With the unprecedented demand for candidates, staffing firms are seeking ways to differentiate from the competition and attract qualified candidates to apply. Here are 3 quick tips that may help your firm you may have overlooked:
1) Provide Detailed Job Descriptions: in this tight market candidates want a higher level of detail included in job postings. While you firm may be limited in the information it can publish, try to include as much relevant information as possible including information on your firm itself (benefits, length of time in business, awards, etc). This can be included as part of your overall job template so it’s included on every job you post. Where possible – include information on pay. Not all firms are comfortable with doing this but simply adding gross weekly pay for the job can make a difference in grabbing candidates attention and going next steps.
2) Actively Monitor and Engage All Social Media Platforms: Ideally firms should be monitoring platforms several times a day, including some evening hours and weekends. Comments on your firm’s page/postings, inquiries, compliments (and even negative feedback) should be responded to within a day of posting. Do not miss an opportunity to engage as travel RNs seek to work with organizations that respond to all communications in a timely manner, including social media. This can be a challenge for some, but it will pay dividends if the consistency is there.
3) Monitor Your eMail Blasts Closely. In tight talent markets, many firms take a “wild west” approach to email campaigns, with a “more is better” philosophy. Email blasts are often done by individual recruiters who create the email themselves and send directly to their candidate database. Unfortunately there is often no oversight on the quality of the emails, the frequency at which they are going out and the lists they are using. This can lead to disaster with your database; email fatigue, high number of opt-outs (that you can not recover again), spam complaints, or embarrassing errors that make your firm look bad. And once the damage is done, it’s hard repair. If your firm doesn’t have a designated marketing person to manage emails, we suggest at least appointing a central point of contact for your firm so that all emails are reviewed before they are sent, and emails are coordinated so that no one specialty is emailed to more than once per week at most.