Winter 2014
Recruiters’ Toolbox: PACK THE HOUSE WITH TOP TALENT
Best Practices for Hosting a Successful Recruitment Open House Anthony Gentile Managing Partner of Katon Direct In today’s competitive environment for top talent, health care employers must constantly communicate with and engage their local talent pool. The main challenge for recruiters is that most of the experienced talent pool is extremely passive and most likely not proactively seeking career opportunities. So what can your organization do to best position itself as an employer of choice and stay top-of-mind? One of the best strategies for connecting with and meeting your local talent pool is to host an open house event. Open house events have proven to be extremely successful, primarily because it’s the only way for your organization to personally connect face-to-face with the local talent pool and directly present your stand-alone opportunity. If executed properly, open house events can become an integral part of your recruitment strategy. Katon Direct has worked with hundreds of organizations over the past 12 years that have collectively hosted thousands of open house events. Below are some tips and best practices that Katon Direct has compiled to help you achieve maximum return:
Define Your Goals What are you trying to accomplish by hosting the event? Are you just looking to make as many hires as possible? Address the more difficult-to-fill positions? Build a talent pipeline? Foster employer branding? Knowing what your goals are is important because it will help dictate your strategy, determine an appropriate budget, and calibrate your expectations for success.
Check the Calendar Having your event take place on a date or time that is inconvenient can turn away potential candidates that otherwise would have attended. Be sure to select a date for your event that does not conflict with any national/religious holidays. It doesn’t matter if you are giving away great prizes or serving gourmet food – if you host an event on the Friday before Labor Day nobody will show up! Also, on the day of the event, try and accommodate candidates that work various shifts by having morning, afternoon, and evening availability.
Personalized Call to Action Create an event-specific landing page that allows candidates to RSVP and request additional information. Take it a step further and personalize the page for the candidate by pre-populating their contact information. This not only makes it easier for the candidate to RSVP, but also creates a personal, one-to-one connection that they will notice. The more comfortable the candidate feels, the more likely they are to express interest in your event and career opportunities. Also, be mindful of the candidates that are interested in attending, but are unable to as a result of scheduling conflicts. Be sure to acknowledge them and provide instructions as to how they can obtain more information.
Relevant Messaging For the most part, candidates are interested in the information that matters to them. It’s extremely important to make sure that the message provides relevant information specific to each candidate. For example, if you are hosting an event for RNs, PTs, and OTs, you should segment that audience and only provide the specific details that would matter to the individual candidate (e.g. an invitation to an RN should say “We are hosting an Open House for RNs!” and not “We are hosting an Open House for RNs, PTs, and OTs!”
Mass Micro-Marketing Who is your target audience? If you’re only interested in registered nurses with 2+ years of experience that reside in a 30 mile radius of your facility … then you better only invite registered nurses with 2+ years of experience that reside in a 30 mile radius of your facility. Micro-marketing is the process of pre-identifying your target audience and communicating with them in a very personalized and relevant way. An “open invitation” may sound like a good way to drive attendance, but chances are you’ll end up wasting resources on candidates that do not fit your criteria. continued on page 15
NAHCR • P.O. Box 14365 • Lenexa, KS 66285-4365 • Phone: 913.895.4627 • Fax: 913.895.4652 • Email: nahcr@goAMP.com
Winter 2014
Recruiter's Toolbox continued from page 13
Offer Incentives
Follow-up
Always keep in mind that the overwhelming majority of the talent pool is employed, and somewhat satisfied with their current job. Why would a gainfully employed candidate give up an evening with their family or take a day off from work to attend your event? You need to offer an incentive beyond the promise of great career opportunities. Raffles, prizes, food, entertainment, etc. … are great ways to draw a crowd.
Not every candidate that walks through the door will result in an immediate interview/hire. Typically you will have to nurture the relationship and stay top-of-mind. Be sure to send a “thank you” note to all attendees and let the qualified candidates know that you are interested in scheduling an interview. If you have a CRM application, you can load up all of the candidates you want to stay in touch with and create personalized lead nurturing campaigns.
All Hands on Deck On the day of the event, have recruiters and hiring managers available for on-the-spot interviews to accommodate the active job-seekers. If a qualified candidate is interested in one of your opportunities, it’s best to start the interview/offer/ hiring process before they walk out of the door. Otherwise they can very easily walk across the street to your nearest competitor.
In the end, there is no substitute for meeting your local talent pool face-to-face, and an open house event is the only strategy that allows you to do that on a large scale. When executed properly, open house events can be used strategically to make a lot of hires, build a talent pipeline, and put you in front of your local talent pool. If you plan in advance, define your goals, and get buy-in from your team you will pack the house with great talent.
NAHCR • P.O. Box 14365 • Lenexa, KS 66285-4365 • Phone: 913.895.4627 • Fax: 913.895.4652 • Email: nahcr@goAMP.com