Don't Forget About Your Impulse" Candidates"

When was the last time you bought something on Amazon that you didn’t plan to?  If you’re like many online shoppers, the answer is “last week.” The phenomenon isn’t new: storefronts have enticed passersby with attractive displays for hundreds of years.  This exact phenomenon occurs for many job applicants. Maybe your organization was featured in a list of “Best Places to Work”, or earned top billing on a popular blog. Maybe it put out a semi-viral Tweet or LinkedIn post. Maybe one of your recruitment marketing emails got through. Either way, a moment’s curiosity brings people to your careers site - what happens next? Impulse candidates are not as forgiving as job seekers in the middle of a job search, or applicants you’ve manually sourced. If your job descriptions are full of jargon and focus solely on the position’s “duties,” they leave. If the job application looks like it will take more than 10 minutes, they leave.  Impulse candidates are almost certainly employed. They arrived at your careers site on impulse, and the same impulse will take them to the next news story or video that grabs their attention. When making changes to the hiring process (particularly the steps closest to the beginning), keep your impulse candidates in mind.

Why Your Impulse Candidates Matter

It might be easy to disregard potential applicants who bounce off your careers site. It’s tempting to think: “If they weren’t interested enough to spend a few minutes on a job application, they probably aren’t a good fit anyway. We want people who are genuinely interested in our brand.” Here’s the thing: The number of impulse visitors you receive speaks directly to the brand you’ve built. If you receive non-premeditated, inbound inquiries, it means your recruitment marketing and employer branding efforts are paying off. If an applicant really isn’t suited for the role, that should be decided after the screening process, not before.

Don’t Forget About Your Impulse Candidates

Online retail has this perfected. Free shipping, custom recommendations, one-click ordering - online retailers know how to remove barriers between their products and your credit card.  Just like a purchase is a purchase (no matter how impulsive) a great candidate is a great candidate. The labor market is tight. There are innumerable reasons an impulse candidate can become very, very interested in your opportunities down the line.