Using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to make people feel special
The same can be done with any of your candidate communication as the first thing you know about your candidates is their name. It’s right on the top of their CV and will form part of their submission, regardless of the channel so why not use it?
Get on the journey yourself
To know what’s really needed and to get the best out of your ATS, you need to go through the application process yourself and focus on one key thing –
If I was a candidate, how would I feel right now, what would be my concerns and what questions would I want answered.
Once you’ve gone through the whole journey and really got to grips with how a candidate feels, your messages should be clear in your mind. Whilst the messages will vary depending on your company and the role, there are some important things to make sure you include.
The start of the candidate journey
GDPR (no, this hasn’t gone away!) dictates that we need to be asking for permission to store someone’s data. If someone applies for a role and you don’t confirm that it’s OK to continue to communicate with them then you are missing a vital opportunity to develop your talent pool and you are therefore more likely to miss the best candidates of the future. By implementing a strong candidate journey and a solid talent pool process, you will reduce your future recruitment costs. Why not use this first email to ask for their consent to store their data for future use? This will also help position you as a credible company.
Including a ‘what to expect’ part of the first email where you explain the process and timescales will help prevent any feelings of being forgotten or wondering what is happening in the background. If someone is excited about a role with your company, the worst thing you can do is leave them in the dark as with each passing day they are likely to become less engaged with your brand.
What’s next and how can your ATS help?
By leveraging the power of your ATS, you can communicate various auto generated messages to these groups and harness the power of personalisation to help ensure every group has a highly positive candidate experience.