High-Volume Hiring: How to Recruit, Re-Engage and Retain Candidates

According to LinkedIn data, the most in-demand job in March of 2020 was for a “store associate” role. ‘Construction worker,’ ‘warehouse manager,’ and ‘delivery driver’ also were also listed in the top ten most in-demand jobs. While many businesses were impacted negatively by COVID-19, others saw skyrocketing demand and have been in the process of high-volume hiring. For these companies, candidate recruitment, engagement, and retainment have become top-priority. 

On Wednesday, May 28th, Checkr and Fountain teamed up to offer HR leaders advice on how to recruit, re-engage, and retain candidates in high-volume hiring funnels. Checkr’s own Chris Johnson was joined by Fountain’s Head of Global Customer Success and Strategy, Nico Roberts. Nico has worked with many global Fortune 500 companies, helping them standardize and scale their high volume operations and hiring practices. Nico specializes in streamlining and automating companies’ hourly recruiting process from sourcing and screening, to onboarding. As Checkr’s staffing and HR Outsourcing expert, Chris Johnson helps inform Checkr’s vision serving the staffing industry. With over 20 years of SaaS, HR Tech, and program leadership he is dedicated to redefining the way companies think about hiring by providing new perspectives on traditional processes like the background check. Below are some insights from their conversation: 

For companies hiring right now, especially ones focused on high-volume hiring at scale, the candidate experience is key in recruiting top talent.  Some of the best ways to improve the candidate experience for deskless, mobile, or hourly employees is to shorten the process and remove blockers.  Shortening the number of application questions, moving the screening up sooner in the process, and making sure every stage of the application is mobile-friendly will help reduce candidate drop-off.  Spread the word that you are hiring and outbound to candidates through SMS and leverage every area of your network including partners, vendors, and employees. 

“Be active in reviewing your candidate experience. Pretend to be the applicant and don’t let a lack of technology to accomplish a seamless experience stop you from being successful. Hiring may look very different in the future so employers have to consider both short term and long term strategies to succeed,” said Nico Roberts. 

As the re-hiring begins in various industries, it’s unrealistic to believe that all of your workers will come back. There may be a talent shortage on the horizon as previous employees seek to move to new roles or different companies. Staying connected to your current employees— even if they have been laid off or furloughed— is important right now.  Maintain a database of candidates who might be a good fit and continue to nurture these relationships before you begin to hire. Chris Johnson also said, “The companies who are going to be most successful in the future are going to ‘keep the throttle down’ and keep in close contact with candidates. We are starting to see a trend of “shadow fallout” with many of the companies we work with.  Folks who were laid off or furloughed may have moved to more pandemic-proof roles. If you are not already engaged with your candidates—now is the time.” 

The world of work has drastically changed for both employers and employees. There are new challenges to retaining your current candidate pool and employee base—especially in the gig economy or contractor space. Many candidates have experienced the benefits of work from home and are no longer interested in going into the office.  Other candidates working multiple gig jobs are ready for a more stable income and schedule. “The concept of a ‘great place to work’ will drastically change,” said Chris Johnson. “A whole generation of workers has been recalibrated to work differently. Communicating work from home, work-life balance, and flex-time policies will give companies an edge in retaining candidates.” Moving forward, it will be important to clearly communicate the expectations of the job and the benefits of your company to candidates while they are considering your offer. 

If you missed this session, be sure to watch the recording to learn more.

Be sure to check out and register for future webinars from Checkr and Fountain today.