When it comes to recruitment, your candidate experience can make a world of difference. If you fail to measure up to the competition or meet job seeker expectations, you may struggle to secure the talent your company needs to thrive.
Luckily, you can assess and enhance your candidate experience by understanding what you bring to the table. By doing so, you can increase your odds of being viewed as an employer of choice, making it easier to tap the top performers your team needs to excel.
If you aren’t sure if your candidate experience stacks up to the competition or what you can do to improve, here’s what you need to know.
Why the Candidate Experience Matters
Often, your recruitment process serves as a basis for a candidate’s first impressions of your company. If it’s negative, it can actually cause top talent to exit your recruitment funnel and pursue opportunities elsewhere. At times, a disenchanted job seeker may even discuss your candidate experience, harming your employer brand.
When the candidate experience is positive, it sets a beneficial tone. It may generate positive word of mouth and also keeps the job seeker in your recruitment funnel. Even if they don’t get this position, they may be open to remaining in your talent pool, which can boost your recruitment efforts.
Assessing Your Candidate Experience
If you want to assess your candidate experience, getting feedback from job seekers is an obvious route. You can ask for their input about what went well and what didn’t, using their insights to make future improvements.
However, you can also examine certain key metrics. The time between application submission and contact with a hiring manager is one point to explore. Similarly, the amount of time it takes to apply, length of the screening process, total number of steps, and similar metrics are valuable.
Making a note of any points where candidates abandon your hiring process is also a great option. With that approach, you can pinpoint issues that are actively driving job seekers away.
Ultimately, you want to explore the numbers and data to identify delays, bottlenecks, and other opportunities for meaningful efficiency improvements. That way, you can streamline your hiring process to meet candidate needs and expectations better.
How to Create an Exceptional Candidate Experience
In most cases, candidates look for an efficient hiring process. For example, allowing them to complete an application or submit a resume, but not requiring both, is preferred. Limiting the number of essay questions is also crucial, as too many may drive candidates away.
Additionally, communication is a big factor. Candidates don’t want to feel like their resume disappeared into a black hole. Ensure that job seeker know their application was received, get a timeline for the rest of the hiring process, and receive regular check-in communications or process updates. This makes them feel informed and valued, and that works in your favor.
Ultimately, any improvement that makes your hiring process simpler or more enjoyable is worth considering. That way, job seekers will view applying as a positive experience overall.
If you’d like to learn more, the staff at The Advance Group can help. Contact us today.
