3 Ways Data Can Fuel Your Candidate Engagement Strategy
In this two-part series, we’re exploring the ways in which data enables you to deliver a top-notch candidate engagement strategy.
In Part 1, we discussed the importance of developing a candidate engagement strategy, and how it can ultimately impact the future of your business. Check out Part 1 here. Below, we share additional key actions you can take today with data to ensure your implementation of that strategy is a success.
Apply a Personal Touch
Adding a personal touch to your candidate engagement plan is what will set your firm apart from the competition — and data can help you go above and beyond. Know your candidate pool and arm yourself with the information you already have in your database.
Some groups to focus on:
1) Current Contractors
By having visibility into who is currently out on contract now, and who is nearing the end of that contract, you’ll be ready to redeploy your top performers. Get to know this group a bit more with data. For example, are there any current contractors that are consistently redeployed or are strong performers?
2) #1 Hires
This is your star group. Use data to determine if there are any jobs that are consistently being filled by this group, so you’re ready to redeploy these #1 hires when they’re available again.
It’s important to keep in mind, however, that just because someone has been redeployed frequently, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re your top performer. In the next section, we share a few key pieces of data you can look at to determine who fits into this group.
3) Unsuccessful Candidates
Data can be used with these candidates to try and understand what makes them unsuccessful. See if you can’t find any trends.
4) Inactive Candidates
Take a look at your historical communication with this group. You might be able to find some trends here as well that indicate why these candidates are inactive.
Focus and Prioritize
If you’ve never implemented a candidate engagement strategy before, it might be difficult to narrow your focus and prioritize your efforts. First and foremost, it’s important to understand which candidates in your database are your strongest. Which candidates are performing well and have the highest margins? What are the margins of candidates who are consistently being redeployed? Which candidates aren’t being redeployed, but should be!
Dig into your database to uncover your strongest performers. As you do so, a few metrics you should look at include:
- Bill Rate – the rate a staffing firm charges its client for its candidate’s work services
- Pay Rate – the rate a staffing firm pays its candidate for his/her work services
- Margin – a calculation of your candidate’s Bill Rate minus their Pay Rate
- Redeployments – the number of times a candidate has been successfully placed
This data will help you determine which candidates have the highest margins and which candidates are strong performers. It’s essential to know which candidates have the most redeployments. As you review these frequently redeployed candidates, take note of their margins. Just because a candidate is redeployed often, it does not mean that she has a high margin and is a strong performer.
What you uncover can be used to ensure that the candidates you redeploy are strong performers. And you might even find several strong performers that have not been redeployed, that you can prioritize in the future. Develop and maintain relationships with these candidates.
Enact Change
Developing your candidate engagement strategy is just the beginning. When you go a step further and incorporate data, you’ll likely see a number of benefits that you maybe didn’t expect:
Improve Recruiter Performance
Increasing knowledge of a firm’s candidate database could directly influence a recruiter’s ability to improve submission rates, fill rates and time to hire, by reducing the time required to sift through the candidate pool.
Gain a Competitive Edge
Increasing knowledge of a firm’s candidate database, and in turn improving recruiter performance, enables firms to react more quickly in a highly time-sensitive market.
Enable Real Business Improvements
Prioritizing engagement with and redeployment of candidates who perform strongly can directly impact business margins and the overall health of the firm.
For more information on the traits of a winning candidate engagement strategy, get the Candidate Engagement ebook.
