C#4 of Social Recruiting: Courtesy and Candidate Centricity

This post is part of a series describing the nine "Cs" that drive a successful social recruiting strategy and started with You do social sourcing. Now start your social recruiting strategy!

We have already discussed "C#1" Continuity, C#2 Consistency or the art of following-through your branding, and C#3 Culture — your core values and credibility.

By Marylene Delbourg-Delphis

Even if social networks allow you to broadcast information to a lot of people, one of the key assumptions of all social networks is that you are not simply addressing an "audience." You address individuals who voluntarily start a connection with you by becoming "friends" and "followers". Your attitude counts — and we all know that disgruntled friends and followers un-follow in a click.

However, today, when candidates respond to your call, they are treated like an anonymous bunch of people. Recruiting isn’t “personal” anymore. Worse, at the very moment when a candidate is considering a personal and professional commitment to your company because you’ve convinced her to try to work for you, your traditional ATS solutions bury them in unnecessary paperwork. The functional purpose of finding the right candidate destroys the humanity of your brand. TalentCircles helps you to pace yourself and offer a positive face to your company.

Welcome candidates

Give a face to your company: When candidates join your talent network, welcome them. A video is the best tool - this is when your brand must show its human dimension. As a recruiter, you are the bridge between your brand and the people: you represent your company and its personality.

Acknowledge your guests

Acknowledge your new candidates by sending them a customized email.

Let candidate access information at all times

You can send branded personal email notifications and digests (when you post jobs on your network, create blog posts or organize a video event or a webinar) to your talent community.

You have lots of opportunities to invite candidates to visit your network regularly. They have their own dashboard, providing them with the latest news and opportunities. They can also join the circles that are of interest to them, as well as invite friends.

The benefits of a candidate-centric process are obvious:

• In a business environment where close to 80% of employed people are open to considering another position, it's key to offer both active and passive candidates a friendly entry point into your company’s talent pipeline, and give them reasons to regularly frequent your network.
• Instead of being discouraged by a process imposed by a company, candidates are happy to opt into your company network. This is critical: Realize that, just as customers, if candidates do not feel welcome, they may knock at your competitor's door!
• The more active you are on your talent network, the more likely they are to be interested in your brand and share your content (jobs, information, events or blog posts).