Between mass layoffs, the Great Resignation, remote work, and the rise of new hiring and sourcing technologies, the recruitment industry stands at a crossroads. There’s an abundance of high-quality candidates who are open to career opportunities, either because they’re currently on the market or have grown concerned about their job security. This means that, for recruiters, the time is right to engage in some good, old-fashioned outbound recruiting – in addition to the inbound strategies they’re probably already using.
Inbound vs. outbound: quantity vs. quality
What’s the difference? With inbound recruiting, candidates come to you. They might see a specific job posting on a board they frequent, search for openings on the company website, or follow another path that leads them your way. Inbound techniques generate pools of candidates that may be impressive from a quantity perspective, but less so from a quality one. Since anyone can apply, recruiters typically spend hours perusing irrelevant resumes to uncover that one ideal candidate.
With outbound recruiting, on the other hand, recruiters take a much more active role in finding, contacting, and building relationships with candidates. Instead of posting an open job description and waiting for interested parties to come out of the woodwork, they scour various sources for highly qualified talent and take steps toward having meaningful conversations with the most relevant individuals. If outreach succeeds and the discussion continues, passive candidates are more likely to accept an offer than active job applicants, who may be considering multiple options – and that boosts a recruiter’s conversion rate.
Why outbound recruiting can be a tall order
At times like these, when many workers are willing and eager to hear about new roles, recruiters have a unique opportunity to actively seek out the right people for the job. This approach takes a lot of work, however – quite a lot more work than simply drafting and sharing a job requisition, then waiting for a wide range of applicants to step forward. First, outbound recruiters calibrate with hiring managers to gain a complete understanding of current and future needs. Next, they source ideal candidates by conducting extensive research across their personal networks, social media, online profile repositories like LinkedIn, and elsewhere. Then, they have to track down those individuals’ most up-to-date contact information and reach out via cold calls, emails, InMail, or direct messages.
The process doesn’t end there. After all, unlike inbound applicants, outbound candidates aren’t necessarily looking actively for jobs in the first place. Indeed, the most qualified and sought-after among them tend to be happy in their current roles. To spark – and keep – each prospect’s interest, recruiters must craft a compelling communication strategy, follow up on a regular basis, and persuade contacts to consider new career opportunities. Finally, outbound recruiters need to periodically examine the data and reevaluate their tactics to understand what’s working – and what’s not.
In other words, while outbound recruiting can yield a huge payoff, it comes at a considerable cost in terms of a busy recruiter’s time and energy – and a hiring organization’s patience, particularly if a hard-to-fill role remains vacant for too long or a manager struggles to convey their precise requirements. And that’s where recruiting management software like RecruitBot can change the game.
The role of technology
RecruitBot uses AI, machine learning, and automation to simplify every step of the outbound recruitment process, from candidate sourcing to outreach and beyond. It searches for talent across a vast global database, learns from recruiters’ preferences to suggest increasingly relevant candidates, and enables close collaboration with hiring managers throughout. Automated but personalized drip campaigns help recruiters engage more effectively and efficiently than ever before, while rich analytics make it easy to optimize each step.
With technology working in the background to expedite or eliminate repetitive tasks, people can focus on the aspects of outbound recruiting that truly require a uniquely human touch. For instance, recruiters can connect with the best candidates on a deeper level, familiarize them with hiring organizations, and get them excited about new roles. There’s also more time for high-value activities like improving DEI initiatives, fine-tuning messaging, building long-term partnerships with hiring managers, and more.
Making outbound strategies more feasible
So what does this mean for recruiters? Technology is now available to help them reach out to more qualified candidates than ever before – and get from initial outreach to successful hire in a scalable, cost-effective, time-efficient way. Indeed, our internal research suggests that 1 out of 2 candidates found through RecruitBot are relevant, compared to 1 out of 10 on LinkedIn. And RecruitBot can help you with all your recruiting efforts, whether you focus on outbound, inbound, or a combination of both.
Ready to give it a try? Talk to sales.
