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This school of thought has been making the rounds for a while now but the ethos doesn’t seem to be impacting as massively as it should. We all know the pitfalls, failings and all round hideousness of shady recruitment practices, and we’ve all been plagued with seemingly super tools and industry-changing techniques that are meant to put us all on a better recruitment path. But the problem isn’t just lurking around those poor practice corners and it certainly isn’t just the systems you use that need to be held accountable - it’s about the big picture approach.
You can have the greatest ATS in the world, have an incredible team and possess unlimited man hours and resources but if you can’t nail proper candidate treatment and preserve a fab candidate experience you’re gubbed. You see this is about more than tech and talk, it’s about consistently embodying and practicing a candidate-friendly ethos that bleeds into everything you do. And the belief that candidates should be treated like customers is one such ethos.
Six reasons why you need to change those treatment tactics - Think more client.
The client is king. The client is the one in charge. The client demands certain actions and attitudes from those they communicate with. Why aren’t candidates treated the same way? Yes the commerce and recruitment industries differ but they both depend on a need to truly engage and serve. Adopting this approach doesn’t require massive overhauls or budgets, just some specks on humanity and personalisation sprinkled with respect and the art of listening.
#1 - Recruitment is about selling.
It’s not so much the what but the how that makes the difference here. So far recruitment has inherited all the less than savoury sales traits - pushiness, lack of personalisation, focus on numbers not people. But it doesn’t need to be that way. A good recruiter knows that selling culture and values is just as important as selling the role itself. Selling anything is about engagement and that’s founded on respect and valued connection. Let’s go down this route.
#2 - It makes you think of each candidate as passive.
Which means you treat them better. It’s simple and it’s true. When a recruiter is trying to engage a passive candidate there’s a level of quality and respect that just isn’t always there when it comes to how active candidates are treated. Maybe it’s because there’s an element of ‘there’s always another candidate out there looking for a job so meh’. Aspects like feedback and personalisation are prioritised in attracting passive candidates but these should be commonplace everywhere!
#3 - Think of ecosystems not just numbers.
The key to keeping clients is to develop real relationships and long-term communications. Same goes for keeping great candidates to hand. If you can focus your energy on creating a talent ecosystem and pool rather than just thinking of today’s hire, you are investing in your future recruitment success. Also, you’re creating a great reputation for yourself. Any community is about mutual value, flawless feedback and constant nurturing - sounds like the makings of a pretty happy talent pool to me.
#4 - It puts the candidate experience first.
A customer is only ever going to be as happy as the experience they engage in. And candidates feel the same way about their recruitment journey. In these speedy, quantity-focused times the candidate experience is the first thing to be neglected. It takes time and attention to create and preserve a great candidate experience. Invest in a better candidate experience by getting to know the roles you advertise inside and out and aim to offer candidates closure swiftly, these are the details that put you ahead of your game.
#5 - Each action is built on feedback.
The ability to listen and adapt is a big client winner. Recruiters are meant to be masters in feedback yet it’s a recruitment aspect that is lacking big time. With any kind of commerce, there's a two-way communication and flow of needs and wants that keeps all on their toes and striving to attract and please. This is missing in modern recruitment. Keeping on top of feedback and creating a process that actually values it is a massive step to success. Get the basics like following up and answering every action with a personalised reply in the bag and you then be a bit more inventive with your feedback efforts.
#6 - Prompts you to use your tools better.
There’s no shortage of tricks, systems and beyond to keep recruiters on the straight and narrow. However, we all become stuck in a tool rut. It’s just as much about how you apply your resources as it is anything else. If you come at your candidates with a consumer-esque approach, things like analytics play a more definitive role. Typically associated with sales or marketing, analytics might not be the most natural go-to tool for recruiters, but they give great insight into trends, behaviours and more. With a new outlook, comes new ways to utilise what you already have in your arsenal.
By treating candidates like clients you breed a process and experience that’s based in putting best practice and candidate needs first. Yes you can also simplify and clarify the recruitment process but primarily this treatment swap can make the recruitment process a more meaningful adventure for both parties.
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