In the wake of Covid-19 stay-at-home orders, the United States saw more than 40 million Americans filing for unemployment from mid-March to late May. Never before have companies been forced to shut down on such a widespread basis. Even as businesses across the country open, experts simply don’t understand whether the economy will be able to turn back on in a similar way. And, as Covid-19 cases surge across the country, we could see another wave of business closings and restrictions that would further impact the economy. That’s not to mention the implications of a possible second wave of Covid-19.
When it comes to staffing, we are in uncharted territory. Professionals are struggling to determine how they can best prepare for and manage through what could be a roller coaster of talent supply and demand until the global pandemic is over. While much has been written about the role of AI and automation in talent acquisition, staffing professionals can strengthen their talent communities by applying these technologies across the candidate journey to deliver a superior experience. Doing so will help keep their talent communities engaged through potentially swift and extreme shifts in talent demand – helping fill positions when demand is high and stay connected and loyal when demand is low.
The talent community loyalty loop. A talent community attracts and retains the type of people required to fill current and future positions. It fosters an environment for companies to build their talent networks, nurture relationships with current employees and candidates, and hire and grow as needed.
The talent community journey starts with your candidates’ initial experience with your firm. Then, they might move on to consider the organization and, potentially, a role within it. The entire process from there to becoming an employee (or not), is part of that journey, and advanced technology can help strengthen it. Anyone in your talent community loyalty loop can advocate for your organization and refer people to it, depending on their experience with you.
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Strengthen your talent community. By thoughtfully applying AI and automation throughout this loop, staffing professionals and recruiters can consistently strengthen their talent communities, even throughout the ups and downs of the Covid-19 recession.
For example, a candidate engagement platform that integrates with your ATS can automate email or text updates to candidates via an AI-enabled conversation bot across the hiring process. The bot screens candidates via customized prompts, ensures they receive timely and accurate responses to questions, schedules interviews, and engages with them even when offices are closed, thus improving their experience and engagement with your organization and reducing your time-to-fill. By automating such time-intensive, repetitive work, staffing professionals and recruiters can instead focus on developing relationships with candidates.
And, staffing firm Kforce streamlined its candidate referral and application process via an app-based referral program that has reduced time-to-fill and helped match highly skilled professionals with the right opportunities. During just three days of the Covid-19 crisis, the app helped more than 4,500 people connect to work.
Such tools greatly increase the likelihood that a candidate’s initial experience — which fuels the loyalty loop — is positive, and decreases the risk of them dropping out of the process by making sure subsequent touchpoints are solid.
Brand ambassadors. AI and automation build your brand ambassador network, no matter what the situation. Candidates will remember how you treat them during the Covid-19 era. You must continually build, nurture and grow your candidate relationships throughout their journey with your firm. AI and automation can help you optimize processes to realize cost savings and deliver a superior experience, no matter what the situation. Technology can play a leading role in strengthening your talent community loyalty loop — from the first greeting to being recruited and accepting the position all the way to becoming a brand ambassador. During this time of uncertainty, AI and automation will help you keep your talent community engaged, active and loyal to you.