The High Seas of High-Volume Hiring: Strategies that Work

In the fast-paced world of industries like retail, hospitality, and manufacturing, the need for a robust and efficient high-volume hiring strategy has never been more crucial. As we delve deeper into the unique challenges of this relentless recruitment cycle, we find that the solution lies in a mix of innovative approaches and tried-and-true practices.

 

Understanding the Landscape

High-volume hiring is characterized by the need to fill a large number of positions in a short amount of time. This is often compounded by high turnover rates, as employees in these industries tend to move on quickly, whether due to the nature of the work, seasonal demand, or other factors. Additionally, the increasing trend of candidate ghosting, where applicants suddenly cease communication, adds another layer of complexity to the hiring process.

 

Strategies for Success

  • Streamline the Application Process
    In a world where time is of the essence, ensuring that your application process is as streamlined as possible is key. This not only helps in attracting a larger pool of candidates but also reduces the chances of potential hires dropping out mid-process.
  • Invest in Employee Retention
    While it may seem counterintuitive in a high-turnover industry, investing in employee retention can actually save resources in the long run. This could be in the form of training programs, career advancement opportunities, or creating a positive work environment.
  • Embrace Technology
    Leveraging technology for recruitment can be a game-changer. From AI-driven applicant tracking systems to virtual interviews, technology can help in speeding up the hiring process and ensuring that you are reaching the right candidates.
  • Foster a Positive Employer Brand
    A strong employer brand can be your greatest asset in attracting top talent. Ensure that your company is viewed positively by potential employees by promoting your workplace culture, values, and benefits.
  • Build a Talent Pool
    Having a ready pool of qualified candidates can significantly cut down hiring time. Engage with past applicants and potential hires through social media, email newsletters, or talent communities to keep them interested in your organization.
  • Communicate Clearly and Consistently
    Clear communication can help in reducing the chances of candidate ghosting. Keep potential hires in the loop throughout the hiring process and provide feedback when necessary.

 

Conclusion

High-volume hiring doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By adopting a strategic approach and leveraging the right tools and practices, organizations can navigate this challenging landscape with ease. Remember, the key lies in being proactive, adaptable, and always keeping the candidate experience at the forefront of your hiring process. Stay tuned for more insights and strategies in our upcoming posts, as we continue to navigate the world of high-volume hiring together.


Navigating the High Stakes of High-Volume Hiring

High-volume hiring can be a daunting task, with numerous challenges and nuances to navigate. However, with the right strategies and mindset, it is possible to streamline the process and find the perfect candidates for your organization.

 

Enhancing Communication

Clear and consistent communication stands out as a crucial element in high-volume hiring. But how do you ensure that your messaging resonates with potential candidates? One key takeaway is to tailor your communication style to suit different platforms.

For instance, while LinkedIn might require a more formal tone, Instagram may be the perfect place for a casual and engaging message. By doing so, you're not only expanding your reach but also connecting with candidates on a level that resonates with them.

 

Streamlining the Process with Technology

In today's digital age, leveraging technology is non-negotiable. From Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to AI-driven screening tools, there's a plethora of options available to streamline your hiring process. However, the trick lies in choosing the right tools that align with your specific needs.

Don’t shy away from investing time and resources in training your team to effectively use these tools. Remember, the goal is to enhance efficiency without compromising on the quality of your hires.

 

Fostering a Candidate-Centric Approach

A candidate-centric approach is all about putting the needs and experiences of your candidates at the forefront. This could mean simplifying your application process, providing clear and timely communication, or offering feedback regardless of the outcome.

Remember, a positive candidate experience can turn even rejected applicants into brand ambassadors.

 

Harnessing the Power of Employee Advocacy

Your current employees can be your biggest assets in the high-volume hiring process. Encourage them to share job openings within their networks and be vocal about their positive experiences at the company. This not only expands your reach but also adds a layer of trust and authenticity to your employer brand.

 

Developing a Robust Onboarding Program

The journey doesn’t end once the candidate accepts the offer. A robust onboarding program is key to ensuring that new hires feel welcomed and are set up for success. Take the time to develop a comprehensive onboarding plan that covers everything from company culture to role-specific training.

Remember, a well-thought-out onboarding process can significantly reduce turnover and increase employee engagement. What does the employee need on day one to be successful, and what can you do to provide that?

 

Conclusion

High-volume hiring is undeniably complex, but with the right strategies, it can be a smooth and rewarding process. By enhancing communication, leveraging technology, fostering a candidate-centric approach, utilizing employee advocacy, and developing a robust onboarding program, you're well on your way to unlocking the secrets to high-volume hiring success. Stay tuned for more insights and strategies to guide you through this journey.

 

To read more in depth metrics and benchmarks around ghosting, download our whitepaper:


Talent Ghosting & the Remedies with Blitz Media

Talent Ghosting & the Remedies with Blitz Media

Listen to it Podcast Style:

 

Transcript:

Ty Abernethy:

Hello everybody, we've come together today to talk about the topic of candidate ghosting - specifically how to eliminate it. So let's dig in and get started.

I've got a couple folks with me today I'm very excited to be talking with. I've done a webinar with both Scott and Craig recently, and every time I chat with them I learn something new. Scott and Craig are a Father-Son Duo that run a company called Blitz Media. They work in a very particular niche inside of healthcare to help improve the recruiting processes for their clients.

Gentlemen, say hello, would love to have you talk for just a moment about what you do.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Sure, thanks for having us here Ty. Hi everyone, I'm Scott de Fasselle. As Ty mentioned, Craig and I together run a company called Blitz.

And we are focused on helping organizations that serve individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities. We help them attract and retain more of the amazing employees that they so desperately need right now.

Ghosting is something that candidly wasn't on our radar, but then a couple years back it became the number one question we'd get during Q&A sessions.

So we've developed training to focus exclusively on that.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

Very often the people we serve feel like it's just them being ghosted. You are not alone, you should not feel that it's just on you. Sadly, this is a big problem across industries.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Perfect, thank you gentlemen. My name is Ty Abernethy. I'm the Co-Founder and CEO of Grayscale. We are a texting and automation platform designed to integrate with your ATS and streamline the hiring process through SMS.

Gentlemen, why don't we dive in and start talking about the problem of ghosting. So, how big of an issue is candidate ghosting?

 

Craig de Fasselle:

Indeed did a survey about ghosting, and 83% of companies reported that ghosting was a problem. And quite frankly, I think the other 17% either didn't understand the question, or weren't being truthful. I can't imagine any industry where ghosting isn't an issue right now.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Yeah, there were numerous articles in the past couple of years on candidates even ghosting on jobs that pay them six figures a year. So it's not purely about money. When you're in a competitive field and there are lots of open positions, you're competing for people. If they have lots of opportunities, they can feel that freedom and confidence that if something doesn't feel right and doesn't fit, I can go somewhere else.

So, don't think that money is the sole driver.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Yeah, we're seeing something very similar. What started as a small subset of companies interested in working with Grayscale, now it's the number one thing we hear. That leaky bucket dynamic that can often happen in your hiring funnel can be catastrophic, so let's drill into the 'why' behind this.

Why is candidate ghosting happening? Scott, I'd love to get your perspective on the 'why' behind this.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Sure thing. It's easiest to step back, look at the hiring process big-picture to see why it's going on, and look at things through the eyes of the candidate themselves.

They're looking for jobs, it's just a web search away. They can go to Indeed, there are plenty of jobs listed there, and they are playing a numbers game. I'm sure you're seeing this, because some of you undoubtedly see the same person apply three times, four times, six times, 10 times.

