What is Candidate Relationship Management and Why is It Important?

The ability to have a central location to source, engage, and market to top talent is proving to be the strategic advantage that enterprise organizations, and small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) alike. In an effort to create frictionless hiring experiences for candidates, talent acquisition teams, and hiring managers, businesses are looking for solutions that support existing processes while offering new ways to engage and convert top talent.

Currently, 97.4% of Fortune 500 companies utilize an ATS as their primary tool for recruiting. With Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) tools projected to grow to over 55 billion by 2028, organizations are slow to transform their acquisition strategy to establish a Talent CRM as the centerpiece of their talent acquisition (TA) strategy.

To better understand this slow evolution and the benefits an updated approach provides, let’s explore what candidate relationship management is, why a Talent CRM system is important, and which key features you need to transform your TA strategy.

What is Candidate Relationship Management?

Candidate Relationship Management (CRM) is defined as the process of identifying, attracting, engaging, and nurturing both past and present candidates to build and maintain an authentic relationship.

Managing candidate relationships is all about combining the power of modern technology that has the ability to nurture candidate relationships over time — even if they have not applied for any open positions on your career site. A Talent CRM can help organizations build and maintain pools of qualified candidates for current and future job openings.

At the heart of candidate relationship management are people, and the ability to quickly connect the right people to the right work opportunities. People are the lifeblood of any organization because, without them, you don’t have anyone to keep the lights on or run the business.

An effective candidate relationship management strategy ensures you are always connecting people with work. This is where Talent CRMs come in. Talent CRMs are the necessary conduit organizations need to effectively scale their hiring efforts.

What is a Talent Candidate Relationship Management System?

A Talent CRM system is all about the technology. This essential technology allows organizations to build a strong employer brand, foster long-term relationships with candidates, and ensure a steady supply of talent for current and future hiring needs.

Here are 6 key aspects a Talent CRM should be able to account for:

Candidate Engagement: Talent CRM platforms must make the recruiter experience of engaging with candidates through various channels such as email, social media, 1:1 SMS, and events seamless, human, and memorable. The purpose of the tech is to accelerate and streamline the manual efforts around attracting, engaging, and converting candidates to hires. This engagement ultimately helps to build rapport with candidates and keeps them informed about work opportunities and company updates.
Candidate Database Management: Talent CRM systems maintain valuable data consisting of candidate profiles, including their resumes, contact information, job preferences, skills profiles, fit score, and communication history. This information is precious, and the ability to keep it organized, to drive actionable insights is vital for organizations to thrive. This database allows recruiters to easily search for and retrieve candidate information as needed. A Talent CRM, aggregates, organizes, manages, and empowers hiring decisions to be made impactfully.
Talent Pipeline Development: By consistently engaging with potential candidates, organizations can develop stocked pipelines of talent for current and future hiring needs. Talent CRM systems help recruiters track candidates' progress through the hiring process and maintain relationships with them even if they are not immediately hired. The ability to construct talent pipelines, and run talent marketing campaigns for key roles that result in top performers for your organization is an essential pain point that any Talent CRM should account for and solve with the technology.
Personalization and Customization: Talent CRM platforms often offer features for personalizing communication with candidates based on their interests, skills, and preferences. This customization is essential for recruiters to cut through the noise, and tailor their outreach efforts to provide more phenomenal candidate experiences. A Talent CRM should be able to elevate your brand to places you only dreamt possible with ease.
Analytics and Reporting: Talent CRM systems must provide analytics and reporting that are actionable, and that provide impactful insights for your organization. These analytical insights allow recruiters to track the effectiveness of their candidate engagement efforts. By analyzing metrics from key talent marketing channels such as email open rates, response rates, and conversion rates. This provides recruiters with the ability to refine their strategies and improve their overall recruitment process.
AI and Automation: The ability to effectively scale any hiring process needs to be augmented and supported with intelligence and automation. A Talent CRM that provides the combination of AI and automation enables talent acquisition teams, and hiring managers to deeply connect with the people they are looking to hire at scale. These systems need to provide organizations with the ability to remain human and personal while moving at the demanding speed of the digital age.

Is your existing Talent CRM lacking in these areas? Check out the benefits of a CRM migration here.

Why is a Talent CRM important?

Important may be an understatement. Vital. Necessary. Essential. These are all stronger ways to describe the power of a Talent CRM for any business whether you are an enterprise or a small to mid-sized business with big growth goals.

A well-designed candidate relationship management tool allows you to seamlessly connect with candidates, engage employees to rise to their full potential, and gain impactful business insights. A tool that powerful should be leveraged by talent acquisition teams to help them succeed in highly agile environments, ensuring they can meet high demand at scale.

