Even with economic uncertainty and news of layoffs, companies that are continuing to hire say the talent market remains competitive. Although there are more candidates job searching, they are still selective of what roles they pursue and still demand a positive experience from the hiring companies they interact with.
In our recent webinar, Sense Product Marketing Director Wendy Lu and Sense Senior Corporate Recruiter Jenny Gamel discussed specific ways recruiting teams can use AI and automation to unlock hiring success in a competitive talent market. In this blog post, we’ll recap the main takeaways from their talk.
Throughout 2021 and early 2022, candidates were able to interview with multiple companies and negotiate favorable employment terms. While there are fewer opportunities now, candidates still expect companies to provide a positive hiring experience and continue to search for the best possible opportunities for themselves. In summary, the hiring market is competitive because:
Wendy and Jenny then shared four ways recruiting teams can provide candidates with the experience they want and deserve and ultimately help their companies unlock hiring success.
Candidates have a variety of questions they want answered before they apply for a job, and they don’t want to wait days or even hours for a recruiter to respond.
With Sense Smart FAQs, you can fill in answers in a library of pre-defined questions and the Sense AI Chatbot will automatically pass that information to job seekers who visit your careers website. For example, you can provide candidates with answers to questions about work hours, benefits, and your organizational culture — instantly giving them the information they need to make an informed decision to apply.
Attracting candidates via job boards is becoming less effective. Various studies show that cost-per-hire has been rising year-over-year and much of that increase is attributed to job board spend.
In a competitive talent market, you need to make your openings visible to candidates. Using Sense, you can advertise that you’re hiring in your physical location and include a dedicated number candidates can text or a QR code they can scan to apply. Taking either action will connect them with the Sense AI Chatbot which will trigger the application process (more on that in the next section).
Candidates won’t tolerate a lengthy application and interview process when they have multiple employment options. The hiring companies that offer a streamlined application experience and are the quickest to schedule interviews attract more candidates and keep them engaged throughout the hiring process. Additionally, sending timely communication such as interview confirmation email and feedback helps enhance the candidate experience.
In addition to answering candidates’ questions, the Sense AI Chatbot will collect their application details by asking them a short series of questions, then automatically screen them against role requirements and schedule an interview. A candidate can go from being curious about your company to applying and having an interview scheduled in just a few short minutes.
Candidates have long demanded better communication from the companies they apply to but recruiters just don’t have the time to consistently engage every candidate throughout the hiring process. Still, if a candidate feels you’re being unresponsive or have fallen out of touch, they’ll shift their focus to the next opportunity.
With Sense, you can send automated emails, text messages, and other personalized communications to candidates at different stages of their hiring journey. And Sense Talent Relationship Management (TRM) gives you access to a centralized hub for viewing candidate information, managing messaging campaigns, and advancing candidates through the hiring process.
A candidate accepting an offer may seem like cause for celebration but it’s an often-overlooked drop-off point in the hiring process. Some candidates will continue to interview with other companies in hopes of securing an even better opportunity while others will just second-guess their decision as the excitement from the interview wears off.
Keeping in touch with new hires and kicking off the onboarding process before their start day helps reaffirm their commitment to your company. Using Sense, you can send automation messages to soon-to-be-employees that notify them of onboarding tasks so you keep them engaged and prepare them to hit the ground running on day one.
The highly-competitive talent market of the past few years is showing no signs of letting up. The most successful hiring companies are overcoming challenges with AI and automation by engaging candidates faster and more frequently. If you want to learn more, watch the webinar on demand.
