Hiring the best people starts with convincing them you're the best company.
But most companies just rely on employer branding and social media for this. That’s not enough. To consistently attract top talent, you need a system.
Drip campaigns can do just that.
By sending a series of thoughtful, value-packed messages over time, you can build strong connections with top talent. Follow this 5-step process to get started:
Step #1 - Build a central candidate pipeline
No matter where you source candidates from, keep a centralized pipeline. This acts as a single source of truth. But do not limit yourself to people actively looking for jobs.
Your best candidates might already be employed, but they’re still open to exciting opportunities. So make you include candidates who:
- Weren't the right fit before.
- Connected with you at an industry event.
- Are a referral
- Engage a LOT with your company's socials
Now, maintain a monthly database for this and update it regularly.
Step #2 - Segment your list
Once you have your list, segment it based on factors like role type, experience level, and specific skills. This helps you target candidates based on their unique interests. After all, a junior developer and a senior architect will be interested in different aspects of your company.
But do not overcomplicate this, especially if you are a small team. Instead, start with these basic, high-impact categories:
- Job role: Front-end, back-end, full-stack, or data science etc.
- Experience level: Junior, mid-level, and senior candidates.
- Source: LinkedIn, career page, or referrals.
As your campaign and team grow, you can refine these segments based on what works best.
Step #3 - Plan how you will attract
Next, plan your content. This includes two things:
1. What is the frequency of emails?
Decide what frequency works for you. Ideally, keep 1-2 emails per week. Anything more and you will overwhelm or worse, annoy, the candidate.
2. What will your emails be about?
As for the content of your content, mix it up. But never ever make it all promotional. We all are averse to marketing, but developers are especially so. Of course, you need to talk about your open positions, but do it smartly.
Keep 80% of your content tech-oriented. This includes your tech stack, profiles of tech team members and leaders, the current problems you are solving, BTS looks at your development process, etc. The rest should be your open positions.
The goal is to offer something useful or interesting to the recipient, whether or not they're currently job hunting.
Step #4 - Make room for personalization
Personalization means something super-relevant to your recipient.
While the name, specific skills or background, and any previous interactions are good elements, they are not enough. They are the bare minimum. What use is calling a senior developer by the right name if the email content is catered for a fresher?
So, always have a weekly/bi-monthly system to check what’s working and what’s not. Think of it like Amazon's recommendation engine but for careers. Keep an eye on where maximum open rates are, where they drop, and so on.
The better you understand your segments, the more powerful your personalization can be.
Step #5 - Automate, automate, automate
Magic happens when the right message reaches the right person at the right time.
Once you are through the heavy lifting in the above steps, now it is time to automate. Use an email marketing tool that integrates with your ATS to set up workflows for different segments. And create separate email sequences for your main segments.
The content per segment would differ, but the idea is the same: keep in touch without being a pest.
Nurture, don’t nag
Remember, the goal isn't just to fill current openings. It's about building a talent pipeline for the future. By consistently engaging potential candidates, you build a pool of pre-qualified professionals who are already like you.
This approach changes hiring from a reactive scramble to a proactive, strategic process.