This month, Rally Recruitment Marketing hosted their inaugural RallyFWD, a virtual conference with a focus on humanizing the candidate experience. We’re constantly looking to find ways that employee stories can help companies improve their candidate experience, from the first interview, to the hire (or rejection) and in turn help to tell a more cohesive brand story.

With the unemployment rate at a low, we all need to work a little smarter to get, and retain the best employees, and Rally brought in some of the best professionals and experts in the recruitment marketing industry to teach us all how. We tuned in, listened and took notes, and we’re sharing our favorite stories and take-away points from the conference!

1. Unite the hiring process

Would You Do That To Your Mother?

Jeanne Bliss, Founder and President, Customer Bliss

Let the work spread throughout the entire company, where possible. Of course there are going to be parts of the business that do not exactly overlap, but keeping open communication throughout the company helps build a united front of caring and respect.

Rather than having a direct funnel down the chain, create a circle that brings the communication back up. It is beneficial for everyone to know about the candidate procedure, not just the people in direct contact with them because these candidates might be joining the team!

Jeanne Bliss compares the process to being in the hospital. There is often a disconnect between the steps that go into treatment. She described being wheeled for treatment into the hallway by the nurse and waiting there alone for the technician to pick you up for treatment. It may be more efficient, but it does not create comfortable feelings for the patient (candidate). Think about how the process can be streamlined to become more ‘caring’ for the candidate. The solution could be as simple as having the candidate interview with more people on the team to give them a better feel for the company culture as a whole, rather than simply the hiring team.

 2. Hire based on attitude

Showing Heart: When Candidates are Your Customers

Shari Conaway, Senior Director, People Department, Southwest Airlines

This is an easy cycle. Happy employees lead to happy customers, which lead to happy shareholders. The best way to create and nurture this cycle is to bring in employees who already have the same attitude that’s fostered in the company. As Shari Conaway says, they look for people who “live the Southwest way.” At Southwest Airlines, each hire is based on the way people live out the company’s purpose, vision, and mission.

To find those people that best fit into the attitude, Conaway explains that they ask behavioral questions, like ‘tell me about a time when you had to pitch in with a co-worker to get something done?’ to understand how the candidate acts. “What someone has done in the past, will tell us what they are going to do in the future,” Conaway said.

The attitude is carried out through every step of the candidate experience, even in rejections. Maintaining the same supportive and personal attitude throughout the entire process has lead to a happier candidate experience, and made rejected candidates respect the company that much more.

You want your employees to be your best brand advocates. Here is how Southwest shows their attitude through an emotional employee story.

3. Give more than you take

What Your Social Content Says to Candidates?

Craig Fisher, Head of Marketing and Employer Brand, Allegis Global Solutions

Building trust and authenticity on social media is essential to the employee and candidate experience. Craig Fisher explains the key to building trust through social media – Give more than you take. This falls into two parts.

First, make it personal! It is easier to gain trust when you become more than just a face and a job position. Even if we are behind the wall of social media, we are people. Think about how to humanize your social media content by sharing personal details. While Craig shares that he has three kids and likes to be outdoors, it can be anything that is personal to you!

The second part is providing quality, beneficial material to the audience. Think about what your audience sees, thinks and wants. When posting content, provide  material that answers these questions, regardless of whether it is directly related to your business. By providing material that helps others, you become a reliable source.

The market is flooded with content, so why should someone trust you? Because you care about promoting content that is beneficial to this realm of work, not just trying to plug your brand and business. Craig suggests giving 5 times, before asking to read your blog posts, promote your recruitment ad, or anything else. At this point, your social media has built a relationship with your audience and that will make the ‘ask’ easier.

4. Utilize Email communications

You Have Mail: Communicating with Candidates Like a Marketer

Kaitlyn Holbein,  Content Strategist, Rally Recruitment Marketing

Charlotte Jones, Recruitment Marketing Leader, Lockheed Martin

Jared Nypen, Director of Talent Acquisition, Great Clips

There has been a misconception that email is falling behind social media communications. Realistically, email has a higher rate of success and reach than any social media platform does.

Comparing Reach:

If you have 2,000 Twitter followers,

2,000 Facebook fans,

and 2,000 email subscribers…

Charlotte and Jared both use email to provide their readers with industry related content, but they have two slightly different approaches. What they both agreed on: Multi-media! Pictures, audio and video are more engaging than simple text.

Charlotte provides her readers with information on events coming up, recruitment opportunities, surveys, and continual information focused on Lockheed Martin. She shares her advice that every email should have some visual content, a take action request, and a ‘what is in it for me’ explanation. This is the best way for her, and Lockheed Martin, to see a clear influx in new candidates. “Although we have the goal to increase our flow of quality candidates, we know we won’t do that unless we provide our talent audiences relevant information that is valuable to them.”

Jared, on the other hand, fills their monthly email with a variety of industry related content and advice. There are also employee videos and stories scattered throughout. Rather than saying that GreatClips is, well… great, he uses interesting stories about the people who make it great. Let your employees tell the story!

Jared’s advice in starting an email campaign? Don’t overthink it.

“You’ll continue to get smarter over time, so don’t be afraid to put it out there.”- Jared

So, what’s the major theme that we see throughout all of these presentations?

Remember that we are all human, and our candidate experience should reflect that feeling. To tune into the recording of the virtual conference and see for yourself, visit RallyFwd.com.