When it comes to the modern job market, finding the right talent for your team is no easy feat. Talent is central to your business’s success–and that’s where candidate prospecting comes in. It’s the process of actively identifying and communicating with potential candidates for vacancies who own the skills, experience and qualities you’re looking for, even if they’re not currently seeking new employment. Your goal is to curate a pool of qualified candidates from which you can cherry-pick the best for your company’s needs.
To discover your perfect candidate, it’s important to first meditate on what exactly it is you’re looking for. They should match (or exceed) the skills, relevant experience and qualities that align with the nature of the role and your company’s core values. A good fit goes beyond just qualifications–employees who share the same values and meld seamlessly into the company culture are more likely to thrive in their role. That means they’ll stay longer, contribute more–and boost your employee retention rates.
Techniques for Identifying Potential Candidates
Platforms like LinkedIn are crucial these days for finding the right talent–and should be top of your HR strategy. Candidate prospecting means you’ll need to connect with potential candidates through content posting and direct outreach. Sharing industry insights or new roles via the homepage is a great way to attract attention. Don’t ignore the power of direct communication, either. According to a report by Linkedin, 70% of the global workforce is made up of passive talent who aren’t actively job searching, and the remaining 30% are active job seekers. That’s a vast pool of verified talent who can easily be reached by direct message.
Your current employees are another powerful tool in finding new talent. You can reach a larger pool of candidates by leaning on their professional networks. Create a structured referral programme so employees are rewarded in their efforts in referring suitable candidates.
Traditional candidate prospecting models shouldn’t be overlooked. Attend conferences, seminars, and professional meet-ups to make real-life connections with people in your industry. Hosting or even sponsoring events is a brilliant way to attract new talent and boost your reputation within your industry.
Often, the best way is the simplest way. Once you’ve found a great candidate for the role, reach out to them directly. Spend some time crafting a personalised message that will resonate. Be open and transparent about the opportunity you’re offering. Also, be concise and realistic- make sure it actually aligns with their experience and skillset; otherwise, you run the risk of wasting their time (which can have negative effects later on). Recruitment software can help you streamline this process.
Building an Attractive Employer Brand
Your employer brand is no different from your company brand, and you should pay just as much attention to how you market yourself to potential candidates and your professional industry at large. Take time to showcase your company culture: use Linkedin, your website and social platforms to highlight what makes your company tick. Share stories about your successes, and encourage your employees to get involved with brand advocacy. An effective, visibly strong employer brand will attract better talent.
Tackle your biggest talent acquisition challenges — recruiting and hiring
Discover ADP talent acquisitionCreating a Seamless Candidate Experience
Your application process needs to run smoothly. A complex, time-consuming, or frustrating interview process can put off good candidates for life. Ensure the application process is easy to understand, and state each stage of the hiring process from the outset.
Several stages of interviews can quite understandably discourage employees, so keep internal communication regular and robust to avoid this where possible. If you require a sample test for the employee, consider whether their portfolio or work history showcases what you’re looking for instead of adding unnecessary barriers to the hiring process.
Essentially, your communication needs to be transparent and regular–provide feedback throughout to let candidates know where they stand and what’s coming next.
Leveraging Technology in Candidate Prospecting
Recruitment software and increasingly AI-augmented tools can make your candidate prospecting more efficient. These tools streamline tasks like creating job posts, organising CVs and sending follow-ups.
Laser-focused data analytic tools can help you go one step further in your candidate prospecting strategy. By analysing recruitment data, you can identify what works best for your company and make better-informed decisions to boost the process. One effective recruitment software is ADP’s Talent Management, which helps HR teams deliver a seamless candidate prospecting experience.
ADP can help you with:
- Recruiting — create engaging job posts and grab the attention of top candidates
- Hiring — harness the power of technology, data and services to simplify the hiring process
- Onboarding — equip new employees or those changing positions with a digital, consumer-like onboarding experience
With ADP, you can streamline candidate prospecting and make sure you're targeting the right talent efficiently.
Evaluating and Adapting Your Strategy
Candidate prospecting is a process like any other–and like all effective processes, it can be improved by self-reflection and evaluation. Use data to track the effectiveness of your HR strategy using metrics like the pool of candidates surveyed, time to fill positions, and direct candidate feedback to measure the success of your efforts. Take time to review, monitor, and rejig your HR strategy based on these results. Inhabiting a flexible mindset will help you stay one step ahead when it comes to attracting top talent.
Candidate prospecting is absolutely essential when attracting the right talent in today’s ever-competitive job market. By creating an ideal profile of your candidate, reaching out via social media and traditional networking, building a robust employer brand, and using recruitment software to streamline your HR processes, you’ll be one step closer to finding talent that fits.
Candidate prospecting is an ongoing process. Consistently evaluate your HR strategy and adapt when you need to–innovation is key in today’s job market. As the job market evolves, so should your prospecting strategy.
From talent acquisition to activation, ADP can help you with candidate prospecting. Its smart features can automate many of the time-consuming recruitment tasks while providing top analytical tools so you can focus on hiring. The result is an enhanced candidate experience and a quicker route to finding the right talent you need when you need it.
