CRM: How to keep in touch with high-potential (second-choice) candidates

There are many synonyms for the target audience that this article is about: second-best candidates, silver medallists, runners-up, high potentials and many more. But sometimes this also includes applicants for whom the job offer comes at the wrong time. You don't wish to lose these valuable candidates of course. After all, you have already invested a lot of resources in evaluating the candidate and have collected valuable information. Many of them will have completed the application process up until just before an appointment, which means they are interested in your company - and are a good cultural fit with the right qualifications. 

In short: these candidates are ideally suitable for your CRM system and could help you fill vacancies more quickly in the future.

In just 5 easy steps, we help you to also find the best process for these talented candidates. 

1. Include candidates in the CRM system

2. Automations for managing talent profiles 

3. Keeping in touch with candidates

4. Assigning a new position to candidates 

5. Triggering an application for the candidate via the interface 

1. Import/include candidates in the CRM system 

In order not to lose a suitably qualified candidate after an application process, the person's data needs to get from your applicant tracking system to Talentry's CRM. There are various options for adding your candidates to the CRM system for further processing. These have various advantages & disadvantages and their suitability for your processes depends on your focus. Deciding on a particular approach will also depend on how quickly you want to get started with your CRM activities and whether interfaces are to be added at a later date. It is also possible to combine the various options.

Talentry offers you the following options:  

1. Manual creation of individual talent profiles by the recruiter
2. Bulk import of talent profiles using an Excel file
3. Adding candidates using a talent form 
4. Interface for synchronising talent profiles between Talentry CRM & your ATS*

Option 1: Manual creation of talent profiles by the recruiter 

✅ Implementation: no additional effort 

✅ Hurdle for the candidate: low (focus is on an easy candidate journey)

✅ Additional candidate information: the recruiter can enter existing details directly

✅ Management of talent profiles: instant assignment to pools, assignment of tags & status, and setting up of reminders possible

✅ /❗ Candidate control: on an individual basis within the recruitment team 

❗GDPR: must be triggered manually by the recruiter after creating the profile

❗Effort for recruiters: manual effort for the recruiter 

❗Suitable for large-scale use?: No, suitable for creating individual talent profiles  

--> A description of how to create talent profiles manually can be found in this article.

Option 2: Bulk import of candidates using an Excel file 

✅ Implementation: low effort (forms can, for example, be integrated into email rejection templates in your ATS)

❗Hurdle for the candidate: candidates have to re-enter their details themselves 

✅ Additional candidate information: you decide how many fields and how much information you want to request in the form

✅ Management of talent profiles: instant assignment to pools based on the form and status information 

✅ GDPR: happens automatically when sending the talent form

✅ Effort for recruiters: big time savings for recruiters compared to options 1 and 2 

✅ Suitable for large-scale use: Yes! Due to the link / embedded iFrame

❗Loss of data / candidates: automatic filtering of candidates because only interested candidates will make the "extra effort" (possibly, a high loss of candidates to be expected)

-> How to create a talent form is explained in this article

Talent forms present a dilemma: how much can you reasonably expect from the candidate and what is the minimum amount of information required for further processing? In general, you should only ask for information that is worth reusing or will be of use in the future and not just 'nice to have'.

Option 4: Interface for synchronising talent profiles between Talentry CRM & your ATS*

❗Implementation: high effort (depending on the complexity of the interface)

✅ Hurdle for the candidate: none! Talent profile is automatically created in the CRM system (based on a trigger in the ATS) 

✅ Additional candidate information: no double data maintenance necessary 

✅ Management of talent profiles: yes, depending on how the interface is set up, most information can be transferred from the ATS into talent fields 

❗GDPR: sent separately to the candidate (process must be manually set up - in practice, sending 1x per week has proved successful // our product roadmap allows for automation of this process)

✅ Effort for recruiters: little or no manual effort by the recruiter

✅ Suitable for large-scale use? Yes 

❗Loss of data loss / candidates: even if candidates are already in the CRM system, consent must be obtained manually - loss of candidates who do not give it. 

*poss. with additional costs - if interested, please contact our Customer Success Manager or our Support Team

2. Automation and reminder management (optional)

Set up automated functions to make your daily work easier. There are two distinct types of automation here: Rules (also known as Workflows) and Reminders. 

2.1 Automation using rules 

A rule consists of three parts: 

• A condition that triggers the rule to be used
• A filter, i.e. a selection criteria for the candidates to which this rule should be applied
• An action that should be performed in respect of the selected candidates

2-1 Select trigger (When should an action be performed?)
In our example, this would be "When the talent profile is created".

2-2 Add filter (Which target audience does the action relate to?)

Filters must be set for the talent profiles according to the option selected in stage 1.

You can now select one of the various actions: 

2-3 Add to the pool (recommended for Option 3 or Option 4)

2-4 Notify recruiter(s) (recommended for Option 3) 

2-5 Send campaign (recommended for Option 3 & poss. Option 4) 

Welcome candidates to your talent pool and highlight the benefits of it. Explain what participating in the talent pool involves (e.g. newsletters, exclusive invitations to events, profile screening and proactive contact in the event of a suitable new vacancy) 

2.2 Automatic reminders: 

Recruiters can set reminders for themselves or other system users directly in the relevant talent profile. This is particularly useful if the candidate has rejected a job offer because it came at the wrong time. The procedure is particularly helpful in respect of vacancies that are repeatedly advertised. There is then a reminder to approach this candidate again, e.g. 6 months later.

3. Keeping in touch with potential candidates 

We make a distinction between 1:1 communication and community marketing. It certainly makes sense to keep in touch with your "high potential" talent leads via newsletters or community events. However, we also recommend a strong personal dialogue with these candidates (1:1 communication). Here it is a good idea to assign a specific recruiter to the candidate, e.g. the person with whom the candidate has already had contact. Make extensive use of reminders, notes, email sync and automated functions to keep the effort as low as possible despite the individual approach.

Furthermore, you can use the follow-up form function to ask candidates who have been in your pool for a longer period of time for updates on their professional career, salary expectations or availability. This way, you always know about the candidate's current situation and can contact them specifically in respect of any new vacancies. 

Links to further articles: 

• Keeping in touch with your talent leads using Talent Campaigns
• Updating talent profiles using pre-filled forms
• 1:1 Communication - link your inbox to Talentry

4. Assigning a new position to candidates 

A new job is being advertised and in the back of your mind you already have your existing runner-up candidates who should urgently be included in the process?

The there are two ways to do this:

Assign a job after contacting them; or the job is assigned / the person is selected by you as being suitably qualified during screening and assigned to the job - they are contacted  afterwards.

An example for situation 1: You have ascertained a new job fit during 1:1 communication with the talent lead. You can now assign the candidate to the job. 

For the later, the process would be the other way round. First you screen the profiles and assign the job as soon as you see a fit between the profile and job posting. Only then do you contact the candidate. 

-> Tips and tricks for filtering, seraching & sorting talent profiles.

5. Trigger a candidate application via the interface 

If the candidate is interested in the assigned position, you should make the process as easy as possible and, ideally, submit the application for the candidate by sending it directly to your ATS via the interface. Alternatively, you can send a direct application link to the candidate requesting only mandatory information. 

This allows you to track the application in your ATS as usual. 

OPTIONAL - Talent Interface:

If you have implemented an integration between Talentry and your ATS, this can be done with 2 additional clicks 

1. Click: send to ATS

2. Click: send to ATS

In most cases, the application form must meet the minimum or mandatory requirements of the ATS, but you are otherwise free to configure it as you wish.