The recruiting system has gone digital. With technology advancing quicker than ever, companies must leverage the latest digital strategies to find and hire top talent. The competition for skilled employees gets fiercer every year, so you can't rely on traditional recruiting tactics alone anymore.

In fact, according to a report by Applecast, the global pandemic in 2020 increased the use of mobile devices for job applications. They report that over 60% of job applications done online in 2020 were made through a mobile phone rather than a desktop.

What does this mean for you? To build an effective recruitment process in 2024, you need to up your digital recruitment game and create a solid brand presence to attract the best talents.

This means having a robust digital presence across multiple platforms and channels where you can attract, interact, and recruit passive and active job seekers. And don't worry about "how," because these five recruiting strategies should guide you.

Ensure You Have a Strong Digital Brand

Your digital brand is the image of your company's culture, values, and workplace. It's a key factor candidates evaluate when considering new career opportunities.

An authentic, positive employer brand helps your corporate reputation and ability to hire. According to Glassdoor, 75% of candidates are more likely to go for a job if the employer actively manages its brand. This is because they want to know what working for you is like, and having a strong digital brand gives these candidates an idea of what to expect.

So, the first digital recruiting strategy to focus on is building your brand. Ensure your career site, social media channels, and online presence align with your desired brand.

Show off your workplace perks and culture. Feature employee testimonials. And don't just talk about being a "great place to work"—demonstrate what that means through images, videos, and specific examples.

You want candidates to have a positive and authentic view of your employer's value proposition. That way, you'll attract more applicants who are a good culture fit.

Decide on the Best Digital Recruitment Channels to Use

Another strategy is optimizing the digital channels in which you plan to invest your recruitment time and money. And when I say digital channels, I mean those online platforms or tools you use to source, engage, assess, or communicate with job seekers. Each platform offers unique audiences, targeting capabilities, and integration options.

So, when determining the best channels for your recruiting efforts, assess your current tech stack, past hiring performance, and budget considerations. And please do not rely on just one channel; your ideal job seeker may be anywhere. So try developing a recruitment marketing strategy that includes a mix of top channels, like:

• Your careers site and job board postings
• Social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn (News - Alert), and X)
• Professional associations and alumni networks
• Programmatic job advertising

Two of the channels listed that I'd suggest you focus on (while leveraging others) are 'job boards" and "social media." According to digital HR, a renowned digital recruiting and marketing firm, these are the top channels that bring the highest success rate when actively searching for top talents. In fact, according to a survey by Zippia, almost half of job applications that are done online are from digital job boards.

On the other hand, Content Stadium reports that, as of 2023, over 96% of recruiting teams are now leveraging social media for their job postings and are seeing massive success rates.

So, focus on these two channels and don't just rely on them; experiment with other channels, too. Keep testing these multiple platforms in parallel until you determine the optimal mix to integrate into your digital recruitment marketing plan.

Prioritize Recruitment Marketing

Recruitment marketing is another good strategy to promote your employer's brand and job openings. This allows you to get your message in front of more qualified candidates.

For example, you may run targeted ads on social media directed at specific skill sets or demographics. You can create personalized nurture email campaigns for promising applicants from your database. Or develop referral initiatives that incentivize your employees to share job openings within their networks.

Recruitment marketing is all about creativity and understanding your audience's preferences. Then, develop the right content and outreach strategies to compel the most relevant people to apply. It's that simple!

Prioritize Candidate Experience

Today's candidates have high expectations when applying for jobs, just as they would if they were your customers. So, your recruitment process must reflect a "sense" of ease and simplicity, especially digitally, where everything leaves an impression related to your brand.

Ensure your online application is mobile-friendly, easy to navigate, and manageable to complete. Communicate timelines upfront and keep candidates updated if anything changes.

And please train your recruiters and any other staff interacting with these candidates to maintain friendly, helpful attitudes. A positive candidate experience will set you apart from most employers who still frustrate their applicants. Eventually, you'll end up attracting and recruiting the best talents who will not only work hard for your brand but also become brand ambassadors.

Automate the Process

Automating redundant admin and sorting tasks improves efficiency during the recruiting process and helps you easily handle manually intensive tasks. This saves your team major time while providing a seamless experience for candidates.

In other words, the more manual work you eliminate, the quicker qualified candidates can move through your process, leading to filled roles.

So, here are some automation ideas to implement:

Email and Texts:

Automatically schedule emails and texts to candidates for initial contact, screening call scheduling, and status updates throughout the recruiting process, etc. This will eventually keep them updated and well-communicated with the application process and add to the candidate's experience.

Screening Questions:

Use phone, video, or online questionnaires to screen candidates for interviews or assessments early in the process. This way, less qualified candidates are filtered out based on predetermined criteria before human interviews take place.

Calendar Scheduling:

Give candidates access to self-schedule interview time slots in an online calendar based on hiring team availability so that they can select their preferred times on a 24/7 basis.

Rejection Letters:

Automatically send rejection emails to candidates who don't meet the scorecard benchmarks needed to move forward at each stage of the process. This quickly informs them and prevents the scenario where they are sending in dozens of follow-up emails to know what's going on.

Offer Process:

Once a candidate verbally accepts their offer, initiate the offer paperwork, background checks, and contract reviews electronically and instantly (to get things moving quickly and smoothly).

Wrapping Up

Digital recruiting has come to stay, and with so much technology at our fingertips, there's nothing wrong with wanting to modernize your recruiting processes with a digital focus (in fact, these strategies should help you get started).

However, it's essential that you don't get so caught up in all the technology in front of you that you lose sight of the human connection needed to create a frictionless, engaging experience for your applicants.

So, start small by picking one or two areas to focus on first. Over time, you'll build a data-driven, digitally transformed hiring process that delivers standout talent ready to drive your organization forward.