Welcome to the world of nurture. Marketers have been using it for years to communicate with interested leads, influence the buyer’s journey and convert them into customers. Why should the candidate experience be any different? 

Resource Solutions' Candidate Experience in the Expectation Economy research showed that 94% of candidates feel the recruitment experience affects their decision to accept or reject an offer. And 58% of candidates feel that a good experience will make them more likely to accept a role.

Keeping in touch with candidates doesn’t have to be overwhelming. By using technology and a focused approach, you can give your future brand ambassadors a positive impression of your business, whether they eventually join you or not.

1. Treat your candidates like your customers

As customers, we equate brands with experiences. Our association with a brand is based on how it makes us feel. That’s what makes Apple fans stick with the brand despite the fact that their products cost three times more than other similar products.

If you treat a candidate badly, you’ll probably lose a customer, and vice versa. Invest time and effort into your interactions with candidates to impress them, as much as you would your customers. Live chat, gamification, event invites, loyalty initiatives, peer-to-peer forums...if your customers are being delighted by these approaches, your potential employees will be too.

2. Promote your culture and values

Create an emotional connection with your company by giving your candidates an insight into everything from the vibe of the workplace to what makes your people tick.

Topping Glassdoor’s 14 Companies That Have The Best Cultures and Values in the UK list is tech company, Cloudreach. They bring global staff together, create welcoming office spaces and actively promote career development. All of which is showcased on their careers website in the form of videos, blogs, good news stories and profiles. Dig out this ready made marketing content and share it with your candidate pool to keep them excited about you.

3. Keep on communicating

LinkedIn tells us that people are ‘ghosting’ at work, and it's driving companies crazy. More and more, candidates agree to job interviews and fail to show up. Keeping the dialogue flowing between you and your candidate can be the difference between them turning up on the first day ready for action, or never hearing from them again. 

How did my interview go? When will I receive feedback? Should I have worn a tie? If your candidates are asking themselves these questions, you’re not doing it right.

4. Make it relevant

Serving great content to your audience only works if that content is interesting and relevant to them. With so many candidates, how can you be so targeted?

Crystal Knows is a public personality platform that can predict how individuals behave, how they wish to be spoken to and what their relationship with others will be like. Marketed as a service to help anyone adapt their communication style to different personality types, it can even serve you real-time personality suggestions as you compose emails to help improve communication.

5. Be unique

Candidates in today’s markets know their value and can afford to be picky, so you have to try harder to win them over. Currently disrupting the executive search sector in a unique way is Winter Circle, an invitation only network for senior IT executives around the world to meet and share ideas.