Are your candidate communications clear?
Candidate touch points create a positive experience.
October has come and gone and Autumn leaves are now swirling reminding us that a new graduate recruiting season is upon us once more. Reviewing our attraction campaigns becomes a seasonal norm at this time of year. We welcome our new recruits and hope they settle in well and then begin the process of taking a good look at how we did in our attraction campaigns.
The journey started from the very first time a potential candidate looked at your website. They may well have seen an on-line ad or been approached directly about a role but the first real touchpoint is when they saw your website and read about the kind of careers you are offering. If you are lucky enough to be a household name then your company reputation will have gone before you, but for small graduate recruiters without big campus campaigns and employer branding, the website is the place for graduates to find out about you. It is a significant touch point.
Research tells us that that the average jobseeker spends only a few seconds trying to get to the relevant pages for them and an average click of six is the most time they will spend to get to the application form. In fact, 40% of applications these days are on mobile devices. If your careers pages are buried deep inside your corporate pages, then you will run the risk of switching off today’s generation of graduates. They need information and they need it quickly. Do I want to work here? What training and development will I get? Attracting the right kind of graduate into your business is really being clear on this first critical touch point. Thinking more about what the candidate wants to see, hear, and know, rather than what we want to say.
Candidate–centric attraction is key here.
If the graduate has applied, they will want a process that is quick and not drawn out. Average time to offer varies in organisations; High Fliers research indicates graduates are a needy bunch and securing an offer within 45 days is becoming an expected norm. After all they have done their bit haven’t they? AGR gives a slightly different picture with time to offer varying between 11 weeks and 6 weeks for the IT Sector, the public sector takes the longest time of around 15 weeks.
That’s quite some process isn’t it?
And all this time companies hope that candidates will accept these offers and won’t have taken another one from a company who pipped them to the post.
Graduates need more touch points along the journey than any other demographic. Keeping them warm as part of the on-boarding and attraction process is key to guaranteed engagement and a smooth start.
Touchpoints to consider:
- Welcome Days – bring graduates face to face with their potential working environment
- Social media groups – Facebook, Whatsapp or Snapchat…get the graduates talking to one another
- Personalised emails – graduates want to feel looked after
- Buddy Days with current grads or others in the organisation
- Podcasts/Webinars – settle graduates’ fears
- Live chat – answer those burning questions that are too bizarre for your FAQ’s page but important all the same
- ‘Rough guides’ – location guides. Give graduates the infomation they need whether it be the 10 best pubs in Kent or the cheapest barbers in town!
All of these experiences can create a positive experience and enhance your brand and its attraction and appeal to graduate starters.
The smiley faces will beam longer into the winter of their first few months with you if they have been kept warm throughout the process.
