6 Ways Chatbots Can Rock your Recruitment World
Check out a few of the ways a conversational chatbot can level up recruitment.
6 Ways Chatbots Can Rock your Recruitment World
High-volume recruiting is not for the faint of heart, finding a dozen hires in a single day requires implementing a variety of processes with no room for error. In this quest for speed, any help is appreciated. Thankfully, there are a host of time consuming tasks that can be automated. With a few additions to your tech stack, you’ll be able to free up your recruiting teams so they can spend their time on high value tasks, such as building strong connections with the right candidates.
You can expand your talent pool by sourcing candidates, and achieve recruitment nirvana: a calendar filled with interviews with candidates that have been pre-screened, pre-scheduled and just waiting to be “closed”. On top of the automation, connecting with candidates through chatbots also gives you a communication channel which will speed things up throughout the whole application process. Chatbots can be used in a number of channels, like email, SMS, messaging apps like Facebook Messenger or Whatsapp, and can be taught to work in sync with your ATS or your CRM.
We’ve summarized 6 of the benefits a conversational chatbot can provide to your overall recruitment strategy.
1. Saving time
Roughly 43% of candidates never hear back from companies after the first touchpoint. Recruiters just don’t have the time to start conversations with thousands upon thousands of candidates. But a chatbot can get those interactions started, while keeping the candidates engaged as they move through the funnel. It’s estimated that bots can automate around 80% of top-of-funnel recruiting activities. Using Natural Language Processing (NLP), a recruiter bot can answer questions about what it is like to work in the company, as well as collect important info from each candidate including skills, experience and contact info. Bots can be designed to screen for specific traits, so that the best leads are prioritized. Plus, once a candidate has been shortlisted, the bot can schedule an interview with a human recruiter and block their calendar on Outlook or Gmail. All of this happens with millions of candidates, in real time, across multiple sourcing channels. This level of automation greatly reduces costs per hire, as well as time to hire.
Recruiters have access to all the data collected by the bots, and can investigate hiring rates for each subcategory, and apply changes their hiring strategy if need be.
2. Wider reach
Chatbots can meet the candidates where they live. Engagement rates on social media and WhatsApp are incredibly higher than e-mail, or even phone calls. Candidates have changed, the job market has changed and a chatbot answers to those needs. WhatsApp and Facebook messenger alone have 1.6 billion monthly active users. That’s bigger than any job board in the world.
Being present on the message apps of those social media networks makes it simple for the talent to apply— attracting a broader talent pool. Making it easy for talent to apply to jobs is an important responsibility of the employers. Abolishing long complicated forms, resumes when possible, and superfluous demands on candidates is the way to get there. A bot allows employers to focus on the essential screening questions and make sure candidates can apply within just a few minutes.
3. Re-capture and engagement
Talking with candidates on messaging comes with another embedded benefit. With higher response rates, it’s easier to increase candidate engagement levels. Bots are also effective in re-heating cold leads, and re-engaging candidates that have dropped off somewhere in the application process. Having all their interaction history helps to get candidates to finish the process. Recruiters can send pre-drafted messages to each candidate according to the stage they’re in. Mass re-engagement campaigns- from Messenger, Whatsapp email, or SMS — have also proven to be very effective as long as the frequency is kept to a few times a year.
4. Better candidate experience
Most job seekers have one thing in common: they want to know more from their potential employer. One of the main advantages of bots is that they always answer, 24/7, and keep candidates informed of where they stand. A bot can notify candidates where they are in the pipeline and every time an action is taken with their application. Good news or bad, candidates generally want to know.
Is there a question the bot cannot answer? Or an irate candidate who demands to speak to someone? A recruiter can be notified and can jump in and take over the conversation at any point, without causing any disruption to the flow of the application process for everyone else.
5. Strengthening Employer Branding
Communicating via bots and messaging can unleash a richer exchange between candidates and employers. By supporting rich media such as voice recordings or video, these interfaces can give candidates a chance to show recruiters who they really are, how they speak, how they smile, etc.. And respectively, employers can also show candidates who they are too, sending personalized notes, funny GIFs and designing a bot that matches their style and tone. Your bot can walk the walk, and talk the talk — showing potential employees the company personality, so they’ll have a better idea of the culture and whether they fit in, right from the start.
6. Saving money
According to SHRM, companies spend an average of $4,129 and 42 days per hire. A recruitment chatbot can reduce both of these numbers drastically. Since your bot is collecting leads from the moment they reach your profile or website, you are constantly adding to your talent pool. As a first point of contact to large-scale social media advertising campaigns, bots are also a key component to a cost-effective social media sourcing campaign, where marketing cost-per-hire can be 80–90% lower than via traditional job boards
Beyond advertising spend, we estimate that more than 60% of the total cost-per-hire, is related to the cost of manpower. a bot reduces the amount of hours your recruiters have to spend doing admin work. This means each hour you pay them, they’re actually doing high-value work, building relationships, and hiring qualified candidates — saving you money with their newly acquired time.
And the cherry on top? Job satisfaction for recruiters usually increases in tandem with this automation, meaning you will have much less difficulty retaining them.
Talkpush is the new way employers and candidates connect all over the world. We believe hiring is about starting conversations; and are on a mission to level up the recruitment experience. Want to know more? Schedule a demo 👉👉👉 here.
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