Is Your Messaging Style Scaring Away Candidates?

May 19, 2014 at 6:00 AM by Kathleen de Lara

attracting candidatesOutreach is an art.

Finding the right balance between introducing the company, illustrating an opportunity, and capturing the candidate's attention takes an approach that must be frequently updated and adjusted. Translation: It's tough. 

Reevaluate your outreach strategies and find out if your candidate messaging breaks these cardinal don'ts.

Using gender-specific language

Before you hit 'Save' on that job description you just wrote, count how many times words like "ninja" and "rockstar" are used to personify the type of work the open position requires. While it's common to believe that aggressive, forward terms will attract top performers to apply for the opportunity, you could be unknowingly segmenting and debarring your desired candidate pool.

Though we won't delve into the nitty-gritty details that separate masculine and feminine language, one rule of thumb that can be applied is to read out loud the job description or outreach message. Imagine you're speaking to a male candidate, and then to a female candidate. Do the same language cues apply, or did you notice you wanted to change around a few words to make the candidiate feel more comfortable with your approach? Think: Less exclusive, more inclusive.

Connecting with them on their personal social media accounts
We're all for social recruiting, but in that big ole World Wide Web, don't forget to mind your manners. And that means treating your social media connections with candidates no differently (if not more carefully) than your email outreach with them.

Candidates are more accustomed to receiving messages through the conventional email inbox and LinkedIn's InMail, but more direct lines of contact like their Facebook inbox, Twitter direct messages, and text messages require extra discretion. If you have a relationship with the candidate more close or casual than most, Facebook and Twitter can be acceptable outreach channels.

If your relationship isn't that personal, try these professional-personal approaches like requesting an intro through a mutual connection, commenting on a blog post in their portfolio, scheduling a coffee or dinner meetup, or, if you're really interested in making an unforgettable impression, give 'em a shoutout on your site.

Deferring candidates to ask the hiring manager...again
One way to level-up your interviewee's frustration? Spend half of your interview telling them they can find out more details of an opportunity by speaking with the other person in charge. Keep the recruiting process as straightforward and easy as possible by knowing enough about the position to partially speak on behalf of the hiring manager.

Recruiters should be able to answer questions concerning general items, like an overview of the job's tasks and functions, how the candidate has the opportunity to advance within the company, and when they should expect to hear back from you or someone else within the company. It's okay to defer talent to the hiring manager for more detailed items, like specific, quarterly projects or the steps an employee would take to move from a junior to upper-level management role.

Does your team have a special strategy for recruiting and engaging top talent? Share with us in the comments below or tweet us @Entelo!

Download our free eBook!

     

comments