The Recruiting Funnel: How to Get Each Step Right

Attracting top talent is, without a doubt, what makes or breaks a recruiting agency. Looking only at short-term success, however, may leave you with a well-intentioned but ultimately unsustainable recruitment method for long-term success.More than simply maximizing efficiency on key metrics and filling recent job postings, recruiters need a methodology and structure that will enable them to find top talent and build success for the future. This structure is otherwise called a recruiting funnel.A recruiting funnel, or talent acquisition funnel, is a framed series of steps that cover the entire recruiting process and ensure a constant stream of quality candidates for present and future openings. Below are the five steps to a recruiting funnel and how to get each one right.

Brand Awareness

According to a Glassdoor study, more than 75% of job seekers said one of the first things they look for in a posting is whether or not the company is a desirable place to work. Even with the right position, salary, and demands, candidates care a lot about the brand and reputation of a company. Before you can start assessing your strengths and weaknesses as a brand, you might want to assess how your reputation is currently perceived by candidates. Take some surveys, read through reviews of your company online, and engage with candidates to see how they feel about you as an organization.From there, you can start making informed decisions and allocate resources to the relevant areas in your brand awareness strategy. Things to consider improving include:

• Benefits
• Work-life balance
• Desirability and work environment
• Ability to advance as a candidate
• Referrals
• Onboarding

Talent Acquisition Funnel and Sourcing

Once you’ve established a robust brand awareness strategy, you can start bringing in more candidates through sourcing. In today’s job market, it’s not unheard of for candidates, especially younger candidates, to have 10-15 jobs throughout their careers. This means that you need a dynamic sourcing strategy that looks to engage with both passive and active candidates. There are a few ways to set up your sourcing funnel.

• Active Recruiting: Recruiters should use various active methods of recruitment to reach out to candidates. These include job postings, social media presence, job networks, and candidate acquisition through live events and conventions.
• AI Sourcing: Loxo’s powerful AI sourcing technology will allow you to get a list of fifty ranked candidates in just 24 hours. Simply filter your preferences, approve the search, and wait as Loxo unearths top talent across hundreds of databases.
• CRM+ATS: Your CRM + ATS is a goldmine for both present and past candidates. These databases will allow you to track interactions and communication pipelines with candidates, providing you with opportunities to expand your pool through your own resources.
• Social Media: With the help of your ATS, you can post jobs directly onto social media and easily track the activity of candidates. Additionally, actively engaging and posting content on social media will allow you to source candidates and build your brand at the same time.

Drawing in Applicants

Drawing in applicants is about two things: 1) making your open positions readily known to the public, and 2) making the candidate experience of applying and communicating with your staff as enjoyable and seamless as possible.Here are some ways to help candidates know if your posting is a right fit and boost your candidate experience:

• Write excellent job descriptions.
• Make the job application as short and seamless as possible.
• Have a robust communication and conversational recruitment strategy.
• Be kind when sending out rejections to candidates.
• Be formal, but also being friendly and personable.
• Coordinate with candidate’s schedules for interviews and discussions.
• Answer questions promptly.

Interview Process in the Recruitment Funnel

Less than 20% of candidates make it to the interview portion of the recruiting funnel, so it’s important to get the interview step right if you want to secure hires for your open positions. If you’ve done every step correctly until this process, then you should have a quality candidate who is well-informed on the details of the posting and who recognizes you as a credible organization. Most of the hard work has been done up until this point, and what you’re really trying to do here is to confirm if this candidate is as great as your hiring process says they are. This means being detailed in your directions surrounding the interview process, being prompt and professional, exposing the candidate to your company culture, being open to questions, and providing constructive feedback throughout the interview process.

The Final Step in the Recruitment Funnel: Hiring

If everything goes well up until this point, then you’ve done a great job. You’re ready to close in on a position and meet your clients with some happy news. Of course, be open with your candidate as they will surely have some questions, especially regarding pay. Likely, the pay will be included in the job description and you can confirm where they stand on salary earlier in the process. But if they want to negotiate, be open to their suggestion and try to come to an agreement that can make them happy and that you perceive as fair compensation. Loxo’s AI sourcing technology, automated messaging, and advanced CRM+ATS technology provide you with everything you need to build a dependable recruitment funnel. Our cutting-edge technology will streamline every step in the process so you can focus on the human aspects of the funneling process.Try the Loxo demo and revitalize your hiring process with the world’s global leader in recruitment automation software.