Keeping your Clients and Candidates Engaged, the Virtual Edition
Feb 18th, 2021
Since the pandemic being introduced to the U.S., we have had to get more creative than usual in the staffing and talent acquisition world! Face-to-face meetings, coffees, dinners, and career events are out of the question---but there is still work to be done and lives we are looking to improve!
The million-dollar questions throughout 2020 and into the new year of 2021 has been – how do we keep both clients and candidates engaged without being able to physically be in the same room to help in a search or offer job-seeking advice? How do we keep their business? How can we help in getting them that next job opportunity?
Luckily, smartphones, iPads, laptops, and tablets via Zoom, Skype, WebEx, and Microsoft Teams have made things a little easier for us. Transactional business is not exciting, fulfilling, or why we do what we do. We are relationship builders, career matchmakers, and extensions of our clients’ teams. It’s time to get creative! Set aside time for a virtual coffee meet-up, a candidate video interview prep, or a happy hour via Zoom to meet with your client and understand their structure and current hiring and Human Resources needs. Be the one who takes the extra step! Those in your network will never forget the person who went above and beyond to connect and converse “face to face” versus sending an email or quick text back.
Though the pandemic has affected many companies hiring processes as well as the ability to be hired after being displaced, our job is to “make life easier”, to be consultative and helpful. It is our job to understand the culture a client wants to maintain or improve. It is our duty to help a candidate transfer smoothly into the next step of their career with our clients. It is our responsibility to be doing the best quality work out there while making others feel supported, satisfied, and happy through the entire process. That extra 30 minutes put aside to meet for coffee, or a virtual dinner or drink will do just that. In such a trying time, be the light. Your job within talent acquisition will be that much more rewarding at the end of your day, knowing you did all that you could and MORE for your professional network. The folks that in turn—will come back to you over any other recruiting professional the next time they need hiring support from a job seeker or client relationship standpoint.