the time and funds for innovative, talent attention-grabbing techniques.

If you’re interested in a deeper dive, feel free to download our new white paper – “Attracting top talent using human connection” – here.

In it we consider where the industry is going and what you need to consider for your own successful talent attraction strategy, looking at three specific areas:

1. Front of mind attraction 2. Engaging content 3. Using tech to increase human connection

idibu provides intelligent candidate acquisition to hundreds of recruitment businesses of all sizes as well as analysis of activity and hiring funnels to greatly improve ROI and performance.

Click here to arrange a FREE demo or get in touch now on 0800 311 2750.