One of my past recruiting managers told me recently that she had a recruiter who refused to send emails. As her recruiter wasn’t submitting candidates after two months, she decided to see what the problem was with their efforts. “How many resumes did you have for this position? How many of those qualified resumes did you call? Did you leave a voicemail? Was the problem getting a response to emails? Could you try updating your subject lines?”
The recruiter replied: “Email? I guess I could try that!”
In a day where we have boomers working in the same business environment as Gen Z, there are bound to be differences in the way individual workers operate. But completely ignoring a line of communication altogether in recruiting? That’s a big no-no.
OUTREACH CHANNELS TO GET IN TOUCH WITH CANDIDATES
As you are sourcing through your resume databases at your disposal and internally through your employees and applicant tracking system, the next step is to outline how to get in touch with these qualified candidates to see if they are in the job market and open to a conversation. Steps could include:
- You find the resume.
- Message the candidate on ClearanceJobs (or another platform).
- Try to reach the candidate with a phone call + leaving a voicemail (millennials will NEVER call back if they don’t know who called them).
- Send a text message – maybe you ended up in their spam box or their voicemail is full.
- Send an email with a catchy subject line that entices them to open it.
- Make that final phone call.
- Move on. This one is incredibly important. If you’ve exhausted all options and you’re just not getting a response, there is no need to waste time. Add them to your ATS to reach out to again later if need be.
These steps are if you get ZERO response for a candidate, and they don’t have to operate in this order, either. Use your best judgement depending on many factors (Is their phone out of service? Did you get bounce back from their email? Could you message one of their connections letting them know you’re trying to get in touch?) including what works best for you in your recruiting experience.
If you do happen to hook a candidate through one of these communication channels, there are other ways to keep in touch whether they are fully engaged in your application process, decided thanks, but no thanks on the specific position you reached out about, or if they ghosted you altogether.
If you have their mailing address, send them some company swag with a personalized note letting them know that they are the one that got away. If you are connected on social media, send them a happy work anniversary (leave the sarcasm to a minimum if they didn’t leave that job for you) or a happy birthday to remind them of your interaction.
Just like in sales, letting your recruiting prospects you have in your pipeline know that you are thinking about them goes a long way. And sometimes takes multiple tries before they finally sign on to your company.
THE CLEARED RECRUITING CHRONICLES: YOUR WEEKLY DoD RECRUITING TIPS TO OUT COMPETE THE NEXT NATIONAL SECURITY STAFFER.
