You’ve reached our Consumer Affairs Department. Press one for product details. Press two for product complaints. Press three for product recalls.

[Three]

You’ve reached the Product Recalls Department. Press one to hear which products have been recalled. Press two to leave a message about a product that has been recalled. Press three for the Consumer Affairs Department.

… Aaaaaaah!

You’ve been here before, right? There’s very little that is more frustrating. You have an issue. You’re trying to reach a human to address this issue. But no one is available.

So many customers take their business elsewhere when they hit walls like this. What makes us think our candidates are any different? They crave a personal touch.

Ilana Rabinowitz, Vice President of Marketing at Lion Brand Yarn Company, wrote an article in late March titled Will Social Media as We Know it be Enough? Rabinowitz explores the issue of personal touch as it pertains to social media marketing. Her message translates easily to the recruiting industry, and it really hits home in the process. We in the recruitment industry are brand ambassadors. Recruiters are the first touch-point of a marketing department, otherwise known as Human Resources; rather than marketing a product or service, recruiters are marketing jobs. They’re marketing the employer itself. The messages recruiters convey when they communicate – or fail to communicate – with candidates become the first few lines of the story of an employer brand identity.

This is a great place to work, or This is a terrible place to work – these messages start with us, the recruiters.

We want to spread the perception that our client – the employer – is a fabulous place to work. Further, we want to spread the message that we – the recruitment team – are easy to work with. We want candidates lining up to enter our application and interview processes because they know they’ll have a great candidate experience on their way toward working for a great employer.

Candidates should never feel like they’re in a cattle call scenario, being passed between automated systems. They should feel like valued customers. Recruitment teams should give candidates a personal touch experience by:

-Ensuring potential candidates have a means of reaching us to ask questions. Social media – like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – are excellent vehicles for this kind of interaction. Social recruiting doesn’t merely mean recruiters sourcing candidates via social media. Recruitment organizations have a tremendous opportunity to use social recruiting to connect and converse with candidates on social media platforms, answering their questions along the way. Through these channels, we can form relationships and begin the job of marketing to our audience of potential employees with a wealth of positive interactions.

-Remaining in touch via email with candidates who’ve already applied. Any marketing professional can tell you about the importance of high touch-volume: email when candidates apply, when you look at their resumes, to confirm an interview, to follow up after an interview, and to reject or move forward with candidates. Confirmations. Replies. Updates. Many touches.

-Making our organization reachable to potential candidates, active candidates, and archived applicants via telephone. Even if you can’t answer the phone, be sure someone at your organization can. Candidates will be so happy to speak with a human about application status.

-Providing responses as quickly as possible. This is where the evolution of personal touch has taken us: customers, consumers, and candidates want quick responses. Without that, we lose them before we’ve had the chance to woo them.

In this age of the personal touch, everyone wants to hear and to be heard. The recruitment industry can’t afford to stand on the sidelines.

Post contributed by Carolyn Humpherson, Marketing Aficionado and Pinstripe Social Media Specialist.