HRO Today July/August 2017 - 34

Employee Engagement
Come and Stay Awhile
Carefully planning the candidate experience-from recruitment
through onboarding-can lead to better hires and higher retention.
By Darren Findley and Tom Brennan
Talent acquisition professionals are paying more and
more attention to the candidate experience, and for good
reason. Findings from Engage2Excel's new research report
2017 Trendicators underscore the importance of a positive
candidate experience in a highly competitive market and
suggest that a single, generic approach will not do the trick.
Savvy recruiters have incorporated marketing into
their efforts, and conveying a compelling employment
value proposition to the right audience requires a deep
understanding of that audience. Organizations that shape
the candidate experience from research-based demographic
information will have an edge in the war for talent.
A good place to start in creating positive candidate
experiences is with the right combination of social and faceto-face
engagement. There are varying attitudes among the
generations about socializing with people who work for the
potential employer during the recruitment process, and this
is a good illustration of the importance of understanding
audiences. Eighty-one percent of millennials report that
socializing is important during the pre-hire stage as well as
the period between offer and start date. Other generations
don't feel as strongly: less than 55 percent of Gen X seeks
socialization; for Gen Z, the number is 41 percent; and for
baby boomers, it's 38 percent.
This data suggests that incorporating socialization into
recruiting and onboarding efforts can be benefi cial,
particularly when the top candidate is a millennial.
Employers can encourage current employees to connect
with high potential candidates via LinkedIn. A sponsored
[34]
HRO TODAY MAGAZINE
| JULY/AUGUST 2017
open house is another way to create an opportunity for
candidates to get information from potential coworkers.
Between the offer and the start date, it's a good idea
to connect candidates with someone they met during
the hiring process-a few interactions can make all the
difference. Then, on day one, that fi rst connection can
become a mentor. These efforts will create friendships,
provide a social support network, and help identify team
members who are subject-matter experts.
Planned socializing can also be part of a larger strategy to
develop a talent community. The goal is to make candidates
feel like a part of the organization before they are hired,
even if there are no active openings. For example, an
employer could dedicate an area of the company's career
pages or social media sites for the potential talent to access
content specifi cally geared for them. These buttons can
also feature invitations to company events, such as product
launch celebrations. Organizations that sponsor sports
teams could also invite talent community members to
games as a way to interact.
The More Personalized the Better
Candidates have many choices today, in much the same
way consumers do, but the key to engaging both groups
is to make a personal connection. Just as consumers prefer
brands with which they can relate, candidates lean toward
employers who engage them on a personal level. Of all
candidates surveyed, 61 percent reported that receiving a
personalized welcome gift at the time of the offer would
HRO Today July/August 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of HRO Today July/August 2017
