scubaWhen we talk about experiences, what often pops into your mind is something magical or mythical. A vacation to a foreign land, a sci-fi book that takes place in a different world. Something we’ve never experienced.

What we don’t talk about is recruiting. Yet often, you find people talking about the “candidate experience,” a keyword now so often abused by speakers and recruiters alike – it has lost most of it’s meaning.

See, the current status when it comes to candidate experience is that it’s not an experience at all. It’s a quick moment in time – one that can easily be forgotten and dismissed post-apply, as long as you never call back. Your first interaction with a candidate – passive or active – looks the same as everyone else’s. It echoes the same boring verbiage. It communicates one dimension – one that is often boring and inspires nothing. No dream. No vision.

But isn’t that the whole point of work? To dream again? I know that sounds cliché but in reality, taking a new job isn’t a one-dimensional decision. It requires insights and details, questions and answers, inspiration – a real consultative process that normally happens solely on the side of the job seeker. They’re left to inspire themselves which leaves most of them running for the hills after they see your job posting, instead of applying.

Product Review: SkillScout

SkillScout is hoping to change that by changing the way candidates and companies present themselves to make the first moment of contact impactful. How, you might ask? By applying some of the best marketing techniques to candidate interaction and recruiting. They’re creating recruiting experiences, not just recruiting materials.

SkillScout is currently in Beta, coaching employers to create better candidate experiences with the use of context-critical video. They offer…

  • Workplace video creation that provide challenges to the candidates that help them see the future of their work, not just learn more about the company. If we’re getting our recruitment marketing right – we know that we have to make our marketing about the right person to work for us, not about our company. Their team does exactly that. The output? A 2-3 minute video that will convert candidates. In fact, their customers are already 3 times more views on their video based posts than earlier text-only pages.
  • Recruiting campaigns that get more eyes (and conversions) for their pages. These pages look like something we’d actually read in our free time. They’re creative and provide all of the context a job seeker needs to make a decision.
  • Show candidates in action. Let’s face it – manufacturing may not be the sexiest of industries but there’s always an output. Mid- and senior level employees want to show off their skills. This is a simple way for you to provide a method for candidates to do exactly that.

By hyper-focusing and targeting their industry to industrial groups for now, they’ve been able to closely track their data in the context and report back retention rates that are 90% or higher. Yes, that’s not a typo. 90%. But don’t worry, if you’re not in manufacturing – they’re about to extend their business to new industries.

To learn more about SkillScout, go to SkillScout.com or watch our live demo conversation below.

 



By Katrina Kibben

RecruitingDaily contributing writer and editor.  I am a storyteller. A tactical problem solver. A curious mind. A data nerd. With that unique filter, I work to craft messages that strategically improve the perceptions and experiences of our clients, the people they employ and the candidates they wish to attract. I methodically review and collect research and insights to offer solution-based recommendations that meet the one-off, and not so one-off, recruiting and employer branding problems of today's global employers.