The next generation of candidate nurture
Back in 2008, PSC was asked to develop a nurture strategy for a major manufacturer who won a new contract. What we developed was, in the rear-view mirror, rudimentary. Of course we asked candidates to join a talent community, of course we sent them reminders to finish their application, and of course we sent them some educational messages about the nature of the work and the company. That’s what has been done for the last 14 years.
It was not enough. It’s never been enough. The reality is that when we all started talking about candidate nurture, we were running the consumer marketing playbook – which, let’s be honest, is not a bad playbook or aspiration for recruiting, but it always falls short. That’s never been good enough for me, or for the candidates.
Yes, we evolved to monthly nurture emails, and automated drip campaigns to keep people warm. I say “we” but the way most are doing nurture has created a second black hole. Join the talent community and get job alerts, at best, or nothing, at average. Again, not enough.
Last year, our team had an opportunity to re-think candidate nurture and we came upon the next generation of the practice. We call it Quadrant Strategy.
What is Quadrant Strategy?
At its core, Quadrant Strategy is the concept of nurturing talent based on intent. When we focus on intent from both the business and the candidate, we can deliver hire-ready talent to recruiters and nurture the pipeline in a more relationship-building way to continually move talent from different buckets based on their current state and their desire to work with the specific company.
Reading that, I am sure you’re thinking, well, duh. Intent is amazing, but they’ve joined my talent community, doesn’t that show intent? Of course it does, but it is a snapshot in time – and it ignores the businesses intent with that prospective candidate.
You see, it’s deeper than that.
Quadrant Strategy reorients our thinking on Candidate Nurture based on their relationship stage with us and their intent.
Quadrant Strategy is about moving people in and out of different "intent quadrants,” serving them experiences, content, and connection that help them along in their path to being an employee with your company… or not.
Quadrant Strategy goes beyond the "awareness, consideration, intent" journey and instead creates more dynamic experience that meets their needs and intentions.
To be clear, this is a shift.
To be the leader in candidate experience and recruitment marketing means we deliver well-informed candidates in a timely fashion and we do this with Quadrant Strategy.
Why the marketing playbook failed us
We cannot ignore that our experience is wildly different than consumer marketing. When you go to a store, you are rarely turned away and told you cannot buy the product, which is why it is critical that we re-imagine nurture to address this challenge, and go beyond the "awareness, consideration, intent" journey and move more toward their development as people and how we educate them to find real(er)-time matches for work. It's about creating a more dynamic experience that meets their needs and intent.
Developing our own playbook
People are not static. When they join your talent community, they have one interest and one set of skills, but over time, they grow and evolve and our nurture strategy must evolve as well. Which is why we believe, along with our customers, that Quadrant Strategy is the way forward. It’s the best way to deliver hire-ready talent to your recruiters and sourcers. It’s the best way to keep talent warm as they grow. It’s the best way to educate people you really need into thinking of your organization first.
It's more than an abandoned job email, it’s more than monthly newsletters. It’s the right information at the right time to the right candidate that makes nurture such a valuable asset in the recruitment marketing arsenal.
Ready to talk about the next generation of candidate nurture? Get in touch.