Whether it's shopping for the holidays, exploring the roots of the family tree, or searching for that perfect career opportunity, immersive online experiences are becoming the norm. The technology is available to every organization looking to gain a competitive edge. Therefore, it stands to reason that what separates a best-in-class experience from the also-rans comes down to how it's executed.
A taxing example
Have you ever done your taxes using an online service like TurboTax? If so, you probably found the experience a lot more palatable than digging through mountains of receipts, forms, bank statements, and other information and trying to put it all together without any help. Turbo Tax works hard to help its customers feel in control, giving direction and encouragement based on information the user has provided while building a complete tax return, step by step.
Today's best talent marketing solutions are no different. From a technology standpoint, we can use whatever we already know about a candidate and leverage it to drive further interaction and engagement. So whether you're showing candidates jobs, content or events that align to what their profiles say about them, the experience is always informative, positive, and immersive (which are goals we should all be striving toward).
Oh no not again
People have invested considerable time in building their profiles on LinkedIn and similar career channels. They don't want to have to do it again and again. Likewise, if a business wants to get a candidate's profile data but doesn't want to jump through the hoops required by LinkedIn they look elsewhere. Both candidates and TA teams aren't particularly receptive to assembling all this information over and over for every job. Let's face it - it's a lot of work.
It doesn't have to be or feel this way.
In much the same way as with Turbo Tax, recruiters can start with just a few bits of information to give them data they can work with later on. For example, someone looking at a nursing job description might be asked whether they have certain licensures or certifications, a relatively small request. When this and other profile information gets built up in small chunks, it seems less invasive, less time-consuming, and less work.
Profile building as a process
Remember, when you have an initial candidate profile for someone, it should trigger a process. You might just have an email or geographic location. So, you get more by providing an opportunity to let candidates offer additional information (as needed) while driving them to interact with your careers site. AI technology can already determine whether a person has a resume available online or possesses a relevant work history. If something's missing, there's a section that appears automatically requesting this next level of information the next time a candidate interacts with your careers site.
Since they're not being asked to serve up mountains or personal data all at once, candidates don't feel overwhelmed (or let's face it, irritated). And you have an opportunity to nurture a candidate along (again, automatically) with deeper content, an enhanced job description, a further clarification of your employer brand and unique value proposition and perhaps even a drip campaign tied into a relevant event. Of course, the candidate's subsequent interactions with the careers site continue to make every touchpoint more personalized. And ultimately the relationship between candidate and organization grows stronger.
This strategy is especially valuable when candidates are looking to explore career opportunities that don't reflect their existing work histories. AI makes it possible to look beyond the resume to determine what candidates are really looking for in a career - and suggest roles that are best aligned with their interests. For candidates, it's a chance to delve into exciting careers beyond the obvious; for your TA team, it's an opportunity to find someone ready and eager for something different.
