Employees in today’s job market are likely to change jobs and are confident that even if the unexpected occurs, such as a merger or layoff, they will be able to instantly find a new position. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, three million Americans quit their jobs every month. In the current recruiting industry landscape, cleared professionals hold a distinct advantage and enjoy a broader range of job opportunities. However, building a positive candidate relationship helps recruiters attract and engage highly skilled candidates. In this blog, we’ll talk about the key approaches and tactics for developing effective relationships with cleared candidates.
Importance of Building Relationships with Cleared Candidates
1. Staying Competitive: Establishing strong employee relationships is key to having an effective hiring strategy in today’s fiercely competitive candidate market. In the face of fierce competition for top talent, establishing meaningful connections with exceptional professionals becomes paramount in recruitment efforts.
2. Reduced Turnaround: Strong candidate relationships are crucial to avoid getting lost in the vast sea of undiscovered talent. When the need arises to quickly fill open positions, delving deep into the talent pool becomes challenging. This can result in costly and time-consuming outcomes. Moreover, the demand for cleared professionals far exceeds their availability, emphasizing the importance of establishing positive and nurturing connections with cleared candidates already employed or in the pipeline.
3. Better Networking and Connections: The stronger the relationship between a recruiter and a candidate, the more likely it is that the recruiter will be able to obtain beneficial candidate references, client leads, and industry expertise.
4. Enhanced Candidate Experience: Putting time and effort into developing long-term connections with cleared candidates is ultimately an investment in an organization’s future success. If you provide an excellent candidate experience, you will have a broader talent pool than other organizations that do not nurture long-term partnerships.
6 Ways to Strengthen Ties with Candidates in Cleared Recruitment
To establish impactful connections with cleared candidates, it is crucial to earn their trust and loyalty. For that, you need to invest significant effort in recruiting and retaining top-tier cleared talent. These steps serve as an indispensable resource for cultivating a strong recruiter-candidate relationship that stands the test of time.
1. Offer Better Benefits: If your company benefits contain information only about your healthcare plan and 401(k), you may need to look at some additional perks that contribute to higher employee retention, as you may be losing out to the competition. According to the Dice 2018 Tech Salary Report, the number of organizations giving perks like paid training, flexible work hours, and enhanced vacation climbed from 53% in 2009 to 71% in 2018. Thus, your corporate rewards, like your employment presentation, must be targeted at the candidate.
2. Create a Career Ladder: Career advancement is a major factor in motivating employees to stay with an organization because many professionals report that they will need to leave their current job in order to earn a promotion. Therefore, create ‘up and in’ opportunities to keep top performers from leaving for their next promotion.
3. Engage Your Talent Pool: Treat your employees like valuable assets and show them how much you appreciate them, and eventually, your attrition rates will be minimized. Ensure they understand you are concerned about their career, and ask for feedback frequently.
4. Communicate and be Transparent: Effective communication plays an important role in building relationships with candidates during the hiring process. Be upfront and honest with expectations right from the start, and communicate how the business is supporting employees rather than expecting them to be able to do everything from day one.
5. Tailoring Your Approach: Tailoring our approach based on the applicant at hand is crucial. Developing a deep understanding of each individual, both professionally and personally, significantly contributes to building strong relationships and successfully placing them in suitable roles.
6. Humanize: Make your candidates stand out and advocate for them. Allow them to attain their greatest potential by demonstrating your support. Assisting applicants in their success will strengthen the recruiter-candidate relationship you’ve been cultivating. Provide them with as much information as you can. Assist them with interview preparation by emailing material such as recruiting policies, interview processes, sending sample questions, and sharing business insights such as corporate culture.
The ability to form relationships with candidates has aided multiple organizations in discovering talented individuals who can work for them for a longer period of time. iQuasar’s recruiting strategies can help you master the art of recruitment. We nurture our new relationships using the internet’s best and most secure social recruitment technologies and help you build a network through our large database of cleared talent. We can help you identify candidates’ preferences, including workplace choices, relocation, and interests, and assess if they are aligned with your organizational goals.
