After working on a website re-design and some client marketing materials with freelancers over the last few weeks, I’ve begun to realize how important communication is to my ultimate satisfaction with just about anything. When communication is bad, I’m nearly never satisfied, but when it’s good, the final product always seems that much better. The reason is mainly that I like being “in the loop” and having input into what’s happening (however small). The other big reason is that by having a some insight into what’s happening in another situation, I am able to better plan and negotiate the things that I need to get done.

After realizing how key communication was in my happiness, I started to think about recruiting and how communication could be improved across the recruitment marketing funnel between companies / recruiters and candidates.

Here are a few I came up with:

Be available - A few Recruiters have already knocked this one out of the park. Using social media tools such as Facebook and Twitter, they have made themselves available to all candidates who wanted to learn more about opportunities at their company. In addition, these recruiters see the great benefit of being able to interact and learn more about these candidates outside the traditional application process, thus giving them more insight into what these candidates bring to the table.

Keep Contacts Warm - As you meet and interact with candidates on the web, in social media, at recruiting events, etc., you’ll begin to build an impressive database of contacts for future job positions. But this doesn’t mean you need to wait for a relevant job position to interact with them. Keep them warm, send them articles that you think would be relevant to their discipline / situation, follow them on Twitter and comment on their posts / links and provide them with job opportunities that aren’t necessarily with your company. The more helpful you are to your contacts, the more credibility you can build not only for yourself but your company, and the more top talent you’ll have applying for the next position you want to fill.

Decline Messages - Take a look at this situation. You have interviewed a bunch of candidates but only one can get the position even though there are 3 or 4 that are qualified. What can you do to keep communication with the qualified candidates who don’t get the position? Well, first, make sure to send them a prompt message (email, phone) that they didn’t receive the position preferably within a week of the decision. But don’t stop there. In this message, give them an opportunity to join your opt-in Talent Network so they can be contacted about future opportunities (and actually contact them if a position opens up!) Just as important, provide them with your social media accounts on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, where they can keep up to date with your company and continue to interact with you.

Communication is key no matter what you are doing, whether it’s working on a consulting project with a few colleagues, playing basketball in a recreation league, having a healthy friendship / relationship or in recruiting. Proper communication with candidates and contacts can help you form valuable relationships with the top talent you are looking to recruit and help you get more candidates into your talent pipeline.

And the best thing about it all, is that social media, email and other online tools have made it that much easier to facilitate this communication. So there’s no excuse!

About the Author: Chris is the Marketing Analyst for SmashFly Technologies. SmashFly provides a recruitment marketing platform that enables companies to easily launch and more importantly measure the performance of all their recruiting efforts online.