And you're like, 'my gosh, why does this person keep on applying?' It's cause they don't remember, because they're playing a numbers game.

Unfortunately, they're playing the numbers game because they are being ghosted by other companies. Other companies are taking two weeks, four weeks, three months, six months to respond to legitimate candidates.

They just know that they need a job. They're gonna have to put a lot of applications out there, and see who responds. That's a big factor in driving their ghosting, they don't remember you. How can you remember when you applied 50 places yesterday?

 

Ty Abernethy:

Yeah, it's like the blessing and the curse of the 'easy apply' button, right? Over the years, it's been a big push to simplify the application process, which is a very good thing. But a negative byproduct of that is someone can go into Indeed, pull a search and just apply.

This dynamic can start to play out, and it also results in a lot of noise for recruiters. They're getting bombarded with candidates that might be, quite frankly, not very interested in the opportunity, just given that they're going down the list and hitting apply.

It makes total sense. Going a bit further, let's talk about the hiring process and where some of this kind of breaks down.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Yeah, absolutely. They've played the numbers game, and you're one of the lucky people out of 50 that they've applied that given day. And obviously you're focused on your process, cause it's your job. You've been through it hundreds, if not thousands of times. Get them from the application, set up a phone screen. Then if that goes well, move them onto the in-person interview, background check, and then onto hire.

And obviously there are more steps in many of your processes. Those events are what you are focused on. But what we wanna pay attention to, those arrows in between are the points where ghosting is happening. It's happening because time is passing in between. Like we said, other companies are ghosting on them.

I've seen instances where, because of how things are set up, it takes one to three weeks just to get from that online application to the phone screen. Because it's gotta go through so many different levels of the organization, and people are juggling multiple responsibilities.

The more time that passes, the more likely they are to disappear. You're gonna lose them.

 

Ty Abernethy:

As there's gaps in the process, it's more likely the candidates are gonna drop off, right? It feels nearly impossible to be able to speed up the hiring process.

There's definitely some forces at play that if you're not very intentional about addressing, can really slow down the process and create these gaps.

One of the things we're gonna try to unpack here is how to be aware of those forces at play, and how to start tightening up your process to make sure that you're maximizing conversion at each and every stage.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

We realize it's tough, because you're at the mercy of other people. Regional hiring managers in some cases, the background check is often out of your hands, but there are things that you can do, even if you can't shorten the time in every instance.

 

Ty Abernethy:

We'll drill into that as we go here. But let's talk for a little bit about the first step in solving this problem. I would love to hear you gentlemen talk a little bit about this mindset shift that needs to occur, as you're looking to address the problem of ghosting.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

I think a big part of it is, we're almost trained that, we're the potential employer, we're in the position of power. The truth is, in this day and age, the power is with the applicant. They have so many choices. The other thing is we become self-defeating. With the steps in between delays, that's where the car's breaking down, the child is sick, they're dealing with homeschooling right now.

Maybe they're starting to have second thoughts about the job they applied for, they're beginning to wonder 'is this the right fit for me?'
When somebody ghosts us, we assume that they're being rude, or they wouldn't have been a good fit anyway. Maybe they took another job.

We're not looking at the possibility of, maybe something embarrassing happened in their personal life, or maybe their child is sick, or they're having to take care of a loved one.

We shouldn't just be telling ourselves that they're rude. There are some people who ghost no matter what, there's some who will always show up, but there's that third category of people who applied for the job with good intentions, but something has happened during the delays that is causing them to not respond as quickly as you expect. So by changing your mindset, you can be proactive and turn a lot of those people who ghost you into new hires.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Interesting observation there, Craig. When I get ghosted by a candidate, it's my knee jerk to be like ' they're just not interested'. So if you ghost, we're gonna keep moving. That's a sign that it's not a great candidate, they're flaky, whatever. What's interesting is, that is not always the case. Some percentage fall into that category, but certainly a healthy percentage deserve the benefit of the doubt.

We all have a million plates that are spinning, between family and work and all these things.

With the goal of eliminating ghosting, we see leveraging a channel like SMS as the most effective way to relay those types of messages. To coordinate details for that background check, to answer questions that someone may have, opening up a channel via SMS makes such a huge difference.

Just looking at some basic stats here, what we see is about a hundred percent of all text messages are opened. 37% of candidates are replying, and they're replying within the first six minutes.

Leveraging SMS, even if you're doing it poorly, it's going to give you a lift and help to tighten up the process overall.

But there's a right and wrong way to use any kind of channel, and you really want to start a dialogue with the candidate and create a personalized, tailored experience.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Yeah definitely, and obviously if you're texting, you've taken the great first step. Candidly, especially if you're in the healthcare field, you're looking for people that are warm, engaging, generally care about interacting and caring for individuals.

We're after that person, but what do we do? We hit 'em with a cold, and impersonal message. This feels like it was approved by a team of lawyers before it was sent through an automated system.

We get it, you have a schedule, but there's a way we can convey that same message with a little more compassion, and not so standoffish.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

Sometimes we hear from our clients 'I don't want to text, cause it's unprofessional. I'm too old to text', which always amuses me. I'm almost always the oldest person in the room during our workshops, and I text.

You get a phone call from somebody, you don't recognize the number, you don't answer. Emails can be picked off by spam folders. We get texts, we get that little bubble that pops up on our phone, you at least look at it.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Yeah. And when you see your phone light up with that type of message, your instant reaction may be, 'Who is this - what is this about? This seems very formal, is this real?' And again, they're applying for tons of jobs, so they don't recognize the number.

Maybe your company name doesn't pass through to their phone, so it this isn't a great start to the relationship and interaction with them.

 

Ty Abernethy:

You used the word relationship, and I do think that these touch points all build relationships with you, with your brand. How you communicate matters.

These little things actually add up, and I know it seems insignificant, but that's so important. Even leveraging a channel like SMS, if you do it in a cold, mechanical robotic fashion, it's not gonna deliver the same results as if you are communicating in a personalized, high touch manner.

More on that here in a second, as we segue into some tips and tricks for combating ghosting. Why don't we dig in? We've got a couple tips that are going to be very actionable straightaway, so I want to dive into some of these.

One, sending not just notification style messages, but sending personalized messages. And we see sending reminder messages for upcoming interviews being a big step and in addressing candidate ghosting.

Scott, I would love to hear your perspective on what you're seeing with some of your customers implementing something like this.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

So the story that comes to mind to best illustrate this, we were doing a workshop series and there was one woman talking about, 'I don't wanna text, I've got my flip phone. I love my flip phone, it's not easy to text on it.'

Then in the last part of the workshop series, she stood up in front of everyone. ' Guys, can I just interrupt you? I want to tell you something.' I had no idea what was coming, and she held up her new smartphone and she said, 'Guess what? I've got a new phone! My carrier told me they would no longer support my flip phone, so I had to get a smartphone. I decided when I got it, I might as well give what these guys are talking about a try.'

So she's been texting candidates, she's been adding her personality into it, using her warmth to connect and start those relationships with candidates.

She said she has a new employee that commented to her, 'Hey Deb I just gotta tell you, when I was going through the hiring process, I was hanging out with my mom. My mom saw my phone light up with one of your notifications and read the text message, saw the personality, saw the emojis, and it caught her eye.

And she said I don't know who these people are, but you're talking to them, right? You really should look at them because this seems different'. They got a great new employee from that, so she was so enthused that she took the leap.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Yeah, that makes total sense. And again, the bar is pretty low here. You look at what most employers are doing, they're sending out notification style communication via email.

