Introduction

In today's digital world, it only makes sense that the recruitment and selection process would be digital as well. Not only is it more efficient, but it also allows recruiters to connect with a larger pool of candidates. Especially passive candidates.

A digital approach is far more than just posting on Twitter and other social media platforms.

Here are some of the benefits of incorporating a digital recruitment and selection process:

Reach a larger pool of passive candidates quicker: Passive candidates may be open to new opportunities if the right message is sent. By incorporating a digital recruitment and selection process, you will be able to reach out to these types of candidates and connect with them using multi-touch, omnichannel digital methods.

Save time, staff, and money: A digital recruitment and selection process is more cost-effective than traditional methods. A smart digital recruitment strategy combined with the best-of-class digital tools as part of your tech stack saves the cost of hiring more internal staff and avoids costly external recruitment fees.

Automate repetitive tasks: By using applicant tracking systems (ATS), you can automate repetitive tasks, such as posting job ads and screening resumes. This will free up your time so that you can focus on more important tasks, such as interviewing candidates.

Enhance your employer brand 24x7, 365: A digital recruitment and selection process allows you to enhance your employer brand. You can do this by sharing your company’s story and values on your career website and social media channels.

Scale your employment process up or down instantly: It's important to be able to quickly scale up your recruiting process to meet new and unexpected growth. Or to scale down at a moment's notice without laying off staff. With digital tools, you can do both with ease.

Challenges with a Manual Recruitment Process

The process of recruitment and selection has come a long way in recent years. With the advent of digital technologies, the process has become more streamlined and efficient. However, many organizations are still using manual processes that are time-consuming, often result in errors, and take longer to make a hire than they should.

Here are some of the problems with manual recruitment and selection processes that become unnecessary bottlenecks due to human time constraints:

  • Difficulty identifying top, passive candidates with 'achiever' profiles at scale
  • Lack of passive candidates responding positively to single outreach messages
  • Being limited to LinkedIn invitation daily outreach restrictions
  • Recruiters and Hiring Teams commitments to tasks other than recruiting
  • Outreach limited due to normal workday times vs 24x7, 365
  • Slow brand building and awareness as a great place to work
  • Inability to engage candidates on a timely basis during the hiring process
  • Keeping job postings fresh and up to date
  • Poor candidate experience which can lead to brand damage
  • Just to name a few...

Digital recruitment and selection processes can help alleviate these problems by automating many of the tasks involved and becoming available to potential candidates 24X7, 365.

The Benefits of a Digital Recruitment Process

A digital recruitment process can offer many benefits over a manual process, including:

  • The ability to post and update job openings 24X7, 365 on your website, LinkedIn and social media channels
  • The ability to engage potential candidates on a 24X7, 365
  • The ability to incorporate multi-touch outreach sequences using complementary digital technology
  • The ability to build your brand as a desirable place to work running 24x7, 365
  • Improved candidate experience which allows more offer acceptances and referrals
  • The ability to track and measure recruitment efforts to quickly make adjustments for continued improvement...think Six Sigma
  • Improved time to hire resulting in lower vacancy cost and improved company efficiency
  • Reduced cost per hire - can be implemented at a fraction of the cost of a human salary

Consider a digital recruitment process for your next hiring initiative! Candidates will thank you for it.

A best-of-the-best digital recruitment strategy is the Bradford Digital Recruiter model found here.

LinkedIn: Taking it to the Next Level

One of the most popular digital recruiting tools is LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a professional networking site with over 830 million members and 58 million registered companies worldwide. It's a great platform for digital recruiting because it allows you to connect with candidates, learn about their experience and skills, and endorse them for their work.

However, LinkedIn has some daily limitations that keep it from being as productive as it could be. For example, you can only send a certain number of invitations to connect per day, InMail messages per month, and endorsements per day.

However, there are legitimate strategies to work around these limitations and maximize your digital recruiting efforts on LinkedIn.

Did you know that tools that do the following are readily available for you to add to your recruitment tech stack?

  • Use a combination of email and LinkedIn messages from one platform
  • Allows use of pattern interrupts that include personalized images to improve candidate engagement
  • Smart sequencing of your outreach recruitment email to add multi-touch on auto pilot
  • Multiple follow-up recruitment messages triggered by different prospect responses that follow a logical flow that mimics a human
  • Allows smart (automated) targeting of people who follow important topics of your brand and job opportunities
  • Increase your brand awareness automatically 24x7, 365
  • Fill your jobs faster, with more diverse talent, at a lower cost-per-hire without expensive recruitment fees
  • Build significant first-level LinkedIn connections to important skill sets that are aware of your brand AND become your own ON DEMAND talent pipeline
  • Automation at a fraction of the cost of adding more internal recruiters that can be scaled up or down instantly

Sourcing: Why You Need More Than LinkedIn

When you are recruiting, you need to be able to identify, attract and engage the very best candidates for your organization. This is especially true when it comes to hard-to-fill roles, or when you're looking for top talent that might not be actively searching for a new opportunity.

One of the best ways to reach these highly sought-after candidates is through digital recruiting using the LinkedIn database. By using digital tools and strategies, you can connect with more candidates, identify the ones that are the best fit for your organization and make the recruitment and selection process more efficient.

  • An ATS that either has built-in CRM messaging to include sequences or individual solutions that can be integrated
  • LinkedIn Recruiter or Sales Navigator
  • A career website or page(s)
  • Employee Referral System
  • Marketing style job descriptions that use an EVP
  • Multi-sequence outreach message templates
  • A done-for-you add-on solution like My Digital Recruiter
  • Optional external, low-fee, services to supplement My Digital Recruiter

Conclusion

Digital recruiting is the wave of the future, and organizations that implement a digital recruitment strategy will be able to reap the benefits of a more efficient and cost-effective hiring process. If you're looking for ways to improve your recruitment and selection process, consider adding digital tools and strategies to your toolkit.

Looking to improve your digital recruiting efforts? Check out My Digital Recruiter, the all-in-one...done for you...digital recruiting solution that can help you connect with more candidates, source top talent, and fill your jobs faster. Click here to learn more and see a short 2-minute explainer video.

About the Author

Carl Bradford's background includes 30+ years as an HR Director, Executive Search Professional, Trainer for 2000+ recruiters and an expert in Performance-based Hiring methods. Carl has certified recruiters in this method since 1999.