6 Digital Recruitment Strategies For Optimizing Your Talent Search

As the world becomes more and more digital, so does recruitment. Over 30 years, jobseekers have transitioned from using newspapers to desktop computers, and now to mobile devices. In 2020, over 60% of online job applications came from mobile phones, Applecast reports.

Recruitment is rapidly evolving. Employers who want to stay relevant need to practice adaptability. That usually means staying informed on the latest trends and adjusting your recruitment process accordingly. In today’s competitive market, those who fail to adapt will likely struggle to attract and recruit top talent, and lose revenue.

In this article, we’ll give you some starting point suggestions. We’ll share 6 digital recruitment strategies that are essential for any successful modern-day business. We’ll also talk about Workello, a solution that can assist you in your digital transformation.

1) Creating a Strong Digital Brand

Almost everyone has an online presence today. Any reputable business needs to have one as well. Those who don’t, or have a poor online reputation, are likely to flounder.

According to Careerbuilder’s 2016 report, 64% of candidates look up the company before applying for the job. Out of those, 37% pass on the offer if they can’t find information about the employer. In CareerArc’s 2017 study, 55% of jobseekers claimed that they have abandoned an application when they come across a negative review.

2) Choosing the Right Digital Recruitment Channels

To reach the right audience, you need to know where to look. Depending on the target location or industry, you may find some channels to be more effective than others. In any case, trying multiple ones is advisable, as it increases your chances of success.

The most popular ways to reach jobseekers are job boards and social media sites.

Job Boards

According to Zippia, about half of job applications come from digital job boards. Their popularity should come as no surprise given the sheer number of options and functionalities they offer for both recruiters and jobseekers.

Still, before investing, you should do your research to identify the best job boards for your hiring needs. Here’s some advice:

• If you’re not location-bound, choose an international or remote job board
• To target a specific industry, check out the niche job boards
• If the budget is tight, opt for a free job board or one that allows for free posting
• Consider a job board for graduates or a university job portal in the case of internships and entry-level positions
• For those with a DEIB strategy, there are diversity job boards and boards catering to different minority groups

Although free ads might do the job if you have low hiring demands, bigger companies might want to consider sponsoring theirs. Doing so can substantially increase their visibility. On many job sites, it could also unlock many other useful features.

Some job boards also have CV databases you can use to actively search for candidates. They typically come with numerous filters to help you narrow down your choices.

Social Media

As an employer, you likely already use social media to attract customers. You should also be using it to source passive candidates. According to Content Stadium’s 2022 Survey, over 96% of recruiting teams have already jumped on the bandwagon. 

Source: Content Stadium

In the same survey, these were the top 5 most popular channels among recruiters:

1. LinkedIn—79%
2. Facebook—71% 
3. Instagram—45% 
4. Twitter—43% 
5. YouTube—31%  

Social media is quite a diverse recruitment tool. You can pay and advertise the vacancy to a wide audience. It also allows you to network, search for prospects with specific qualifications, and engage with potential candidates.

3) Leveraging Recruitment Marketing

The key to recruitment success is a well-planned recruitment marketing strategy. The first step is to work on developing your brand. Marketing and branding are closely linked and influence one another. Having a strong brand will aid in your recruitment efforts. At the same time, proper marketing can strengthen your brand.

Here are some marketing methods to consider:

• Building a talent pipeline—Have a list of cold, warm, and hot prospects and engage with them on a regular basis
• Inbound marketing—Create compelling content and communicate with your audience through email newsletters
• Outbound marketing—Sponsor your hiring ads and social media posts, and consider other, less conventional marketing methods like job fairs
• Referrals and internal recruitment—Search for suitable candidates within the company and ask employees to share vacancies with their network

Whatever method you choose, make sure to monitor your performance. According to HCI, the 5 most popular marketing metrics include:

1. Time to fill
2. Quality of applicants
3. Conversion rates
4. Open job views
5. Candidate engagement

Source: HCI

4) Improving Candidate Experience

If you provide subpar candidate experience, all other recruitment efforts will suffer. How you treat candidates during the recruitment process indicates how you’ll treat them as an employer. 

A poor experience will not only deter them from accepting the job offer but also prompt them to tell others about it and write a negative review. It could also forever drive them away from your company’s products or services.

Source: TalentLyft

On the other hand, a pleasant experience can bring about:

• A higher quality of hires
• A favorable brand reputation and referrals
• Faster hiring
• Reduced hiring costs
• Profitability in the long run

Here’s what you should and shouldn’t do:

5) Using Software With Automations

Today’s technology allows you to streamline almost every stage of the recruitment funnel. A 2022 SHRM survey found that 1 in 4 businesses use automation and/or AI for recruitment.

Source: SHRM

The most common programs used are applicant tracking systems (ATS) and customer/candidate relationship management (CRM) systems. There also exists software that can optimize specific parts of the recruitment process, such as assessments and interviews.

According to Recruiting Brief, these are the top 6 benefits of using recruitment software:

1. More engaging candidate experience—Automation can make the application process smoother and simpler, and prevent errors and delays
2. Wider talent pool—Software can publish job ads for you in multiple places, allowing you to manage all of them from a single dashboard
3. Stronger candidate pipeline—You can create a comprehensive database consisting of both active and potential candidates 
4. Better communication—With automation, you can respond to all candidates on time without spending hours writing emails 
5. Improved recruitment metrics—Software can help recruiters be more efficient, reducing the time to hire, time to fill, and cost per hire
6. Insightful analytics—By generating reports, recruitment software can reveal how successful your recruiting campaign was and how you can improve it

With an ATS like Workello, you can effortlessly move candidates down the recruitment funnel. When you change their status in the employer dashboard, that triggers automatic responses, such as an interview invitation or rejection letter. The candidates can also track their progress via their live status pages

6) Using Data and Analytics To Optimize the Recruitment Process

Another essential digital recruiting strategy is performance tracking. Over time, you’ll likely need to adjust and optimize your recruitment process. And to know which areas need improvement, you’ll need data and constant monitoring. 

The first step is to define tracking metrics, such as cost or time to hire. After collecting enough data, refer to your ATS for insights. Analyze the results to identify bottlenecks and set measurable goals. Informed by the analytics, make the necessary changes. Don’t forget to measure again to observe the effectiveness of your adjustments.

For instance, after reviewing the analytics, you might realize that a significant amount of candidates drop out during the interview stage. In that case, you’d want to take a closer look at the interviewing protocol and the interviewers. If need be, provide them with training.

Final Thoughts

In today’s ever-changing environment, employers need to be flexible. While these digital recruitment strategies are the current best practices, they might change in a few years. The idea is to adopt a data-driven approach and constantly adjust your recruitment process for success. 

By staying up-to-date with the latest trends and technologies, you can ensure that your recruitment process remains effective and efficient.

With Workello, you can streamline your digital hiring process with ease. Control all recruitment elements from your dashboard, automatically providing candidates with updates as they go through the pipeline. Using expert-crafted realistic pre-hire assessments, single out the top 1% of your candidates.

Give Workello a try for free and see how this simple and affordable solution can transform your hiring for the better.