But what about the candidates who didn’t make the cut for this particular vacancy? The ones who show a lot of promise and could be a great fit for your organisation but just not that specific role. On one side, you could simply wave it off as a shame and hope they apply again in the future. On the other,you can tap into this hidden and highly valuable resource for future vacancies.
Let’s look at a few ways to keep in touch with your talent pool to keep them engaged with your organisation and potential upcoming roles.
1. Turn the rejection email into an encouraging phone call
Many organisations are guilty of never getting back to their candidates at all. Those who do, often send impersonal emails that seem to have been copied from a template. You can make a real difference in the morale of your candidates (and help them to keep you in mind for future roles) if you make the effort to speak to them on the phone. While this may be more time consuming than sending out a standardised email, there are candidates out there who will be worth the effort. For example, those who only just missed out on the job and have great potential in other parts of the business or for other roles.
Taking the time to call them, letting them know what you liked about their application, attitude, and skills, as well as why you’ll keep them in mind for future roles makes it much more likely that they will do the same. Keeping strong candidates in your talent pool can be a fantastic time and resource saver, as well as a great way to ensure you keep employing top notch talent.You can also let them know about any further training or qualifications that may help them secure a role with you in the future.
2. Be proactive not reactive
Candidate experience plays a huge role in both how likely someone is to accept a job with you and their ongoing trust and productivity should they be hired. Morale begins with the candidate experience, and keeping your candidates informed (whatever stage of the funnel they are in) is a huge part of that. Instead of waiting for candidates to contact you, reach out to them with a simple email asking where they’re at in the job search or if they’d be interested in a role in a slightly different area of your organisation.
3. Create email drip campaigns
There is a big difference here between continuous engaging contact and bombarding your talent pool with emails. Email drip campaigns are highly successful in sales and marketing and ultimately it works the same way for recruitment. You can use your ATS to automate email campaigns containing information about things such as company updates and new vacancies, depending on the vacancy applied for, how long ago they applied for it, and whether they interviewed or not, among other criteria that you can set at the candidate or vacancy level. Based on candidate’s activity within the application process and from prior emails, these email campaigns can be automated, allowing you to keep your candidates engaged without draining resources or needing personal follow ups.
4. Make use of SMS
Texting and WhatsApp are being used increasingly in a wide range of industries. From confirming flight booking information to retail brands informing you of their latest sales and offers, these campaigns make great use of the world within our pockets. SMS campaigns are a great way to alert candidates to new opportunities and have a much higher open rate than emails across all industries, sometimes by up to 70%. Want a hand getting started? Take a look at our recruitment SMS templates.
5. Allow them to sign up for notifications
Notifications are everywhere. A natural part of our day to day lives, notifications on our phones, inboxes, browsers, and applications are highly effective methods of communication and engagement. Your ATS may be able to create desktop or browser notifications for updates about your candidates’ application and vacancies in their areas of interest. These can be a great way to keep your talent pool engaged and frequenting your ATS or company careers page.
Conclusion
Your talent pool can be an inexhaustible source of candidates for future roles within your organisation. Especially in large organisations participating in high-volume hiring campaigns,talent pools can be vast, reduce your future hiring costs, and contain a wide range of fantastic candidates. Someone else may have won out for your vacancy this time, but keeping your strongest potential candidates engaged with your organisation can make all the difference to your ongoing hiring and recruitment efforts.
Want to know more about how an ATS can help you make the most of your talent pool? Explore everything Kallidus Recruit has to offer through the link below.
Written by Claire Moloney Claire is an enthusiastic and meticulous content writer whose passion is to support growth and continual learning for everyone.
