I’m typically not a big fan of getting into jargon in order to make a point. The fact is, you’re busy running your staffing firm, and you want to understand our platform, and how it can help you grow your business.
But once in awhile, I like to get down into the nitty gritty of marketing to help illuminate some powerful opportunities for staffing firms to engage candidates and ultimately, drive growth.
This is one of those times. 😊
Specifically, I am going to talk about an omni channel approach to candidate engagement. This strategy is a powerful tool in your arsenal to increase retention, redeployment and referrals to grow your staffing firm.
In this post, I’ll walk you through an omni channel approach to candidate engagement, and show how it can help you make a positive impact on your bottom line.
At its most basic, an omni channel approach is an approach to candidate engagement that aims to create a seamless experience for your talent by using multiple channels.
For a brick and mortar business, a rudimentary look at an omni channel approach would include an easy shopping experience on its website, on a smartphone, or in store.
With an omni channel approach, every element and stage is integrated, working together to create a unified experience for every customer.
In some cases, “omni channel” and “multichannel” are used interchangeably. This isn’t entirely accurate.
“Multi”, of course, refers to multiple. If you take a multichannel approach to marketing your job postings, for example, you may post them on Indeed and ZipRecruiter, and you may take out some Facebook ads. You are using multiple channels to promote your job postings.
“Omni” means “all.” Rather than choosing a few channels and using them together, an omni channel approach weaves every channel together, sharing data and working in tandem.
With technological advancements and expectations for today’s candidates, an omni channel approach for staffing firms toward candidate engagement may at first seem a bit complex. To get started, it helps to think like talent. What steps would you take if you were looking for a job? Or better yet, before you even start looking for a job?
Today, the first point of contact for many businesses, and this includes staffing firms, is social media. Candidates may engage with some of your content, read some blogs, and start thinking about their careers.
When the time is right (or an appropriate job opportunity is presented to them), they may then view or apply to a job using your ATS (on their computers or mobile devices).
From there, your recruiters get to work. Reading resumes, conducting phone screens, interviews, reference checks...all of it. An omni channel approach ensures that you are communicating with candidates using their preferred methods -- things like Chat, WhatsApp, Skype and more.
An omni channel approach to candidate engagement ensures that from the moment a candidates begin their candidate journeys with your staffing firm -- typically well before they ever apply for a job -- the experience is seamless, engaging, and overwhelmingly positive.
The end goal (and end result for Sense clients) to a well-implemented omni channel approach to candidate engagement is a happy candidate. Preferably, one who is placed, refers more candidates, and is redeployed. Someone who never even thinks of checking out your competitor!
Now that you understand what an omni channel approach to candidate engagement entails, you might be left thinking...okay, now what?
For many years, the “now what” included copious time researching, interviewing, and demoing multiple SaaS providers to try and individually attack each component of the candidate journey.
This method is a massive time suck for any staffing firm, and can end up costing you significantly in lost productivity before even using those tools. Plus, monthly bills to multiple vendors. And additional lost productivity every time you have a question or issue, going back and forth with each respective platform’s customer service team.
The most time- and cost-effective way to implement an omni channel approach to candidate engagement at your staffing firm is with a single, robust candidate engagement platform (Like Sense!).
With Sense, you can automate, personalize and optimize your entire talent lifecycle. Whether you are emailing a candidate to ask for references, shooting a text message with directions to the interview, or sending a message to wish candidates a “Happy Birthday,” the experience is positive and seamless for both your staffing firm and your candidates.
Your candidates are engaged and happy. Your recruiters are happy and have more time to focus on mission-critical tasks. And if you’re like most Sense clients, your ROI is skyrocketing.
Contact us now to schedule a demo and learn how Sense can transform your staffing firm.
