10 Candidate Relationship Management Strategies to Improve Corporate Branding

It’s a competitive job market out there, not just for those seeking employment, but also for employers. The 2024 Global Shortage Report revealed that 75% of employers are finding it hard to recruit for their openings. While the talent is there, there are those who opt to go to bigger companies that can offer better benefits.

So, how can your business compete? By having a strong employer brand. 

One of the best ways to strengthen your employer brand is to use Candidate Relationship Management (CRM).  Learn everything you need to know about candidate relationship management strategies with this article.

What Is Candidate Relationship Management?

Candidate relationship management is the process of developing and maintaining relationships with candidates throughout the recruitment process and even after that. It includes developing interactions with inactive and active candidates, guaranteeing a positive experience from initial touchpoints to hiring and beyond. 

Candidate relationship management strategies include personalized experiences, targeted communication, and continuous follow-ups.

How Candidate Relationship Management Improves Employer Branding

Candidate relationship management can help improve employer branding in several ways:

Makes Candidates Feel Valued

Having a well-executed CRM strategy can make candidates feel informed throughout the recruiting process. This makes them feel valued, and ensures a lasting impression on both the successful and unsuccessful applicants. 

Creates a Streamlined Recruitment Process

With the use of a CRM strategy, you can enhance candidate communication. As a result, you can streamline what could have otherwise been an inefficient recruitment process. This adds value to the recruitment experience, which candidates appreciate. More than half of candidates quit lengthy applications.

Enhances Candidate Engagement

CRM strategies boost candidate engagement. Candidates who have regular and excellent interactions with a potential employer are more likely to vouch for that company, even if they didn’t manage to get the job. 

Overall, candidate relationship management strategies are a must for recruitment success. By enhancing their branding by managing relationships with active and inactive candidates, employers can also build a strong talent pool that they can use when they need it. This ensures roles are filled more quickly with highly qualified candidates who already know the company. 

Key Candidate Relationship Management Strategies

Now that you know the importance of candidate relationship management strategies, let's have a look at some you can use to improve your branding:

1. Conduct Proactive Outreach

Don’t just wait for candidates to reach out to you. Look for them yourself and start building those relationships. You can do this through proactive outreach. 

Here are some tips that you can follow when crafting these outreach emails:

• Personalize Initial Outreach

Email personalization is key to boosting response rates. So, make sure you tailor your emails to the email recipient. Check out this example:

“Hi, [candidate's name]. I came across your profile and was impressed with your qualifications in [a certain skill]. I thought you might like to know about the exciting work we are currently doing. Our company has been at the forefront of [highlight relevant company accomplishments in the given field]. “

The potential employer doesn’t just use the candidate’s name in the email. The company also highlights the candidate’s skills and relevant company accomplishments to make the email recipient feel like the message was written specifically for them.

• Engage with Industry Insights

To start building that relationship, you can send an email with relevant industry insights, challenges related to the candidate's area of expertise, and upcoming trends. You can even offer free tools they can use at work. For instance, if you’re reaching out to prospective members of your sales team, why not offer a free sales planning template they can use? If you’re building relationships with a potential social media marketer for your company, you can offer a social media calendar they can leverage to schedule posts. 

All these provide value to the candidate and position your company as an industry thought leader. 

Check out this email example:

Hi [candidate’s name], I thought you might be interested in some recent insights that we have gathered about [innovation or industry trends] at [company name]. We’ve also attached a free [tool] you can use. Hope you like it!” 

• Offer Invitations to Company Events

Inviting candidates to attend in-person official company events is a brilliant way of, not just building relationships, but also of letting them see your company culture firsthand. You can invite them to events where they can meet business decision-makers, just like this company does: 

“Hi [candidate’s name], we're hosting a virtual panel on [topic] with some of our team leaders. It is a great opportunity to learn more about the team and ask any questions about working with us. Let us know if you would like to participate.”

Make sure you use email tracking tools to evaluate the performance of your outreach emails. With these tools, you can monitor if a candidate has opened an email and further engaged with it. If they don’t, you can make the necessary adjustments to your outreach messages so you can generate better results.

2. Segment Your Candidate Pool for Targeted Nurturing

Not all candidates who responded to your outreach email or who applied but were put on hold for a role will have the same interests or needs. Therefore, segmenting your talent pipeline based on criteria such as experience, employee skills, or industry means that you can create more targeted and personalized messaging to nurture them. This fosters a positive perception of your company.

You can use an applicant tracking system (ATS) or email software for this. For instance, an Oleeo applicant tracking system benefits organizations by arming them with the data they need to nurture relationships with any type of candidate. Oleeo ensures the right messages are delivered to the right candidate at the right time. Email software, meanwhile, can help you segment your email list based on specific interests and preferences. 

3. Leverage Social Media

Email isn’t the only platform you can use to build and nurture relationships with candidates. Social media is a just-as-powerful tool. There are over 5 billion social media users. That figure is bound to include your potential employees. So, when you post on social media, your potential candidates will likely see it. And if you post great content regularly at that, you can easily enhance their perception of you as a company.  

But what types of content should you post in the first place? Share regular updates about the company, other company news and industry insights. 

