Here’s What You Need To Compete For Talent
Jonathan Samuels
We're an early career talent solution that helps Gen Z get hired by top companies.
A Candidate Brand Ambassador Program.
Twenty candidates for your job walk through your door and yet only one is hired for the position. You spent hours and days or perhaps weeks sourcing, screening, interviewing, and meeting with these candidates. Some candidates may have bombed their interview while another may have turned down your offer. A lot of time wasted on candidates that are not hired, right?
Wrong.
You have the wrong hiring perspective. Every single person that applies to your company is a potential brand ambassador. Take an extra few minutes during interviews and turn them into one. These brand ambassadors will help your recruiting and hiring in the future. You need to look at each candidate that way. They all have value. Who knows, perhaps someone that’s not a fit today may be a fit tomorrow.
What is a brand ambassador, you ask? A brand ambassador is a person who promotes your company in a positive light, thereby increasing brand awareness.
These word-of-mouth ambassadors will tell their friends positive things about your company which will help your recruiting efforts.
As founder of The Sales Club which offers job seekers open sales roles at Boston’s most desirable companies all in one place, I see the data everyday of which companies get the most applicants. Companies with better brand names and more positive publicity always get far more applicants than companies without much of a brand name regardless how good they are. I’ll write about this applicant data that I’ve been collecting soon.
But remember the downside:
Good news travels fast. Bad news travels faster so take care of all candidates that apply to your company.
Here’s a few starters until you can put together an actual Candidate Brand Ambassador program.
- Train your internal and 3rd party recruiters to be friendly to newly sourced candidates. Be helpful. Treat all candidates with respect as they will no doubt tell their friends about their experience.
- Respect their time as you would like yours to be respected. Schedule interviews (phone or in person) and be on time. Make sure they feel welcomed and that interviews are lined up in a timely manner.
- Communicate with them. Call and email regularly so they know where you are in the process. Don’t let a week or two go by without hearing from you. Remember this is your next brand ambassador if done right!
- Tour the office. Show off how awesome your office is, introduce them to a few employees, but manage their expectations if you doubt they’ll be considered for the job.
- Always email them to thank them for the time spent with you. Sure candidates should follow up interviews with a thank you email, but a candidate’s time is of value just like yours is, so companies should email them and thank them for their time. If you want brand ambassadors it’s not a one way street.
Only good can come out of a great candidate experience which results in positive word-of-mouth accolades about your company. If you do it strategically you’ll have brand ambassadors all over town!
Based in Boston, The Sales Club ( https://www.getsalesclub.com ) is an exclusive job platform for sales talent. We believe that the best way for job seekers and companies to come together is through introductions and that’s what we do. Don’t apply, get introduced to your next job and avoid the robots.