How To Create a Candidate Experience That Gets Top Talent to Say ‘YES!’
Companies go through hundreds of potential candidates seeking work daily. With more job seekers and more people working past retirement than ever before, any job opening may have hundreds of candidates apply. Without an updated hiring system, companies may run into immense operational difficulty to keep track of all incoming potential employees. Here are a few things to keep in mind on how companies establish themselves and prepare candidates for job opportunities.
The Importance of Strategy and Development for Candidate Experience.
A study from Social Talent highlights that on average, agencies screen 282 potential candidates, and offer 6 open interviews for one candidate to be hired. For candidates, this is the reality of the new job market. There are certain speeds and expectations that have to be met from businesses to prevent new candidates from getting an inappropriate experience for hiring efforts. Any lag behind the hiring process may lead to job seekers to lose interest and hurt the employer brand.
A September 2014 study from Jibe found that a poor application experience discouraged 25% of the 1,000 job seekers from taking on job offers. Many candidates search through multiple systems, so the job hunt experience may cause frequent search frustration and burn-out, and prevents recruiters from delivering results and hiring the right people.
With smart recruiters being the new intermediary for efficient candidate experiences, companies can increase their internal investments in talent communities, CRM, big data, and automated marketing, so that the right job posts may be seen and managed by willing employers. The next few sections focus on getting to that level for a modern business.
Foster a New Candidate Application
Establish Your Values and Standards
- Providing a great application experience takes time and effort from both parties in the candidate-employer relationship. Employers must establish their company values before hiring begins to showcase their brand as credible and trustworthy to work for.
Be Human, Be Simple
- Empathy plays a big role in designing the perfect candidate experience. Start by mapping your current candidate experience and consider what your candidate would be feeling throughout the process. With everything now being automated, the recruitment process may seem dull and artificial. Bringing the human element back in the form of personalized communication can be an attractive call for top-talent.
- For actual applications, avoid asking too much. Whether it be their résumé, portfolio, website, or LinkedIn profile, get the most important information necessary. For more functionally related jobs like software, sales, or accounting, utilize AI-designed systems to help streamline common business positions.
Highlight Future Candidate Development
- A 2015 TalentBoard survey found that over half of the 130,000 candidates surveyed had a past relationship with an employer. The best companies focus on experiences that keep top talent interested in future opportunities. Measure and track each candidate experience, and create a talent pool within your company that allows candidates to connect quickly, and receive job alerts when new openings arise.
Connection and Relationships
Open Communication
- Several levels of high-touch points and constant communication are crucial for incoming applicants. With a high volume of candidates, companies must use assistive-tracking software or smart-recruiting technology to touch base with every potential candidate.
- When dialing down on select individuals, personalize every interaction to help shape the candidate and identify how they can fit into the company rather than conducting a cookie-cutter interview. Terri Haake, a talent specialist at SSM Health, mentions how important it is “to make sure that candidates always know where they stand in the process.”
Feedback
- According to the Candidate Experience 2014, over 60% of candidates were never asked to provide feedback on their screening or interview experience. Asking for feedback for any step of the process at any given time is essential to the overall interview process.
- Some of the top causes for bad candidate experience include unclear application instructions, extremely long applications, minimal job descriptions, and difficulty in communications. Understanding these major issues early on in your hiring process can help increase the likelihood of discovering top talent.
Onboarding
- Between the time a new hire accepts an offer and officially starts on day one, there is a significant opportunity to provide an unforgettable experience. Whether it be company gifts or access to new events or tools, new hires should be integrating into their new role and the company culture far before day one.
Express Company Culture
Company culture also influences the candidate experience. According to a PWC study, 36% of millennials surveyed said that a company’s reputation was the most important factor when selecting their current job. The way you handle the initial interview process, for example, is a reflection of your company culture and is an opportunity to demonstrate what makes your culture stand out.
Ana Recio, Senior Vice President of Global Recruiting for Salesforce, mentions that it is widely important to value match with companies and candidates, asking from candidates examples of teamwork, collaboration and what do they do when things don’t go their way or when candidates weren’t successful. Everything from email communication with candidates to the questions asked during an interview will send messages to candidates about their potential experience as an employee.
