How to employ a digital-first recruitment strategy

Increasingly our clients are seeking practical recruitment strategies to attract, engage, convert and retain the very best candidates in an increasingly complex, omnichannel marketplace.

For many, this requires moving from top-down corporate communications and an unhealthy reliance on recruiters or CVs, to a strategically led user-first engagement programme. This mindset change is the enabler for personalised and contextually relevant techniques to welcome potential candidates into a process on the channel/s that resonates most.

The shift in external service requirements can’t be achieved without internal practice change. Restructuring tools, technologies, media focus, content creation and delivery help unlock the value of the user centred service design direction.

Working with the Royal Navy and University of West of England (UWE), we combine our team’s expertise with the latest intelligent technologies to respond in real-time to the attitudinal and behavioral needs of our target recruits.

We have adopted a tried and tested, award-winning, mobile-first, user-centered strategy. We deliver compelling, targeted content to the right candidates through the right channels, at the right times. Sharing this content to potential employees ‘where they are’ through social channels and direct digital interactions.

Based on our experience, we have five tips for any brand employer who is looking to invest in their recruitment strategy and is interested in developing their capabilities in this area:

1) Do your research Get to know your audience, identify the barriers, spot the opportunities for improvement and challenge the misconceptions. Understand who you want to reach and what channels are best to reach them on. An important first step in any good recruitment strategy.

2) Be authentic Involve employees and real people in your recruitment narrative. If they are genuine and what they say is grounded in truth – this will have more impact and is more likely to be trusted by their peers. An honest insight into the organization which accurately portrays reality will ensure that only the right candidates progress and are more likely to stay if they are employed.

3) One size doesn’t fit all Deliver personalised content multichannel and interact with potential recruits across a connected journey, regardless of their entry point. Different channels or content may resonate or be more engaging for different candidates and a customer journey will rarely be linear. Be mindful that a recruit might try and join more than once or you may want to keep them in your pipeline for future opportunities, so you want to tailor the communications to accommodate their requirements too.

4) Adjacent influence Not every communication has to reach your core audience directly. Consider adapting the messaging and content to appeal to peers, parents or friends as they may indirectly influence the audience you are targeting. This is something we found very relevant for the Royal Navy and UWE, for whom parents were an important adjacent influence, because of safety concerns or financial considerations for example.

5) Future proof Keep monitoring progress and adapting communications in line with ongoing feedback and analytics. Don’t be afraid to experiment and take risks, if you’re learning from the results. Ensure there is a nurture contact strategy in place that means you don’t lose touch or go quiet on potential candidates at any point in their customer journey.

To find out how we can help you implement a digital-first recruitment strategy get in touch.