Do you re-recruit past applicants?

I continue to be amazed when speaking with hiring companies as to how few of them will search their current applicant tracking systems for previous candidates when starting a new job search.

In some cases, companies have literally tens of thousands of previous applicants in their ATS that they have spent thousands of advertising dollars to acquire, but they don’t re-access them for future searches. When I ask most recruiters "Do you mine your current ATS when starting a new search?" they mostly respond with "No…"

The common process when new jobs come into the recruiting group is to get them out to the job boards
– and spend more money – or burn up your job posting allocations to try and drive new candidates to
apply, and only process applicants as they come in.

Here are some of the reasons that companies we've spoken with don't pursue previous applicants:

1. Most ATS systems have horrible candidate searching abilities.

a) The keyword searching functions in most applicant tracking systems are rudimentary at best and don't support even the most basic capabilities. Recruiters come to find that pinpointing a candidate who came into the system within the past year and has a specific skill and/or education level may not even be possible – so they just give up.

2. The assumption that previous applicants were bad.

a) Most recruiters think that any previous applicants must all have been turned down for positions, and are therefore are bad candidates. This couldn't be further from the truth. 80% or more candidates aren't considered for certain positions because they didn't match a particular set of job requirements, which could mean they didn't have the specific skills, or were over/under qualified for that particular job only.

b) Also, many great candidates are on and off the market so quickly that most larger companies just couldn't get them through their hiring cycle fast enough – and lose out on hiring those great candidates. This shouldn't mean that you stop marketing to those candidates however! Candidates' situations can change rapidly within just months of taking new positions at different companies, and a tap on the shoulder down the road would impress the daylights out of a top candidate - that is, if companies were to take a more strategic approach in communicating with these candidates.

3. Searching, matching, and communicating with candidates is hard work.

a) Even if a recruiter was able to search and find a list of possible candidates, going through the process of building a list of candidates for a job, building an email introduction/catch up message, and sending it out to candidates can take a lot of time, which most recruiters frankly just don't have. That's why they just post new positions, and assume that the job boards will have all the currently active candidates in the
market apply for their jobs - but unfortunately those active candidates are applying to everyone else's jobs at the same time.

b) Most ATS systems don't have the ability to build group lists of certain candidate types – so building ongoing marketing lists within the ATS to quickly broadcast a certain type of job or position is very difficult.

c) In some cases – candidates won't want any future calls or communication from a hiring company – but the ATS makes it hard to flag candidates (or enter notes) regarding avoiding future communication.

4. Companies are afraid to look desperate if reaching out to candidates.

a) Most companies think that re-recruiting candidates for certain jobs might make them look desperate (which most of them are...but like to hide it) which would turn off candidates.

This couldn't be further from the truth. Most candidates are impressed with companies that actually remember them, and inform them frequently about opportunities at their company. The best companies not only communicate job information, but updates on their employment culture via newsletters and important updates within the company – which could be easily communicated to their candidate community.

How re-recruiting can recapture previous candidates.

The irony is, I think most candidates assume if they’ve applied one time to any company, that they are "on file" with that company, and should there be future interest in them – then the company will call (even though we know that companies aren't using their ATS in this way.)

This will certainly prevent them from applying for future positions – and to assume they will remember your company months or years from now – and revisit your career site to search for jobs and re-apply isn't a good assumption.

However, should a previous candidate get an email from your company with a matching job 10 months after they applied – inviting them to re-apply for a new position, and things aren’t going well with the company they decided to take their current job with instead of yours, bingo – you are now on top of your re-recruiting game, and leveraging your past applicants to become future candidates and employees with your company.

--Doug

Comments

[Leah]

Doug,

Great article. I'd like to do this!! However, we don't have an ATS yet. I could use your advice here!! What ATS systems are best in your opinion?

I've looked at about 10-12 but that just makes things even more confusing. Plus, you see them at their best when you get demos... I'd like to know how they actually perform 'in the real world.'

Can anyone help me!?!?!

[Doug Berg]

1. You don't need an ATS system to use our re-recruiting solution. The Jobs2Web system can import candidates from any system - or you can input them over time as you talk with people, and most importantly candidates can subscribe on their own.

The Jobs2Web service can allow candidate to apply via an email directly to you with their resume, if you are still receiving candidate that way - and then when you get your ATS system, we're redirect candidates into that system when it's online.

2. There are lots of ATS systems out there - you're right. On the high end, systems like Taleo, Vurv, Brassring etc. seem to be winning, and on the low end there are systems like ICIMS and others that are fast, easy, and affordable - and could do the job if you want something online quickly.

My friend Lou Adler wrote a great article on picking an ATS which can be found here:
http://www.adlerconcepts.com/resources/column/sourcing/is_your_ats_an_asset_or_liabil_1.php