Be clear and consistent in setting your company’s expectations from the moment an applicant visits your Facebook or Twitter account or company website through the first day on the job, says Peter Corless, executive vice president of enterprise development for OnShift.
This includes job descriptions that are clear, concise and completely free of jargon. Be transparent about benefits. Waste no time after receiving an applicant’s resume to deliver a personal, quick and sincere acknowledgment.
“This destroys most applicants’ assumptions their resumes land in black holes,” Corless says.2
Tailor your recruiting messages to specific audiences, says Martha Abercrombie, product marketing strategist for HealthcareSource.
“Millennials, for example, want to establish an emotional connection and will emphasize the importance of fit with the employer’s culture and current employees over everything else when looking for a job,” she says. “Be authentic” when conveying your company’s culture and values, she adds.3
Get noticed amid the noise of your competition with words that convey what makes your company unique, says Kendra Nicastro, director of business development for LeaderStat.
A current employee testimonial can be powerful. Describe job duties with bullet points and, of course, avoid writing errors.4
Buzzwords are powerful attention grabbers, remarks Brandi Kurtyka, CEO of myCNAjobs and HealthHire. “Flexibility” and “competitive” are big ones. Jan Wilson, director of learning design and outcomes for Relias, believes the phrase “individual professional development” will capture attention more than anything.5
Choose the medium wisely to maximize the power of your message.
“Good recruitment includes a variety of channels, strategies and communication methods,” says Kurtyka.
“Some of the best mediums are the job posting sites themselves,” says Corless.
“You need to consider where your audience is and then deliver content that makes sense for the platform,” Abercrombie adds.
A Source & CRM (candidate relationship management) solution also can help recruiters build a pipeline of potential certified nursing aides.
Nicastro suggests including an image with any online post. Refresh your posting frequently to ensure it stays highly visible. Engage current workers to share open jobs on their own social media channels.
One of the most effective recruiting mediums is SMS text.
“Text messages are now the preferred method for scheduling and changing appointments and 90 percent of text messages are read in three minutes,” Corless notes.
The best messaging gets wasted if it’s used in the wrong medium. Places to avoid, according to Corless: newspapers, classifieds and sites such as Craigslist.
Another tip often forgotten: Hand out business cards at conferences and other events.6
Avoid common gaffes that can terminate the best-laid recruitment plan. A big mistake is being too specific in job requirements. Kurtyka says many great candidates might not even bother to apply.
Megan Pulliam, business development manager for Jobalign, concurs, adding that many companies looking for the perfect candidate tend to list too many desired qualifications. “You may list ‘must have 7 years of experience’ as a requirement when in reality you are open to interviewing someone who has less experience or similar work experience,” Pulliam says. “In order to maximize candidate volume, you should only list the minimum requirements that are absolute deal breakers.”
Other gaffes:
• Generalized messages and broad-based recruitment marketing initiatives, which don’t build candidate pools as effectively as targeted, personalized communication.
• Frighteningly long applications.
• Leaving voice or emails. Today’s applicants respond more positively to personal texts.
• Dominating the interview. “If your hiring managers or recruiters are doing all the talking, you are in trouble,” Wilson says.7
Take care to include the following messages during your “preboarding” recruitment phase, says Larry Florio, national director, post-acute and senior living for Kronos Inc.: a leadership “welcome” message on your new-talent online portal or linked in your welcome email; a day one agenda; and electronic availability of critical information.
“Collect fun information about your new employee as a conversation starter to share with your team,” Florio adds.
