4 Game-Changing Strategies to Build and Engage a Talent Community
Recruitics
A global data-powered recruitment marketing agency — we help companies attract and hire great talent.
Key Takeaways:
Building a pool of qualified candidates can often be the most efficient method to fill the most roles. One of the best ways to build this pool is with a talent community. Talent communities can help companies nurture and develop relationships with candidates before the interview begins.
But what does talent pools and engagement look like in practice? Consider the following tips to help your company develop a talent community that guides candidates from initial engagement to conversion.
1. Optimizing the Career Site for Talent Community Building
A career site can either be a hiring professional’s greatest asset or greatest barrier. The career site communicates a company’s brand and voice, and if done correctly, can be optimized to engage visiting candidates and guide them along the talent pipeline down to ultimate application and hire. Here are today’s best practices for designing a career site.
Designing a User-Friendly and Mobile-Responsive Career Page
The best career sites rely on a clean, modern design that is presentable and properly formatted on any device. Ensure that the most relevant information about your company is at the forefront, and provide a clear and easy-to-navigate menu. Don’t forget to use language that’s accessible to all candidates to have the best chance of cultivating a diverse talent pool.
Remember that dynamic, engaging content like images and videos can help best display your brand. It will also make candidates want to learn more about your company!
Implementing Clear Call-to-Action (CTA) to Join the Talent Community
Attracting visitors won’t mean much if they cannot be engaged. Offering a clear call-to-action can encourage career site visitors to take the next step in joining a talent community. These CTAs should be prominently displayed, and any posted content – such as blogs – should each conclude with a similar call-to-action encouraging candidates to join the talent community.
Utilizing Landing Pages and Forms to Collect Candidate Information
The best way to collect candidate information is through a well-built landing page. The landing page information should be clear, easy to use, and accessible, particularly for candidates filling out forms on a mobile device. Don’t neglect personalized engagement techniques (like directing specific candidates to pages that best suit their interests), as this can help to foster a strong relationship.
Tip: A form should have a clear message to indicate that the candidate has successfully submitted their information and direct them to other pages or content to keep them engaged.
2. Using LinkedIn to Build a Talent Community
Thanks to sites like LinkedIn, your future talent community might already be out there. Here are some tips to get started with this platform.
Leveraging LinkedIn Company Pages for Talent Engagement
Everything from your company’s banner to content can be leveraged to engage with a target candidate market – and initial engagement is critical to conversion success. LinkedIn notes that 15% of candidates who have a positive hiring experience will put more effort into their jobs once hired. A LinkedIn company page is often a candidate’s first experience with a company, so it’s essential to make a strong first impression.?
Creating Showcase Pages to Highlight Specific Talent Community Interests
LinkedIn Showcase pages are subpages that can be used to highlight a unique service or initiative – such as a recruitment marketing campaign. These pages can also share content, with the added benefit of leveraging content that connects with a target market.
Engaging in Active Conversations and Networking With Potential Candidates
It’s important for hiring professionals to stay active and engage with the potential candidates who are liking or commenting on posts. Assigning additional recruitment professionals to serve as administrators can help, but don’t underestimate the value of having your employees engage with your network and step up as thought leaders in their own right.
Posting Thought-Leadership Content and Sharing Industry Insights
Posting blog posts or video content can position a company as a leading authority in its industry, which makes it more attractive to potential applicants. Shareable content can also extend a company’s reach as additional visitors engage with its posts. And by assigning these posts to your employees, you’ll elevate team members and strengthen your company culture.
Utilizing LinkedIn Groups to Facilitate Community Engagement
You might use LinkedIn groups to discuss employment opportunities with your company, build your employer brand, showcase company culture, and network with like-minded individuals. Even those not actively looking for a job might learn of your company and its opportunities, increasing the odds that they may consider joining your team in the future.
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3. Measuring Success and Continuous Improvement
Tracking the success of recruitment marketing efforts is a vital part of the process. Having essential metrics of a talent community that are tied to development success benchmarks is a key way to ensure the growth of a talent community. These metrics can also be used to highlight areas for improvement. After all, you can’t know where you need to grow if you don’t know where you stand now!
Identifying Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for Talent Community Success
Determining key performance indicators (KPIs) is crucial. At this stage in the talent acquisition process, it’s helpful to focus on basics such as:
While there are certainly others, these basic metrics can set clear, measurable goals to track talent community success over time.
Analyzing Data and Insights to Optimize Engagement Strategies
LinkedIn offers analytics and demographic breakdowns on marketing content. Sites like Google Analytics can help track the performance of a career site. Together, these metrics will provide a comprehensive picture of your recruitment strategies, highlight areas that could be underperforming, and help inform a strategy to address various goals.
Tip: A centralized dashboard can make it easier for you and your team to evaluate data. A dashboard can also help you visualize trends that you can leverage for future campaigns.
Seeking Feedback From Community Members for Continuous Improvement
While online tools provide hiring professionals access to quantitative data, insights can be gained from the qualitative data provided by the talent community members themselves. Listening to community members and soliciting feedback through online surveys can be beneficial. The more you tailor your content to your audience, the more you can create a meaningful and impactful experience for candidates. After all, you’re demonstrating a commitment to building relationships with job-seekers, which enhances their experience in their quest to find their next opportunity.
When there’s a chance to speak to candidates in person, hiring professionals can ask them questions about their recruitment journey to discover points of friction that help optimize the candidate experience or more accurately represent employer branding.
4. Leveraging Technology and Automation
Technology can augment the recruitment marketing process, and it can also make it more efficient. The best tools can even help a recruitment professional manage a growing talent community without straining their team. Here are some tips for using technology and automation to guide recruitment efforts.
Utilizing Recruitment Marketing Platforms for Efficient Talent Community Management
Having a dedicated recruitment marketing platform can make managing a talent community easier. These systems can help with communication, document organization, and more. For example, Recruitics’ Fusion talent platform empowers any organization to capture and convert new leads and host dedicated job pages to boost engagement.
Automating Communication and Personalization at Scale
The best recruitment marketing systems offer segmentation tools that can target different subgroups within a talent pool. For example, these tools could be used to send introductory emails to the latest candidates or to send reminders to those further along in the recruitment process. Also, emails can be automated to ensure seamless communication between a company and a talent community.
Integrating Talent Community Data with Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS)
Applicant tracking systems (ATS) provide a centralized platform for recruitment teams to organize and review candidate data. It’s not just a storage system for resumes and applications. An ATS can help identify the best candidates and make communication more efficient. Fusion can integrate with top ATS providers, providing an all-in-one recruitment solution that lets recruiters work more efficiently.?
Building a Talent Community
The convenient power of combining technology with social media makes the recruitment marketing process more straightforward than ever. The tips and tools above can be essential in building a strong employer brand and communicating a company’s unique value proposition to potential candidates.?
Talent acquisition professionals can start building a talent community as early as today. And the talent community can allow these professionals to fill their most crucial positions in less time.
If you're interested in growing your talent community, Recruitics can help! Our team has the experience and expertise to use tools like LinkedIn for talent acquisition and engagement. To take the next step, contact our team today.
Matt Grover is President of Digital Division at Recruitics. He is an accomplished P&L strategic leader focused on growth with over 16 years of experience developing and executing successful multi-channel digital, consumer and B2B advertising and branding strategies. He is a data-driven and technically savvy strategist skilled implementing, overseeing, and leveraging advanced data analytics. Matt is also a collaborative leader skilled at building and fostering productive partnerships with internal and external stakeholders. Outside of work, Matt enjoys traveling with his family and playing golf.