To send a personalized text to someone is still an uncommon thing. Uncommon in the sense that it stands out. The more rapport you build, the less likely they're gonna be to just ghost somebody.

We all are much more prone to ghost someone that we have not interacted with, right? Think about how easy it is to have road rage where you're driving, and don't interact with anybody else.

But when you're in line for something and you bump into someone, it's like 'oh excuse me'.

Everyone's friendly as they could possibly be. Texting is the digital equivalent of being in person with someone, versus being in the car with the your knuckles white, angry cause some guy cut you off. And there's some great technology out there to allow you to automate some of this personalization as well. So for our customers, they'll plug Grayscale into their ATS, and then put a template in place that will personalize these messages in mass.

You can build rapport in a scalable way. That's something we see being really effective, starting to automate some of this communication, but not automate to the point where you're putting a wall up and it's impersonal.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

You can also, add some real helpful function to these personalized messages. If they're coming in for an in-person interview, put the address in, the smartphone is gonna turn that into a link to their mapping app.

Or, 'which door do I go in?' You can text 'em a picture. There's so many things you can do to make it easy, and the easier you make it, the more likely they are to follow through.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Exactly, it's eliminating friction in the process. In the sales world, that's the goal. Eliminate all friction, cause friction kills all deals, and it's the same with hiring.

But let's jump into to tip number two. If a candidate ghosts, lead with compassion. I'd love to have you speak to it.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Sure, so we learned this from the people that we work with. A number of the organizations we work with talk about understanding the people that are applying for your job, the challenges they're up against in their personal life, and that there are very legitimate reasons why at times they ghost.

You have all this compassion, use it, reach out with compassion. Yes, it is frustrating and I totally get that, 'oh man, I can't believe Sarah ghosted me for the interview today. All right, she's disqualified. She's not a good fit. She can't even be bothered to show up.'

If we push beyond that reaction, there's likely a reason. Maybe it's a good reason, maybe it's not.

We don't know that story, as Craig talked about earlier. So just start real simple, and reach out with compassion. Ty, as you said a moment ago, this is uncommon in a good way. Nobody else is going to be doing this. Maybe you find out the rest of the story, and they're very apologetic.

'Hey, something came up, my mom's sick and I had to take her to her doctor's appointment unexpectedly.'

You'll never know if you never reach out. This is just two sentences. It doesn't take any extra time out of your day, and it could get you a great employee, so it's worth it.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

We had one situation where somebody in the first week of work, who was looking like he was gonna be a great employee, stop coming. His supervisor just would not let it rest.

He reached out and found out this young man's mother had died unexpectedly. The guy just said 'I didn't bother calling cause I know I don't have any accrued time off or anything. I probably shouldn't even applied for the job or something.

His supervisor said, 'We'll give you some unpaid leave, but we'll welcome you back.'

 

Ty Abernethy:

Yeah, that's great. When you're dealing in high volume recruiting, it's very easy to jump to those conclusions. But that's not the right posture to have. I think this is a clear example of leading with compassion.

I think that's a good segue into the third tip, making a final attempt. As you gentlemen call 'closing the loop'. And I'd love to hear you speak to the value of this message as well.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

You don't know the full story, it's like a cliffhanger in a TV series. You don't know why they've ghosted, but our mind is really good at trying make up a story, and that's not productive.

But here's something productive we can do from a couple standpoints. This is a last ditch effort, you can rest easy knowing that you've done everything you possibly can when you've reached this point. Close the loop with them and just say something very simple. 'Hey Sarah, I haven't heard from you, so I'm going to assume you've taken another job. Best of luck.'

What you're doing is telling them ' Goodbye, I'm not chasing you anymore.' When you do that, a percentage of people are gonna come back to life instantly and be like, 'Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry Ty. This came up, I'm still interested, I promise. Can we reschedule?'

Suddenly they're pursuing you, they're apologetic, and you're back in touch with them. Things might work out.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Yeah and each vertical represented on this call, there are certain types of roles that are tremendously difficult to hire, particularly in volume.

Whether it be RNs or software engineers, or that customer care professional, whatever. I think it is giving these candidates the benefit of the doubt, and understanding how difficult it is to engage them in the first place.

Having these one to two additional follow ups, we call them nudges at Grayscale, that are just there to be perceived as the employer of choice, and to create a high touch experience.

Regardless of what technology you're using, there's simple ways that you can start to automate some of these nudges that will go out, only if candidates don't take certain actions. So they work for you in the background.

However you do it, whether it's picking up your smartphone or whatever else to message the candidate, take these follow up steps, particularly for your highest value roles.

This will work, you will see impact here. And with that in mind, I'd love to briefly touch on some of the results we're seeing for some of these things.

These are not nominal figures here. As customers start to implement the combination of these tactics and technology, you see a boost in interview sit rate by 50%, reduction in time to fill of just over 20%. Then you're seeing like meaningful hours being saved, because you're creating a tighter process.

It's moving faster with less drop off. It allows you to speed things up, and eliminate a lot of that rework that happens when you're scrambling to fill that backlog with promising candidates.

All these things add up to something pretty meaningful in a hiring process, to really combat ghosting.

Now I wanna talk about some common issues and how to address them. So Scott, I'd love to talk about these bottlenecks in the process that slow things down.

What is an acceptable turnaround time to get back to candidates? Talk to me about how quickly you should get back to candidates at various different stages in the process.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

Sure, so somebody's applied online, and you're trying to set up that initial step, most likely a phone screen. The organizations that we see having far less trouble with ghosting are getting back to that candidate within 24 hours, or 48 hours at the most.

And then we see a big jump. We'll see organizations where it takes a week or more to get back to people, where there are lots of different people involved.

Candidates have to go to hiring managers, and that hiring manager is also in charge of a whole bunch of other things. Hiring is just one small part of their job. They let candidates build up for a week, forget to check the pool of candidates and get back to them. By that time, those candidates are dead ends, unfortunately.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Got it, so to put a fine point on it, we're looking to get back within 24 hours whenever possible, but not letting that slide more than 48 hours.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

And obviously that's not possible in certain situations, especially with background checks. We totally get that. What you can control is your communication with them during that time. You can apply the concepts we've talked about, come alongside them use your compassion, use your empathy, and just let them know, 'Hey, I have not forgotten you. We're still waiting on the results from the background check company.'

It's a great opportunity to get some more of your personality out there.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

We've actually helped clients where we will draft messages for them to text at each one of those steps.

Obviously you can probably get back to somebody pretty quickly after they apply for that initial screening. But our people in particular, very often they have no control over how fast those background checks come back.

So there's the opportunity where you're gonna wanna reach out more often. Make 'em think 'I want that job.'

 

Ty Abernethy:

That's exactly right, trying to keep these tight turnaround times. This is what we see as being one of the most challenging things in combating ghosting, having a way to consistently reach back out in that 24 to 48 hour window to make that connection.

For those of you where that feels daunting, look for ways to streamline things. If you're using an ATS, look for ways to trigger communication off of a stage change.

With customers we work with, we'll help them set up their process to where a candidate applies, they'll get a text. 'Thanks for reaching out, we'll be in touch.' Followed by ' We've reviewed your information, would love to move forward with you. How's your availability look for next week?' Followed by an interview reminder, and all the recruiter is having to do is just advance the candidate step-to-step, and all this is happening on your behalf.

