The success of the recruitment process is mainly based on the candidate’s experience. In a job market that is plagued by a talent shortage, the best candidates tend to view their overall experience as a reflection of the value the company puts on its employees. When it comes to accepting or rejecting a job offer, this factor can easily tip the balance one way or another.
Providing a positive candidate experience is not as easy as it sounds. In fact, there is a real gap between the employer’s and the candidate’s perception. Therefore, hiring companies need to put themselves in the candidate’s shoes to evaluate their own hiring process and identify areas of improvement.
Unfortunately, negative experiences have become very common, and candidates no longer hesitate to share their opinion on social media. Needless to say, this viral dimension that these social networks brought can have disastrous effects on the recruiting companies and drive away from the best candidates.
A number of factors can frustrate candidates during the recruitment process and generate a negative experience, the complicated application process, the lack of information, the lack of reactivity are just a few examples.
What is a candidate experience?
The candidate experience is defined as a candidate’s perception of a company’s recruitment process, from the very first interaction to his selection or even onboarding.
The contact points of the hiring process include the job search, the application process, the time to fill, and how to respond negatively to the application. Sometimes it even starts before the job search.
Offering a positive candidate experience requires taking into consideration each and every point through which the candidate passes, leading up to an interaction with the hiring company.
Whether it’s a phone call with a recruiter or the user experience on the company’s carrier page, each time, the candidate’s experience is analyzed.
What are the best practices for creating a positive candidate experience?
So in order to offer a positive candidate experience here are some of the best practices:
Make the application process simple
Think about making the application process as simple as possible by offering, for example, the possibility to apply on mobile or via LinkedIn. Meanwhile, don’t force candidates to write down information about their experiences by hand on your platform, you will definitely scare away the best ones.
Optimize the application process on mobile
The recruitment strategies must now be mobile-first. According to ComScore, an online analytics company, the number of Internet users surfing the Internet from their mobile devices has surpassed those who use computers. Not surprisingly, 9 out of 10 job seekers search from their mobile devices, and 70% want to be able to apply for jobs directly from their phones. So make sure that the application process is optimized for mobile users.
Explain the recruitment process from the start
Giving the candidates a clear idea about the recruitment process is essential to give them all the visibility they need. This way, they will be able to know what to expect at each step. The more transparent the process is, the more the candidate will appreciate it.
Handle rejections with delicacy
“We will get back to you”
Says every recruiter ever…
This sentence is in itself a representation of a bad candidate experience after a job interview.
Why? Because at the end of the recruitment process only one candidate will be selected. All the others will get only a “we’ll get back to you” answer, without even a call to inform them that they weren’t selected.
It’s time for a change because this kind of behavior is detrimental to the value of the employer brand. What we advise you to do in this case is to actually get back to every candidate who came for an interview or sent an application. For the applicants, a simple Email is more than enough to leave a positive impression, for the ones who were invited for an interview, a call to tell them they weren’t selected is required. But is it actually enough?
Justifying the non-selection of the interviewed candidates
A candidate who has been interviewed and not selected will appreciate knowing the reasons why he wasn’t chosen for the job. A constructive explanation can help them improve for their future interviews. Perhaps the job seeker needs to rework his speech? Perhaps he should consider mastering a specific tool? A recruiter who takes the time to give feedback on areas for improvement will always leave a good impression.
Plan the candidate’s first day on the job
You have made your choice and identified the perfect fit for the position available? That’s another reason to strengthen even more the candidate experience.
To get off to a good start in a company, nothing pleases more than to see that your arrival has been prepared. Organizing a meeting with all the team members at the beginning of the day would be a good start. Everyone can introduce themselves and what they are doing over a coffee and croissant. Who wouldn’t feel welcome in this way?
So for every hiring company, we can assure you that it’s time for you to change your mindset, accept the fact that the recruitment process has become a candidate-centric one, and start treating your candidates just like customers to whom you want to SELL A POSITION.
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