There is no denying that fundamental changes are occurring in the UK labour market. The pandemic has amplified pre-existing trends like automation and digitisation, hybrid and remote work, and the growing mismatch between employer needs and workforce skills. The most immediate impact is widespread talent shortages felt by organisations across the country.

A more proactive and nuanced talent strategy is required to improve retention and reap the benefits of an engaged, loyal, and skilled workforce. Hiring is an essential component of any business but can also be expensive. The costs of hiring new employees can mount quickly, especially if the process is not optimised. The candidate experience is an important factor that can affect hiring costs. A positive candidate journey can lead to higher conversion rates, whereas a negative candidate experience can lead to higher costs and lower-quality hires.

Win hires and influence candidates

According to a recent McKinsey study, the current number of job openings outnumbers the number of new hires by nearly two to one. Change is needed to bridge this gap. Businesses can attract the talent they need using future-proof technology, such as targeted social media campaigns and conversion-optimised applications. Having candidates feel empowered and confident throughout the recruiting process is a significant competitive advantage. Creating a positive experience, even if the candidate is rejected, is a skill that can be mastered.

Certain factors, such as complicated job applications and counterintuitive career websites, deter candidates. It's time to make the recruitment process as straightforward as possible. It could be as simple as tailoring questions to the candidate, saving time for both the organisation and the candidate. Furthermore, businesses should consider using a system that optimises conversions by reducing application clicks, developing interactive processes, and employing customisable chatbots to create frictionless applications.

The right people are out there, are you reaching them?

Candidates have evolved. To reach the future workforce, wherever they are, a sophisticated job distribution engine with data-driven advertising tools and recruitment marketing campaigns is required. This enables organisations to gain access to new recruitment channels and reach a more diverse pool of talent. On top of that, channel variety is required for brands to get their employment opportunities in front of multiple audiences. Companies must increase their candidate attraction efforts across all streams, including social media, job boards, and offline partners, in order to attract the best talent in a saturated market.

When it comes to finding a new job, social media has become an increasingly valuable tool for job seekers. And social media recruiting strategies have become an important way for businesses to find and connect with qualified candidates. Many people use social media daily and being present on these platforms gives businesses a better chance of reaching suitable applicants. Social media sites act as amplification for recruitment marketing strategies, increasing awareness of an employer's brand, company culture, and vacancies. Businesses can use social media to create more targeted recruitment campaigns targeting a diverse pool of potential hires.

Social media has a significant impact on the candidate experience in an increasingly digital world. By eliminating the middleman, there is no need for cumbersome job boards. Furthermore, it gives brands the ability to deliver media-rich, engaging content. Demonstrating your employer brand on platforms like TikTok empowers candidates to sit, scroll, and learn about working for an organisation at their leisure. Providing relevant and appealing content that engages them on their preferred social platform before they are ready to convert to an application.

A positive candidate experience does not happen by accident. It happens by design

Recruitment software has been built to help companies progress candidates through the hiring process. This focus has meant that the candidate, their experience and how they interact with your company has been neglected. Legacy software is providing poor experiences that stop candidates applying for roles. And with 98% of Fortune 500 companies using recruitment systems, companies are losing candidates to low conversion rates.

But how does a company know what tech is the right fit? Software must be intuitive and provide a positive experience to users. The same goes for talent attraction systems. The most important feature is to provide a great user experience. Best-in-class candidate experiences leads to more candidates converting through the application journey.

At inploi, we create a new front-end for your hiring, that plugs directly into your ATS. Creating a seamless candidate experience, with a careers hub that is focused on converting 'views' to 'applications'. Giving you all the benefits of greenfield technology, without replacing your existing systems. So you can quickly deploy dynamic candidate journeys and conversational (chatbot) application flows for different roles and job categories. Removing friction and optimising conversions.

Solving the candidate conversion problem

In November 2022, 13.3% of businesses reported a workforce shortage. Accommodation and food services had the highest percentage of businesses experiencing talent shortages, at 35.5%. Compass Group UK&I recognised the importance of their talent brand, with over 60,000 employees across the UK and Ireland and thousands of candidates passing through careers pages and HR infrastructure every day. But, with the labour crisis still ongoing, they needed to ensure they were using innovative technology to stay ahead. In 6 weeks we deployed a new careers hub for Compass Group that increased visitor-to-applicant conversion by 42%. Importantly, nothing else changed. Our focus on candidate experience meant we were converting more of the traffic that they were already paying for.

We worked with Compass Group to deploy lightning-fast job search functionality, a map view of open roles, and a bespoke conversational chatbot User Interface (UI) for capturing initial candidate data. The page is always up to date with open requisitions and applicant data delivered directly into the backend, as it seamlessly integrates with their existing Tribepad ATS.

Utilising inploi allowed Compass to dramatically improve their UX, removing significant friction and greatly increasing applicant conversion rates. Furthermore, this transformed the candidate experience, making it more personalised and interactive.

Improving your candidate experience

In today's competitive hiring environment, an employer's goal is to make its candidates feel empowered, understood, and valued. That necessitates completely upending the talent acquisition strategy status quo.

Businesses must develop a strong employer brand, diversify their online candidate-sourcing channels, personalise the process for each candidate, understand their touch points, and follow up with candidates who do not respond while keeping costs in check. This can be simplified, you don't need multiple systems and providers. At inploi, we integrate all your technology to provide end-to-end candidate journey tracking and a single source of truth for data, so you can track hiring events to the original source. Ultimately reducing your cost per hire.

Some of the world's largest corporations use inploi's technology to attract, engage, and convert the workforce of the future: increasing reach, improving conversions, and gaining comprehensive data insights without overhauling existing HR systems.

Take the first step towards attracting top talent for your organisation: enhance your employer brand, diversify your sourcing channels, personalise the candidate experience, and streamline your recruitment process. Get in touch today.