As with most technology that makes life easier for you, you end up wondering – ‘how I ever managed without it’. And that’s the crux: good technology should slot effortlessly into your life without you realising it, so before you know it, it’s become an integral part of your daily existence.
Let’s face it, use of messaging apps like Messenger and WhatsApp have increased – immensely, and it is our daily routine now. So, it’s no surprise that employer and candidate live engagement platforms have transformed the way organisations can interact with candidates during the recruitment journey.
The average adult spends 23 hours a week texting
A year or two ago, recruiters may have asked ‘why would I need to use live chat or digital engagement?’ Now we’re finding they’re increasingly saying, ‘I must use it’ to effectively engage with candidates.
Just in case you are still on the fence about it all, here’s 6 reasons why digital engagement technology should be your next focus:
1. Connect With Groups of Candidates
It gives employers the ability to communicate with large groups of candidates at once instead of individually, saving precious resourcing time.
2. Connect With Candidates Across The World
It allows employers to easily communicate with would-be candidates across multiple locations including overseas – this is particularly key for emerging talent as it not only reduces the need for costly campus visits, it also enables employers to connect with universities they’ve not communicated with before, which in turn helps with social mobility.
3. Stay Connected With Candidates
Live chat enables employers to stay connected with candidates and support them at different stages of the process to help them to be their best.
And of course, it can assist with onboarding and the often lengthy keep warm periods reducing renege rates.
4. Connect Candidates With Your Teams
As we see an industry trend of moving away from brand-led engagement, more and more candidates are after an authentic picture of ‘what it’s really like to do the job’ and as such this has led to an increase in peer-to-peer conversations.
Live chat platforms allow these conversations to happen with recruiters bringing relevant stakeholders in from around the business to join them in answering candidates’ questions.
It allows individuals to be the experts and impart knowledge and advice directly to a candidate. After all, if you can talk to someone who’s actually doing the job you’re interested in, it gives you far more insight than simply talking to a recruiter.
5. Give Candidates The Info They Need Where They Want It
More and more organisations centre their digital agenda as a core driver to their business strategy and live chat enables resourcing teams to meet this need whilst also aligning themselves to the next generation of candidates who are used to being able to access information digitally – and instantaneously.
Live chat provides an informal and quick option for finding out information, often in an environment which candidates feel more comfortable in. They don’t have to commit to applying for a role before they’ve found out all the information they need to help them make that decision.
6. Start Productive Peer Dialogue
We’re also seeing organisations using live chat beyond the confines of recruitment with businesses scheduling chats with the aim of becoming thought leaders within their industry.
These chats focus on relevant and interesting topics and are promoted to a passive candidate audience, as well as alumni employees. Recruitment becomes the secondary focus to starting a peer dialogue.
7. Connect With Your Existing Teams
We’re also seeing internal comms teams taking up live chat as a way of connecting with existing employees, a great example is around Diversity and Inclusion – providing a safe (and anonymous if required) place to ask questions.
With the use of live chat and digital engagement growing from a ‘want’ to a ‘need’ within many businesses, it’s worth doing the research and finding out what solutions would work best for you and your teams.
It’s one of those things really, once you’ve implemented live chat and engagement technology, and really run with it during your recruitment processes, you’ll start to wonder how they ever managed without it.