For a variety of reasons, candidate experience is critical to your organization, yet it’s a consideration that many firms neglect during the recruiting process. The fact is that failing to provide a favorable candidate experience may cause serious and long-term damage to your company’s reputation.

What is candidate experience? So, after seeing how you handle candidates, a positive candidate experience will make them feel good about your organization. A better candidate experience may encourage them to tell others about their positive thoughts, which will help you develop your reputation. A negative candidate experience, on the other hand, can cause candidates to lose trust in you as an employer and a brand.

Furthermore, the candidate experience does not end after someone is hired. As your new recruit transforms from candidate to employee, induction and onboarding are equally critical for providing a great candidate experience.

As a result, efforts to improve the candidate experience must be broad and thorough. To make the process go as smoothly as possible, you must evaluate each stage of the recruiting funnel.

8 components to a better candidate experience:

 

Job search:

Candidates’ first impression of your organization. Candidates may learn about the job vacancy through job boards, social media, or your website’s careers page, so make sure the information you give is clear and consistent across these platforms.

Communication:

Always let the applicants know what they may expect next. Keep them updated every step of the journey, starting with the “we got your résumé” email. Send out reminder emails, thank you emails, and answer quickly.

Train your team:

The manner in which your interviewers behave themselves will either sell or frighten candidates away from the position.

Interviews:

This is the best chance for candidates to learn more about your firm and its culture. The way you treat candidates during the interview will have a big influence on how they see your company, thus it’s an important part of the candidate experience.

Feedback:

To provide a pleasant candidate experience, provide feedback at key points of the process to let candidates know where they stand and what the next steps are. Giving candidates comments demonstrates that you appreciate the time they took to apply.

Follow-up early and often:

As soon as possible, send a rejection email or an interview invitation. Responding to candidates immediately, whether with good or bad news, will set you apart and indicate that you appreciate your candidates’ time.

Onboarding:

Once you’ve acquired the right person, you’ll need to put in place efficient induction and onboarding procedures to assist them transition from applicant to employee and train them for their new job.

Analysis:

After finishing the hiring process, it is critical to evaluate on how effective it was. Analyzing each stage thoroughly will enable you to discover weak aspects and strengthen them for future recruiting, allowing you to continuously enhance the candidate experience.

How to improve and create great candidate experience

 

Poorly constructed recruitment techniques are at the basis of many issues, including low employee engagement and ultimately attrition. Brands are finding tremendous success by realizing the value of the job seeker’s journey and customizing the recruitment process such that they are treated with the same respect as a client. Consider the following areas while focusing on increasing candidate experience and enriching a candidate’s job search process:

• Your company’s career portal, as well as job descriptions:

Build dynamic and flexible career site pages. Make your job descriptions as precise, simple, and informative as possible. They should provide clear details on the role’s responsibilities and duties. Job descriptions should also provide specific guidelines for submitting an initial application.

• Social media outreach and recruitment marketing:

Determine which social media groups they are likely to frequent and take an active interest in the conversations in which they are most involved. If you want social media to aid you with your recruitment marketing efforts, be active, responsive, and tell a good narrative.

• The process of applying for jobs online:

You should try to keep the initial application as simple as possible. You may do this by using psychometric tests or a skills evaluation as an early screening approach to exclude unsuitable individuals and make the recruiting process easier. Ensure that any exams you give throughout the employment process are mobile-friendly.

• The interview method:

It’s not enough to merely schedule an interview; you need also inform the candidate about the format of the interview and the kind of questions they might expect. Because the interview will most likely be the first time a candidate speaks with you personally, treat them with the respect they deserve. Show them you value their time and what they offer to the table by giving them your undivided attention throughout.

• Rejection or a job offer:

Nobody likes being kept in the dark about whether or not their application was successful: as soon as you make the choice to reject a candidate, let them know.

• Encourage failed candidates to reapply for future positions:

Even if you reject a candidate for a specific position, it’s critical to conclude their application on a positive note by urging them to apply for future positions if you believe they’d be a good fit. Encourage failed candidates to keep a look out for future positions on your career’s website.

• Onboarding of new employees:

To formalize the job offer, you’ll need to do background checks, references, and other activities after you’ve chosen your perfect candidate. design efficient induction and onboarding processes to assist them in making the transition from candidate to employee and to prepare them for their new position.