02/01/2016  //  By Deanna Kane  //  Recruiter Best Practices
[socialwrap][socialicon name=”linkedin”][socialicon name=”twitter”][/socialwrap]With your 2016 recruitment strategy in place, it’s time to begin engaging, nurturing and hiring the best candidates. Follow this February recruiting checklist to improve your company’s candidate experience and make top talent fall in love with your brand. Complete these five items by the end of the month to win over candidates across every touchpoint.

Prepare for diversity conference success

Audit the results of past diversity conferences your company has attended, including the number of qualified candidates per event, the number of interviews secured, how many offers were made and the total offers accepted. Use this historical data to set your new 2016 goals. With your goals in place, develop an execution strategy that includes pre-event prep (e.g. branding materials); an event execution strategy (e.g. ensuring the event is staffed with a well-rounded team); and a post-event plan (e.g. candidate communications strategy).

Carry it throughout the year: Implement recruitment software to measure diversity conference ROI and to maximize your presence at diversity conferences. If you are looking for leadership’s buy-in on purchasing recruitment software, use our talent acquisition software buy-in guide to help articulate your business case.

Revamp your job descriptions

Supplement tried and true job postings with non-traditional alternatives. Create image-based job postings to appeal to the upcoming group of new talent: Gen Z. Post open positions on Instagram or Snapchat to reach this group where they are intuitively searching. Another alternative is to create video job descriptions; film the hiring manager explaining the role and post the short video to your social networks in lieu of a written post.

Carry it throughout the year: Create a monthly hot job spotlight series to showcase your company’s open positions. Rotate the departments you highlight, share the hot job internally, post to your company’s social media networks and incentivize employees to share with their networks.

Enhance the new hire experience

You invest a significant amount of time and money into recruiting the best employees, so make sure they receive the same experience as a new hire. Expand on the candidate experience by auditing your current new onboarding process and identify where there is room to improve. Send a welcome kit that includes a handwritten note, an itinerary for their first week, details on your company’s added perks (e.g. free lunch on Mondays, an in-building fitness center, flexible work arrangements) and company swag to make new hires feel welcome and excited for their first day on the job.

Carry it throughout the year: Check in with new hires twice a month for their first 90 days: take them to lunch or coffee, host a monthly new hire networking event and coordinate lunches with small groups of new hires to facilitate interaction with other departments. At the end of the 90-day period, ask them to fill out a survey to gain insight into their experience with the new hire program.

Update your internship program

Consider your internship program a launch pad for your company’s next generation of talent. Task your interns with real projects that will generate results. When each intern begins, work with him or her to set specific goals, and create a tactical plan to accomplish those goals. Avoid simply handing off interns to their hiring managers at the start of their internship. Make it a point to check in regularly during their time with your company so you can provide the guidance they need.

Carry it throughout the year: Make exit interviews a standard part of your intern program. Just as you conduct exit interviews with full-time employees, gather feedback on every intern’s experience with your company and their interest in returning in a full-time capacity.

Measure the candidate experience

Create opportunities for candidates to provide feedback on their experience applying to and interviewing with your company. Create a brief, anonymous survey to send at the end of the interview process. This allows candidates to be candid with their feedback, and lets talent acquisition teams continually enhance the recruiting experience. Use a tool like Survey Monkey to create a survey that captures candidate feedback. 

Carry it throughout the year: Circulate a quarterly report with the summarized data to keep stakeholders informed on candidates’ experiences. Use this data to continually evolve and improve your candidate experience.

Are you looking to take your recruitment strategy to the next level? Download our Talent Acquisition Software Buy-In Guide to receive a customizable email template, presentation points and goal template to present your business case to your leadership team.