I know 'automation' is a little bit of a dirty word, right? It feels more robotic and impersonal, but a human-centric process with the right level of automation woven-in is the secret sauce.

Automation can compliment what you do, and make you feel more human, far more so than if you're trying to brute force everything on your own. So, leverage technology when you can.

Grab a whiteboard and map out what the process needs to look like. Where are our biggest gaps right now? Where can we layer in technology and automation to help ensure we hit these SLAs? That's how it begins, you start with the basics.

I see questions rolling in, so we're going to jump to Q&A. One question that's come in is about onboarding. And it's interesting, we see ghosting also happening post-hire.

The post-hire ghosting is probably even more frustrating, cause everything's in place, and then they don't show up for day one. Or they show up for day one, and they don't show up again. Whatever it may be, that can be so discouraging.

What we see working well is the continuation of what we talked about before. Map out your onboarding journey, from hire to start date and beyond.

What are the touch points that we need to give to the candidate? Use the same channel you've been using throughout the hiring process for onboarding, leverage SMS, layer in some automation, so they're getting that communication, personalized at the right points in time.

Asking for feedback, 'How'd your first day go?' Surface things before they become problems. I'd love to hear from both of you on the onboarding dynamic.

 

Scott de Fasselle:

A hundred percent, what you said. It's a missed opportunity, and it doesn't take much. I'm a fan of adding a little bit to it, 'Hey, how's your first day? Rate it on a scale of one to 10.' Because if you ask people how they're doing, you're gonna get a lot of autopilot responses. I'm good, not too bad, things like that where people are just polite.

But if you ask 'How was your first day, on a scale of one to 10?' It causes them to pause, think about it, and gives you an opportunity to start a conversation and that's gonna overcome a lot of ghosting. People are ghosting cause it doesn't feel like a fit, it feels like they made a mistake.

They're nervous about the job. It's information overload for them in the early stages. So there are plenty of doubts, plenty of new people to meet, they're overwhelmed. And it's all too easy to go search for another job.

 

Craig de Fasselle:

If your onboarding is a multi-day process, you can help set the expectations. Here's what you can expect tomorrow.

 

Ty Abernethy:

That's exactly right, I think the expectation setting is a big part of it.

So the next question we have here is about getting stakeholder buy-in. We've got a recruiter who is bought in to implementing some of these tactics and technology.

What happens, where do you go from there? How do you get buy-in for some of these things?

 

Scott de Fasselle:

This is where we often hear, 'It's not professional to text.' You mentioned the dentist and doctor's office texting you reminders. I don't think at any point you've ever gotten one of those text messages and gone, 'Oh my gosh, I can't believe they texted me, they're so unprofessional.'

Getting people to show up is professional. Just letting the status quo keep on happening is not professional.

 

Ty Abernethy:

Craig and Scott, thanks so much for taking time with us today, really appreciate it. We've really enjoyed our chat. Please don't hesitate to reach out if we can answer any follow up questions for you.


Stop Playing Cat & Mouse with Your Candidates

Stop Playing Cat & Mouse with Your Candidates

Raise your hand if you've ever sent an email and then been ghosted.

🙋‍♀️ 🙋‍♂️ 🙋

As you can imagine, you’re not alone.

Inboxes and social media have become black holes full of distractions. Sure, a lot of us aspire for inbox 0, but when it comes down to it, very few of us manage that.

In order to stay close to your candidates in the hiring process many people organizations are exploring text as a communication tool to better engage their audiences.

Even if you live under a rock, you’ve probably noticed that email responses are few and far between, which creates really drastic hold-ups in your process. Now, what if I told you that texting could cut your time-to-fill in half?

 

Why does SMS appeal to potential hires?

Texting is often the preferred method of communication for hourly employees. If they are currently employed and looking for a new opportunity, most candidates aren’t in a position to be able to take an unscheduled phone call to answer questions or chat about a job.

 

Candidates have a higher chance of being able to check their phone and respond to a text message quickly.

Not only is texting convenient for them, but it also allows candidates to get fast, real-time updates on their journey through the application process.

When the recruiting team starts texting with candidates, it provides candidates with a low stake channel to keep the lines of communication open. Applicants can easily ask and respond to questions without feeling the pressure of sending off a more formal means of communication such as an email.

 

How does SMS benefit the process as a whole?

Let’s face it. We’re all addicted to our phones. Our dopamine-addicted brains are conditioned to feel compelled to respond to the immediate notifications we receive on our phones.

Most of us are actively screening our notifications as they come in and we respond to the more important messages first. From there, even if we don’t respond right away, many of us will get back to the sender in 24 hours or less.

Due to the texting habits we see in the world today, the recipient of a text is left with a sense of urgency that isn’t there with an email. This push helps to engage candidates by promoting quick response times.

With the low barrier to entry, and the ease of use, shooting off a quick text early in your recruiting process can help you reach a candidate before another organization has the chance to.

As we mentioned earlier, having a less formal communication channel is great for candidate engagement because they can easily ask questions, rescheduled if needed, and have a quick response line if they are struggling to find an interview link, entering the building for onboarding, and finding the room for orientation.

The big win for most teams is that texts are incredibly easy to personalize. That extra intentional step helps create a better experience for the candidate making them more likely to respond and accept a role.

 

How do you create an SMS-based process?

Well, the good news is that there really isn’t a right or a wrong way to develop a process that drives results and works for your team.

When it comes to finding a couple of places to start, we suggest taking a step back, and refreshing everyone’s favorite sales phrase.

The old -> ABC: Always be closing
The new -> ABT: Always be texting

 

A few questions to help you figure out where SMS may be a good fit include:

  • How can a text be used as the first point of contact
  • How can a text be used to supplement contact that has to be sent via email
  • How can a text be used to drive candidate engagement along the funnel
  • How can a text be used to enhance other areas outside of engaging active candidates?

 

As you think about ways to implement texting in other areas of your talent recruitment we suggest using texting to:

  • Follow up with candidates after a hiring event
  • Re-engage with stale candidates or your silver medalists when another opportunity comes around
  • Help with your prospecting and sourcing of candidates in your funnel
  • Create a quick, efficient onboarding process that new hires can fly through

 

Where should your recruiters be texting in the process?

We encourage teams to experiment with how comfortable they are with a text-heavy communication system based on their organization’s company culture, recruiting process, and what the team as a whole is comfortable with.

One way to help your team get in the habit of texting is by making a new team catchphrase…

”Does this have to be an email? Or can I send a text?"

If you’re open to replacing all nonessential emails with texts, maybe you can take a proactive approach with your communications by building early connections, directing them to important emails, and setting timeline expectations for things like a background check or a drug test.

 

Leveraging text is a great way to naturally increase your candidate experience and engagement, but if you’re looking for really tactical ways to do that, we recommend adding text to these places in your funnel:

  • Application - Shoot a candidate a text thanking them for applying, establish a timeline for when they will hear back from you, and let them know they can reach out to you directly with any questions!
  • Phone Screen with Recruiter - If texting is their preferred method of communication, text them the link to schedule their phone screen, or get creative in ways to facilitate a texting screen.
  • Scheduling Reminders - Shoot a quick text over the morning of as a reminder and include any logistical information that would be helpful, ie: the building address or where they can find the link to join.
  • Offer Stage - Send them a congrats message and prompt them to go check their email to sign their offer letter!
  • Background Check / Drug Screen - You can use text to send reminders and create urgency, and then let them know when they can expect their results.
  • First Day - Send reminders, well wishes, and logistical details that would be helpful.

