Jobhop Jobhop's blog : Does Your Candidate Journey Flow? Part 1 The Destination
When I ask “Does your candidate journey flow?”, very rarely do I receive the reply, yes!
Many people in Recruitment and HR reply with the answer “I don’t know.”
The next question is usually have you been on a candidate journey? Again, the answer is mainly no.
If you like many others are wondering what exactly is a candidate journey, then let me explain.
Let’s start the candidate journey at the end, and that’s the destination. The destination could be a job advert, or it could be the main careers page, it might be a page which is promoting a recruitment day or a blog post about what it’s like to work for your company.
Whatever recruitment marketing you’re doing you’re probably doing it to drive good candidates to a destination similar to what I’ve just mentioned, with the goal to get them to take action.
Let’s look at each one of those destinations:
Job Advert
The candidate has landed on the job advert, does it speak to the candidate?
Is it attractive to the candidate or is it just about what the company needs?
Can the candidate read it effortlessly from their mobile?
Can the candidate easily apply for the job from their mobile?
How long does it take to apply?
How many candidates abandon the application form?
How many candidates click through?
Job adverts should speak directly to the candidate you’re trying to attract, if you want web developers then only speak to web developers in a way they understand.
Don’t just go on about what it is your company needs that should come last and take up a small portion of the advert. What should come first is what’s in it for the candidate, remember you have to give your candidate good reasons to want to join you, or why should they? Good candidates want to know about company culture, ethics, mission and benefits, so make sure you give them what they want.
Because we live in a mobile world, your candidate must be able to apply effortlessly from their phone while on the go. If there are too many hoops to jump through, it takes too much time, and the application form is unreadable, you’ve lost your top candidate. They haven’t got time for a company who doesn’t even understand the importance of mobile, especially when recruiters are constantly contacting them on social media platforms.
Careers Page
Will the candidate get a feel for what it’s like to work at your company?
Can they read about other employees career journey’s at your company?
Are there videos to watch?
Are there pictures of the different departments?
What training do you offer?
The careers page should be full of great content even when you’re not looking to hire. Many companies make the mistake of either not having a careers page or having one which is only for jobs and when they’re not looking to recruit the page says “No Vacancies”! A passive candidate could take months to research companies for their next career move; your careers page needs to hook them, they could be a future recruit.
The careers page should include everything about what makes the company great to work for, why you’re the preferred employer, career opportunities and more.
Blog Post
We all know the power of blog posts to hook customers so why do so many companies ignore blogging to hook candidates?
When a great candidate is considering a career move then “content bait” needs to be attracting them to your company at all times. The best way to do that is via a blog, regular news stories, employee interviews, day in the life stories and more.
Each blog post should have a call to action, that way we get the potential candidate to take the next step. Regular blogging will also provide plenty of candidate hooking keywords which will help your potential candidates find your posts in their search.
Recruitment Day Page
If you’re promoting a recruitment day, the potential candidate wants to find out everything they can about the event. Don’t just have some text which states the address and time, that’s not exactly enticing anyone along!
Have a gallery of pictures of previous recruitment days, if it’s a new event put “come and speak to the team” pictures. If the venue and location are photo worthy, then make sure to include those pictures. Have an agenda of the day, if you have speakers make sure you include what times they’re speaking at so candidates can plan their day. Let your candidates know what they need to bring and if there are no refreshments, warn them, so they’re prepared. Important things you want your page to have are an opt-in form to capture details of attendees, and a recruitment day hashtag, that way you can chat to candidates prior, during and after the event online.
For all the above we have to think mobile, mobile, mobile! If it’s no good for mobile, then it’s just no good!
A few destinations there for potential candidates to arrive at. Part two of the candidate journey is about the journey they take to reach the destination.
JOIN Jobhop and spread the word
Julie Bishop Jobhop.co.uk
In:- Expert