Staying connected and engaged with both clients and candidates is a great way to build relationships and have ongoing dialogue with them. Whether it is about the job market or the Life Sciences industry overall, if you continue to stay close to them, their business and how it’s changing and evolving, they’re more likely to think of you when they do have a hiring need or want to open a job search as a candidate. Because of that continual engagement and relationship building, you can better navigate the candidate marketplace on their behalf or sell the client’s company more efficiently in the marketplace. Continuing engagement is also a great way to show expertise on our end. As we stay connected, we look to share new data or market insights with these stakeholders and hopefully position ourselves as industry and subject matter experts.
As far as staying engaged with candidates from a recruiter’s standpoint, it is important because, in this industry, long-term relationships are the key to success. Even if a candidate isn’t looking for a job or has landed a new role, staying in touch and building that relationship over time is critical; if they’re ever looking for a job, they’ll likely come to you first and are also more likely to answer a call from a recruiter they’ve built a relationship with. There’s always the possibility that a candidate could turn into a client. Even if there are candidates not seeking employment at that time, it’s still important to maintain communication. We want them to know that we’re looking out for them even if we don’t have an exact fit for them with one of our clients at that moment. Whenever we see relevant job postings, we’ll share those with candidates. Some candidates even like having monthly touch points with our team members to remain connected and to be proactive. We take a collaborative approach with them and even help them network with companies that may be on their target list, even if we do not have an active search with the organization.
When it comes to the ways we’re staying engaged with clients and how often, it varies from client to client. A lot of times, I’ll share our new White Papers that we’ve published that speak to the talent market or the Life Sciences industry as a whole. Given that the Life Sciences industry is a headline driven one, I stay apprised on all new developments within our client’s business and send my congratulations when necessary. We also think about how that may impact their Talent Acquisition strategy and offer proactive solutions that may help them.
Our recruiters remain engaged with our hiring managers as well, referring back to the importance of building long-standing relationships. If recruiters are working with a hiring manager on a search, they build strong relationships with them over time. The goal is to check in with them periodically after we’ve placed any talent to see how that candidate is doing, which allows for continued engagement.
Recruiters, in general, are “people persons,” and it’s imperative we don’t lose sight of those personal relationships we build. Understanding the impact we can have on a client or a candidate’s career is truly rewarding; putting focus on this consistently will ultimately increase everyone’s job satisfaction.