 

Outside of your normal hiring process, a few ways to use texting to increase your candidate experience include:

  • Sending surveys - These could include specific things to your company or a more broad survey like an NPS Survey.
  • Sending modern-day 'thank you' notes - A great example could include a recruiter sending a candidate a text like this, “it’s been a pleasure working with you, wishing you all the best in your new role with XX company.”
  • Sending check-in messages as they onboard - these can look like something as simple as, “hope your first day was a great one!”

 

Does texting actually impact your time-to-fill?

It can sound really daunting to think about recreating your whole recruiting process to enable and rely on texting but the numbers don’t lie…

With engagement rates like this, candidates will fly through your process. You may end up hiring at double, or triple your usual speed.


Your Guide to Getting Started with SMS

Your Guide to Getting Started with SMS

With a tight labor market, many are asking how they can make a quick impression and create an efficient process to hire faster. With email being a channel of the past, it’s time to embrace the communication standards we have in 2022.

No, we’re not talking about phone calls, snail mail, or even social media. We’re talking about bringing texting into your recruiting pipeline to help stay in touch with your hard-to-reach candidates.

I get it—texting at work sounds unprofessional and can feel a little weird, but… all the cool kids are doing it! Okay, okay, yes, I know you’re saying, “And if all the cool kids jumped off a bridge, would you?” (I mean… maybe? Exactly how cool are the cool kids we’re talking about? Ya know?) Fortunately, we don’t promote texting as a channel just because it’s trendy.

It actually works.

 

So, Will My Team Benefit?

Sure, it’s great that some people are seeing success with texting, but how do you know if it’s worth the investment for your team?

If your team…

  • Is struggling to keep candidates engaged
  • Is actively backfilling roles to stay on track for their req targets
  • Is at max capacity managing the talent pools they have

… maybe texting would be a good fit. The thing is, texting not only allows you to get in touch with candidates quickly, but it helps you keep them close and engaged, while allowing your team the opportunity to simplify their workflow and better manage their pipelines.

Ready to see how our customers go about implementing texting to make it a positive and easy addition to their processes?

 

How The Pros Do It

When it comes to getting your team up and running with SMS, there are a few options. Most of our customers choose to crawl, walk, and then run!

 

First, We Crawl.

Together, we help you get your notifications set up, integrate with your ATS, and upload some shared templates for your team to use. We also get your team logins set up.

Don’t believe us?

"The implementation plan you gave us just looked way too easy. I told my IT contact that this was going to be a disaster… It was just too easy. I thought something had to be wrong."

 

Then, We Walk.

Once your team is up and running with templates and notifications, the fun can begin! Any time you would pop over to your email to shoot a candidate a message, try texting them instead.

If you have a group of candidates you want to reach out to collectively, try sending a bulk message instead of individually reaching out to each of them.

Lastly, if you’re ready to go pro with your follow-up game, start scheduling nudges when you send a candidate a message, or set up a bulk message campaign. Grayscale herds your cats for you, so you can sit back, connect with your candidates, and make excellent hires!

Unsure if it makes a difference?

“Our biggest issue was not being able to reach our candidates. We relied heavily on email communication, but having an option to text has increased our response rates and decreased our lag time from application to initial interview.”

 

Then, We Run!

Once you’re feeling settled and comfortable with SMS in your hiring process, it’s time to give it a little pizazz! By incorporating automations, your messages will be triggered to automatically send when another action happens, i.e., a stage change or an upcoming interview reminder.

Here’s what our users say,

“Communication with candidates via text messaging is at times more efficient and delivers faster results. Bulk messaging saves a ton of time, and automations are a lifesaver!”

 

Turns Out, People Are So Much More Inclined to Respond to a Text than They Are to an Email.

Believe it or not, we’re all a little fed up with our inboxes! Honestly, can you blame us? Between the amount of work and clutter we accumulate from our jobs and everyone’s favorite—spam—the thought of maintaining our email comms is draining.

Finding a way to get out of the chaos and into a quiet channel can help ensure your important messages are never lost to a spam filter, accidentally deleted, or archived in a purging episode. Plus, you’re more likely to receive a timely reply.

So, yes, texting your candidates is trendy, but it’s also a great way to keep them engaged without overwhelming your recruiters. Ready to give it a try?

 

Explore:


Your Ghostbusting Guide to Getting Candidates to Day One

Your Ghostbusting Guide to Getting Candidates to Day One

Halloween may be right around the corner, but it's “spooky season” every day for recruiters and HR professionals.

Ghosts are hiding inside every great candidate, waiting to make them disappear.

This leaves many recruiters backfilling roles, crossing their fingers and toes, knocking on wood, and absolutely never holding their breath on the off chance that a candidate will show up for work on day one. The more this occurs, the more discouraging it becomes to our hard-working recruiting teams.

So, why are new hires ghosting before day one, and—more importantly—how do we make it stop?

 

Why are New Hires Ghosting?

Great question! Here's what we know…

With the current generations of the workforce growing up quickly satisfied by TV, microwaves, cell phones, instant pots, drive thrus, and Amazon Prime, it can be hard to keep someone’s attention without providing almost immediate feedback.

Due to the pressing communication expectations awaiting our recruiters, slow and/or unorganized processes are a red flag sure to make your best applicants disappear.

When we think about the most frustrating situations in the world, we imagine delayed flights, building Ikea furniture, and instances when we don’t know what’s going on, i.e., situationships, filing taxes, anything involving financial aid, and chaotic hiring processes.

Bottom line: People like to know what is happening, and they would like for it to happen quickly and efficiently.

 

How Do We Stop the Ghosting?

Putting an end to the Harry Houdini acts of our candidates can feel like fighting a forest fire with a watering can—impossible. But here’s the thing: every little bit helps! Below are a few ideas that lead to positive results in your pipeline.

 

Stay in Touch Throughout the Process

By adding some touchpoints, you can keep your candidates from slinking off into the abyss. We recommend using technology to enable some of these simple “checking in” messages while maintaining a high level of efficiency for your recruiting team.

These can look like adding confirmation messages to your already existing workflow. Something simple like “Your background check is clear. You’ll hear about next steps shortly!” goes a long way.

 

Get Personal!

Take time to update your messages or templates with your candidate’s first name, and create templates that ask the candidate to engage. As you reach out, ask your candidate a question or request a response of some sort.

The goal here is to make your communication go both ways. Instead of hogging the texting thread, this gives candidates the opportunity to weigh in and build a relationship with the recruiter. If they feel personally connected to the team, they will be less likely to disappear without warning.

 

What Will it Take to Change the System?

Those on the job hunt are looking for employers who value them, are focused on creating manageable workloads, and are interested in investing in their long-term development. While it can be hard to change the culture of an organization, many are on the right track!

Here are a few ideas to help you keep the candidates first in the hiring and onboarding process to attract the best talent.

 

Personalize Your Communications

I know, I know, I sound like a broken record, but taking time to update your templates so they feel personal makes a lasting impression on your candidates. No one wants to feel like just another number or just another application. By using a candidate’s name, you’re humanizing them and their experience every step of the way.

 

Use Your Channels Cohesively

Be thoughtful about not overwhelming your candidates with hoards of emails and texts and phone calls. Make sure you’re not sending the same message in three places, and use your discretion as to what is too much when it comes to contacting your candidates.

 

Send Helpful Messages

Don’t send things just for the sake of it.  Sending a “good luck on your first day” text is cute, but sending them instructions on how to get into the building or which door to park near is 700 times more valuable. Give your texts the same energy as your favorite aunt or your best friend; offer your candidates the DL and help them go into their next interview or their first day with confidence!

