Keeping candidates engaged is tough. Although they might not be the best fit for one of your open positions right now, you may have the right job for them in a few weeks. How do you make sure they keep your recruitment agency in mind for future job searches?
Not only should you be offering more than your competition, but also making sure you are offering something of real value. To set your agency apart from its competitors, provide your candidates with continual educational content. Here are five ideas on how to get started:
- Hold free webinars online once a month. Webinars can be conducted using services such as GoToWebinar, AnyMeeting or ClickWebinar. Although there are costs associated with these services, they do have recording capabilities and will allow you to build up a webinar portfolio where candidates can access your content in a library. Webinar videos are great for posting on your YouTube page too.
- Consider creating a series of webinars directed towards candidates in different industries. For example, for lawyers you could provide information on new and changing legislation in the law field. For medical, discuss any new certifications that might be of interest. For something more general, discuss interview skills, what to wear, and share motivational tips to boost the confidence of candidates during the interview process.
- You can also use free social media tools to host informal chats or Q&A sessions. Facebook Live, Google Hangouts and Blab all allow you to host live streaming sessions with candidates at a scheduled time. These can also be recorded as videos and added directly to your Facebook or Google+ pages for viewing after the event.
- Ask people ahead of time what content they would find useful. This is helpful if you are stuck for ideas and also makes sure you are giving candidates what they need. If you are hosting a Q&A session post about it on social media in advance. Ask for candidates to submit questions they would like answered. This gives you time to prepare and make sure you are addressing questions in as much detail as possible.
- With all the information you are gathering from Q&A sessions and webinars, you can create a lot of great content for newsletters and blog posts on your website. This will also provide candidates with informative and educational material.
The goal is to keep creating content that candidates want to come back for. Make it easy for them to sign up and register for new content. Even if they are not currently active job seekers, make sure you and your agency are top of mind when they are.
