finding top talent is only half the battle… tips and tricks to effectively engage prospects

Sourcing Lab11:15 am - 12:15pm

Chris HavrillaSr. Director, Recruitment Technology & Analytics

Jon BryantCo-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer

Engaging Top Talent(Improving Outreach, Response Rates, & Engagement)

Based on the presentations and hallway conversations… the battlefield in the war for talent is shifting

And we have reached a tipping point.

What we’ll cover today…

• Why small is the new big in the initial candidate experience

• Why top candidates ignore your outreach• Do you really want to reach to all of those candidate• Specific tools and techniques designed to increase

response rates• The dramatic increase in productivity that comes from

improving your outreach, response rates & engagement

Historically our industry has

focused on sourcing tools,

techniques, and channels to

find MORE and MORE

candidates

FINDING

more candidates

that we would like to talk with

is no longer our greatest

sourcing challenge

The metric that really matters

is not the BIG number of people we find who

we would like to talk with…

The important number is

The smaller group of top candidates that

are willing to talk with us

When you think about it, it is actually useless

to FIND or ATTRACTtalent unless you can

ENGAGE them

SMALLis the new

BIG

Improvements in our engagement and response rates can significantly•improve submit to offer ratios

•reduce time-to-fill•lower cost-per-hire

•improve quality-of-hire

Today, we’ll talk about

How to cut through the clutter to gain the attention

of top talent in order to ENGAGE

in a career discussion

• Attention has become a scarce resource• Often, 75-90% of emails, voice mails, and

InMails receive no reply.

• 20% responded to the InMails• 80% ignored the InMails

The most common phrase entered into a candidate

CRM or Tracking spreadsheet…

“Left message, no response”

I don’t believe there is a

Shortage of Talent

I believe there is a

Shortage of ENGAGED Talent

“”ENGAGED TALENT”

People who will respond to our outreach and enter into a career

discussion

• Gain Attention• Earn Trust• Build Relationships• Grow Sustainable Talent

Pipelines

Competitive advantage comes from creating a remarkable

Initial Candidate Experience

The question we

will work on today is…

How can you improve the Initial Candidate Experience in order to

double,triple, or

quadruplethe number of top candidates who engage

But first,

Why do candidates

ignore recruiters?

There are

Two big reasons

Bad experience with recruiters

Too often,

We treat “relationships” with

candidates like

a Kodak Disposable Camera

Good for one-time use

then…

We just reach out when they can help

us.

We don’t nurture relation-

ships with candidates

Too often (recruiters)…

In effect,

we push the rock up the hillfor each search

Our message does not stand

out

Our message does not stand

out

Be REMARKABLE

Seth Godin

Author of 12 Best Sellers

Author of 12 Best Sellers

A PURPLE COW is remarkable

If indeed,

How do we go from the

BIG number of people who we find in our search…

To the smaller number of people who we should really

pursue

FIRST You must own

who you are as an organization• Environment

• Culture• Values

• Structure

…AND

You must own the profile

who you need and WHY

what will appeal to right

person and WHY

…BECAUSE

You must understand fit

To understand who to engage

To understand how to engage

Work SMART not hard

OK, so how can you improve response & engagement?

1) Think like a marketer2) Systematic campaigns3) Innovative outreach

OK, so how can you improve response & engagement?

1) Think like a marketer2) Systematic campaigns3) Innovative outreach

Let’s start with Email Subject Lines

Think like a marketer

Think like a marketer

“The most important genre of writing to masteris the email subject line.”

Brad Berens – Executive Editor iMEDIACONNECTIONS

Think like a marketer

How long does it take you to review a resume

and determine YES/NO/MAYBE?

Think like a marketer

Think like a marketer

With email,Keep/Delete decisions

are made in split-seconds

Think like a marketer

“The first day you test different subject lines and see the results,

you’ll never be complacent again.”

“When you see how much moneyyou have left on the table, you’ll

start to take subject lines seriously.”

Nick Usborne author of “Net Words”

Think like a marketer

Opportunities

Think like a marketer

Think like a marketer

Think like a marketer

Subject line rules of thumb…

1) Be unique2) Focus on the reader3) Be concise. No more than

50-55 characters.4) Include a number5) Immediate benefit6) Ask a question7) Use “you” or “your”

Think like a marketer

My top subject line is…

“You have an impressive background”

Think like a marketer

Email Content

Think like a marketer

Email Content

1) Short and concise2) Front load – put most

important information at the beginning

3) Have a call to action4) Include your full signature in

every email (Re: and Fw:)5) Use upper & lower case for

your “From” name

Think like a marketer

When should you send email for best

results

Think like a marketer

When to send for best results*…

• Stay away from early mornings•Avoid Mon, Tues following a long

weekend, and late in the day before a holiday•Pay attention to time zones.•Think about when you receive

most emails (avoid those times)

(*balance against urgency)

OK, so how can you improve response & engagement?

1) Think like a marketer2) Systematic campaigns3) Innovative outreach

3 Steps for Systematic Campaigns…

1) Determine your sweet spot2) Map the Talent

Marketplace (continuous process)

3) Develop relationships through consistent planned touchpoints

Systematic campaigns

Systematic campaigns

Systematic campaigns

Develop relationships through consistent touch points…

Email Marketing

OK, so how can you improve response & engagement?

1) Think like a marketer2) Systematic campaigns3) Innovative outreach

Traditional email and voice mail are easily

dismissed

Innovative outreach

You have to find a way to cut through the

clutter to be seen or heard

Innovative outreach

Innovative outreach

Your outreach must be REMARKABLE

http://www.insideconnector.com/01b52e54/TonyLarsen

Hello Scott,

I am part of the recruiting team at HP and am impressed by your professional background. I’m eager to talk when you have a moment.

Warm regards,

Jon BryantHewlett-Packard770-889-4844 (direct)404-313-5791 (mobile)Jon.p.bryant@hp.com

Innovative outreach

Innovative outreach

Innovative outreach

Method Sent Opened %

Email 12,124 1,163 9.59%

InMail 28,885 4,564 15.80%

Video messaging 5,824 2,409 41.36%

Based on 2013 numbers, video messaging led to conversations with :

• Over 4 times as many candidates as email (IC has > 300% improvement

over email)

• Over 2.6 times as many candidates as InMail (IC has nearly 200%

improvement over InMail)

Comparison of candidate engagement methods for Q1-Q3 2013

Innovative outreach

• Wow - this is absolutely the coolest recruiter call I've ever gotten!M. Stone

• I must say was the most unique way I have ever been contacted about a potential position. B. Ledbetter

• Holy cow this is impressive – never seen anything like this. Let’s talk.R. Dye

Innovative outreach

• Thanks for your email about the opportunity. In a world where recruiters send you a couple of lines in an email and ask about your interest in taking up a position, your approach is pretty refreshing.B. Murali

• Thanks very much for your time and efforts on the web page presentation. If you were a football recruiter, I'd be signing my letter of intent right now!R. Schev

Initial Candidate Experience:(Improving Outreach, Response Rates, & Engagement)