3 ways recruiters and organizations are missing out in the recruitment game

By Mikkie Stump, Digital Recruitment Specialist/Manager and Mark A. Leon, Sourcing Executive, IBM

The talk of the town in Talent Acquisition is technology, AI, innovation, chat bots and any way to create a marketable edge in the war on talent. While companies are sucking budgetary funds into all these new systems and technology, they seem to have forgotten the fundamental principal of talent acquisition and that is the relationship piece.

In recent years, we have witnessed corruption in politics, global trade wars, fake news, spammers and social media content overload? One common thread: Lack of trust. That lack of trust is creating a new level of complexity in the ability to engage talent.

• We try calling, they don’t recognize our number and ignore
• We try high volume email campaigns, but our content is coming across as spam-themed and generic
• We stalk them online and perhaps scare them away

What happens once we connect? We jump right into the fire with the “Let me help you, help me” pitch. There isn’t even a grace period to set the seeds of a relationship.

Has human capital become the new assembly line of the talent industrial revolution?

Now for the focus of the article. There are 3 critical and cost effective avenues, that are falling by the waste side, yet have so much potential to enhance your ability to hire the best talent available in the marketplace.

All three follow a set of core principles, we will call the 3 “R’s”: Respect, relevancy and relationship

• Press Releases: How many out there have used Newswire or PRweb to send a press release celebrating the openings you have in a specific location or facility? Not many I presume. For under $400, you can publish a press release that can be picked up by over 4500 media outlets including an option customize the media outlets by region, specific publication or industry. On top of that, they offer state of the art analytics to assist in drawing ROI conclusions. Let us theorize that 5% of the media outlets pick up on your press release of 200 job openings in your new manufacturing facility in Durham, North Carolina (Fictional example). That means your press release will appear on 225 digital or print publications and all for $400. Let’s get bold and say 10%. That gives you 450 media outlets cheering on your big news.

Picture that headline: “Company A to grow 200 jobs in Region B in 2018” You can’t buy better press – Pun intended.

• Building an organic network on LinkedIn and cherishing the relationship – I know what you are saying to yourself, “self, I already do that”, but you don’t. At least you don’t do it well. I recently sent out an email to approximately 200 people (those in the industry know that mass email campaigns have an average open rate of 15% – 25% with 34% and above considered industry strong). This email was opened by 87% of the audience I reached out to. How did I do that?

As a recruiter, you have a responsibility for job promotion and social employment brand awareness. That bridges a connection between yourself and the roles/company you support. That isn’t a hidden fact. As a result, people reach out and try to network with you. Sometimes you offer a few minutes on the phone or urge them to apply or even ask for their resume, but that approach isn’t consistent and will not build a long term affective network.

This is my approach: Every time a potential lead reaches out to me because of a connection, I urge them to apply if they feel they are a strong potential fit. Simultaneously, I ask for their resume and offer to put in a good word (No one ever says no to offering their resume to get further exposure). I then put in a positive word and add them to my personal networking folder. Each week, I send a personal thank you for the connection. No forced action. Nothing needed in return. Nothing more than a genuine reminder of the importance of networking. That simple act of kindness will build something much stronger than any forced referral or blind outreach.

• Advertising on targeted successful blogs – Advertising is everywhere (newspapers, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, magazines, newspapers, television, radio). The pitfall so many of us run into is feeling we need to advertise with the media outlets with the highest traffic ranking. Wrong!!!

Example: Major media newspaper (San Francisco Gate, New York Daily News, Chicago Tribune). They put out 60 – 100 articles a day, along with commentary, editorials, sports stats and more. They also have hundreds of advertisers.  Even if they put out a tweet or Facebook post every hour, the exposure you get is so limited, the value added is almost pointless in many cases. With that high volume of content, the traffic ranking is naturally high.

Take a targeted blog that has a strong established audience, reaches the right population and has more limited content. That will be less expensive, hit the right audience and have a higher potential ROI to convert potential talent.

• Top Engineering Blogs of 2017
• 10 Chemistry Blogs You Should Read
• 50 of the Best Graphic Design Blogs

There we are, three often overlooked means of identifying, reaching and engaging your passive candidate pool that is cost effective and has a high potential ROI. Happy Hunting.