Enablement has been a big buzzword in the staffing industry for years now. You hear about it a lot in relation to sales, recruiters, and customers. But, interestingly, not nearly as much when it comes to the industry’s biggest resource — talent. Why isn’t Talent Enablement as common of a phrase as Sale Enablement in staffing? 

There has been a lot more emphasis in recent years on improving the candidate journey, but are we truly trying to improve the end-to-end experience? Are we empowering them to engage and stay engaged throughout recruiting, onboarding, and placement? What solutions are aimed at making their lives easier?

Finding and retaining talent is more challenging than ever. The latest monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics revealed a high of 10.9 million openings, and quit rates remain 25 percent above pre-pandemic levels. 

The talent shortage isn’t showing any signs of letting up. If a differentiating candidate journey is the goal, solutions focused on Talent Enablement are how agencies can get there. 

What is Talent Enablement?

The candidate experience has always been driven by recruiters and the relationships they form with talent. While that is certainly still true, the modern candidate demands a broader definition of engagement. They expect to be enabled to do a lot on their own and are accustomed to engaging digitally for most of their daily tasks. 

Talent enablement is about meeting candidates where they are and leveraging the processes they already prefer. Some of the biggest companies we rely on now — Amazon, Google, Netflix, Uber — have completely shifted how we think about engagement. Everything is consumerized to meet our needs as intuitively and efficiently as possible. Consumerization gives users more control over their experience while still providing a high-touch digital experience. It’s what we all expect and want now.

Candidates in the staffing industry are no different. They still want the feel of a high-touch experience, but that doesn’t have to mean what it did even a few years ago. They don’t need to see a recruiter’s face or even hear their voice at every stage of the candidate journey anymore.  

It’s why recruiters are putting even more time into building passive candidate networks through social media. It’s why texting has become a normal part of the job. It’s also why agencies are looking to integrate their tech with mobile apps that let candidates own their experience while helping recruiters more effectively drive engagement.

The process of searching for a job, applying, getting hired, and being paid should be as easy as shopping and banking online. So why isn’t it? The tech is available to make it happen. The problem lies in how the tech is currently being developed and utilized.

Transformative engagement hinges on solutions that mutually benefit the entire staffing industry. Disparate technology that can’t see the big picture has made that a particularly difficult challenge for a long time. 

Talent Enablement is the holistic way forward. Done right, it provides companies with the right candidates, candidates the right opportunities, and agencies the ability to facilitate the growth of both. 

Why You Should Care About Talent Enablement

All of the top challenges for staffing agencies today — finding qualified candidates, getting them to respond, digital transformation, integrating technology, maintaining accurate data, managing the candidate experience, maintaining relationships, onboarding, retaining high-performing talent, redeployment — are directly tied to Talent Enablement. 

And Talent Enablement is directly tied to how agencies define success. A great onboarding experience makes a candidate 38 percent more likely to accept a job offer and increases retention by 82 percent. Providing a great onboarding experience brings us right back to meeting candidates where they are.

81% of Americans own a smartphone. 86% of jobseekers that have a smartphone use it to search for jobs. The average person uses 10 mobile apps per day and checks their phone every 12 minutes. It’s where we are, how we engage, and how we get things done. 

What Does Talent Enablement Look Like in Action?

Changing norms and expectations have made job searches a lot like researching a product, comparing the ones that meet your needs, and choosing one. Agencies simply can’t afford to ignore the consumerization of talent acquisition.

60 percent of candidates drop out of the recruiting process just because of lengthy and complex applications. And that’s just one pain point Talent Enablement mobile solutions address. 

Making Talent Enablement a priority at your agency will mean: 

Happier, more engaged candidates

More productive and effective recruiters

More positions filled with the right talent

Greater retention

More efficient redeployment

Satisfied clients that keep coming back

It really is an everybody wins scenario. Candidates get to own their experience, clients get candidates much more likely to stay and perform, and agencies differentiate themselves by making both happy.