How to deliver a positive candidate experience

What does it feel like to apply for a role in your company? The term “candidate experience” has been a hot topic in recruitment and HR for a while now. Researches have shown that new employees are less likely to perform well after a poor recruiting experience and are also more likely to leave a company within a shorter period of time.

Aspects that are generally linked to bad candidate experience:

Source: SoftwareAdvice

Furthermore bad candidate experience can seriously harm your business — directly and indirectly.

As surveys found out that candidates are less likely to purchase a product from a company who didn’t respond to their job application. In times where news, ads and funny cat videos go viral almost every week and negative feedbacks can be addressed on Facebook or Twitter, bad experiences can easily spread throughout someone’s personal network and become a big issue for you as employer and your brand. Last but not least, first impressions can cause job seekers to eliminate you as potential employer from consideration altogether. Which means it’s crucial that your company’s representatives do a good job in delivering good experience right from the beginning (this often even starts with your job ad and career website).

Therefore it does not really surprise that providing a positive candidate experience can be one of your main competitive advantages and a great opportunity to recruit better people for you and your departments.

So what can your company do to improve candidates experience?

Candidates mostly suggest better communication to improve hiring process:

Source: SoftwareAdvice

In conclusion, I’d advice companies on following these 4 points to improve candidate experience.

1.) Communicate more

Your candidates want to be involved in the whole hiring process and be kept informed right from the beginning.

Increasing your level of communication throughout the application process will not only help to improve your reputation as employer but can also increase the likelihood of candidates to recommend your organization to other skilled and qualified applicants within their networks.

2.) Be personal

One way to ensure that candidates feel acknowledged is by sending them direct messages when you received their applications. Doing so empowers the applicant and leaves them feeling engaged. You may argue this is very time-confusing. Well, you are right, it can be — depending on the role and the amount of applications you receive but try whenever you can. It might save you time at the end as you managed to engage with that one great candidate you were looking for!

3.) Be transparent

An open and transparent communication will demonstrate that your company is eager to succeed in hiring the right person as well as showing your investment in a candidate’s potential. Offer support and help throughout your whole hiring process.

4.) Ask for feedback

A lot of people are peer-oriented and will welcome any opportunity to share their experiences with others. When was the last time you asked your candidates for feedback on your hiring process?

By actively asking applicants for feedback, you will gain valuable insights that can help you to improve your recruitment process and establish hiring benchmarks to recruit more effectively in the future.

What do you do to ensure a positive candidate experience in your company?