Sure, candidate ghosting is a common problem, but we don’t have to accept it for what it is. We can take charge, make some changes, and get our candidates in the door on day one.

 

Explore:


Lead the Next Wave of Candidate Experience with SMS

Lead the Next Wave of Candidate Experience with SMS

As we think about enabling better hiring at scale, it can be overwhelming to create a human-centric process for an abundance of candidates.

  • The first solution most people come to is to throw more bodies at the problem. However, it's not always sustainable, it is inconsistent, and the sheer volume can be overwhelming and messy for the recruiters involved.
  • Alternatively, you can move towards an entirely automated process. With an almost endless amount of softwares and technology-based products, you can hire without ever actually speaking to your candidates.

Both options will solve the inherent problem, but they also come with a price to your staff or your candidate's experience.

When we think about how to create a better, faster, simpler hiring process, we're seeing most of our customers opt to rewrite the handbook for high-volume hiring completely.

The goal for their new processes? Create hybrid systems to automate the mundane tasks and enable them to get candidates interacting with a member of the team faster.

In the recruiting world, you need to get in touch with candidates fast! The market moves so quickly now. Texting candidates is a useful tool that I love!

- Angie S.

For some teams, texting has become the primary communication channel; however, for others, it's a tool they use to help expedite the logistical tasks and get them into an interview asap.

 

Where can you use technology as an enhancement not a replacement?

Our friends at Dick's Sporting Goods say they think about technology usage as a way to facilitate a seamless process, similar to how other companies think about simplifying their checkout processes.

"I'm thinking about how I can make the application process as easy as Apple Pay! How do we make our process auto-populate all the important information at checkout? What can we do to make it easier, so we don't lose the sale?"

- Rick Jordan

When it comes to creating a harmonious candidate experience, many people see success with using SMS as the main channel of communication.

 

How can SMS be used in your high volume recruiting process?

Our customers say leveraging texting helps them:

 

Showcase team personality and build better relationships

Using automations coupled with intentionally curated templates can allow you to create personalized and professional touch points throughout the process. With texting being less formal than email, this is an opportunity for your team to leverage emojis to create a warm and inviting experience! This can sound like quite the feat, but with the right tools, it's easier than you think!

 

Stay top of mind and shows your candidates you value them

No matter how hard we try to rewrite our brains, whatever information it can distill first is most likely to create a bias in our brains for that company or product.

When it comes to candidates applying for jobs, the first company they hear back from will naturally be assumed as better.

Finding a way to quickly and effectively meet the needs of the candidates in your pipeline will help you enhance your candidate experience and supercharge your high-volume hiring.

 

Provide visibility and quickly communicate what’s next

34% of candidates ghost when the interview process is confusing, challenging, or unclear.

By leveraging SMS, you can easily help set expectations and reasonable timelines with an automated text as simple as, "hey there, we got your application, and you can expect to hear back from me in 48 hours or less!"

These ideas seem great in practice, but with our recruiters already stretched thin, without the help of automation, this method simply doesn't scale.

 

So, what does texting candidates look like in action?

It can be whatever you want it to be! You can use text as an additional communication channel where you follow up as needed, or you can opt to redesign your hiring process to promote a text-based communication style.

Our customers see the greatest impact from texting when they integrate it into their core processes with automations, nudges, and reminders, all sent round the clock to enable a more personalized and communicative experience for your candidates.

When it comes to maximizing your candidate engagement and minimizing ghosting, what's better than engaging with candidates on a platform they already use and love?

 

DoorDash uses texting to:

Build personalized relationships with their candidates and help them move through the pipeline at a pace that feels right for them.

 

GardaWorld uses texting to:

Instill respect and dignity into their candidates from day one; they aim to make each applicant feel like a team member from the get-go.

 

Dick’s Sporting Goods uses texting to:

Quickly and efficiently get applicants into an interview where they can interact with a team member face-to-face to build a personal connection with the team.

 

Amazon Pharmacy uses texting to:

Automate and expedite their hiring process to shorten their time to fill and make it easier for recruiters to manage larger requisition requests.

Maybe it's time to consider a new approach to picking software for TA teams. What if we decided based on what made it easier for the candidate to engage with the process? Perhaps, it's time we meet them in the middle, where they are, on their phones!

 

Related

[Webinar] Tried and True Strategies for High Volume Recruiting


Minimize Ghosting & Accelerate Volume Hiring with Texting & Automation

Minimize Ghosting & Accelerate Volume Hiring with Texting & Automation

We sat down with William Tincup, President at RecruitingDaily, and Jessica Morales, New Business Verticals, Recruiter at DoorDash to discuss high volume hiring. They shared everything from their thoughts on process optimization, to how to better engage candidates, and what exactly they find useful to minimize ghosting!

With the market for talent as scarce as it is, we’re all struggling to meet reqs and transform this narrative of candidate ghosting.

Most recruiters are feeling a tension between creating processes that ensure quality hires while trying to scale for volume and deliver on their reqs. It leaves many of us thinking:

  • Should you focus on speed and rely heavily on automation?
  • Should you be focused on creating a human-oriented process to build trust and deeper relationships?
  • Is it even possible to find a balance?

Well, here’s what Jessica and William suggest.

 

How to Get Comfortable with Automation

William Tincup, President at RecruitingDaily, encourages us to think about all the other areas of our life where we outsource things.

"Who mows your grass? Cleans your pool? Shapes your trees?"

Knowing we only have so much time in the day. We have to decide what we enjoy enough to do, then focus on getting things we dislike off our plates. When we do that, it’s called outsourcing!

"As we think about TA as a function, what would it look like to outsource the tasks we either can’t keep up with or don’t like?"

- William

If you’re struggling to embrace using automation in your volume-hiring process, William suggests asking:

  • Where am I strong?
  • What am I struggling to accomplish?
  • Which tasks would I focus on more if I had more time?
  • If I could outsource something, what would it be?

Leveraging automation is an easy way to outsource your cumbersome tasks. In this case the thing you would be outsourcing to would include softwares, because they are built to do it more efficiently.

 

How to Leverage Texting to Engage Candidates

"My number one struggle is candidate ghosting. With the market as wild as it is now, I’m backfilling reqs left and right. I see candidates back out at the last minute every single day.”

- Jessica

For her and her team, texting has made a big difference in helping to counteract the candidate ghosting plague.

Jessica suggests building out automated texts, and scheduling follow up texts.

“Candidates usually won’t respond to the first one, but once they get a second, they usually reply saying ‘oh I thought this was a robot!’”

Since initially implementing text as a channel, Jessica and her team have baked this communication method into every stage of their process.

Jessica personally experiences a 44% response rate. There’s no denying it’s the channel to invest in.

"Candidates are so much more inclined to respond to a text than they are to an email. It’s the easiest and quickest way to hear back from them.”

Jessica and her team, leverage automated follow up texts 24-48 hours after they send the original message. She notes that the second text helps candidates realize they are talking with a person, not a robot.

“I think it promotes a lot of open communication with the candidates I’m working with.”

For Jessica, the human element is the differentiator.

 

How to Create Undeniable Offers for Candidates

Both Jessica and William agree that the most compelling experiences aren’t solely related to speed, so what can you do to help manage drop off at the offer letter phase?

William suggests having the candidate set the pace. In your early interactions ask:

  • When would you like to make a decision on this?
  • How motivated are you to move quickly?
  • We are happy to move with you, how quickly are you looking to make this decision?

