In this article:
- Be strategic with your timing.
- Personalize your outreach.
- Improve recruiter responsiveness.
- Use a multi-channel outreach strategy.
- Highlight your reviews.
Imagine finally sourcing the best candidate, reaching out, and then finding yourself with an ignored email thread. This isn’t only frustrating but also very concerning if it keeps repeatedly happening because it equates to a potential loss of profits. To ensure a successful hiring strategy, it’s imperative that you increase the response rate from your applicants.
A low candidate response rate can be an indicator that you need to re-evaluate your recruitment strategy. Recruiting in a candidate-driven market entails setting yourself up to be a recruiter of choice—and this starts with good candidate experience. Nothing yields faster candidate responses than an appealing recruiter reputation built on top-notch candidate experience.
So, the next time you deal with an applicant, keep this in mind: the way you serve and lead your candidates through their recruitment journey is vital in building a good candidate engagement that will forge brand loyalty. Moreover, ensuring a positive experience is a fool-proof way to improve the response rate.
How to Increase Response Rate from Your Candidates
Delivering a positive candidate experience in a digital world is easier said than done. That’s why we’ve compiled five tips to help you optimize your communication methods and increase the response rate of candidates.
1. Be strategic with your timing.
One of the most important things you should consider when sending your emails or making a call is the timing. These days, the flood of information people receive daily can leave their inbox overflowing. So, reaching out to candidates at the most strategic time is essential in ensuring that your message catches their attention and gets responses from candidates.
Reaching out to candidates during their working hours can potentially result in ignored messages or unanswered calls because they’re preoccupied with a current job or task. Depending on the channel you use, the time you should connect with your candidates will be different. Here are some of the general primers to help you better strategize your timing:
- Emails: Early morning, evening, and weekends
- LinkedIn: 9 AM and 10 AM on weekdays
- Phone calls: Tuesdays between 10:00 – 11:00 AM
When reaching out to candidates, remember to consider time zones, particularly if you’re recruiting globally. Although your first attempts will have plenty of room to grow, the key is keeping track of your response rates and making adjustments as needed to yield the best results.
2. Personalize your outreach.
If you want to increase the response rate of your candidates, you have to shelf your templates. Taking the time to research potential candidates before contacting them to personalize your emails can make a difference.
As a recruiter, recall that your goal is to provide the best candidate experience possible to brand yourself online. That means every interaction with you should be aimed to be better than what they will possibly experience with other staffing firms. Setting yourself apart in recruitment can work to your advantage, and a personalized human touch can effectively improve the response rate.
Here are some ways to do it:
- Mention the candidate’s name often. You can pepper their name in the subject header, introduction, body, and closing of your email. Just make sure to insert it organically and spell it correctly.
- Share some things you have in common to build rapport. Conducting a little research on their LinkedIn, and social media accounts can help you find a good common ground to kickstart your communication.
- Share relevant links about their interests. Not only will this potentially pique their interests, but it will also show them you’ve done your homework.
- Include a commendation. Adding a feel-good element to your message can help create a positive impression in their minds. So, include a commendation for any achievement or new skill they posted on their LinkedIn or other social media when appropriate.
3. Improve recruiter responsiveness.
More than half (53%) of candidates report they’ve been ghosted by recruiters after their initial screening or interview, while 69.7% didn’t get any feedback after being rejected.
Recruiter ghosting is not only bad for your reputation but also your talent pipeline. Keep in mind that rejected candidates today can be potential candidates tomorrow, so the last thing you want is the applicant ghosting you because they got ghosted first. Communication is key in taking care of any relationship, and recruiter responsiveness is essential to get a better response rate from candidates.
Following through with candidates helps maintain a good relationship with them as it can make them feel valued by your staffing firm and provide the closure they need after a rejection. In some cases, some recruitment companies even go the extra mile by suggesting other job openings or giving constructive feedback that can help with their career journey.
No matter the strategy you choose, make sure to keep your talent pipeline engaged regularly. You’d be surprised how this can work wonders to increase the response rate among candidates.
4. Use a multi-channel outreach strategy.
Different candidates prefer different communication methods, so make it a point to reach out to them using various channels to get the best results. While some are reachable via social media, some prefer emails or phone calls. The key to maximizing their responses is variety, so it would be best if you’re amenable to using channels preferred by candidates, be it a different mix.
You can utilize text messaging, email, or LinkedIn InMail to cite a few examples. However, to increase response rate of your applicants, you have to be strategic in how you use them. For example, you can opt for text messaging when touching base with candidates for the first time and setting a pre-screening schedule, conducting the actual screening by phone call, sending job offers by email, and conducting rejections by phone call.
As you utilize multiple channels, make sure to take note of which specific method your candidates seem to prefer individually. If you’re unsure, you can opt to include this in your candidate survey, so they can let you know right off the bat which is the best way to reach them.
5. Highlight your reviews.
Highlighting your positive reviews can help increase the chances of receiving more candidate responses. One good way to increase response rate is to build your credibility through testimonials. Whether it’s by pointing them to your website, subtly including it in your email signature, or mentioning it in your LinkedIn message, putting your best foot forward and letting them know your success as a recruiter can prompt them to pay more attention.
Social proof is a great way to earn candidate trust. So, make sure you add reviews, ratings, awards, and your clientele whenever you can.
Increase Candidate Response Rate with a Reliable Experience Management Platform
Enhancing your candidate experience is easier when you’ve got your finger on the pulse of your recruitment strategy. With Great Recruiters, you can do just that by strategically capturing candidate feedback at specific touchpoints. You don’t have to keep guessing what your candidates think when you already receive real-time data consistently and efficiently.
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