What impression does your recruitment process leave on candidates, and how does it influence their perception about your organization?
As an employer, ensuring that your candidate experience is effective and your overall recruitment process is seamless should be one of your highest priorities. From their very first interaction with you… You want to leave a positive impression if you stand any chance of hiring the best talent.
People love to talk about good experiences and even bad experiences. Behind every job application is a person hoping to be seen, heard, and respected.
What is ‘candidate experience’ in the recruitment process?
Candidate experience refers to how job seekers perceive your company’s hiring process, from the moment they come across a job ad to the final communication, regardless of the outcome.
In simple terms, candidate experience is about how candidates feel throughout your recruitment process, which can be positive or negative.
Here are 10 ways to improve candidate experience during the recruitment process:
- Write clear and concise job descriptions
A job description is often a candidate’s first glimpse into your company. Therefore a well-written job description will not only help you attract talented professionals, but it will also promote your company’s brand and allow you to build a strong talent pool of potential candidates for the future. It’s an opportunity to convey the company’s culture and why someone would want to work for you.
A confusing or inaccurate job description will negatively impact an applicant’s candidate experience and may attract the wrong job seekers to your company. The content of the description should include an accurate overview of the position’s duties to ensure candidates know exactly what they’re applying for.
2. Communicate frequently with candidates
One source of frustration professionals may have during their job search is a lack of clear communication with you as the employer. Failing to follow up with a job seeker after any point in the recruitment process will lower a candidate’s engagement with your brand, which can cause them to lose interest in the position and see your organization in a negative light.
As Simon Woodthrope rightly said; “…not having the courtesy to respond to applicants does not bode well for how an organisation respects its employees.”
3. Be transparent with your processes
Be up-front and clear about what the process will involve and how long it will take. When a process is vague, the timetable drifts, or a hiring organization is not transparent about other applicants (particularly internal) being in play, job seekers will often quickly lose engagement and interest.
Not providing information to applicants will make it difficult for them to trust your organization. This means sharing information such as who is involved with hiring decisions, when these decisions will be made, whether any further interviews will take place and if so, how many, and when and how your company will follow up with applicants.
4. Make the application process simple
An application that is difficult and frustrating to complete will dissuade candidates from seeking to work for your organization. Limit the number of stages in your interview process.
If you can find out what you require in as few stages as possible, you will be able to progress quickly and reduce the risk of losing candidates due to a long hiring process.
Avoid placing irrelevant questions on your forms to prevent job seekers from feeling as though their time is being wasted. The easier your application is to finish, the better a job seeker’s experience will be.
5. Keep declined candidates informed and engaged
If there are any ‘close seconds’ who aren’t quite what you want but you don’t want to fully cut ties, tell them about the move to make a job offer to someone else, and be honest about future opportunities. If an applicant is declined, try and give objective feedback as to why they were unsuccessful.
Unsuccessful job seekers should still be informed of the result rather than leaving them to wonder when they’ll hear back from your business. Offering declined applicants constructive candidate experience feedback is important because they can use it to improve their future applications and it also shows them that your company cares about their success.
6. Move fast to make the offer
Once you have decided to make a job offer to one of your applicants, make sure you produce that offer promptly. Any unnecessary delays mean you run the risk of losing your preferred applicant, and potentially having to restart your process from the beginning.
7. Opt for Video interviews
In modern recruitment, video interviews have become an essential component. They offer numerous benefits, such as saving candidates time and travel expenses. This is especially valuable for candidates in remote locations. Video interviews also provide candidates with a platform to showcase their communication skills and personality effectively. You can use platforms like Zoom or Google Meet. An upbeat video interview experience reflects well on your organization and can make candidates more likely to recommend your company to others, regardless of the hiring outcome.
8. Effective onboarding
Effective onboarding is critical to the candidate experience, as it sets the tone for an employee’s journey with your organization.
It integrates the individual with your organisation’s culture and supplies them with the right tools and information they need to become a productive member of the team from day one.
It not only enhances employee retention but also contributes to job satisfaction and engagement.
9. Assessment clarity
Clarity in assessments is crucial to ensuring that candidates understand what is expected of them during the recruitment process. When assessments are well-defined, and instructions are clear, candidates can focus on demonstrating their skills and abilities rather than being uncertain about the process. Candidates are more likely to engage enthusiastically when they clearly understand how their skills and qualifications will be evaluated throughout the recruitment process.
10. Challenge their skills relevant to the role.
Job seekers want to be thoroughly tested so they have the opportunity to flex their skills and experience. Make sure that you have a clear part of the interview set aside for establishing their technical compatibility. Challenging people can often bring out the best in them.
Conclusion
Improving the candidate experience in your organization is essential if you want to attract and keep the best candidates, as well as build and protect your reputation as an employer and brand.
There are many simple steps you can take today to improve the journey your candidates go on in the hiring process and leave everyone with a positive impression, even the candidates who don’t get hired.
To that end, please think about this; “Talent is no longer impressed with ping pong tables and beer on tap. Hiring with a little more human kindness and compassion should be top of the agenda.”