You know who you want to hire, but just how well do you know them? Understanding your candidates is a critical first step in creating a good candidate experience and ensuring that your employment brand messaging engages the right job seekers and compels them to act. Your ideal candidate is not simply defined by job title, skill set or professional experience…. To engage right-fit talent, you need to know more.

1. 3 things recruiters
must know about
candidates
Or how I learned to
stop worrying and
let go of job titles

2. How well can you
really know
someone? How
well do you get to
know a job seeker
– an active
candidate or
passive candidate?

3. I am not by job
title, are you?

4. Three things you
have to know
about candidates:
1.Who Am I?
2.What do I want?
3.How do I get it?

5. Who Am I?
Information you
need to gather
about your
candidate
audience:
demographics,
education details,
who are their
influencers.

6. Get to know me. I
am not a number.

7. What do I want?
Am I looking for
work/life balance,
advancement,
more income, or
skill growth and
training?
Maybe I just need
more room to do
yoga.

8. Have you stopped to
consider:
Where is your candidate
in their career path?
What does career
success mean to them?
What would they say NO
to a job offer?

9. All this helps
determine if you
opportunity is a
good fit for them.

10. How do I (as a candidate or job
seeker) get what I want?
What are my media habits?
What professional organizations
or networks do I belong to?
What career factors are most
critical to me when evaluating
multiple opportunities? What
made me choose my last
position?

11. How do you learn
all this? Through
research.
Be sure to probe
for the information
you don’t already
know so you learn
how they make
decisions.

12. Current employees
are good, but
focusing only on
them could lead to
limited insights
only about the type
of talent you
already attract.

13. Interviewing
external prospects
are better – be
sure to hold from
8-11 interviews.

14. During the interview process ask open-ended questions
and get actual quotes. Make sure you can see your
prospects/candidates as real people.
“See, the idea is that, as a librarian, I am frequently
asked questions. Or, to put it another way, questions are
asked of me frequently. Right? Best librarian t-shirt
ever.”

15. So, to re-cap:
Who am I?
What do I want?
How do I get it?

16. These are the
types of insights
that let you build a
better candidate
experience.

17. READ MORE HERE
Want a deeper dive?
“6 ridiculously simple things you must know about
your candidates”

18. kevinbhawkins.com
Integrated Marketing Strategy, SEO/SEM, Recruitment, Random
Discoveries, Pop Culture, and more

findme. socialmedia.
@kevinbhawkins
linkedin.com/in/kevinbhawkins/
WEB SITE:
http://www.kevinbhawkins.com
EMAIL :
kevin@kevinbhawkins.com

19. 1. TREE POSE WITH WORK, LULULEMON ATHLETICA, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/lululemonathletica/4404264775/
2. ECU School of Education Class Room, BRENT HOARD, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/bhoard/3694254773/
3. AT PALEY PARK, MYLAN ROLOFF, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
4. Woman Reaching Out, www.guigo.eu, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/paldies/7310883864/
5. Transcendental Awesumitude, THX0477, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/59195512@N00/4423741286/
6. British Railways M51565 & M53925, Ingy The Wingy, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ingythewingy/2531496135/
7. young artist at work, Petras Gagilas, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/gagilas/6615594231/
8. Join the U.S. Army RDECOM Team!, U.S. Army RDECOM, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/rdecom/4133596667/
9. Tech Support, Andrew Skudder, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/skuds/64214222/
10. Clever Girl, Alessandro Valli, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/liquene/3967849907
11. Frequently Asked Questions (Self-Portrait #41), Taber Andrew Bain, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/andrewbain/2457177928/
12. Searching for ideas, Gabriela Ferreira, FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/liebe_gaby/8053102148/
13. JBB Labor Day County Fair, DVIDSHUB (US Army photo by Pvt. Zachary Zuber), FLIKR, http://www.flickr.com/photos/dvids/4987508844/
14. COFFEE + BEIGNETS, Kevin Hawkins, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
This presentation features photos by
a number of amazing photographers
– all works, except where noted, are
used under Creative Commons
licensing. By using and attributing
these images I have striven to
ensure no copyright laws were
broken – but, hey, it’s the internet –
so, if the owners listed below don’t
own the rights to these just let me
know. I’m sure we can work it out.
Uncredited photos were purchased
on istockphoto and are licensed
accordingly. -KBH
Credits/Sources