"We really need to do something with talent pools." A common statement among agency recruiters. In today's market, starting the entire recruitment process over again with every vacancy is very labor-intensive. In addition, during the time you are looking for candidates, your competitor may already be one step ahead and submitting a candidate. Time is of the essence, which is why recruitment agencies can no longer do without talent pools. Good news: with recruitment marketing automation software, building and maintaining talent pools becomes easy and efficient.
Step 1: fill your talent pools
Talent pools are nothing without talent, so your first step is to attract good candidates. You can do that by sharing your open positions through your website, your social media channels and on job boards, but in doing so you are largely reaching active job seekers. And that is only a small part of your target audience.
Social media advertising: the fastest way to your target audience
The large group of latent job seekers is best reached through social media advertising. Almost everyone these days can be found on Youtube, Linkedin, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok or Snapchat. Campaigns on these channels put you in front of tens of thousands of potential candidates. That works a lot faster than sourcing!
Only then the executive side. Advertising through social media channels sounds technical, complicated and time-consuming. You can therefore outsource it to a media agency, but there are many advantages to doing it doing it yourself using recruitment marketing automation software. Thanks to the link with your ATS, a content library and data from thousands of past campaigns, you get a campaign proposal at the push of a button. All you have to do is check it and press 'start'. Easy peasy!
Also target exploratory candidates
You can use recruitment campaigns to bring in candidates for your vacancies, but why not do more than that? By also appealing to candidates who are just starting out and motivating them to come and have a cup of coffee, you expand your target group and thus your talent pools. For talent for which you do not currently have a vacancy under management, you can actively search for suitable employers and vacancies. That offers you as an agency recruiter an immediate fine sales entrance with prospects!
Make responding quick and easy
So with recruitment marketing automation software you set up your own campaigns quickly and easily, but that's not all there is to it. For best results, make it as easy as possible for candidates to respond. After all, changing jobs is not an easy thing to do. It is a decision that does not happen overnight and taking the first step can be exciting for candidates. Especially if, as a candidate, you feel like you're being sucked straight into a traditional application process, when really you're just looking around.
That's why you need soft conversions. These are low-threshold actions that you offer talent, such as signing up for a job alert, scheduling a (digital) cup of coffee or starting a conversation via WhatsApp. Besides the "scary application button," you thus create another way for candidates to respond to your ad or website. You thereby make taking action for them quick, easy and non-committal and therefore many more candidates will take that first step. Getting to know each other and building a relationship is what follows.
You get the most out of your recruitment campaigns by using soft conversions, or lead generation. We see the conversion on recruitment sites and from campaigns increase by up to 300% with this addition. Indispensable!
Step 2: get to know the candidates in your talent pools
Now that your inbox is flooded with messages and inquiries from potential candidates, the key is to follow up on these leads accurately and quickly. To control the time you spend following up on contact, deploy automations for this as well. You can think of:
- A welcome message that automatically adapts to the day and time the candidate contacts you. For example, if a candidate asks a question in the evening, you can let them know that you will get back to them the next business day.
- Questions about the candidate's interests and abilities. For example, you can automatically find out what field or region the candidate wants to work in or how many hours per week they are available. Based on the answers, you can even assign the candidate to a specific talent pool so that this is followed up by the right recruiter. That saves another intermediate step!
- Qualification questions allow you to instantly check whether a candidate is a good fit for the job opening. For example, if someone responds to a job as an assistant accountant, you can automatically ask about the candidate's qualifications and software knowledge. For the best candidates, you immediately offer the opportunity to schedule an introductory meeting. Candidates who do not have the right qualifications can be directed to other vacancies or automatically rejected.
This way, recruiters only have to deal with relevant candidates. This saves a lot of time and an added benefit: candidates are often happy with this speed and clarity in the process. Especially if you set up the automatic follow-up as personally as possible.
Step 3: connect candidates to your agency
Not every candidate in your talent pool will be ready to start an actual application process right away. In addition, you will get candidates in your talent pool who are indeed interesting, but for whom you do not currently have suitable vacancies in your portfolio. Don't let these contacts go to waste, but build rapport with this talent. Manually maintaining contact with hundreds or perhaps thousands of candidates is not workable, but with recruitment marketing automation it can be done.
In fact, you can use nurturing campaigns for talent pools. In simple terms, these are automated contact moments, always after a period chosen by you or based on a different trigger. Via e-mail, SMS and/or WhatsApp, you send the talents in your database valuable content, such as an infographic with market developments, tips and tricks for optimizing the Linkedin profile or an invitation to a professional webinar. This way, the candidate hears from the recruitment consultant on a regular basis, making them feel more connected to your agency.
And candidates who notice that you as a recruitment agency are involved, know a lot about the market and have an extensive network of interesting employers, will respond more often to your messages about new vacancies. Or even contact you of their own accord when they are ready to make a move! After all, thanks to nurturing campaigns, your agency is top-of-mind.
The result: achieving more and faster placements
With RMA software, building and maintaining talent pools suddenly does become a viable strategy because it can be done in an efficient yet personal way. You speak to more candidates thanks to soft conversions and lead generation tooling, quickly distinguish the relevant from the non-fitting candidates and become top-of-mind with the talents in your pools. All largely automatic!
As a result, you don't have to start recruiting from scratch for new vacancies, with the necessary investment in time and money that this normally entails. You already know the best candidates in the market! This means faster placements (less time required for the recruitment process) and more frequent placements. You are, in fact, one step ahead of your competitors.
Discover more applications of RMA that grow you as a recruitment agency? Read our blog on RMA as the success booster for staffing agencies or watch our demo videos.
