Shannon Prichett came to SourceCon Dallas with an important message. [clickToTweet tweet=”Sourcers need to be just as involved with the candidate experience as the employers we work for” quote=”Sourcers need to be just as involved with the candidate experience as the employers we work for”]
One candidate experience stats she shared: 80% of companies think they are offering a great candidate experience where only 8% are. Automation is, in a way, the cause for this. By the end of next year, 85% of the recruitment process will be automated. What does this mean? Basically, candidates will experience no human interaction up to the point of interviews.
Don’t forget: [clickToTweet tweet=”We source people, not machines” quote=”We source people, not machines”]
People are going to share their experience with others. Shannon reminded the audience that people who have a bad experience will tell 100 people. Alternatively, when they have a good experience, they will tell 10. That’s a crazy number to think about. I don’t know about you but I would rather have 10 people that want to talk to me than 100 who don’t.
Shannon repeatedly emphasized that one cannot automate engagement, period. What do we need to do?
- Be creative
- Improve our sales and interpersonal skills
- Leverage new channels
- Be data driven
- Demonstrate quality and efficiency
Shannon doesn’t advocate skipping automation. She just thinks we need to use it the right way.
Engagement is a piece of the process she is one piece of the process she feels should not be automated. We need to reach out and talk to the candidate, not just about the job or money, but also about culture and environment. The second most important reason candidates take a job is based on the culture of the company and the environment they will be working in.
Everyone is different so learn as much as you can about them and tailor each message to increase your chances of a positive response. Two tools Shannon recommends that will help you learn more about prospective candidates are Prophet and CrystalKnows.
Nothing beats seeing a presentation live but I hope I’ve shared a few things that will improve your sourcing today!