One of the most common challenges talent acquisition teams face when launching—and especially maintaining—a Talent CRM program is finding fresh content that will appeal to their talent pool members and convert them to applicants. The result is that too many programs end up being little more than a series of regular email blasts about job openings that match the candidate’s field of interest.
Yet, with candidate relationship management playing an essential role in keeping recruiters prepared and proactive in today’s tumultuous labor market, knowing how to approach the identification of compelling content will contribute significantly to program success.
#1: Define your audiences’ information needs.
Your first step is to think about the various audiences you have prioritized for your Talent CRM program and the information that is important to them as prospective applicants. While some areas will overlap—for example, all candidates want insight into the organization’s culture—others will be of greater interest to specific segments. We know Gen Z values empathy and a strong commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), while workers with young children want to hear about support and flexibility offered to parents.
You don’t need to worry about compiling an exhaustive list at this point. Just take some time to document what you already know (It’s probably more than you think!) given your expertise as a recruiter and all the time you’ve already invested engaging with candidates and discussing why they should choose your organization.
#2: Tap into the perspectives of recent hires.
Now it’s time to validate and build on what you already know about your target candidates. A good place to begin is talking to those who recently went through your hiring process as their perspectives will still be fresh in their minds. You can host an informal group discussion (onsite or virtually) guided by a series of prepared questions, such as:
• Beyond the job description, what information was most important to your decision to apply and why?
• What did you want to know about the company that you weren’t able to learn until late in the hiring process?
• What have you found out since joining the company that impresses you most?
After the discussion, batch the responses into key themes. Then, drill down further and look at your themes by audience—such as new grad versus mid-career—as this allows you to map content themes to corresponding Talent CRM nurture segments. Finally, weave the themes into what you documented in Step #1 so that you have an updated summary of target audience information needs.
#3: Survey employees to uncover authentic and meaningful stories.
Who doesn’t love a good story? We all do, and it’s the reason why the best marketers are usually the best storytellers. It’s also why job seekers often put “employee stories” at the top of their list of the employer content they find most appealing.
While it’s likely that you already have employee stories on hand, whether from your career website or videos, it’s important to gather the most current and relevant stories possible—especially given the extraordinary workplace changes that took place in 2020. So, set up a quick survey that allows employees to submit the stories they have in support of what they love most about working at your organization.
#4: Enlist your colleagues across relevant departments.
You should also reach out to colleagues in departments that house information relevant to candidate interests and make sure you have the latest updates, stats and figures regarding their area of the organization. Going back to Gen Z’s interests, a company’s sustainability practices can make a strong case to join, so ensuring you have good information about what your organization is doing as related to sustainability, including data points to back up the messaging, will be valuable to campaigns aimed at Gen Z.
Similarly, internal mobility has become an increasingly important aspect of the employee experience, and many companies are transitioning from traditional internal mobility programs to talent and opportunity marketplaces as a result. Meet up with your learning and development team to get details about what they are doing in response to these trends and the benefit to employees.
#5: Audit your competitors’ messaging.
Finally, take a look at what your competitors are promoting in regards to their employment experience. You can check out their career websites, along with their LinkedIn and Glassdoor profiles, as well as any other social platforms they use to promote the organization, to understand what their key themes are and which ones generate the most engagement. You can expect to see themes that are similar to what your company has to say, but you’ll also discover areas of distinction that you can take advantage of to help your company stand out.
Once you’ve compiled all of your content “intelligence,” you’ll be able to quickly align your employee stories and the details provided by relevant departments to the themes you have mapped out for each priority Talent CRM audience and create the compelling nurture campaigns that will engage—and ultimately convert—the qualified, interested and available candidates that are in your pipeline.
Get more #GR8Thinking on how to gather content for your Talent CRM program and learn how Talbots built their program from the ground up to achieve a 13.5% hire conversion rate.