Marketing automation: essential tools to for the recruitment process
In this article we will list 8 distinct steps in the recruitment process and how marketing automation can improve each one.
By taking advantage of the powers of automating a large part of your communication, you will actually personalize the process, which will lead to higher engagement.
1. Determine Your Ideal Recruiting Target
The goal of this step is to determine precisely what your recruitment efforts should target, including performance level, experience level, and whether or not they are actively looking for a job. Each company or client will have a different set of variables they want, but over time you will be able to set up a few templates that will cover most. Marketing automation will make it easier to build up the database of information companies want using online forms. You can either collect data directly from those looking for work or the companies looking to do the hiring. Each form can have the questions needed to collect the necessary data. Once the data is submitted, a contact manager will sort everything and then target that person with follow up communication. Whether it be an email, SMS, survey or other to further engage and fine tune the data.
2. Knowing Where Your Target Hangs Out
Having defined your target, the next step aims at identifying where you are most likely to find the target talent, including what communication channels would be effective for recruitment messages. With marketing automation, you certainly won't be limited. You will be able to engage potential recruits using email, SMS, fax, social media and a number of other channels. If you don't accurately identify where they spend their time, there will be a low probability of you placing compelling information about the company and the opportunity in a place they will find or pay attention to. Once you know where you want to target, you can set up communication that includes trigger-based follow up messages to make the recruitment process much easier. If someone clicks on a link you put on Twitter, it can trigger a follow up email that provides more details like what you offer and how to apply.
3. Learning Your Target's Job Search Process
To improve the overall impact of your recruitment process, you need to implement a process designed to identify the typical process that your target audience uses once they begin a job search. You want to know what they are searching, where they are searching and what keeps them engaged or falling off. The goal is to better understand precisely how they look for jobs, so that you can engineer your approach to advertising opportunities to make your jobs visible to them. If for example you learned that top talent often start job searches using major search engine versus visiting a major job board, you may focus your attention on making your jobs postings more SEO friendly, versus broadcasting to various job boards. Then the pages that people land on contain contact forms to gather more information for more targeted communication. This recruitment process is essentially the same as lead nurturing.
4. Directly Sourcing Prospects Not Currently Looking
When prospects are no longer in job search mode, you just don't stop engaging them. Yes, they are unlikely to read any job postings or to visit your corporate career site. Why would they. Instead, you switch your engagement messages to focus on touching base so if and when they are looking again, they will remember your service. In fact, the company they went to, could become a new client just from word of mouth. Emails and social media messages can be automated just to sprinkle in branded information that would be helpful to those who enjoyed your service in the past. The recruitment process is a long term one, don't forget about the giant database of those who are in face working.
5. The Job Application Process
Potential candidates have been convinced to apply for a position, so the goal is for a large percentage of the qualified individuals who visit the site to complete the application process. Like any online form you don't want to frustrate those who are answering. Marketing automation can help ease this recruitment process by gathering more information over a few steps. The initial application can include the usual submission of a resume and cover letter and then a follow up survey could be sent via email The follow up will also help validate the interest the person really has. Anyone can fill out a quick form, but if they take the time to answer more detailed follow up questions, they are a more valid prospect. From this you can also kick off a nurturing campaign to remind those who sign up to check for more jobs in a week, in a month and in a year.
6. The Initial Screening Of Applications
Use the contact manager to review the applicant's data to see if they meet minimum qualifications for the job. From here, you can automatically send thank you emails to those who did not make the cut. If you chose to, you can also send emails to those that did, to say they will be contacted for an interview. The goal is to successfully qualify the applicants so that only a small percentage of unqualified candidates make it to the next step. Data can help organize your list, but it can't 100% weed out those not qualified as some information collected could be false.
7. The Reference Checking Process
Once you have your short list vetted and expectations for an offer set, the next step validates the perception of your assessment team using references. The goal is to gather additional information on the finalist(s) and ensure information provided is helpful. One part of the automated recruitment process is to collect the email addresses of three references. Then once you have selected your finalists, you can automatically send emails asking to set up a time to discuss the person with who they provided as a reference. This content can be set up ahead of time to help brand your whole recruitment process.
8. Feedback and New Hire Monitoring
If the ultimate goal is the continuous improvement of your recruitment process, then this step is the most important of all. True feedback from those who you are providing recruits for is the only way to scale and grow. The goal of this step is to assess the performance of new hires and to use that performance information to "validate" or prove that the overall recruitment process is producing quality hires. If a high percentage new hires fail, quit, or are poor performers, you will know that the hiring process needs significant improvement. A secondary goal is using new hires to determine what elements of the recruiting process were and were not effective. Some organizations also consider it a goal for recruiters to work individually with new hires to improve retention. By automating this process using timed online surveys, you won't forget to do this step as many employers do. Set up surveys containing the questions you want to ask to be sent a week, month and six months after the recruit starts working.
Automating The Recruitment Process Works
These 8 distinct steps in the recruitment process display how marketing automation can improve each step.
By taking advantage of the powers of automating a large part of your communication, you will actually personalize the process, which will lead to higher engagement and happier clients.
