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A Recruiter’s Guide to Talent Segmentation



Companies have become more global, diverse, and complicated because many now have business units worldwide. So as a result, their employees are from all over the world and are very different from each other. So when a company hires many people, they usually have a lot of different cultures and preferences and a lot of different skills and abilities that aren't all the same.


People are different, but many businesses still use a "one size fits all" or "one size fits many" approach to hiring.


A typical common mistake of recruiters is blasting the same email to all the candidates. But every candidate is not the same. So you must differentiate them.


Why is segmentation important?

1. Because relevance converts

2. Irrelevance annoys people.


You may need to modify how you think about writing to produce messages that perform better than any other messages you've ever written.


Your messages won't convert if they are missing 1. segmentation 2. stories 3. specificity.


The more you know about your audience, the more specific you can be, and the more relevant the stories you can write. And the more specific we can be, the better our outcomes will be.


Simply said, segmentation is breaking your list into manageable groups of individuals with similar interests. The more specific we can be, the better our outcomes will be. You aim to harness what segment members have in common to send them more relevant emails.


You aim to harness what segment members have in common to send them more relevant emails.


There are many ways to segment your audience.


First is the segmentation model Jerome Ternynck mentioned in his book Hiring success. In his book, he segments the audience based on:


1. How essential and impactful is this person's role to the business?

2. How hard will it be to find such a person—i.e., how scarce is this person's specific talent?

Segmentation is a method of grouping workers and prospects into groups with similar qualities. According to Willis Towers Watson's 2016 global personnel management and incentives surveys, employers who provide tailored benefit plans are three times more likely to have highly engaged employees. Why? The segmentation strategy is the core of strategic talent management because it helps to identify potential value generation and cost to retain top personnel.


You may begin segmenting your audience based on:

  • The importance of skills and their influence

  • Uniqueness of abilities

  • Locality or other demographic data such as name, age, gender, etc.

  • Level of engagement, type of interactions, or based on your audience activity or hobby

There is not only one right way to segment a market. A marketer has to use different segmentation variables alone and in combination for effective segmentation. We at wearebridge.io created a comprehensive list of possible segments in our visual guideline.


The more you know about your subscriber, lead, candidate, or trial user, the more specific you can be and the more relevant stories you can write.


Segmentation lets you get specific and tell more meaningful stories. The value of segmenting is that you can treat candidates as individuals rather than numbers on a spreadsheet. As a result, you'll understand their wants and needs much better, which means you can tailor your messaging to suit them and personalize or look like it's personalized because personalization is for segmentation.


Segmentation is dividing your list up/ into manageable segments of people that have something in common: There can be all kinds of segments that you can create. Segmentation only works if you can USE the segments.

Meaningful segments make candidate engagement easier. Start choosing your segment strategically. Make a list short and manageable. Okay, so here are some ideas on how you can group people. I can segment my list into at least these groups of people:


- What do they apply for?

- People who respond to your email with X response

- People who left (alumni-boomerangs)

- Those that have clicked on X

- Those that have opened X

- Those that have opened the last X emails

- Those that haven’t opened the last X emails

- Those that have responded in the past

- Those who have applied in the past

- Silver medalist

- Bronze medalist

- Too juniors X year after

- Those that have social profile

- Those who signed up on job alert

- Those that have been in recruitment stage X

- Those that have been rejected for X reason

- People from the same city

- The day you reached out

- Based on perks they might like

- Per generation

- Seniority level

- People that have a pet

- People with the same Name

- People that have been found on Github etc...


And remember to track what you can!

So, what can you do to improve your results?


1. Define the ultimate outcome you are looking for.

2. Assess your current segmentation.

3. Analyse your current results.

4. Refine your segmentation strategy to improve your results.

5. Implement your segmentation strategy.

When you segment your audience, you'll be able to develop a more focused and more relevant marketing message.


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