Digital Communications:

The Formula for Fast

and Efficient Recruiting,
Hiring, and Retaining
Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 02

Contents

The power of digital communications for HR

03
& recruiting in an increasingly digital world

Make the right first impression through 04

a seamless communication experience

Continuing momentum throughout the hiring 06

and onboarding process

Boosting employee retention through

08
effective communication

Revolutionize your digital communications

10
with Whispir
Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 03

The power of digital communications

for HR & recruiting in an increasingly
digital world
Since the advent of COVID-19, things have radically changed for HR professionals and recruiters wanting to
attract, engage, and retain talent. The shift towards digital has affected all aspects of HR - from recruitment
and onboarding through to retention.

Recruiting and onboarding new talent

Seeking talent in a world where physical meetings aren’t always possible presents its own set of challenges.
In order to keep up with this change, recruitment needs to focus on meeting candidates on the technology
they use - their mobile phones. Strategies are also needed to overcome hesitations some candidates have
from not being able to see their new workplace or meet members of their new team before accepting a role.

Through digital communications, HR professionals and recruiters can create automated, well-considered,
and personalized journeys for candidates and new employees to take. Digital communication tools provide
a quick, easy, and engaging way to solve these problems, from recruiting through to the onboarding process.

Retaining existing employees

In 2020, 42% of labor workers in the US were working from home full-time1. This trend towards more
flexible work conditions, and a greater reliance on technology to do so, hasn’t faded since then, either.

A study from Expert Market2 found that 82% of companies expect their staff will request to continue
working remotely, at least partially, once they’ve fully returned to the office. Approximately 90% of
companies also reported positive impacts of working remotely.

For HR professionals and recruiters, this pivot has meant the need for the rapid amplification of digital
methods of communication. HR teams have had to ramp up their internal communication methods in
order to keep workers feeling connected and engaged, despite remote conditions.

In this guide, we’ll expand on how effective communications can

make each step of the recruitment and HR process simpler. From
getting the first impression right, to creating a seamless onboarding
experience, to holding onto precious talent, we’ll show real use
cases for how Whispir’s intelligent communication platform can
help you succeed.

1. Stanford News: Stanford research provides a snapshot of a new working-from-home-economy

2. Expert Market: Communication the Workplace Statistics for 2021

Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 04

Make the right first impression through

a seamless communication experience
On average, top talent only stays on the market for 10 days3. That means if you want to hire the best
possible talent, being able to move swiftly is of the essence. It also means you need to ensure you’re
engaging with candidates throughout the entire vetting process.

Most candidates will interact with you 14 times before they make a final decision about the role4. If these
interactions aren’t well-considered, personalized, and engaging, you risk slowing down the process and,
at worst, losing your preferred candidate.

Creating a digital communication strategy for recruitment

Some of the key ways you can differentiate yourself from the market, bolster your company’s reputation,
and ensure you’re procuring the best talent for the desired position include:

Using personalization as a point of differentiation

Ensuring your recruitment communications are personalized can help candidates feel valued.
It also makes it easier to cut through the digital noise and ensure you sound human - rather
than a generic company sending out messages en masse.

Additionally, when your agency or team is juggling a high number of roles and candidates,
personalization can seem like a daunting task. Whispir allows you to automate this process.
Using data from set parameters - including candidate names, job locations, and role functions
- you can easily design communications to be sent at scale to ensure applicants don’t feel like
just another number.

Driving engagement through multiple channels

Keeping your candidates engaged throughout the hiring process is key, but it can be
a challenge. This is particularly the case when candidates are interviewing with other
companies simultaneously, or you have an extensive hiring process they need to navigate.

Utilizing the communication channels that your candidates use - ie their mobile phones -
can help with this significantly. Relying solely on legacy methods of communication, such as
emails, no longer cuts it. SMS has an incredibly high open rate of 98%5, and, when combined
with rich, personalized landing pages, call-to-action and response rates get up to 88%6.

This shows how incredibly engaging SMS can be, especially when used in conjunction with
other forms of communication. Whispir allows you to send messages across multiple platforms
- including SMS, email, social media, and more - and manage it all from one centralized hub.

3. Ere Digital - Top Candidates Are Gone Within 10 Days … So Assign Each a ‘Hire-By-Date’

4. MYA - A New Approach to Candidate Engagement for Recruiting Teams

5. Gartner - Tap Into The Marketing Power of SMS

6. Whispir Research March 2020

Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 05

Being consistent across your messaging

As important as it is to utilize multiple channels for your recruitment communications
process, it’s equally as integral to keep your messaging and branding consistent.
Whispir allows you to create pre-designed and approved templates that can be easily
applied to any form of communication. That means any member of your team can quickly
build and deploy communications that look professional and on-brand, without the need
for technical or design skills.

Automating the journey to save you time and money

Creating this engaging and personalized experience for candidates doesn’t have to be
a drain on resources. Whispir’s intuitive communications builder is simple, easy to use,
and effective. You can turn your time-consuming manual processes into automated
communications in a matter of minutes.

iMessage Today

Dear Ben Zieme,

We have an opportunity for

you with one of our prestigious
clients, Whispir! They have an
opening for the position of a
10:26 AM
Solution Architect at Whispir
Boulder office.
Dear Ben Zieme,

We have an opportunity for you with one of our prestigious clients,

Please click on the link below for Whispir in Boulder who is looking for the position of a Solution

more details: Architect on a full time payroll.

We have reviewed your profile on LinkedIn and find it very impressive.

