Whats in it for me? Engaging candidates in a candidate driven job market.

What’s in it for me?

How to engage candidates in today’s candidate driven job market.

It’s all there, the tools at the end of our fingertips to find and engage candidates, we have a plethora of social networking tools both professional and social to allow us to track, find and contact the next generation of employee for our organisation – so where is the difficulty?

The difficulty is in engaging.

A candidate has a visible profile on a job board or a networking site allowing for the ever earnest recruiter or company direct hirer to contact them. The blog/email contact is made leaving the hirer/recruiter with eager enthusiasm awaiting a response to allow them to present their “latest exciting opportunity”.

Sounds simple – So what happens next?

The candidate ignores the request – the details they placed on the job board are no longer current, they found an opportunity 6 months ago and are no longer on the job market – they have been so busy with their new exciting position that they didn’t take the time to remove or amend their online details.

The candidate ignores the request – they were just “testing the market” following a bad day, they are no longer considering new opportunities and didn’t take the time to remove/amend their details.

The candidate ignores the request – they are becoming increasingly frustrated with the number of approaches from recruiters/hirers with jobs that are far from ideal that they no longer want to view opportunities presented this way – they will apply for a job when they are ready.

The candidate ignores the request – the contact has been made by a recruiter/hirer who is unknown to them and they do not trust – a difficulty with the ever increasing worry of online fraud.

The candidate ignores the request – they have put their details on professional social networks to gain increased sales, or to gather information on competitors, or to share blog advice – not for job searching.

The candidate responds ! EASY!

So what now?

What’s in it for me?

Now is the difficult task of engaging the candidate who now perceives that they are in the enviable position of being chased and their initial thought will be “What’s in it for me”.

The task now is to gain the candidates trust, interest, understanding – to ensure the candidate is not only interested but suitable, that they are looking for positions, that they have the skills and expertise required, that their salary expectations are in line with the role, that their career aspirations are matched, that they fit in with the culture of the organisation, that they are located within a commutable distance, that the role will fit in with their home life, that the hours suit. All of these considerations are not always visible from their online profile.

And IF all of these considerations are met you then have to be prepared for a counter offer – the candidate has been chased after all and may not have been actively looking for a new job – however the mention to their current employer that they have been approached has now just ensured them a pay rise. Why should they make a move? They have now been nicely remunerated without having to go through any kind of job move. Or, the candidate has had time to reflect and although a change of job is of interest they are aware they have been chased so they decide to sit tight and wait for a bigger or better opportunity.

Candidate response – Thanks but I’m ok where I am for now.

So what now?

You start again.

This is obviously a very simplistic example of the potential hurdles when approaching a contact with a view to presenting a job. The most difficult part of any recruit is not the sourcing of the candidate, it is the engaging and screening. Understanding the needs of the candidate and having the ability to match, listen and engage is key to any successful recruit. Social Networking is obviously a time consuming method of recruiting and albeit may be viewed as a “free” method for finding staff a consideration of the frustration and time involved for the hirer should be a key consideration.

To engage candidates is imperative to the success of any professional recruiter/hirer and therefore food for thought for any hirer who believes that “social networking” is their dream solution to recruiting staff. A good hirer/recruiter will ensure that a rapport is built over a period of time with candidates, therefore gaining their trust and also an understanding of the needs and aspirations of the candidate. Retaining a network of potential candidates is obviously a “long term” investment for any recruiter/hirer and the persistence, understanding and organisational skills needed for this is key in dividing a good recruiter from an exceptional recruiter.

For further advice on how we can assist you with your candidate engagement contact our professional recruiters at Glen Callum Associates Ltd. We have a team of successful consultants with the skills and expertise to engage and screen candidates, enabling only the most suitable and interested jobseekers to be presented to our clients.