Silver Medal Candidates: How to Engage Runner-Ups in Your CRM

You just extended a job offer to a fantastic candidate—and they accepted. Great! But what about the runner up, your silver medalist who impressed you during their interview?

While it is always difficult to turn down talent, this doesn’t have to be goodbye forever. By nurturing them with campaigns, you can keep them engaged with your company until a new position opens up.

In this episode of Phenom Essentials, we share our most effective tips for engaging quality candidates for new roles at your company—and how to convert them into your next best employee.

Video Transcript

You have two great candidates and only one open job...so one of them is gonna have to get the bad news. In this episode of Phenom Essentials, we're talking about silver medalist candidates—and how to win gold.

Candidates understand they may not get a job. That's part of the reason why they're so nervous when it comes to interviews and applying to positions. So when you give them the bad news, it's best to be honest. Give them some feedback, including constructive criticism. It will build trust and you'll turn what could be a very negative conversation into a positive interaction.

When you tag a silver medalist in your CRM, you can add them to a monthly or quarterly campaign asking them how their job search is going. Find out if they've landed somewhere and if they're happy. People are often sold the dream job, right? But that dream turns into a bit of a nightmare.

The next part is very important. You have to ask if they have any other interviews coming up or any positions that have been offered to them. Wish them the best of luck, then set a reminder in your CRM for a few days after those interviews and let technology do its thing. You’ll get a notification to remind you to reach out, and then follow up with a phone call asking how it went.

You then in turn get to see if they're still on the job market. That way if the position that they didn't get reopens or another becomes available, you know exactly who to call.

By staying in touch with your silver medalists through the use of technology and specifically your CRM you'll not only save time but you'll also remember to reach out, continue to build your pipeline. Not by searching through job boards or looking for new talent but by recycling talent.

This has been another Phenom Essential—see you next time.

Interested in learning how to connect with silver medalists?
Request a demo of the Phenom CRM.