You can even share employee testimonials to help in building trust for your employer brand. 

Here’s another tip: Why not run polls and quizzes? They’re great for boosting engagement. With the right questions, you can even learn a lot about your potential employees and use the information to improve your recruitment marketing strategies.

4. Seek Help of Current Employees to Build and Enhance Candidate Relationships 

You can also seek the help of your current employees to develop and nurture relationships with potential hires. Ask them to promote your company as a great place to work to their peers. This way, they can also help enhance your company image.

Of course, to do this, you need to ensure you are a great employer in the first place. Offer them excellent perks and benefits like a great work-life balance and flexible work arrangements. Make sure these are formalized in the employee handbook, manual for hybrid setups or guide to remote working for businesses your company uses. If you do this, you probably won’t even have to ask them to advocate for you.

To get the most of this CRM strategy, don’t forget to encourage employee referrals. You can motivate your employees to refer candidates by providing them with tangible incentives, like cash or a gift certificate, for example. Doing this can also help you create a strong network of potential hires who come from a trusted endorsement.

1. Incorporate Candidate Feedback to Improve the Recruitment Process

Gathering feedback from candidates at various stages of the recruitment process can give you valuable insights into the areas that need improvement. But that’s not the only benefit you can gain if you incorporate feedback into your processes. When you ask candidates to share their opinions with you, you essentially engage them. We already know how much prospective employees appreciate employers who go out of their way to do that.  

Plus, when you take action on this feedback, it can lead to a more positive candidate experience, which, in turn, again enhances your employer brand.

Use surveys to measure candidate satisfaction. Surveys can be sent to candidates after applications or interviews or even after they have been hired. 

2. Integrate Enterprise Application Tools to Enhance Recruitment Efficiency

Modern technology, such as enterprise application integration tools, can help to improve the efficiency of your candidate management process. These tools are used to create seamless data transfers across different systems. The result? Streamlined operations and reduced redundancies. 

Using these tools, you can also ensure that all recruitment-related information is consistent and up-to-date on all platforms that you use. This reduces the chance of miscommunication and mistakes.

But how is all this related to your employer brand? 

Well, who wouldn’t want to be part of an organization that’s committed to a professional and organized recruitment process?

3. Engage Candidates with Blog Posts, Case Studies, White Papers 

Don’t just leverage outreach emails to share valuable industry insights with candidates. Why not take advantage of your website, too? Your valuable content can take the form of blog posts, case studies or white papers.

When you produce these types of site content on a regular basis, you position yourself as an authority in your field. That can attract, not just potential customers, but also highly skilled candidates. More than 70% of job seekers said they prefer large companies already known as experts in the industry to startups. 

4. Leverage Chatbots

You can use other channels to connect with prospective hires. Integrating a chatbot into your recruitment strategy on platforms such as your careers page can allow you to respond instantly to candidate inquiries. This enables them to move through the recruitment process seamlessly and improve the overall candidate experience, enhancing your reputation.

Besides, chatbots can help you offer a personalized experience, something candidates are also looking for. When active and passive candidates ask chatbots questions, chatbots can offer the tailored responses they expect. In fact, chatbots are so great at personalizing just like humans that almost 30% of users can’t determine whether their last interaction with a company was with a chatbot or with a real person.

5. Talk to Every Candidate

This may seem like a no-brainer candidate relationship management strategy, but, believe it or not, some organizations overlook it. Instead of keeping in touch with all their applicants, they nurture relationships only with those who impressed them but didn’t get the job for some reason.

That can be bad for your image. Remember, people talk. Imagine what would happen if an applicant who didn’t pass your written exam finds out from another who made it but didn’t land the job that you’re still in touch with this last one. They’d probably think you discriminated against them, and spread the word. Now think about the effect on your company image if you did the exact opposite and interacted with everyone. 

Besides, great talent can emerge from any of the candidates you’ve had interactions with throughout the recruitment process. That means if you become selective in your candidate interactions post-recruitment, you limit yourself to those individuals who may not even be as talented as the ones who were ignored. 

6. Keep Your Promises

Here’s one important thing you should always remember: your prospective employees are people like you. That means like you (and everyone else), they don’t like it when someone breaks their promises.

So, if you promised you’d get back to an applicant within five days, make sure you do. Or if you specified in your job description that the interview process would be held virtually, make sure that’s exactly what happens.

When you stay true to your word at all times, you give potential hires a great impression. All the more will they want to be a part of your organization.

Final Words

Candidate relationship management strategies are essential since they improve the candidate experience.

You learned 10 key strategies for CRM you can use for your business. Conduct proactive outreach and segment your candidates for targeted nurturing. Don’t forget to leverage social media to connect with potential hires. You can also seek the help of your current employees to build and nurture strong relationships with prospective employees. 

Integrate enterprise application tools to enhance recruitment efficiency. Also, engage quality candidates with blog posts, white papers and case studies. Chatbots are also great for personalized engagement. Take advantage of them. As final tips, talk to every candidate and always keep your promises.  

Ultimately, when a business prioritizes CRM strategies such as these, it doesn’t just enhance its company image. It also sets the stage for long-term recruitment success.