What is a co-opted candidate?
Unlike other candidate sourcing channels (where recruiters or candidates often take a proactive approach), cooptation involves a third party: the employee! Your colleague (coopteur) recommends someone from his or her network for a vacancy in your company. This potential candidate (or “co-optee”) has been identified by your colleague, who in turn pushes him/her towards your department.
Your colleague not only knows your company well, but also the person he or she is co-opting. This knowledge brings significant advantages to this particular candidate… Let’s find out what they are!
#1. A profile that is better suited to the position, the project and the company’s DNA.
Your colleague has a good knowledge of your company. As a result, they will instinctively make a 1st assessment of the requirements of the position before recommending a person. In this way, they are able to judge (at their own level) the match between your offer and the profile sought (skills, expertise, soft skills, etc.).
A recommendation is a powerful act. It engages the employee’s credibility. He or she will take care to co-opt someone likely to be a good match. This doesn’t take away from your role as evaluator, but it does give you a shortlist of candidates with strong potential!
#2. More diverse profiles
A diversity of candidate backgrounds
Through co-option, you also expand your network of potential candidates. After all, every employee has his or her own network. These include former classmates, colleagues, peers… but also people from their own personal network.
The profiles that make up the employee network are therefore diverse, varied and specific to each employee. In short, cooptation allows you to reach a wider network than just your HR team!
Diversity in the profile of co-opted candidates
This diversity does not stop at sourcing alone, but also in the typology of co-opted profiles. In fact, your collaborator-cooper may deviate from the initial specifications (or even ignore them altogether).
He or she will have identified potential and skills in the co-optee that match your company’s vision, values and needs.
In this way, co-opted candidates may be those you didn’t select on first reading of their CVs (too atypical or too remote), but whose potential has been highlighted to you by an enlightened person: your colleague.
#3. More curious and interested profiles thanks to recommendations
At a time when the war for talent is raging, and penurious profiles are ultra-solicited and often passive, cooptation is a gateway to a passive or hidden market. The person being co-opted will feel valued by the recommendation made by a third party.
This recommendation will arouse their curiosity and interest. The co-optee will therefore be more open to your approach. They’ll be more inclined to continue with the recruitment process, which they might otherwise have rejected, for example, if you’d hunted them down.
#4. A co-opted candidate is more committed to the company after recruitment
Numerous surveys show a positive correlation between co-option and lower turnover. Indeed, according to the book The Social Refferal, after 2 years co-opted employees show a retention rate of 45%, (vs. 20% for other sourcing channels).
These figures show a particular commitment on the part of the co-opted employee/candidate. One of the main reasons for this is that they are more in tune with the company’s values. In general, these values are shared by both the co-optee and the co-optee (and therefore by the company as a whole).
Stronger commitment also comes from a sense of recognition due to recommendation and trust.
#5 Quicker integration and operational profiles
Onboarding through cooptation
In a recruitment strategy, your employee can have 3 roles: that of candidate, ambassador and cooperator. For the latter, in addition to being a source, the employee also plays a role in onboarding. As a result of the co-optor/co-optee relationship, the candidate will already be familiar with the company even before his or her 1st day.
Just like a sponsor, the employee shares his or her experience, knowledge, pros and cons, and acts as a link with other employees. This makes it easier for the newcomer to get to know the company and establish a relationship.
They’ll feel integrated much faster!
A co-opted candidate is operational more quickly
Easier integration will also have an impact on the new employee’s operational readiness. In fact, a certain amount of time is needed for them to become 100% operational.
There’s a phase of discovery and social integration, of learning, of getting to grips with things, and then comes the mastery phase. By shortening the integration phase, subsequent phases are logically faster!
Tip: the experience of the candidate-cooper reflects the experience of the employee-cooper.
Candidate experience – co-opted
If you want your employees to continue to play the co-optation game and bring you relevant profiles, the experience of your co-opted candidate must be beyond reproach. It’s not just your company’s credibility that’s at stake, but (above all) your employee’s too.
Remember to process these applications quickly and efficiently to consolidate your strategy!
Co-operator experience
Your employees are at the heart of your co-optation strategy. If they are to want to be involved and committed, their experience as co-opters must reflect that of your candidates…Your staff’s involvement is the key to your co-optation program!
Remember to keep them informed of their recommendation(s) and the progress of their co-optee(s) in the recruitment process.
If the candidate is unsuccessful, briefly explain the reasons to your co-operator. As well as enhancing their role in the recruitment process, this will also help them to refine their future recommendations.
To optimize this experience for you, your candidates and your staff, why not equip yourself with a digital solution? A solution entirely dedicated to cooptation recruitment, like Keycoopt!
As experts in network recruitment and co-optation community management, we offer our customers strategic and operational advice, best practices and turnkey management kits. We work with you to optimize the long-term performance of your co-optation program.
Receiving co-opted candidates is therefore a real asset for your recruitment and a real added value for you as a recruiter. What’s more, they reflect your employees’ commitment to your company.
You wouldn’t co-opt someone if you weren’t a member of the company, or if you weren’t satisfied with the employee experience. What’s more, these candidates are generally identified more quickly by the co-opter (within 48-72 hours of being made aware of the vacancy)… Shortening recruitment time (and cost)!
