Engaging talent: How to communicate with candidates of all ages
Today’s talent expect frequent outreach and updates from recruiters, and they reward that effort with loyalty to their staffing firm. The GRID 2023 Talent Trends Report revealed that 68% of candidates would continue working with their current recruiter — but that rises to 84% when recruiters contact them more than once a week.
With talent pools as tight as they are (and are likely to remain), that boost in candidate loyalty could be critical.
Frequency of communication is paramount
28% of recruiters are communicating with candidates once a week — and once a week seems to be the sweet spot. But 34% of candidates would like that level of outreach, so there is room for even stronger candidate engagement.
It is especially important for firms to focus on contacting candidates with new opportunities before their current assignment ends — something fully 20% of respondents say did not happen for them.
Outreach needs to reflect candidate preferences
Recruiters need to tailor their outreach to the frequency and channel candidates prefer. In spite of the rise of text messaging, email still remains the top choice — and most recruiters are honoring that preference.
However, they could lean in more to LinkedIn and rely less on phone communication — 22% of candidates still report their recruiters reach out with a phone call. Professional candidates in particular would like more LinkedIn messaging (19%), and 12% of healthcare candidates would like more app-based messaging.
Generational preferences differ
For communication related to job opportunities, email comes out on top across all age groups. But there are some subtle differences that staffing firms will want to keep an eye on.
For example, Baby Boomers are much more likely to prefer text communication than all other groups. And Millennials and Gen Z are more likely to embrace WhatsApp — which is even more true in Europe.
What should you be doing now?
Generational differences will likely grow over time, so staffing firms will want to carefully track the data and tailor their outreach accordingly. And it is likely that more and more candidates will expect text or app-based communication in the future. The best approach today is a truly omni-channel communication strategy supported by automation.
