3 Immediate Benefits of Candidate Relationship Management Software

January 27, 2020

 

iCIMS Staff

4 min read

Key takeaways on why candidate relationship management makes a difference to your talent acquisition strategy:

• Candidate relationship management (CRM) systems are designed to help organize internal and external candidates and engage them over time with relevant updates.
• Today the half-life of a learned skill is five years, even shorter for technical skills. In perspective, college degree “book learning” can be obsolete within a year of graduation. The most useful talent communities are forward-looking.
• When your industry’s technologies evolve rapidly consider sourcing from vocational, certification, badging, and apprenticeship environments for of-the-minute skills. (Learn more about recruitment marketing software here).
• Internal talent communities boost morale and decrease attrition from employees who feel overlooked. Reskilling is more efficient and cost effective than re-hiring because it leverages employees that know your customer and your business. (Learn how one modern retailer, Room & Board, keeps employee turnover low).

This year hit some industries hard and for others it was a boon. Whether you need to make up for 2020 losses or maintain momentum, 2021 is the year to build diverse, winning workforces.

You can strengthen your position as an employer and differentiate your talent communities by implementing robust candidate relationship management software (CRM) that works with your team.

A CRM helps you fill jobs faster by connecting with current and future job candidates through automated email marketing, recruiting event functionality, job recommendation portals, and more. A successful, helpful CRM allows you to source the best talent from within varied, purpose-built talent communities by attracting new talent to join and by evaluating already interested talent within a community who may not have been considered in the past due to limited availability.

Now is the ideal time to revamp your candidate engagement strategies with a robust CRM to truly make your tech work in ways that are more intelligent, inclusive, and productive.

Use candidate relationship management to strengthen your hiring strategy

Instead of operating in reaction mode, recruitment marketing software allows your recruiters to be proactive and stay ahead of talent needs. Building talent communities is an effective way to ensure a constant flow of candidates are available.

Follow these three actionable steps to bolster your talent communities.

1. Assess strengths and weaknesses

What you don’t know can hurt you when it comes to developing robust talent pipelines. Before building and organizing your talent communities ask yourself the following questions to guide how you source:

• • What critical positions and skills are needed at my company?
  • What is my average time to ­fill?
  • What is my company’s talent makeup?
  • What is my company’s projected growth?
  • How diverse are my sources and are they providing quality candidates?
  • Do you consider non-traditional hires such as vocationally skilled, remotely located, or contingent workers?

Your candidate relationship management system will house and organize talent communities based on whatever criteria — skills, experience level, product knowledge, etc. — is most relevant for your company. While you can always adjust as needs change, starting with an assessment of where your workforce is today will help you focus on building out the talent communities you expect to need tomorrow.

2. Build fit-for-purpose talent communities

Now you’re ready to segment your talent communities based on your current and future talent needs. Strong segmented talent communities ensure your company always has a pipeline of talented and qualified candidates to select from when a job becomes available. To get the most out of communities, recruiters should consider  grouping candidates together based on similarities and continue to communicate with these connections through personalized content.

Examples of how to organize your talent pools include tagging by:

• • Education level
  • Work experience
  • Interested role or department
  • Location
  • Skills

Now that your talent communities in your candidate relationship management system are properly organized, you’re ready to start building relationships and engaging talent with relevant, timely content.

3. Engage with relevance

Sending automated personalized, branded communications based on your defined talent segments makes candidates more likely to think of you when they are ready to apply to a job. Make the application process even simpler by integrating text message capabilities. (Learn more about text recruiting channels here).

Here are a few examples of marketing content that your organization can send to connect candidates to your brand:

• • Employment newsletters that include spotlighted jobs. Proactively sharing open roles keeps you under active consideration and creates a sense of timeliness and relevance to your communications.
  • Automatic alerts for new job postings. Often, candidates know exactly what role they’re hoping will open up. Letting them set alerts ensures they’ll be the first to see and have a chance to apply.
  • Employee spotlights including pictures or videos of top performers. No one wants to be sold to all the time. Sharing employee stories and accomplishments reinforces your brand and culture.
  • Social media links to events, press releases, and need-to-knows. Sharing company news and events keeps candidates invested in your story.
  • Professional development programs at your organization. Sometimes candidates are interested and motivated but lack skills or experience that would boost their chances at a particular job. Investing in them – and seeing their abilities in action – can be a great way to source for hard to fill roles.
  • Information on new products, expansion, growth, or social/civic activity. No company exists in a bubble. Show you’re an active participant by sharing timely news and updates.

Learn more about CRM benefits in How to Deliver Immediate Results With Your CRM.

Reviewed for accuracy on March 8, 2021, by Alex Oliver.