Top 3 Benefits of Implementing Candidate Relationship Management Software

Integrating a Talent CRM offers a myriad of benefits for both talent management and talent acquisition teams. From improving candidate experiences to optimizing existing processes, this technology enhances how your teams attract, engage, and convert top talent. Let’s take a closer look at the benefits of implementing a Talent CRM system:

1. Improved Candidate Experience

A Talent CRM enables organizations to provide a personalized and engaging experience to candidates throughout the recruitment process. By maintaining a centralized database of candidate information and interactions, recruiters can tailor their communications and job recommendations based on candidates' preferences and interests.

This personalized approach not only enhances the candidate experience but also helps to build a positive employer brand, leading to increased candidate satisfaction and loyalty.

2. Enhanced Talent Pipeline Management

Talent CRMs allow recruiters to proactively build and manage talent pipelines by continuously engaging with passive candidates and nurturing relationships with potential future hires. By staying connected with candidates over time, organizations can reduce time-to-fill for open positions and mitigate the impact of talent shortages.

Additionally, a well-managed talent pipeline ensures that organizations have access to a pool of qualified candidates ready to fill critical roles, reducing reliance on reactive and costly recruitment strategies.

3. Optimized Recruitment Processes

Implementing a Talent CRM streamlines and automates various recruitment processes, improving efficiency and productivity for recruiters. These systems typically offer features such as automated candidate sourcing, email campaign management, interview scheduling, and performance analytics.

By automating routine tasks and workflows, recruiters can focus their time and resources on high-value activities such as building relationships with candidates, conducting interviews, and making strategic hiring decisions. This optimization of recruitment processes leads to faster time-to-hire, reduced administrative burden, and overall cost savings for the organization.

Must-Have Talent CRM Features

At the heart of any good Talent CRM should live features that utilize automation and AI intelligence to remove manual processes that ultimately save you and your workforce time. Your ability to meaningfully connect with candidates, schedule interviews, and gain actionable insights should be enhanced through your CRM. Here are the top features to look for when evaluating a Talent CRM:

Fit Score: Powered by AI and deep learning technology, Fit Score utilizes cutting-edge AI and deep learning algorithms to evaluate candidates based on various factors such as experience, skills, and location. This advanced technology ensures that recruiters can quickly identify candidates who are the best match for a particular job opening, streamlining the candidate selection process and increasing the likelihood of making successful hires.
Candidate Reengagement: This feature allows recruiters to tap into their existing candidate database and rediscover promising candidates who may have applied for previous roles but weren't the perfect fit at the time. By leveraging this feature, recruiters can reengage with silver medalists and other candidates when more suitable opportunities arise, effectively expanding the pool of potential hires and reducing time-to-fill for open positions.
Automated Candidate Segmentation: Dynamic Lists empower recruiters to create and manage candidate segments effortlessly. These lists automatically update based on predefined filter criteria such as skills, titles, and hiring status, ensuring that recruiters always have access to the most relevant candidate pools for their recruitment campaigns. By automating candidate segmentation, recruiters can save time and resources while maintaining a targeted approach to candidate engagement and outreach.
Relationship Cultivation: The ability to build talent pipelines through automation is a must have ability of any Talent CRM. It enables recruiters to cultivate and nurture relationships with job seekers for future career opportunities. By maintaining a pipeline of engaged candidates, recruiters can proactively address talent shortages, reduce time-to-fill for critical positions, and build a strong talent pool to support the organization's long-term hiring needs. This proactive approach to talent acquisition ensures that recruiters have access to a steady stream of qualified candidates, mitigating the risks associated with reactive hiring practices.
Data-Driven Recruiting Strategy: AI-powered insights provide recruiters with valuable talent intelligence and actionable recommendations so they can make more efficient and informed decisions. By analyzing vast amounts of candidate data, AI Insights helps recruiters optimize their recruiting strategies, identify trends and patterns, and engage in more meaningful conversations with candidates. This data-driven approach enables recruiters to make informed decisions, improve candidate engagement, and ultimately, achieve better hiring outcomes.

Transform Hiring Processes With Candidate Relationship Management Software

By harnessing the power of intelligence and automation, recruiters can swiftly pinpoint the ideal candidates, slashing time-to-hire and elevating the quality of new hires. The ability to rediscover overlooked talent within existing databases opens doors to untapped potential, accelerating recruitment timelines and filling mission-critical roles with unprecedented efficiency.

A Talent CRM isn’t just about convenience; but about revolutionizing the recruitment game, empowering organizations to navigate the talent landscape with unparalleled agility and impactful foresight. With the right candidate relationship management software, you can transform your hiring and retention processes.

Discover how Phenom Talent CRM can transform your processes by reading this article.

Mike DeMarco