Embracing the Relational Recruitment Model as an Graduate Recruiter

Embracing the Relational Recruitment Model as an Graduate Recruiter

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A few years ago, when I managed SEO London's Investment Banking, Asset Management and HerCapital Programmes, I did a session with students about the concept of the Relational Recruitment Model, whereby candidates and firms now build relationships over time before they get to the application stage and this continues throughout the recruitment process. Increasingly, firms are giving candidates more opportunities to experience their culture and people in a more authentic way through events and more transparent websites.

One of the reasons I say that Relationship Capital is by far the most important asset in the workplace is because strong organisations are built with its people in mind at every stage of the employee life cycle which ultimately starts with attraction, engagement and recruitment. The candidate experience is crucial. In the realms of graduate recruitment in particular, gone are the days where the first authentic interaction with the firm is at the interview/assessment centre stage. It's likely that there would have been opportunities to network with employees be it virtual or in-person (before the pandemic). Over the years, strategic (and engaging) recruitment campaigns have become an integral part in diversity recruiting strategies as they offer the opportunity to showcase culture and role models in a meaningful way. With the astronomical rise in the usage of LinkedIn by students, this is often accompanied by a flurry of LinkedIn connection requests and messages following these events.

In this article, I want to remind graduate recruiters about the importance of engaging with diverse candidates on LinkedIn as well as practical tips to make it more efficient to do so. For those proactive students that don't have strong professional networks, LinkedIn can be used in a powerful way to build this from the ground up but this is dependent on responsive (and generous) industry professionals taking time to respond. Life is busy as a graduate recruiter but the small acts of kindness when it comes to interacting with students can go along way in building your own relationship caital as an HR professional especially if you hire them into your business and they become part of your client group. Here are 3 practical ways that I've been able to better optimize the usage of LinkedIn when engaging with students in a way that materially adds value:

1) Use the LinkedIn Voicenote function: As a busy working mother (of 3 little ones!), time is an important commodity that I have to optimize. The LinkedIn voicenote function for me has been a time saver! It has allowed me to improve my efficiency when responding to incoming requests on LinkedIn. When students reach out after events or when they come across my profile and ask about the firm I work in or for general advice, I often find the LinkedIn voicenote feature is an incredibly powerful way of giving a highly personalised interaction but also takes me half the time if I were to write my response. It makes the personal connection more authentica and I've often had people comment that they have been pleasantly surprised to hear my voice in response to their request. I am very passionate about helping people and this comes across when I respond using a voicenote. LinkedIn voicenotes are are limited to 60 secs and you do have to use it on your phone but definitely worth using it more if you are having to respond to multiple messages!

2) Create value add content: One thing that I encourage all industry professionals to do is to be generous in the workplace. Being intentional about adding value is an act of generosity. As a graduate recruiter, one of your key stakeholders are the students / candidates that you engage with. I'm sure at every point of the cycle (be it campus recruitment season, spring weeks, summer internships or analyst training programmes), there are common questions that candidates have or pitfalls that need to be avoided. A great way to address this is through creating content (articles or videos) that give candidates useful advice that can help them to navigate your firm's application process or talent programmes when they join. This can save you from saying the same thing over and over again on calls. When people reach out, you can direct them to the piece of content that can help deepen their understanding of what it takes to succeed in your firm as a junior employee. As we move into spring week season, an example of content you could produce is "How to successfully navigate a virtual spring insight programme at [NAME OF FIRM]". OR "How to prepare for 2021/2022 recruitment cycle if you didn't secure a spring week". The benefit of writing articles is that your impact can be amplified because it can be reshared with others and doesn't require your time in your calendar. It also raises your profile as a subject matter expert. When people reach out, you can direct them to your articles / videos which may answer questions they have.

3) Be generous with introductions: In my years of working within graduate recruitment space, one thing that I have come to understand is that people in the business are often very happy to give back beyond their day job. A big part of this includes engaging with candidates in a way that offers tremendous value because people do remember what it was like being on the outside and trying to make sense of the industry and the firm. Therefore, when given the opportunity to chat to motivated students who are keen to know more about the industry, it is often welcomed. One thing that I would advise is working strategically with your employee network groups as they will be well positioned to mobilise their members to support the engagement efforts and respond to incoming requests to get exposure to your people. Could you have a list of "go to" people who are happy to be introduced via LinkedIn and connect candidates / students with relevant people within the firm depending on their interests?

One of the important things that COVID-19 brought to the workplace is empathy and this has made the world of work more "human" which is something that is here to stay. Firms that invest time in building relationships with their candidates in a meaningful and authentic way to demystify the firm, industry and how to succeed will reap the rewards of more engaged candiates and thus loyalty.

So as you continue through the cycle and prepare for upcoming talent programmes and the strategy for 2021/2022 recruitment cycle, make sure you strategically embrace the Relational Recruitment Model as HR professionals and a firm.

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