Are you dreaming about a campus recruitment pipeline full of qualitative candidates, but do you fear it’s an illusive dream? The solution to turn this dream into a reality is thinking out of the box. Time to switch from your role as recruiter to your role as marketeer. A new perspective will boost your campus recruitment strategy in no time!
The customer always comes first. This mantra is paramount in the retail sector: shops will do whatever it takes to give their clients the customer experience of a lifetime. When customers don’t get what they want, prepare yourself for a bad review on your socials. Digital natives will crush you on the internet when they are not satisfied. 🥊
Nowadays, the same goes for candidates. New candidates, especially Gen Z’ers, are expecting a high class candidate experience and are sick and tired of impractical application procedures such as long questionnaires, complex motivational letters or applying via mail. 😴
Young graduates will do their absolute best to be highly informed about your company which translates in snooping around your social media, website, articles on the internet, … . The online presence of your company is very influential and your candidates know that all too well. Every medium or channel of communication where a candidate gets in contact with your company, is called a touchpoint. These touchpoints are a crucial part of the candidate experience.
Recruitment marketing combines recruitment and marketing techniques in a big search for new talent. 🕵️♀️ In simpler language: besides using traditional techniques for your campus recruitment, you can also use best practices from marketing to attract young graduates.
Recruitment marketing mainly focuses on:
Looking for potential candidates
Generating interest and engagement
Convincing qualitative candidates to apply
The candidate journey is an essential part of this process. Què?!
A candidate journey visualises all of the touchpoints between you as a company and the candidate during the application process from start to finish. 🏁 From the very first moment the candidate hears your company name, until the application is finished.
Applying recruitment marketing for campus recruitment means that you can determine every touchpoint during the candidate journey in the funnel after the first interaction. Usually campus recruitment day would be the first interaction, but given the COVID-19 pandemic, this probably won’t be the case. Reaching students requires a different approach nowadays. It’s time to use digital channels to get in touch with young graduates, such as social media ads.
A top notch candidate experience is all about giving the candidate the right message at the right time. A candidate who is in the first stage of the funnel will have other needs and desires vs a candidate from the third stage. 🔍 When a potential candidate visits your website and reads your vacancy page, he or she shows interest in the job function and in your company. You can assume that this young graduate will be happy to receive more information about your company and culture. In contrast, a candidate who has already applied and is now visiting your vacancy page is probably looking for more information about the next steps in the application process.
Let’s dig a little deeper in the various stages of the campus recruitment marketing funnel.
Discover:
The first interaction of the candidate with your company is located in this first stage. Normally this includes the campus recruitment days, but during the current circumstances potential candidates could have their first interaction with your company via various (digital) channels: social media ads, email, banners on websites, television and radio ads, …
Some candidates may have had their first interaction with your company before the campus recruitment days: via social media, television and radio ads, …
Engage:
After several touchpoints from the first stage, some candidates will be more interested in your company. After the campus recruitment days, candidates may visit your website, look at your social media, search for open vacancies, … Tip: digital natives crave for career and international options, good work-life balance, sustainability initiatives, .. so make sure you highlight these aspects of your company! 👍 In the second stage the young graduate will consider applying. A little tip: create a quiz that the candidate can use to see if the job is the right fit. This will make sure that you engage with the candidate.
Attract:
Candidates are now for real interested in the vacancy. This is the last thinking phase before they actually apply for the job. The young graduate will gather more information about the job: contact your company with questions about the vacancy, the team or your company itself. The crucial touchpoint in this stage is your vacancy page, which needs to have all the right information and give the young graduate the option to get in touch with you. Tip: digital natives are scared to death by phone calls, so give them nice online alternatives such as an online questionnaire to apply, a chatbox to ask their questions, … 💬
Application:
In this stage it is all about the application: Is it required to upload a cv? Do you ask for a motivation letter? Or do you use a questionnaire? Does the candidate receive a confirmation mail? You should really think about all these aspects because the way you communicate with the young graduates will make or break your company image.
Selection process:
In this stage you will choose which young graduates you invite for a job interview and which you will send a rejection mail. In the latter it is crucial for your company image to explain why you reject them and give them personal feedback. Digital natives ❤️ open and honest communication.
Hire:
The last step of the funnel is to hire or reject final applicants. The last touchpoint is the telephone call or email with the final decision. Transparency is very important at this stage and will improve the candidate experience. Because be warned: if students had a bad experience, they will definitely share this on their socials and word will travel fast on campus!
To be in full control of all the touchpoints in the funnel, you should use the right software and tools. By using a mix of different digital tools and technologies (Facebook Analytics, Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, …) you can determine where in the process every candidate is located. 🎯 In that way you can deliver the young graduate with the right information at the right time based on which stage he or she is located at that moment.
Let this funnel be your guiding light to make the most out of your campus recruitment strategy. 🔦 Soon you will notice that digital natives will see your company as an ideal employer. The dream of every campus recruiter, right?!