2024 is going to be a challenging year for early career recruiters. With economic uncertainty and skills shortages encouraging more organisations to switch focus to recruiting graduates and school leavers, fierce competition exists for the best candidates. And with long recruitment cycles, it can be difficult to keep them interested and engaged. In addition, budget squeezes mean that recruiters are being asked to do more with less.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools and cutting-edge technologies, such as chatbots, discussion platforms, applicant screening, and more, are revolutionising early career recruitment, as organisations recognise the need for a competitive edge to attract and retain top talent and search for ways in which to create efficiencies, saving time and resources along the way.
In this blog, we explore the ways new technologies are helping employers connect with candidates in an increasingly remote working world and offer considerable improvements in efficiency, accuracy, and enhanced candidate experience.
1. Tech is easing uncertainty
Getting used to a new office environment and culture can be daunting for anyone starting a new role, especially their first full-time position. Combine that with the rise of remote working and potentially even remote onboarding, and things become even trickier. Uncertainties about navigating workload and meeting expectations are now compounded with worries about correct corporate etiquette and building connections with colleagues virtually. So how is tech helping?
Discussion platforms
Before candidates consider applying for a role, they need to know about all facets of an organisation. Discussion platforms help with this. Timeless topics like company culture and work/life balance can be discussed with candidates and emerging issues can be addressed quickly – take the pandemic and recent organisational developments as examples. As opposed to a press release or general company statement, having employees answer candidates’ questions directly will provide a personable experience that may better ease candidate worries.
See this instance from a client using the Clinch Employee Connections platform, where a candidate asked about feminine hygiene in the British military:
Here a corporate statement would not have cut it, however, an employee answer filled with understanding and encouragement does the job nicely.
Progress trackers
Recent research shows that Gen Z are the most stressed cohort in the workplace. Poor communication or in some cases, no communication whatsoever, is generally one of the main contributors to a bad candidate experience, so tools that help to facilitate this can help alleviate worries associated with their career prospects.
Brighterbox, a graduate recruitment company, uses a 3 part progress tracker to visually share where in the recruitment process candidates are: CV Received, Reviewing, Outcome.
This tracker gives clarity and removes worried thoughts of, ‘Did my CV reach them okay?’, ‘Will they even look at my CV?’, ‘It’s been a few days, have they even considered me?’.
Automated candidate nurture campaigns
Recruitment teams can set up automated campaigns to communicate with candidates via email or text. These campaigns can be personalised based on the candidate’s past actions, preferences, or recruitment stage, to help drive engagement at scale.
Using these automated campaigns can help to convert candidates who have yet to apply, as well as keep those who have engaged throughout the recruitment process.
SOPHiA GENETICS regularly attends events with thousands of delegates and uses the Clinch Recruitment Marketing Suite functionality to capture passive candidates. Displaying a QR code on their stand, they can encourage potential candidates to join their talent community and receive automated messages about working for SOPHiA GENETICS and open vacancies. It’s a really simple way to build a talent pool without recruitment teams having to do anything once the automation is set up.
2. Tech is personalising the candidate experience
One of the key ways technology is currently enhancing the candidate journey is through personalisation. Tailored content and bespoke recruitment processes are frequently used to guarantee candidates feel they are listened to, catered to, and treated as individuals.
Chatbots
Chatbots provide a tailored experience instantly. They connect with candidates to help with anything from onboarding, answering questions, candidate screening, and more. This is a fun way to get candidates talking and engaging with an organisation before they even meet an employee! For new starters who are digital natives, this is often one of their preferred ways to gather information.
The Clinch Text Engage tool allows recruiters to build talent pools via SMS messages. Candidates are then kept engaged through automated prompts and pre-set conversational workflows.
Personalised landing pages
Busy candidates don’t want to scroll through multiple pages on your careers site to find the information they need. Clinch allows TA professionals to easily create tailored landing pages with no coding required. These can then be used to direct specific pools of candidates to exactly the information they need.
Candidates from different countries can see regionalised content and jobseekers with different specialisms can find out more about what it’s like to work in that specific role.
Machine learning
“It’s the way of the future”
Mark Brandau, Principal Analyst at Forrester
Coming in various forms, machine learning in recruitment has been established through Application Tracking Systems, talent sourcing, and candidate screening. A new way machine learning is coming into the recruitment space is through monitoring candidate behaviours on career sites to see their engagement, fit, and which recruitment content may be useful to them.
In the Clinch Employee Connections solution, we use a machine learning model where candidates are presented with discussions most relevant to them. 13% of candidates using our platform engage with this feature, highlighting how personalisation never goes amiss and candidates love finding the answers to their questions.
Candidates want to be treated like they are individuals, not 1 in a sea of thousands of other applicants. Machine learning helps you achieve this.
3. Tech is building a graduate community
A benefit of technology that spans all sectors is its ability to connect people with others. Post-pandemic, 9 out of 10 employers still prefer using virtual interviewing methods, but they are also increasingly finding ways to build virtual communities, keeping candidates engaged throughout the recruitment process.
For real connections to establish, there also needs to be an emotional exchange – in this case providing young starters with support, consideration, and a sympathetic ear. The best way to do this is to build a candidate community where they are able to interact and relate to others, ask questions, and be provided with answers. AI (you guessed it) can help with that.
Gals Who Graduate
These gals know how to build and sustain a community. Facilitated on Instagram and Facebook, Gals Who Graduate (GWG) is a community for fresh graduates and long-ago leavers who look to each other for support and advice. Topics range from post-uni blues and how to land an internship to promoting members’ small businesses. GWG is a large, dynamic community that is founded on honesty and authenticity – the result of this is many members have gone from virtual pen pals to in-person friends.
How can this be replicated on a corporate level? Using the Employee Connections platform, of course. Provide value to the candidate experience with our plug-in platform that allows candidates to ask employees directly for advice and seek support. Employees helping candidates with interview tips, career advice, and corporate etiquette will be an invaluable resource to fresh starters and will no doubt make your employer brand stand out.
Live chat events
Instant messaging has come a long way since its concept creation in the mid-60s and it remains one of the most persevering forms of communication. This type of technology sits beautifully within the recruitment process as it gathers a large pool of candidates effortlessly and addresses their most pressing issues quickly.
Global financial services firm, Lazard, uses live events to segment recruitment concerns so their staff can focus on clarifying all candidate questions on the subject. For example, Lazard recently carried out a live chat event around their Spring work experience and internship programmes, where interested candidates could ask any questions they might have directly to members of the recruitment team. Other live events have featured previous internship alumni giving first-hand insights into the programmes.
These live chat events help early careers candidates to feel that they are part of a community, connected to both their peers and previous alumni.
What tech will you be using?
For busy recruitment teams, AI and automation tools offer welcome support. Over 80% of recruiters agree that AI and recruiting automation can help increase their productivity. By automating time-consuming, manual, or repetitive tasks, hiring teams can focus on what matters most: building connections with candidates, and finding the right people for their open roles.
And with 87% of graduates saying they would use Generative AI to apply for jobs, the widespread adoption of these tools looks clear. All that is left is for you to decide which technologies are right for your company.
