Why You Need To Personalize Your Talent Experience Today

Within the crowded talent market, it’s crucial to offer a personalized talent experience. 

Consider that 60% of candidates go through a bad experience when applying to a new job. And 72% of those dissatisfied choose to share that experience with others. Add to this that only 59 of the Fortune 500 companies score higher than 80% on “Would recommend to a friend” on Glassdoor, and it becomes apparent how important the talent experience has become. 

Talent has learned that how they’re treated during the interview process indicates how they’ll be treated when working for your company. So, if you’re not catering to their needs, they won’t be interested.

Talent marketing best practices

Let’s recap what best practices you should already have for dealing with prospective talent.

Start by immersing the candidate in your company culture. Is there a compelling company or founder story? Do you have company values that reflect the work you do? Two fundamental values for a company like Facebook are ‘move fast’ and ‘live in the future’. Phrases like this give you a sense of what’s important to the company and can be a major draw to prospective employees.

If applicable, office tours are also a chance to let your company speak for itself and showcase the energy of being in the office. In-person experiences help encourage the embedding of culture and talent early on. 

Something else to consider is implementing a culture fit interview stage, which gives your candidates a chance to showcase their personality and allows your team to ask non-competency-related questions to see how the candidate would fit into your company. 

Maintaining a fast response rate and transparency with candidates makes the process more seamless. Aim to reply within a day to messages and keep them aware if a final decision requires additional time. You want to be engaging candidates with a welcoming and transparent experience so they feel seen and motivated to recommend your company to friends and their professional network.

Okay, but how do you become more personalized?

To offer a truly personalized experience, you need to assimilate a talent lifecycle approach  into your overall strategy – from hiring and time at the company, to retention methods and how your employees’ skills could be nurtured and utilized. You should also think about the talent that’s moved on: your alumni can leverage their network to help you recruit new talent and spread positive awareness of the company. 

A major aspect of talent lifecycle management (TLM) is building relationships to build a successful talent pipeline and positive ROI. One method to achieve this is through bulk messaging and nurture campaigns. Consider cultivating relationships with your silver medalists, who didn’t get the role, could be a perfect fit for your company with a little time and training. Remember that connecting with those you don’t hire is as crucial as those you do.

Creating or improving your talent experience should be  prioritized. They’re the main destination for those looking for a role in your company, so try to personalize the site experience based on the candidates’ interests and field. Display different page copy to those who have applied before for an experience that speaks to them directly. And think about the candidate’s experience in using your career site. Does your career site have desktop as well as mobile functionality? Is it answering their most important questions?

Incorporating chatbots on your career site is an excellent way to attract candidates ready for the next opportunity. And partnering your chatbot with a form to sign up to email and text alerts will keep candidates in the loop when a new role becomes available. Think about applying for a role at your company like a shopping experience: too long to checkout, and no one will stay until the end – and a candidate may well stop and start their search or application. So employing email or text alerts to remind people of previous searches and incomplete applications is a must.

Your team can also use candidate events to better target niche talent pools and generate leads to nurture with a targeted email campaign after the event. With events aimed at campus recruiting, veterans careers fairs, and assessment days you’ll be able to craft a personalized message to that audience, helping prospective employees see how they can add value to your company.

What about internal talent? 

Let's not forget that the talent lifecycle doesn't end with talent acquisition. You may already know that engaging and retaining your employees is just as important as the talent attraction side of the lifecycle. But in the rush to reach headcount numbers and fill job gaps, current team members will often be overlooked.  

Internal talent mobility should be a priority. Nurturing your current staff by upskilling (advancing their current skill set) and crosskilling (nurturing skills to benefit other teams) their capabilities allows you to both cater to your employees' career aspirations and efficiently plug your skill gaps.

To get a clear picture of what skills your existing talent has and where they might be able to move within your business, you need a centralized talent platform. With all the relevant information in one place, you can perform an accurate skill audit and start to curate learning and development journeys for your internal talent, encouraging a welcoming culture with initiatives like mentoring and coaching to promote knowledge sharing. 

Key takeaways

Embracing the TLM approach into your strategy enables you to get a full view of the candidate experience – which aspects you can personalize and how you can form a deeper connection.

Take time to understand the mindset of your candidates, be responsive, open and make the process as stress-free for them as possible. Don’t forget the fundamentals we’ve touched on, and be ready to embrace new initiatives to engage candidates and existing teams.

Personalizing the talent experience will allow you to reach your most valuable asset, people, as individuals. Personalization also helps you stand out in a crowded marketplace, engaging candidates for longer periods and embedding them deeply into your company culture.