By: Kelly Barcelos
Conversational recruiting may be the answer to solving problems in finding the best candidates to join your company. Let’s have a look at how in this article.
A lot depends on how a company treats the applicants during the recruiting process in today’s millennials-dominated talent market. Millennial candidates easily become disinterested if the recruitment process is long, tedious, and lacks prompt feedback from the employers.
Also, today, job seekers have become pickier with their decisions about where to work. They are clear about the qualities they wish for in an employer and their place of work. Hence, companies must invest substantial resources in building a positive and engaging employer brand, and ensure that it is communicated effectively to the right talent pool.
So how do recruiters achieve this? Conversational recruiting may be the answer to these questions. Let’s see how:
What is Conversational Recruiting?
Conversational recruiting is a high-tech strategy that can help improve recruiter-candidate relationships and fast-track the hiring process. Clear, continuous and consistent communication across multiple channels like texts, instant messages, social media, and chat or video platforms is the essence of conversational recruiting. It aims to attract, qualify and engage top candidates with real-time and continuous conversations that are flexible and take place on the platforms frequented by those candidates.
How Does it Work?
Conversational recruiting works when meaningful conversations are continuously established with the candidates which may not always be possible. So how do you meet the candidates’ demands of consistent, prompt and meaningful conversation throughout the recruiting process? Chatbots are an ideal solution. This AI-powered technology can help recruiters by conducting relevant conversations with the candidates while simultaneously screening them for eligibility. They offer the best of both worlds to the recruiters.
Apart from chatbots, recruiters can enhance their conversational recruiting process with the help of other platforms such as:
- Text messages
- Notifications
- Audio and video chat
- Social media and on-site chat
- Web content
- Social media chat, posts, and comments
- On-site chat
Conversational recruiting uses technology to allow the recruiters to:
- Connect with the candidates through platforms which they are most likely to frequent throughout their job search
- Continue conversations regardless of the change in communication channels
- Ensure that every potential candidate is offered the most relevant information
- Prepare the shortlisted candidates for the interview process through prompt and consistent communication
Smart Tips to Make Conversational Recruiting Effective
Be Mindful About Personalization of Technology
A majority of people feel that chatbots shouldn’t be too robotic because it makes for poor candidate experience. However, they shouldn’t be misleading also when asked by the candidate if they are speaking to a chatbot or not. Research shows that a truthful approach is appreciated.
Offer Ample Information
Qualified candidates are eager for more information regarding the company and the position for which they apply. Although, they do understand that the talent acquisition process cannot be human-to-human at every step. Hence, they appreciate the tech-enabled conversational recruiting process more than its traditional counterpart. So, use your conversational recruiting process to offer as much valuable information as is possible regarding the vacancy and the Company. If your conversational recruiting strategy fails to offer more valuable information than the ‘Careers page’ of your Company’s website or your job posting, the candidates may lose interest.
Reply in Real-Time
Chatbots can collect queries of interested candidates in real-time and with the help of recruiting software like an ATS or CRM can relay it to HR professionals. This is a major benefit of adopting conversational recruiting. It caters to the needs of modern-day candidates who wish to get answers and updates about the application process in real-time.
There is a lot to explore with this hottest trend in the field of talent acquisition. However, recruiters with the readiness to adapt and patience can extract great results by integrating this high-tech strategy with their recruiting process.
About the author
Kelly Barcelos is a progressive digital marketing manager for Jobsoid – Applicant Tracking System. She is responsible for leading the content and social media teams at work. Her expertise and experience in the field of HR enables her to create value-driven content for her readers – both on Jobsoid’s blog and other guest blogs where she publishes content regularly.
Featured image via Unsplash.