Janice Chalmers

Creator of the 'candidate relationship management' concept, candidate relationship 'counsellor' Alan Whitford advises recruiters on the most professional approach to CRM - and the pitfalls to avoid.

"Taking care of the candidate" - what is CRM?
"Viral marketing" - why does it matter?
"The no.1 barrier to a good candidate relationship is..." where do companies go wrong?
"Give them control" - what are the top techniques for improving CRM?

What is CRM?

At it's simplest, CRM is about taking care of the candidate. Period. Just as the manufacturing industry has to manage inventory, in recruitment HR has to manage applicants. But this doesn't happen in HR. We don't plan or build a pipeline of candidate contacts that we cultivate. Instead, we wait until we have a job vacancy approved, and then we react.

Why does it matter?

Viral marketing. That's why. What will they be saying to their mates down the pub if they've had a poor online experience on your site? You want the successful candidate to join your company feeling great. If you have a bad candidate experience, would you buy that company's products?

Where do companies go wrong?

• The no.1 barrier to a good relationship with candidates is not treating the candidate with respect. No or late response is a sign of no respect
• Communication. Or rather the lack of it. There's very little interaction with online candidates
• Relying on coincidence. How we recruit today is what I call 'coincidence recruitment' - ie we take a scattergun approach, put the ads out and hope for the best. In any other marketing activity, the marketer will research the market first to find out where the best potential customers are, before sending out any ads. In recruitment, a recruiter should be doing the same thing - for example, segmenting potential candidates by demographics, and then creating a marketing campaign to target them
• Form fatigue - eg by expecting them to fill in scroll-down after scroll-down of info when all you really need is a first few screening questions; imagine walking into Harvey Nichols and being presented with forms before you can walk through the door. If you do have to ask them pages of questions, then give them the facility to save their application form and return to it later

What are the top techniques for improving CRM?

1. Treat your candidates with respect - at the very least acknowledge receipt; preferably, let them know what the application process and the next steps are. If you're rejecting a candidate, show them the courtesy of asking them to 'keep in touch'
2. Start engaging with people before you have a job for them. The technology of online recruitment actually makes it much easier for you to do that. For this, you need to make your corporate careers site part of your recruitment strategy, and, for example, direct candidates to your site
3. Create a dialogue - send them emails, ask for their feedback and talk to the candidate direct
4. Don't be anonymous - give them a contact, a real person; don't ask them to send their CV to the impersonal 'info@company.com'
5. Make them feel welcome - for example, encourage speculative applications; if your technology allows, each time they return to your site, post an automatic 'welcome back, John' message on their homepage
6. But don't get too personal - don't ask them for too much personal info up front; remember, the first stage is just to figure out if they have the basic requirements for the job; asking for too much info too early will turn them off
7. Keep in touch - for example, if some time has lapsed since they registered their CV, send them an email saying 'hey, come on back - we may have a job for you'
8. Use your talent bank cleaning as a marketing opportunity - when you need them to update their details, why not tell them about your latest jobs or company developments and invite them back to your site at the same time? Besides, if you don't keep in touch with them, your talent bank might become invalid - through out-of-date candidate info
9. Make it snappy - remember you're competing with others for the quality candidate, and one of the ways they'll judge you is by how quickly you respond to their application
10. Give them control - for example, of how they'd like to be contacted, by text or email? Present your screening questions in such a way that candidates can self-qualify and opt out

"Make it snappy - you're competing with others for the quality candidate, and one of the ways they'll judge you is by how quickly you respond to their application."

Alan Whitford...
...is a strategic consultant on HR metrics and HR. He is the creator of the candidate relationship management concept and also coined the phrase. He can be contacted through his consultancy, Abtech Parthership, on 01451 850811 or awhitford@compuserve.com.

Tell us your views
Do you agree with Alan's advice? We'd welcome your views, email: editor@workthing-peoplebank.com.

How did Tesco, Nestlé UK and Compass UK create a strong relationship with their candidates? Read their CRM strategies here