His closing thoughts include changing the process as a whole. Don’t take days to send an offer letter because things change. Take the extra 5-minutes while you still have them to ask, “what would it take for you to sign this today?” Then get it to them ASAP.

Jessica believes that compelling offers aren’t solely based on the speed of the process. She notes that candidates have options and they will pick the option that affords them no surprises or inconveniences. If they can get a dollar more per hour and a shorter commute, that’s the job they are going to take.

For Jessica, it’s about asking “when would you like to make a decision about this” as soon as she can. If a candidate can’t give you a serious answer, chances are, they aren’t serious about the job.

 

So, What Does This Mean for Your Volume Hiring Process?

 

Don’t be afraid to outsource things that are burdensome.

Allow yourself the freedom to do a few things exceedingly well, in place of doing everything good.

 

Lean into the channels your candidates are reachable on.

Why swim upstream if you can float down the river? If your candidates are willing to fire off text messages, it’s not worth the fight to solely use email.

 

Work in collaboration with your candidates to provide undeniable offers.

Being able to serve candidates a completely customizable experience at scale by letting them set the pace is a game changer. Lean into this collaboration to minimize your ghosting.


The Ultimate Guide to Eliminating Candidate Ghosting

The Ultimate Guide to Eliminating Candidate Ghosting

A study by Indeed shows that 57% of employers say candidate ghosting is prevalent, and getting worse. Most of us are jumping this hurdle on a daily basis.

In today’s market, it takes a white-glove experience to engage great candidates. It can feel like an impossible task to think about creating sustainable, scalable processes which prioritize personalization.

When we hire at scale, 43% of our candidates to drop off right after clicking apply. To curb this, we have to think about our processes through a new lens. We are responsible for creating dynamic hiring systems that are simple, efficient, and streamlined.

Candidates have never spooked easier; it’s now mission-critical to create a process that allows applicants a frictionless experience. Friction amplifies ghosting.

If a candidate feels:

  • The process is complicated or overwhelming, they are gone
  • The experience is poor or impersonal, they will ghost
  • Ghosted by you, they won’t hesitate to return the favor

If you’re looking to help your team optimize their time, minimize the amount of candidates that ghost, and enhance your Candidate Net Promoter Score (cNPS), you are in the right place. Let’s dig in. ✨

 

How Big of a Problem Is Candidate Ghosting?

Most recruiters are currently trying to solve the candidate ghosting dilemma. No matter what roles you’re hiring for, it’s more prevalent than ever before. Thanks to “easy apply,” candidates and businesses alike are stuck playing a numbers game.

"83% of companies face candidate ghosting. The remaining 17% are either misinterpreting their data, or confused by the question. Every recruiter has experienced candidate ghosting more than once.”

Craig de Faselle, Blitz Media

With drop-off rates higher than ever, it’s important to understand the main reasons why candidates are ghosting.

 

 

Additionally, candidates are applying to more places than ever – the “spray and pray” method rules today’s hiring climate. Without a reason to remember you, candidates won’t think twice about ghosting you.

More and more, this isn’t limited to the application process. It’s seeping into the next phase of the recruitment process, onboarding. Candidates will sign the offer letter and then ghost before their first day.

Metrics like Time to First Interview, Time in Stage, and Time to Offer are becoming critical measurements. Across the board, you should be exploring ways to lower these.

 

What Does This Look Like in Practice?

We talked about three of the reasons candidates are admitting to ghosting. In our eyes, they fall in one of two categories.

  1. Too Much Friction in the Hiring Process
  2. Life Is Messy and Unpredictable

Now, put yourself in the mindset of a candidate applying to a high-volume hiring position and then getting lost in the application process.

 

1. Too Much Friction in the Hiring Process

We must acclimate our processes to get applicants from apply to paycheck ASAP. Our friends at Dick’s Sporting Goods believe candidates ghost for three reasons.

 

 

You may not be able to change the compensation, but you can create a simple, straightforward process that enables candidates to move quickly.

"Candidates behave like water, they naturally find and gravitate towards the path of least resistance."

Ty Abernethy, Grayscale

As you think about removing friction from your hiring process, we suggest reflecting on these questions:

  • Where am I seeing a significant drop-off?
  • Is this a point of friction that I can change?
  • What purpose does this step serve in my overall workflow?

The most successful processes allow applicants to move seamlessly at their own pace. The longer your time to hire is, the more likely you are to see a significant amount of applicants dropping off at every stage.

 

2. Life Is Messy & Unpredictable

I’m sure we could all name a time or two when something in our personal life took over our brains. Maybe we forget to text friends back or drop the ball on some professional responsibilities. We weren’t at our best during these times, but we were trying.

"There are stellar applicants in your pipeline who are struggling with burdens they have no option but to carry."

Randalyn Hill, Grayscale

Reaching out and throwing them a lifeline can be a thoughtful way to re-engage them. When you reach back out, don’t forget: humans connect best with humans. Bring your warm, empathic personality to the conversation.

We’re seeing organizations successfully rewrite this ghosting narrative when they focus on the personal, human connections their recruiters are making with candidates.

 

How to Create a Human-Centric Approach to Prevent Candidate Ghosting

When we think about the best hiring experiences, we think about the people we’re hiring! We got to know them, and in turn, both parties developed an excitement for the job and the idea of working together. Now, it’s up to us to replicate that experience at scale.

"You can't remove the human from human resources."

Andrew Delabar, Peloton

Recruiters are people people! They want to get to know the candidates, talk with them, learn about them, and build a long-term relationship with them even if they aren’t perfect for this specific job.

At the end of the day, it’s mission-critical to have personal touchpoints. Our customers are changing the ghosting narrative by creating tech-enabled processes to help candidates build a connection with a team member faster.

"Successful hiring teams use technology to enhance the candidate journey, not remove or automate out the human elements."

Hubert Liu, Grayscale

 

What You Can Do to Rewrite the Ghosting Story

When it comes to reaching out to ghosted candidates, we see success approaching these candidates with compassion and empathy.

Our knee-jerk reaction when someone ghosts is usually anger or frustration, but those emotions don’t serve to create a deeper connection with our candidates. We challenge you to take an empathetic approach here and always assume positive intent.

 

1. The Proactive Reminder

Open and frequent communication will keep you top of mind when it comes to staying ahead of the ghosting trend. We all get these reminders about doctors/dentist appointments, and they work! If and when something changes, this open line of communication makes it easier for a candidate to stay in touch and not fall off the radar.

 

2. The Empathic Reachout

If a candidate ghosts for some reason, it’s easy to let them go and not follow up with them. However, adding an automated reach out to your ATS makes following up seamless and intentional. A kind, thoughtful text will help draw most of your candidates back into the fold!

 

3. Closing the Loop

When you have an automated drip campaign, you can easily close the loop. When people disappear, this kind of final olive branch will help bring a handful of candidates back or leave those who don’t return with a positive experience.

 

Using templates like these can help:

  • Create open lines of communication between your recruiters and their candidates
  • Remove or limit the mixed emotions a candidate may have about accidentally ghosting
  • Facilitate professional vulnerability and gives the recruiter an opportunity to better understand and serve the candidate

When you see promising candidates drop off the radar at the last minute, make it a point to follow up with them in a way that stops the shame cycle.

