More Applications Through Lead Generation in Recruiting
Lead generation in recruiting applies marketing concepts to hiring. Build a talent pool, engage candidates proactively and win more applications.
Leadgenerierung im Recruiting überträgt das Marketing-Konzept der Nachfrageerzeugung auf die Personalgewinnung. Statt auf passende Bewerbungen zu warten, generierst du proaktiv Kontakte über Karriereseite, Stellenanzeigen, Netzwerk und Active Sourcing. Die Vorteile: Du bewirbst dich bei Kandidat:innen, baust einen Talent Pool auf und nutzt positive Candidate Experience als Multiplikator.
Lead generation in recruiting: the key to more applications
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Contents
- Lead generation defined: what are leads in recruiting?
- Benefits: why you should see applicants as leads
- Conclusion: lead management holds potential for your recruiting
- Frequently asked questions
TL;DR
Lead generation in recruiting applies the marketing idea of creating demand to hiring, so that instead of waiting for the right applications you proactively generate applicant leads through your career page, job postings, your network and active sourcing, and you build a talent pool. The benefits: you apply to candidates, keep leads warm in your talent pool and use a positive candidate experience as a multiplier for more applications.
Author: Dominik Becker · Published: 27 July 2022
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Everywhere you turn, companies are complaining about the skills shortage. Important roles that urgently need filling stay open. But what can you do when no suitable application ever lands in your system?
In the race for the best talent, companies are not only adopting innovative recruiting and employer brand strategies. They are also taking a more modern view of the application itself. What is common practice in marketing and sales works just as well for candidate management. We are talking about so-called "leads", or more precisely, the generation of leads.
This article explains what lead generation means for recruiting and what opportunities it holds.
Lead generation defined: what are leads in recruiting?
The term lead generation comes from marketing and describes creating demand among potential customers and users (so-called leads) for a product or service. Even a simple contact request, a download, a registration, a newsletter sign-up or an event registration can count as a lead.
Applied to recruiting, leads are people who are looking for jobs, so potential applicants. And they are in high demand.
You can generate applicant leads through many different channels and activities, for example:
- Through your career page
- Through job postings on your own website
- Through job boards
- Contacts from career fairs
- Emails or calls from potential talent
- Through your network and that of your employees
- With the help of active sourcing
Through all of these activities your company gains the data of potential candidates. That includes contact details as well as information about notice periods, previous career history, special skills and much more. And exactly that data could soon become useful to you.
Benefits: why you should see applicants as leads
In the competition for the best talent, companies face challenges every day. The long-predicted skills shortage has become a bitter reality. So why do you actually wait until the right candidate comes to you? Spoiler: that could take a long time.
When you bring the marketing view of lead generation into your recruiting, a few benefits are waiting for you.
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1. Companies apply to potential candidates
Recruiters are struggling more and more. Finding suitable candidates in today's employee market really is not easy. Only 20% of all talent is actively job-hunting. The rest might be open to a new role but are not (yet) investing time in it. So what can you do to get a foot in the door with those sought-after professionals? Long forms and countless mandatory fields in the online application are certainly not a good idea here.
How about this: turn the tables and apply to a potential candidate yourself. As a first step, simply ask for that person's contact details (name, phone number, email) and then approach them.
In the conversation that follows, you can gather the information or documents you need for screening and get a sense of whether the person is a good fit for the role. With the right software, qualifying a lead is possible in just a few clicks and without much time spent.
2. Explore other possible roles
You have surely experienced this too: an application for an open role lands in your applicant tracking system. At first everything seems to fit. In the first or second conversation, however, it turns out that the candidate is actually a much better fit for another open role at the company.
Perhaps that role had not been advertised yet, or it simply was not on the job seeker's radar. Instead of just sending a rejection for the original role, you can present the lead with your other opportunity.
A holistic and open view of the applicant lets you explore other possible roles and find the best position from both the company's and the employee's perspective.
3. Building a talent pool
You want to fill an open role and have even identified several potential candidates? The chemistry with a speculative application is right, but there is no open role at the moment? Then stay in touch and secure the right talent now for roles that open up in the future.
By using lead management in recruiting, you can build a network of potential candidates: a talent pool. Through it you can keep your leads "warm", win them over with your employer brand and share open positions with them at the decisive moment. That saves you time and money, and with modern recruiting software it is no longer a mystery.
If you have not yet built your own lead management or a talent pool, you can find data on suitable candidates here, for example:
- Professional networks such as LinkedIn and Xing
- Career fairs
- Company events
- Referrals from employees
4. Potential multipliers
Applicants expect a smooth, professional and fast application process. Even if the job does not work out for them in the end, they still have a big influence. As multipliers: if candidates experience a satisfying and professional application process, they are more likely to recommend the company to people they know.
As a company, you can actively use this to your advantage by building a request for feedback or a review into the ongoing application process. Whoever can shine with a positive candidate experience is rewarded by referral marketing, and that in turn results in even more leads.
Conclusion: lead management holds potential for your recruiting
To improve your position in the candidate market, you sometimes have to think outside the box and set new recruiting strategies in motion.
Even if you cannot fill an open role with one of your leads right now, building a positive relationship with those contacts will help you fill open roles later on. On top of that, contact details are worth their weight in gold today: you can serve the contacts you win with specific content and convince them that your company is an attractive employer.
As you can see, a whole series of benefits comes from lead generation in recruiting. The marketing mindset holds real potential for your recruiting. When you build and maintain relationships with candidates effectively, you can actively shape cost-per-hire and time-per-hire. And to your advantage.