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Some candidates are worth the time. A Talent Acquisition leader at a Fortune 500 company told me the other day that their team has to make 17 touches to recruit passive candidates. What a great stat to track!
By “touches” she is referring to 17 outreach activities (she was excluding screening calls and interviews) it takes to close a passive candidate.
I believe recruiting is no different than sales and sales trainer Grant Cardone has some interesting related data: he claims that 95% of sales closes happen between the 3rd to 12th touch.
The problem is that only 10% of salespeople even make a 3rd contact — I’m guessing recruiters are about the same.
In honor of the 17 touches my friend’s company gives to recruit a passive candidate, I thought I’d give you 17 touches/recruiting tactics to give to your recruiters:
- Phone call/voice mail — If you get them to pick up, introduce yourself and ask “is this a bad time?”. That gives the candidate the illusion of control as they say in sales and makes them feel more powerful.
- Email of value — Send an email of value (e.g. quality content) with this rule of thumb: would the candidate pay something (even a little $) for whatever it is you’re sending (ideas include a video of a thought leader on your team)
- Written letter (can be a short and sweet “Thinking of you” type message. Almost no recruiters do this any more which will make you stand out)
- In-person meeting (coffee, etc.) — Offer them a free lunch or coffee. One easy tactic is to say “I’m in the neighborhood…”). Just the invitation alone is of value (law of reciprocity)
- LinkedIn invitation by your recruiter
- LinkedIn invitation by your department lead
- LinkedIn invitation by your hiring manager
- Follow the candidate on Twitter (ask your team to as well)
- Facebook friend request (by recruiter, department lead or hiring manager)
- Conference — If you hold an annual conference, invite them to attend. It might seem awkward, but get over it — treat them like your team
- Retargeting Campaign — Use Facebook or the Web to send them a re-targeted ad
- Text message — Keep this simple and of value…but don’t be afraid to do it
- Annual email summarizing your business (if you’re a public company, try sending over a summary of financials; if private, send them a summary of highlights of your business
- Press releases — if you put out a press release about a product or anything related to the skills your candidate has, send them that press release!)
- E-book — Send them an e-book on a topic you know they’re passionate about (most e-books are under $12 and require just a few clicks
- Holiday card (email or print)
- Thank you card — If the candidate did invest time in you, an easy touch point is a thank you card
Good luck with those touches!