Take a second and imagine it for yourself: you’re moving through a hiring process quickly, and life happens. You miss your interview and feel like you have ruined the opportunity. It’s embarrassing, unprofessional, and disappointing. Now, before you can get too far into that thought spiral, you get a text checking in and asking you if everything is ok. It feels like a breath of fresh air. ☺️

When we’re faced with the option to react harshly or act with intention, we encourage you to create a compassionate plan to follow up with your ghosted applicants.

 

How You Can Use Tech to Limit Ghosting

Now that you have some ideas on how to follow up with candidates who do ghost, it’s also important to take a proactive approach to the problem. Usually, the most effective approaches involve using all your channels cohesively and respectfully.

When you use multiple channels to connect with a candidate, it helps you stay top of mind. It also gives them more opportunities to experience your personality and form an attachment to the brand.

SMS

In recent years, we’ve seen many businesses incorporate text professionally. Now, it’s easier to reach candidates in the one inbox they manage. So send over that scheduling link, or remind them to check their email, and you’ll see a whole new level of candidate engagement.

Email

This channel leans professional. Usually, emails include important information, like offer letters or scheduling links. Still, not everyone is checking them as frequently as we would like, use sparingly and make sure your email efforts with the company are aligned, so they aren’t overwhelmed by too many communications at once.

 

If They Have a Reason to Remember You, It’s Harder for Them to Walk Away

One of Blitz Media’s favorite stories is about the recruiter who felt so strongly against using text as a communication channel. By the end of their work together, not only had she started using it, but she was raving about it. By incorporating SMS in her hiring process, she had hired an all-star employee.

“This recruiter started using SMS, bringing her warm personality into reminder texts. A candidate was visiting his mom when he received a reminder text about an upcoming interview. His mom made sure he was seriously considering this company, because it was such an intentional and personal experience.”

Scott de Faselle, Blitz Media

 

Creating Human-Focused, Tech-Enabled Workflows

We get it. Using more technology to create a human-oriented process seems oxymoronic. So here’s what makes it work: use technology to enable quicker movement through the mundane processes.

"The goal with technology in your candidate journey should be to get them talking with a real human faster, not replacing the human element."

Ty Abernethy, Grayscale

These use cases could include Assessment Prompts, Scheduling, and Upcoming Event Reminders.

“We use software to automate scheduling, remind candidates about interviews and next steps, so that when we get them in person we can focus on that interaction whole heartedly.”

Rick Jordan, Dick's Sporting Goods

For DSG, it’s about using tech to increase their interview sit rate. On average, they see a 47% increase in their interview sit rate when they incorporate texting as a means to schedule and remind their candidates.

A lot of our customers cheer their candidates on during the process - scheduling automated, personalized texts after each stage-change.

 

Automated Message Examples

 

Final Takeaways on How to Minimize Ghosting

Is candidate ghosting an unsolvable problem? Absolutely not. Does it take some creative solutions to captivate your applicants from start to finish? Absolutely.

Every hiring team has the opportunity to stick out and create an uncommon, memorable experience for their candidates.

The goal should be to rewrite and transform our hiring processes to create personalized touch-points at every step to scale with ease.

No matter what systems you incorporate to create this personalized, white-glove process, be sure to create a human-centric process that treats candidates the way you’d want to be treated.


How Dick’s Sporting Goods is Eliminating Candidate Ghosting

How Dick’s Sporting Goods is Eliminating Candidate Ghosting

Dick’s Sporting Goods (DSG) found themselves struggling with candidate ghosting in their volume hiring process. As it got increasingly harder to fill reqs and adequately staff their retail locations they went looking for a solution to eliminate ghosting in their application and onboarding process.

We sat down with Rick Jordan, a Senior Director of Talent Acquisition, at DSG to learn more about the way they approached changing the dynamics of their hiring process to limit candidate ghosting.

"Candidate ghosting is the result of the market versus how engaging your process is. When someone ghosts us, it’s because they found it easier to pursue the process somewhere else."

– Rick Jordan

With this viewpoint, as they were exploring options, it was mission-critical for them to create a solution to enable a high-touch, scalable, and personalized experience for every applicant.

 

The Set-Up

When Dick’s Sporting Goods reached out to learn more about what we do here at Grayscale they wanted to address some very specific issues in their high volume hiring process.

They were seeing a record numbers of candidates disappear throughout the hiring and onboarding process. Instead of just finding more candidates to put in the pipeline, they wanted to take a proactive approach at understanding why they were falling off the radar in the first place.

"We believe people are core to our business. Our goal is to build really solid relationships with everyone we interact with, so how do we automate that?"

Their hypothesis was that by leveraging automation, they could significantly limit the amount of ghosting they were seeing.

They studied their reporting and came to a few conclusions. Let’s break these down.

 

 

  • Lack of speed. When it comes to keeping candidates engaged, they are looking to move. If you’re too slow to respond they won’t stay engaged and will pursue a process they find captivating.
  • Confusing or complicated processes. If you’re making too many asks, or not giving enough direction, candidates will get lost in the process and move on to a place where they feel seen.
  • Misaligned market compensation. Candidates are looking for competitive salaries to match their worth. If it’s possible, revisit your compensation structure, though this is usually the hardest force to work against.

Dick’s realized the two things they could quickly and easily change to help minimize ghosting were speed and process. So they got to work!

 

The Solution

After reviewing some data points, they sat down to simplify and refine their high-volume recruiting process as a whole. They developed three main goals.

  • DSG wanted to find their own perfect balance of leveraging automation while sticking close to their human-centric roots
  • They wanted to assess every ask of their applicants and trim the process down to include only the highest value requirements
  • From there, they wanted to move as many necessary but lower value tasks into onboarding, or on the job training to help simplify the process and keep candidates engaged

When it came to finding the right balance of automation and humanization, they wanted to use tech to accelerate the process, not remove the human elements.

For them, this project became about getting really clear on the exact things they needed to know about candidates. No more filler questions or mindless hoops!

It was time to transform high-volume hiring through creating the simplest process they could.

With an end goal of reducing their ghosting, they made sure the updates they were making to the process enhanced the experience, in place of extending it or convoluting it.

 

How They Built It

  • Dick’s Sporting Goods uses data to encourage engagement and lean into the platforms their candidates are more accessible on
  • They aim to leverage automation to enhance in-person, 1:1 interactions, instead of to replace them
  • Dick’s Sporting Goods intentionally worked with the local teams to roll out this process for a seamless and streamlined candidate experience

When it came to reimagining a system where candidates moved seamlessly through the process, they decided to let data be their guide.

They sat down and reviewed their major drop-off points, their time-to-fill, their application expectations, and the engagement metrics around the communication formats they used.

As they teased out what this could look like, their goal was to create a system that allowed them to create more intentional relationships with their applicants.

From there, they took scissors to the process, and worked with their local hiring managers to create and implement changes to optimize for efficiency and humanization.

It looked something like this:

 

Takeaways

  • Dick’s Sporting Goods believes automation should enable your human interactions not distract from them
  • With team being a core value of their company, they strive to create meaningful conversations in the hiring process
  • When creating new systems and processes, they ask, “what would help our hiring managers do their jobs better?”

As Dick’s Sporting Goods has upleveled their volume hiring process, they have seen a significant drop in their candidate ghosting!

During this time of revitalization, Rick Jordan kept one thought central.

“I’m thinking about how I can make the application process as easy as Apple Pay! How do we make our process feel as easy as auto-populating all the important information at checkout. What can we do to make it easier, so we don’t lose the sale?”

When it comes to auditing and iterating on these processes through time, DSG uses the data in their systems to continue testing and refining their processes for perfection.