Omni-Recruiting
The Only Way Forward for Employers in 2022
Ushering in the Omni-Recruiting Experience
Consider this: 97 percent of Americans own a cell phone of some type, according to PEW Research. 85 percent own a smartphone, while only 75 percent of Americans own a desktop or laptop computer. The drastic increase in reliance on mobile technology over the last 10 years demanded a shift in buying behaviors.
%
of Americans own a cell phone of some type
%
of Americans own a smartphone
%
of Americans own a desktop or laptop computer
Consumer expectations, according to Salesforce, have shifted. Previously, “customers have expected basics like quality service and fair pricing—but modern customers have much higher expectations, such as proactive service, personalized interactions, and connected experiences across digital channels.”
Companies have acted accordingly by offering mobile-first shopping experiences and omnichannel marketing strategies, and consumers have responded well.
So, if this has become expected consumer behavior, why would those expectations not translate across other areas?
Is shopping for a TV much different from looking for a new career opportunity? And, if so, why have companies embraced these new consumer expectations but lag behind when it comes to activating the same strategies for future employees?
Some of these concepts can be piecemealed together to create a sufficient recruiting technology stack—you have your ATS, CRM, and SMS.
But while adoption of these continues to be slow in favor of emailed resumes and cover letters, the Great Resignation sounds the alarm louder than ever:
Companies no longer have the upper hand when it comes to recruiting and something needs to change.
Enter Omni-Recruiting
Relying on traditional career boards with stodgy job descriptions, hoops to jump through, and limited transparency must become a thing of the past.
Enter omni-recruiting: a seamless experience with effective communication and increased touchpoints to the candidate, stronger employer brand awareness, higher career site traffic, and applications from better qualified candidates.
What Is Omni-Recruiting?
The New Era of Modernized Recruitment Practices
Main Street Recruitment has coined the term omni-recruiting to define a multichannel approach to employee recruitment, focused on providing strategies and technologies for companies to meet job candidates where they are with the right message at the right time.
Omni-recruiting is different from recruiting today. According to Recruiting Social, recruitment means, “finding and hiring people to fill job openings at an organization. It involves determining the job’s requirements, attracting or sourcing qualified candidates, screening and selecting finalists, and negotiating the terms of employment.”
As a company or recruiter, it is your responsibility to provide a good candidate experience, but that does not seem to be the experience candidates are having.
Automated hiring systems are potentially keeping up to 27 million people from getting a job interview, according to Business Insider. Take note: The arduous task of job hunting is leaving people discouraged.
Think of all the steps involved in the job search process for candidates:
This is just a high-level overview and certainly not all encompassing of all the steps in the process, depending on the industry.
Step 1
Update resume.
Step 2
Update LinkedIn profile, if applicable.
Step 3
Visit various job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Monster, SimplyHired.
Step 6
Write a customized cover letter.
Step 5
Review jobs and find one you like enough to apply.
Step 4
Search for keywords that fit their experience or interest.
Step 7
Complete job application forms.
Step 8
Participate in screening and employment testing.
Step 9
Participate in interviews (often multiples).
Step 11
Negotiate and discuss offers.
Step 10
Subject to a background check.
Step 1
Update resume.
Step 2
Update LinkedIn profile, if applicable.
Step 3
Visit various job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, Monster, SimplyHired.
Step 4
Search for keywords that fit their experience or interest.
Step 5
Review jobs and find one you like enough to apply.
Step 6
Write a customized cover letter.
Step 7
Complete job application forms.
Step 8
Participate in screening and employment testing.
Step 9
Participate in interviews (often multiples).
Step 10
Subject to a background check.
Step 11
Negotiate and discuss offers.
But one thing is clear:
There are many roadblocks on the road to hiring the best people.
Whether you are hiring managerial positions or production machinists, your candidates likely want the same things: They want to be informed and empowered, and they want their experiences to be seamless and simplified. Our buying behaviors have broken down the barriers between life and work and have crafted our new expectations as job seekers.
A new era of omni-recruiting modernizes recruitment processes, strategies, and technologies. It reaches not just the active job seeker but the passive candidates that job ads on the traditional job boards will never reach. As we make our way through the greatest shift in labor and talent behaviors, now is the time to release the old and no-longer-effective processes of employee recruitment and evolve into an omni-recruiting approach.
What Omni-Recruiting Is Not:
- Use of traditional job boards
- Posting and praying
- Old tricks
What Omni-Recruiting Is:
A desire to deliver the best candidate experience possible.
Rethinking the Candidate Experience
Delivering the Right Message to Candidates at the Right Time
When you commit to taking an omni-recruiting approach, you must begin by rethinking the candidate experience. Every aspect of your recruitment marketing and recruiting efforts should be held to a high standard of candidate satisfaction:
- Is this process as simple and easy to understand as possible?
- Will this message resonate with the wants and needs of an employer?