If you’d like to take it forward, please fill out the details below.
https://apdemo.ap1.whispir.
com/s/c4kr6HEe

Send engaging, personalized, and automated text messages to potential candidates

to provide a seamless first impression.
Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 06

Continuing momentum throughout the

hiring and onboarding process
The hard work of procuring talent doesn’t end at the recruitment stage. Creating a seamless
journey through hiring and onboarding is integral, particularly if you want to make a lasting positive
first impression. Employees who are welcomed with a well-structured onboarding program are 82%7
more likely to stay at a company for up to 3 years, so it’s certainly a worthwhile consideration.

Mapping out a hiring and onboarding journey

It’s important to map out the journey that a candidate or new hire will go through in the initial
stages of interacting with your business. These flows could look something like:

Application Journey

Approval Head
(C Level)

Hiring Manager/Recruiter HR Head

Hiring/recruitment
New role established Job description
budget submitted
and approved produced
and approved

Applicant A Applicant B Applicant C

Interviews scheduled Applications received Position advertised

and held and reviewed and deadline set

Secondary interviews Preferred candidate

Shortlist created
scheduled and held selected

Additional
Contract drafted Recruitment offer
information
and approved approval
requested

Contract delivered to Candidate signs

successful candidate contract

7. Brandon Hall Group - The True Cost of a Bad Hire

Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 07

Onboarding Journey

New Starter Line Manager

HR Head

Organization
New position
access authorized
created in system
and executed

Stakeholder A Stakeholder B Stakeholder C

Onboarding Inductions
complete scheduled

Once you’ve mapped these journeys out, automating them through a digital communications
platform such as Whispir ensures a seamless experience. Using Whispir, you can set automation
rules that automatically send out messages for each stage a candidate or new hire is at.

Automate everything from setting up interviews - including sending rich messages that allow
candidates to book available times by clicking on a link within a text message - to notifying them
of outcomes and next steps.

Dear Ben Zieme,

Congratulations!! You have been

shorlisted to be interviewed for
the position of Solution Architect
at Whispir Boulder office.

Please click on the link below for

more details:
Congratulation!!
https://apdemo.ap1.whispir.com/s/ Ben Zieme, you have been shortlisted to be interviewed for the
c4krXm7a position of Solution Architect at Whispir Boulder office.

Please be present at the interview location at least 15 minutes

before that schedule.

Also, make sure to go through the content on Whispir for better

understanding of the company business and goals. Good Luck!

Send rich messages that allow candidates to click through and complete actions,
such as scheduling an interview or learning more about a role.
Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 08

Boosting employee retention through

effective communication
Employee turnover is incredibly costly for businesses. The Harvard Business Review estimates8
that losing an employee can cost a business 100-300% of the leaving worker’s salary. A lot of this
starts with onboarding. As already mentioned, effective onboarding can improve the chance of
long-term employee retention by up to 82%, and a survey from BambooHR9 found that around
31% of people have left within the first 6 months of a job.

Employee engagement shouldn’t end after their initial introduction to your company, though.
It’s important to have a structure in place that ensures staff are kept informed and feel included
and heard.

Stage Communication Need Whispir Capabilities

Onboarding ‘Welcome’ communications that give an Through Whispir, you can automate text
introduction to the company and a brief messages to be sent to new starters. You
overview of the onboarding process. can also create and link to landing pages
through our simple drag-and-drop builder.
This means you can directly link new
employees to helpful things like interactive
media - such as training videos, forms they
need to fill out, and checklists of onboarding
tasks they need to complete.

Onboarding A notification that system access has been Using Whispir, you can automate emails
granted, as well as further information such or texts to be sent as soon as new
as usernames and passwords. employees have their access granted, as
well as linking them to further instructional
assets where necessary. This creates a more
seamless experience for them to get up and
running sooner rather than later.

Onboarding Introductions to peers and other important Whispir makes it easy to incorporate
stakeholders in your organization. scheduling within the communications you
send. With just a few clicks, new employees
can easily find and schedule in time to meet
their teammates.

8. The Harvard Business Review - Technology Can Save Onboarding from Itself

9. BambooHR - What People Really Want From Onboarding

Digital Communications: The Formula for Fast and Efficient Recruiting, Hiring, and Retaining 09

Stage Communication Need Whispir Capabilities

Long-term retention Regularly check-in with staff Communication shouldn’t be one-way.

for feedback. Using Whispir’s Staff Feedback Form
capabilities, you can easily find out what
is and isn’t working, and make sure your
employees feel heard. You can set the
precedent early by checking in after
the onboarding process, then automate
feedback forms to be sent at regular
intervals moving forward.

Long-term retention Celebrate successes, team wins, It’s important to recognize the
and milestones. achievements of your employees. Rather
than leaving this to chance, use Whispir to
automatically send out communications on
certain dates, such as work anniversaries.
You can also use Whispir’s platform to
easily create professional-looking internal
newsletters, which can be used to regularly
update employees on wins and celebrate
team and individual successes.

Long-term retention Proactive messaging around Internal communication is essential if

upcoming changes and other you want to keep employees engaged,
noteworthy announcements. and ensure accurate information is
disseminated throughout the organization.
Whispir makes it easy to create and send
on-brand communications, no technical
skills required. This makes it possible for
anyone within your team to design and
deploy regular internal communications
that ensure you keep staff informed.
Digital Transformation Strategy for Businesses 10

Revolutionize your digital

communications with Whispir
From recruiting to retention, the way your organization utilizes digital communication can make
a huge impact. It can help you find and procure your preferred candidate, create a seamless
onboarding process that engages and retains employees, and, ultimately save your company time,
money, and HR headaches.

Whispir has worked with countless HR teams and recruitment companies throughout the US
and the world to help them use our digital communications platform to their advantage. We’re
passionate about finding communication solutions that transform a company’s success around
recruitment, onboarding, and retention.

To find out how Whispir can work for you, get in touch with us today, or book a free demo to see
our platform in action.

To find out more:

Visit Whispir today