Marketers have long used funnels to map the buyer journey. In talent acquisition, the same principles apply: It’s about guiding candidates from first awareness of your employer brand to becoming loyal, engaged hires and even advocates.
The difference? Recruiters aren’t selling a product. They’re selling a career opportunity. That’s why having an integrated talent acquisition platform makes all the difference. Here’s how each stage of the funnel translates into recruiting, and how our platform, the Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud, can help you move talent forward.
Awareness – Make Candidates Aware You Exist: Employer Brand Visibility
- Career Site: Optimizes for SEO and candidate experience. Your branded career site is often the first touchpoint for applicants. Think of it as your always-on awareness engine.
- Programmatic AdTech: Automatically promotes jobs to the right candidates across the web, lowering cost per hire by optimizing spend in real time.
- Employee Referrals: Employees share jobs with their networks, creating authentic reach beyond job boards.
Example: A global retailer uses Programmatic AdTech to target seasonal talent, while Employee Referrals drive awareness in local markets. Together, they feed fresh, qualified traffic into the Career Site.
Consideration – Educate and Nurture Talent: Keeping Candidates Engaged
- CRM: Build segmented pipelines (e.g., nurses, engineers or entry-level retail). Share tailored campaigns, from day-in-the-life videos to culture highlights.
- Hiring Events: Promote events through CRM email and SMS campaigns to capture and nurture leads.
- Career Site Content: Role spotlights, employee testimonials and FAQs address candidate questions before they apply.
Example: A hospital nurtures passive nurses with monthly CRM campaigns showcasing career growth stories. When it launches a new hiring event, those nurtured leads are first to sign up.
Intent – Capture Those Evaluating Your Offer: Turning Curiosity Into Applications or Event Sign-Ups
- Hiring Events: Streamlined registration forms and calendar integration make it easy for candidates to commit.
- CRM + AI Matching: AI surfaces best-fit candidates for open roles and talent pools, ensuring recruiters prioritize the right people.
- Employee Referrals: Referral programs capture leads from employees’ networks right at the point of interest.
Example: A logistics company hosts a hiring event for warehouse roles. Candidates register via Hiring Events, automatically enter the CRM and are instantly matched to open jobs, accelerating time to hire.
Conversion – Turn Intent Into Hires: Smooth Screening and Interviews
- Screening & Scheduling: AI-powered matching, knockout questions and recruiter-led assessments ensure only qualified candidates move forward. Integrated with Microsoft Teams and Google calendars, scheduling is automated, reducing back-and-forth.
- Hiring Manager Collaboration: Managers can view candidate profiles, shortlist applicants and provide interview feedback.
Example: A retail chain uses automated scheduling during high-volume seasonal hiring. Candidates can self-select interview slots, cutting scheduling time from days to hours.
Loyalty – Retain and Grow Candidate Relationships: Building Long-Term Pipelines for Future Hiring
- Email Marketing Campaigns: Keep “silver medalist” candidates warm with newsletters, culture updates and role alerts.
- Employee Referrals: Turn new hires into referrers by promoting referral programs post-onboarding.
- Career Site Personalization: Serve personalized job recommendations to returning candidates based on past activity.
Example: A tech company uses email campaigns to stay in touch with software engineers who weren’t selected the first time. Months later, those same candidates reapply and several convert into hires.
Why This Matters
Recruiting today is no longer about posting jobs and waiting. It’s about creating continuous engagement, guiding candidates like customers through a funnel of awareness, consideration, intent, conversion and loyalty.
With our integrated AI platform, the Radancy Talent Acquisition Cloud, you can build seamless candidate journeys that drive measurable results across every stage.
How are you thinking about the funnel in your hiring strategy? Have you started building long-term loyalty loops with candidates yet? Subscribe to our newsletter to learn how you can transform your talent acquisition strategy.
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