Earlier this year at Summer Brand Camp, I had the opportunity to hear one of my favorite marketing minds discuss authenticity and building real customer and candidate relationships. President of UnMarketing Scott Stratten made a simple yet profound statement on recruitment and hiring. He said, “You can’t see awesome on a resume.”
It may sound silly to some, but the message is spot on with a few things being talked about in the industry right now – one being that using resumes for hiring is flawed and the other that it’s important to engage candidates offline in order to build deeper relationships and an active community.
Taking Candidate Relationships Offline
Despite what you’d be tempted to believe or even what some might say, most people still value the opportunity to connect in person, face-to-face, with no screens or technology between them. Of course you can ignite and grow customer and candidate relationships online, but the key to building affinity for your brand is the ability to extend those relationships into the “real world.”
Don’t believe this is important? Several campus recruiting studies report recent grads (often thought to rely on and prefer all things digital, all the time) as saying career fairs rank higher than most other job search outlets, primarily because of the face-to-face opportunity. Meeting in person makes it easier to show who you are and what you’re about while getting to know the company rep.
A New Approach to Talent Community
As much as we love our smartphones and Facebook and Skype and technology everything, it’s time to get back to the basics of interpersonal communication. Use online platforms as a way to engage job seekers and initiate candidate relationships, but make the effort to hold live events so you can meet the members of your talent community IRL (in real life), as well.
Whether it’s a campus career fair, an office open house, a Tweetup after an industry conference or something even more creative, real life interactions are a great way to build employment brand and develop candidate relationships on a new level.
Image: Chris Chan/Flickr
Author: Autumn McReynolds
Autumn McReynolds is a master of communication, and with two years in the recruiting industry and over five years of experience in journalism and content creation, she was thrilled to take her career in a new direction as a Blogger and Content Strategist focused on talent acquisition in the digital age. In addition to writing, Autumn spends her time managing social media accounts for business and pleasure. Follow her on Twitter @AutumnMcRey.
