3 of the Best Times to Reach Out to Candidates

August 29, 2014 at 6:00 AM by Kathleen de Lara

candidate outreachOutreach is an art. Timing and targeting your outreach to candidates is just the tip of the iceberg to engaging talent with your opportunity.

As time-sensitive as your hiring reqs may be, there’s comes a point in the sourcing process where, for the most part, talent takes the reigns and recruiters sweat out an antsy waiting period.  

Check out these three opportune times for reaching out to candidates to increase your chances of engaging them with your roles. 

First-Year Work Anniversary

With 91% of Millennials expected to stay at their jobs for less than three years, recruiters are constantly wading in a bottomless pool of potential hires. (Did you know that by 2025, a majority of the workforce will be composed of Gen-Yers?) Entry-level employees often come into a role with the presumption they’ll get experience in their position, improve their skills, management, and work practices, and eventually, move on to the next opportunity to further develop their career goals. Consider reaching out to candidates around the time of their first-year work anniversary, when they’re more likely to move and hear about what your company has to offer. An exciting, new start with another team may be exactly what a candidate is looking for to grow their experiences and talents. 

Updated Work Profiles or Website

A candidate who’s been updating their online portfolio or professional profile more frequently than usual is probably doing so in preparation for their big sendoff of resumes – it’s the first place recruiters examine to vet talent. Rather than jumping the gun and sending out a mass email to top talent on your list of contacts, wait it out, sit back and observe, and learn who’s polishing their profiles. That way, you can step right in and appropriately extend a well-timed invitation for them to find out more about your opportunity.

Off Work Hours

At work, how often do you read and respond to emails that don’t have anything to do with your to-do list? Try sending outreach messages to candidates after work hours, between 6 and 9 PM, when they’re either on the way home, at the gym, shopping at the grocery store, or scanning through their inbox and social networks on the couch. Catch talent when they’re less focused on work tasks to increase the likeliness they’ll pay attention to and reply to your message. It’s an unexpected, refreshing approach to the canned (and literally, canned) 9 a.m. email from a recruiter. 

Want to learn more about improving your candidate outreach? Download our eBook, “Effectively Messaging Candidates” and if you’re feeling especially bold, get a hold of Entelo’s  More Likely To Move™  candidate outreach

comments