5 Ways Chatbots Attract Passive Candidates
Kaya Payseno
Aug 23, 2018 9:32:56 PM
Sometimes the “human touch” is not all it’s cracked up to be. Learn why passive candidates actually prefer to interact with bots, at least at first.
82% of candidates say their ideal recruiting experience is a mixture of recruiter interaction and innovative technology. Humans are great and all, but for a passive candidate who’s curious about, but not actively looking for, a job, talking to a recruiter may seem like too big a leap. Chatbots bridge the gap between interest and application by providing on-demand information.
The following are five ways your company can demonstrate a value proposition to passive candidates before they even talk to an IRL recruiter.
- Be there when they need you: Passive candidates, who are open to a new opportunity – but only a really good one – benefit from the ability to ask questions of your bot anytime. When Deutsche Telekom experimented with a recruiting chatbot for a year, they found that over half the time candidates interacted with their bot outside of working hours. Curious browsers asked questions you’d expect, like “What’s the salary?”, and ones you might not, like “Can I bring my dog to work?”… This kind of information that wouldn’t be on a job advertisement, but may entice a passive candidate to apply.
- Show you care about tech: Chatbots are a great way to showcase your employer brand. The mere presence of a bot asserts your company’s commitment to trying new tech. Since 2016, state-of-the-art technology has been more important to employees than even the design of the office or onsite amenities.That means showcasing sleek tech in your hiring process is great for attracting candidates.
- Highlight your employer brand: A chatbot character is a great way companies can show some personality early-on in recruiting process. Is your company a sassy Siri or more of an attentive Alexa? Either way, the personality of your tech is a great way to introduce applicants to your particular office vibes.
- No question left unanswered: There simply isn’t enough time in the day to respond to everyone. It’s estimated that 65% of resumes submitted via applicant tracking systems are ignored. To combat this, the American armed forces implemented a chatbot known as SGT STAR in 2006. Since that time, this bot has fielded 11 million questions – the equivelant workload of a 55 person recruiting team.
- Never Say Goodbye: Chatbots can also work in conjunction with your applicant tracking system (ATS) to re-engage past applicants from your talent pool. This is an especially valuable demographic as you know they are already interested in your business. Checking back in with these former candidates keeps your pipeline engaged, and boosts the applicant experience overall.
When you add AI into the mix, the possibilities for chatbots become even greater. Bots that use machine learning to learn from their interactions with your candidates can act as more of a live chat (which normally an instant message conversation with a human worker) than an interactive FAQ. A fact made more powerful when you realize that 48% of consumers would rather contact a company through live chat over any other medium.
Overall the chatbot industry is expected to grow by 35% between 2016 and 2020, by which time it’s predicted that 80% of businesses world wide will use these bots in some form or another. And banks even foresee automating 90% of their customer interactions through using bot assistants in lieu of human customer service reps.
It’s important to acknowledge however, that for recruiting, the point of chatbots isn’t to replace humans, rather to automate mundane tasks so you can focus on building meaningful relationships with the right candidates. So why not take advantage of this tireless assistant? You could do great things together!
Tags: Recruitment