You Sourced the Perfect Candidate, Now Get Them to Respond

© 2016 SmashFly Technologies1

Sr. Talent Manager

OpenView Venture Partners

Opportunity Consultant

SmashFly


Meghan Maher Danny Halloran

Senior Talent Manager

OpenView Venture Partners

Opportunity Consultant

SmashFly Technologies



• Two journalists sent cold emails to 1,000 C- and VP-level executives at Fortune 500 companies

• The open rate was pretty high – 45.4%

• However, the response rate was just 1.7%

• Cold outreach is tough!

© 2016 SmashFly Technologies5 © 2016 SmashFly Technologies5

– Kyle Lagunas, IDC


• Hacks for boosting response rate

• Candidate nurture, and how it will make your sourcing strategy more effective

• Metrics that show nurture is working



Source: Tracey Parsons, SmashFly



• The key to personalization: find a trigger.

• What is a trigger?







– It’s what triggered your interest

in the candidate

• Examples:

– Quote from LinkedIn

– Recent article or presentation

– Boolean search

– Shared personal connection



• A quick run-down of best practices:

– Keep it under 30 characters

– Personalized subject lines are 22.2% more likely to opened

• Tie in your trigger!

– 61.8% increase in opens when the word “alert” is usedSource: Adestra


• A quick run-down of best practices:

– The top five subject lines in a recent study all included “Re:”

– Emails with no subject line were opened 8% more than those with a subject line.

– Urgency and exclusivity are your friends!

– Honest & transparency usually win out.

Source: Email Institute

Source: Sidekick


• A quick run-down of not-so-great practices:

– Emails with “you” in the subject line were opened 5% less.

– Emails with “quick” in the subject line were opened 17% less.

– Words to avoid: Opportunity, Congratulations, Work from Home

Source: Sidekick



™


™

1st line introduces the trigger or quotation.

2nd line contains the relevant value proposition.

3rd line is a call to action.


• M. J. Hoffman, Why You Why You Now ™

• Makes sure candidates don’t miss the point, and are directly drawn to your call to action.

• How to make your own:

– Why You: Your trigger

– Why You Now: Connect relevant value prop to your trigger

– Call to Action: Next steps you want them to take



• 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up; 80% of sales require at lease five follow-ups Source: HubSpot


• 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up; 80% of sales require at lease five follow-ups

• Touchpoint Model – A scheduled cadence of emails and calls

Source: HubSpot


• 44% of salespeople give up after one follow-up; 80% of sales require at lease five follow-ups.

• Touchpoint Model – A scheduled cadence of emails and calls.

• Test different cadences, and see what works for you

Source: HubSpot


C o n v e r t m o r e c a n d i d a t e s i n t o a p p l i c a n t s ,

a n d e v e n t u a l l y , q u a l i f i e d h i r e s


What is nurture?

Communicating to the right candidate with the right message at the right time.

Nurture is what, how and when you will communicate with your sourced candidate leads to keep them

warm and grow their interest in your organization so they may eventually apply or opt out.


When does nurture start?

Nurture starts when a candidate is sourced by your team or opts into your talent network and gives you

permission to communicate with them during the next several stages of the candidate journey.


1. Target and personalize your messaging to interested leads based on information they give you and their actions with your content.

2. Drive leads through the candidate journey, from awareness to application.

3. Find the right candidates for the right opportunity without sourcing from scratch.


“I find people, sure. But like all good consumers, they want a comparison, and easily with the change in the job market, they find one. So why will they choose your company? What will make it stand out? It’s all about the wooing. The engagement. The experience. That is the most important part of recruiting right now.”

– Kelly Dingee, Fistful of Talent




• Segmenting by job family



• Talent networks



• Talent networks

• Application reminders

• Increase chance of converting to applicant and quality hire later



• If you can’t measure it, how do you know it’s working?



• Response rate, open rate




• # of applicants, # of hires





• Test, test, test!





• Test, test, test!

• Historical data & benchmarks


• Recruitment marketing and nurture should work for you to influence the candidates you source to actually apply.

• Hacks to boost your response rate

• How to automate nurture

• Metrics for success



You Sourced the Perfect Candidate, Now Get Them to Respond

Recruiting & HR