- Am I meeting candidates where they are online?
Taking this approach sets Main Street Recruitment apart from other recruitment marketing agencies. We deliver a comprehensive candidate experience, from employer branding to mobile-first microsite development and text integration.
The Omni-Recruiting Experience
- Custom ads
- Targeted audiences
- Ads served to the right platforms
- Dynamic ads/compelling storytelling
- Customized, mobile-first microsite
- Simple micro-application process
- SMS/text integration (no resumes)
- Automated notifications for employers
Where Do We Start?
Your Employer Brand
If you don’t have a strong, well-defined brand as an employer, your candidate messaging and audience targeting will ultimately falter. Employer branding is where everything begins and ends. Everything you do should be rooted in your brand in order to define the message and audience.
Ask these questions to assess whether you have a defined employer brand:
Who are you as a company?
What unique benefits or opportunities do you offer candidates and employees?
What is your mission statement?
What’s Next?
It’s All About Delivering Your Message
We talk a lot about delivering your message at the right place and at the right time. But how do you actually do this? You have several key tools at your disposal.
Programmatic/CTV
Your candidates have many distractions online: different social media feeds and stories, ecommerce ads and websites, news outlets, a growing number of streaming services. To cut through the noise, you only have a few options: You could invest a lot of money to try to appear everywhere your candidate might be. Or, you could use real-time programmatic ad buying to show your ads only to the users most likely to want what you’re selling: in this case, a career opportunity.
Social Ads
Social recruiting is more of a long game than programmatic but it can be highly effective. When you know your ideal candidates, you can cut through the noise and figure out where they are online. For example, many of your skilled workers are using channels like Facebook and Instagram as opposed to LinkedIn. You can run ads that promote your culture, showcase your current employees, and entice candidates to learn more about what you can offer them.
Podcasts
It’s hard to ignore the rise of podcasts: As of 2021, Statista found that 57 percent of consumers in the United States had listened to a podcast. Back in 2006, this number was just 11 percent. While advertising messages usually need to be concise and compelling, the podcast format offers freedom in length and storytelling. Consider how a short podcast episode hosted by a hiring manager could give employees a feel for the company’s culture, mission, and goals, and share insights about a job opportunity. Make podcasts part of your employer brand strategy in 2022.
Satellite Radio
An omni-recruiting approach considers every relevant channel for your candidates—and that includes radio. Combined with digital, social media, and other marketing tools, satellite radio can help your brand reach a larger, targeted audience. Consider using testimonials from your current employees that will cut through the noise and stand out to listeners looking for a new opportunity.
What Else?
Streamlining the Candidate Experience
Candidates are demanding a better and simpler experience at every stage of their job search. According to data from Career Builder in Forbes, 78 percent of employers think they are doing a good job of setting expectations and communicating with candidates. Only 47 percent of candidates agree. One common downfall for some employers is not having the right technology stack in place for recruiting.
%
of employers think they are doing a good job communicating with candidates
%
of candidates agree
Are you doing everything you can to deliver a seamless experience for your candidates?
- Simplified—and mobile-friendly—job applications
Here’s a reality check: If you expect a resume or long-form application to be completed by your candidate, you can likely count on losing their attention. With so many distractions online, your job seekers want simplicity. Think mobile-first: What can they easily complete on their phone? Capture their attention and engage with them quickly using a short form—no resume uploads or multi-page forms required.
- More SMS messaging with candidates
A Microsoft study in 2015 found that people generally lose their concentration after 8 seconds when distracted by multiple streams of media. Relying on emails or phone calls to connect with candidates will likely result in a never-ending game of digital tag—or worse, you’ll never hear back. When you use SMS/text messaging to connect with candidates, the odds are improved: Statistics show that 98 percent of all text messages are opened, and 95 percent are responded to within 3 minutes of being opened.
- Microapps and microsites tailored to specific jobs
Your organization may have a general Careers page to provide basic information about your company, current job openings, and benefits. But these pages typically feature stock photos of guys in suits and speak more to the white-collar worker and college grad than a skilled worker in the trades. Think of how much more engaging a microsite that speaks directly to the audience you are targeting for a specific role can be. You can feature relevant testimonials and images, graphics, and messaging that will resonate with your ideal candidates.
closing
For many decades, employers were in the driver’s seat when it came to recruiting. But times have changed: Candidates now have control of the steering wheel. With urgent hiring needs and difficulties with retention, businesses—especially those that rely on skilled workers—must put candidates first in their recruiting approach.
Omni-recruiting is designed to do just that, changing the game for the recruitment of skilled workers and production teams across many different industries.
The omni-recruiting experience:
- Gives you the ability to speak directly to candidates’ interests (with tailored microsites)
- Eliminates the need for candidates to be “resume ready”
- Takes away roadblocks to applying (assuming many workers are busy in the field)
- Offers more effective communication and touchpoints