Did you know that the word "recruitment" comes directly from the verb "grow" meaning "complete a (troop)"? 

Originally, then, recruitment was a strictly military term, the exercise of which was long the prerogative of the famous sergeant-recruiters.

They did not hesitate to drink young men to death to incorporate them into the royal or imperial armies. Efficient isn't it?

Of course, this is not really a method I would advise today !

It is certainly much more relevant to use the tools of our time, especially the web and the social networks, by offering your future candidates an unforgettable digital Candidate Experience!

1 - The importance of first impressions

You want to look to hire quality candidates

Then be mindful of the first impression they will have of you. And I'm not talking about when you offer them coffee or refreshments in the waiting room before their interview, I'm talking about your ZMOT!"

This amusing acronym stands for Zero Moment of Truth which we refer to as that moment when a candidate first becomes aware of your employer brand on your digital spaces.

In this day and age, there's more than a 90% chance that this moment will happen on a digital space: a website, your careers site, a post on LinkedIn or a review on Glassdoor.

This is the moment when they will "taste" your employer brand for the first time...and if they don't like the taste, they probably won't be coming back any time soon... And you won't have known about it!

That's why it's crucial for you to work very early on your candidate experience: on digital channels and more specifically on your career site!

Candidates like to taste a great digital experience

This work should address all interactions and engagements you make with a candidate during the hiring process.

These interactions include visits to your career site, social networks, job postings, interviews, etc.

Imagine what it would be like if your potential candidates were interested in future positions at your company even though the openings don't exist yet!

Nearly 4 in 5 candidates (78%) say the candidate experience a company offers is an indicator of how a company values its employees. So, providing a positive experience allows talent to project themselves with you.

A positive candidate experience therefore has long-term benefits for your recruitment. 

Candidates with a positive experience will turn into unintentional employer brand ambassadors: they will spread words of appreciation on their social networks and talk about your company in their circle.

2 - Some tips for building a digital candidate experience

The Candidate Experience of your digital channels must be unforgettable

Generally speaking, and especially when it comes to websites or social networks, companies forget to put themselves in the candidate's shoes when shaping their recruitment marketing, which often makes the candidate experience unpleasant. Yet this is one of the foundations of UX (User eXperience)

Here are some thoughts that can lead you to make the candidate experience you offer truly unforgettable.

• Opt for a clear job description will attract more candidates. Give complete information about the role and responsibilities expected of them. And most importantly:  state the amount of compensation!
• Avoid long forms! When a candidate visits your career page, it's a good time to encourage them to leave their contact information. If you make them fill out endless forms, they will prefer to leave your website.
• Give candidates the ability to apply via their LinkedIn profile. This will save the candidate time, and give the company an innovative image.
• Consider reviews on sites like Glassdoor. Nearly 60% of job seekers have had a bad candidate experience and 72% have shared their experience on online employer review sites like Glassdoor.com (LinkedIn).
• Use the help of artificial intelligence to facilitate the candidate experience. Using Resume Parsing will allow the candidate to upload it and the parser will automatically update the data fields. Is it possible to suggest matching jobs for the candidate based on their resume, if it does not match the job they are applying for? It better be.
• Make your website mobile-optimized. Allow candidates to apply for a job from their mobile device. A website thought out for mobile is bound to generate more qualified traffic.
• Be efficient! You need to have a process in place to get them moving quickly through recruiting and make decisions without taking too long. After all, top talent will have already accepted an offer elsewhere if the company takes too long to make them an offer.

3 - What content to fuel the Candidate Experience

If the Candidate Experience can be considered the "form" of your talent attraction strategy, the content is its background.

Beware, however, that you don't consider any text or visual production to be content capable of making a difference in the eyes of the candidate.

The main problem we see with companies' digital career spaces is that it is not really thought out or designed for the candidate. 

They mostly feature corporate communication content, which is certainly essential but insufficient.

Whether you talk about your vision, your ambition, your commitments, your jobs, etc., that's great, but you're talking about yourself, not the candidate.

It's like greeting your candidate at your interview with a strong coffee with no sugar, without even knowing if that's how they want it (or even if they want one at all).

Content, like all Recruitment Marketing actions, must be Candidate-Centric

If you really want to interest someone, we know that you have to tell them about themselves first and foremost, about those expectations, those fears even!

In addition, consider optimizing your content for SEO so that it can be found through natural Google queries.

That's why the first step in creating this attractive content, or Inbound, is to analyze Candidate Personas, i.e., archetypes of ideal candidates.

Through this method (which is more complicated to implement than it sounds), you will be able to identify the HR and/or business themes that will truly make sense to these people. 

Of course, you shouldn't stop there. The entire process to follow constitutes the Inbound Recruiting approach.

With this totally original approach, you'll shower your future employees with positive signals, and ensure a permanent flux of applications.

Here's to your next recruitment campaigns!