According to Yello’s 2019 Recruiting Study, more than one-third of HR professionals (35%) report not having enough time to engage candidates. 

Of those HR professionals, more than half point to scheduling interviews, working with hiring managers and screening candidates as the most time-consuming tasks that prevent them from connecting with candidates. 

Why it matters

More than half of all candidates say the most frustrating part of the hiring process is waiting to hear back about status updates. That means a majority of job seekers agree that a lack of recruiter engagement is the worst part of applying for a job. 

When recruiters aren’t able to communicate with candidates, they can’t build relationships. Not only does that impact the candidate experience, it can impact the bottom line. 

Chart showing how much of an impact recruiters have on Gen Z and Millennials' decision to accept a job
When it comes to the decision to accept a job, nearly one in three candidates point to the recruiter they worked as the biggest factor. For Gen Z, recruiter relationships matter even more — nearly half of Gen Z candidates consider that relationship to be the top factor in their decision to accept a job.

Bottom line: In a candidate-driven market, communications and engagements aren’t just a nice to have. These engagements make a significant impact on the overall candidate experience. If your recruiters aren’t able to make the time to connect with candidates, that will ultimately prevent your company from hiring the top talent you need to drive the business forward. 

How to make time for smart relationship building

For almost all generations (except Gen X), email wins out as candidates’ most preferred communication method, followed by phone calls and text messaging.

But these communication preferences don’t need to be followed exactly by the book. Candidates tend to value any type of technology or communication method that makes it easy to connect with recruiters — even if most companies aren’t leveraging those tools. 

For example, 66% of candidates consider text messaging to be useful or very useful during the job process. On the recruiter side, only 27% of respondents say they use text messaging.

Graph showing preferred communication methods by generation for Gen X, employed millennials, student millennials, and Gen Z
Why the disconnect? When recruiters have their hands full, candidate relationships can fall through the cracks. Any type of technology that makes it easier to communicate — email, texting or otherwise — is a win for candidates who are used to feeling ignored throughout the hiring process.

Yello’s candidate engagement software combines a suite of automated communication tools to ensure that recruiters can build real relationships with candidates — even when they’re short on time. Yello make it easy to build targeted, mobile-friendly communications that empower your team to engage candidates anywhere and develop an informed talent pipeline.

Showcase your brand with email campaigns

Use Yello to email candidates
Leverage fully-branded email campaigns to engage candidates, share your organization’s values and drive action down the candidate pipeline.

  • Intuitive campaign builder
  • Template-based, personalized communications
  • Schedule email sends in advance

Stand out with text messaging

Text with Yello to explore careers
Put candidates first with interactive texting that makes it easy to submit mobile applications or learn about available opportunities.

  • Keyword-based texting programs
  • Drive action with mobile forms
  • Link to videos, talent communities, job postings and more

Save time with campaign management

Set-and-forget functionality empowers your team to send targeted emails and texts at any cadence to keep candidates engaged for maximum impact throughout the hiring process

  • Target with pipeline criteria
  • Campaign automation and scheduler
  • Combine email and text campaigns

Track engagement metrics

Easily monitor campaign performance and get key engagement insights to improve your strategy in the future.
Monitor communications metrics and campaign performance to enhance your recruiting team’s candidate engagement strategies

  • Monitor campaign performance
  • Track open and click rates
  • Identify engaged candidates

Could your candidate relationships be stronger?  

Whatever your team needs to build a better candidate experience, Yello has the functionality to engage candidates at scale — even on small teams with limited time and resources. Build better relationships with Yello, and ultimately secure the talent you need to move your organization forward.