Discovering Great Candidates at Aldi and KFC For The Engineering Sector: The Power of Giving Back.

Written by Robert Newry | May 30, 2023 1:37:16 PM

Give Back to Your Candidates and Discover Great Talent.

Read time 2.5 minutes

As talent acquisition leaders, we know the strategic advantages of building a high-quality talent pipeline. It’s on the radar of every hiring team, but to gain that golden goose of a talent pipeline, you need engaged candidates.

The current reality? Most companies are struggling, with a candidate dropout rate of 71% and half of the UK’s employers can’t find enough qualified candidates for their roles, with almost a third (29%) revealing that their direct competitors are beating them in the race for top talent.

Recruitment needs to be a better experience for candidates.

Why? It’s a candidate market.

So, why is it a candidate market? Candidates have a choice, so the engagement piece should not be overlooked. Let’s look at just one piece of the process, recent “research suggests that 75% of applicants never hear back from employers after applying for a job”. Providing feedback and sending responses can be one piece of a great candidate process that offers a positive experience they’ll remember in the future. This fosters advocacy, and they’ll be more likely to apply for a role with your organisation in the future, where they could be a better fit. Respect goes both ways, so embedding this simple process into your organisation can have long-term benefits.

Who has the competitive edge?

Your employer brand is vital if you’re trying to hire in competitive talent markets, like engineering. And therefore, your candidate journey needs to be engaging and personalised. You need to state what kind of feedback you will give back to your candidates upfront. Those who will win the top talent in today’s market will be committed to respecting their candidates, for now and in the future.

An example of a company with a competitive edge is Siemens Electrification and Automation. Having previously struggled with talent attraction, with multiple vacancies –– some of which had been open for over 200 days, they were able to increase their job applications by 542%. They implemented the hiring for potential method, which puts respect for candidates at the centre of the hiring process. In the invitation to the assessment, they stated a personalised feedback report would be delivered to each candidate instantly upon completing their assessment –– offering candidates value for them in return for their effort in completing the application, regardless of whether they were successful.

The candidates who applied for the project engineer position at Siemens were not only incredibly varied in their prior roles and experience (one previously worked at KFC) but were also extremely engaged with the process. Overall, Siemens achieved 91% completion rates for candidates that applied for the role and were invited to the Arctic Shores assessment.

Talent teams are too busy to give personalised feedback.

So why doesn’t everyone engage with their candidates and give personalised feedback reports? Well, recruiters are busy. We know this, and it’s one of the reasons why AI has had such a profound impact on the HR industry already.

Teams can take a few actions to make this process easier, smoother and more candidate-centric. One is to look at your ATS or system to see if there is a way to automate feedback; for example, after completing the Arctic Shores assessment, every candidate receives a personalised feedback report. It’s automatically received in the candidate's inbox, regardless of their score, without recruiters having to reply to each candidate manually. Importantly, the feedback report is not just: "Here is why you are unsuitable for the role”. These automated emails hold no value for candidates looking for the perfect role, and this type of feedback will hurt your employer brand in a competitive talent market.

When sharing feedback, as we do in the Arctic Shores candidate feedback report, offer a deep dive into how the candidate scored on the key behavioural and cognitive traits you’re looking for. We give them insight into what the assessment says about how they make decisions, what drives them, how they interact with the world, and how they respond to problems. This is valuable information that your candidates can use to learn more about themselves outside of the role they are applying for. In its simplest form, offering this information is caring about your candidates. It’s not groundbreaking, but the key to building your engaged talent pipeline and promoting a positive employer brand. So whether you’re sourcing candidates fast with the help of AI or slowly, and your goal is high-quality candidates, respecting the candidate has to come first. Show them you care, and they will be engaged.

Go faster but remember to keep it personalised.

Much of the information about talent pipelines, strategy and talent sourcing is focused on processes, which isn’t necessarily wrong. The multi-dimensional roles of HR professionals mean that you need to be focused on your entire talent and hiring process to achieve your high targets, and using AI can help you go faster and become more streamlined. You can sift through large volumes of data, processing candidates at speeds that haven’t been available to talent teams in the past. But this lightning speed that can relieve busy talent teams might not be the answer if your goal is a personalised candidate journey that will help your employer brand and make candidates take note of future opportunities with your business. Technology is a great tool for automating low-level tasks and giving your teams valuable time. However, when used incorrectly, it can mean your candidates and talent pipeline begin to suffer as your team will lack that personal edge.

Want to read real customer stories about hiring for potential?

Explore how Siemens solved the skills crisis by hiring for potential

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