Let's talk about candidate experience. What does it mean to you as a company, recruiter or a hiring manager? This is becoming an increasingly critical topic in data-driven HR more especially for employers who care to have an exceptional recruitment process. Candidate experience is the way candidates feel about a company after an interaction with its recruitment and onboarding process. A candidate can easily make a decision whether or not to accept your offer, tell someone about the company or even attend an interview based on their initial experience.
How candidates are handled at different stages of recruitment matters a lot in determining their experience with you as an employer. Candidate experience is a key aspect in shaping both an organization's image and the brand in an increasingly competitive market.
You need to be concerned about the below key factors if you care about creating an extraordinary experience for job seekers.
Be Considerate When Inviting Candidates for an Interview.
It's saddening how some employers will give candidates a very short notice for an interview. It is not surprising that a candidate will be notified less than 24 hours to the interview. I understand some roles may be more urgent and may just need to be filled really quick but giving candidates a very short notice creates a very bad picture of your company. Again, it is much easier to lose highly qualified candidates especially those who may not be able to attend the interview due to a short notice.
Give Feedback
It doesn't matter how huge the number of applications you receive, getting back to everyone who applies in your company should be your top priority if you want to create a great candidate experience. Thanks to technology nowadays candidates can be notified upon receipt of their applications and be informed on how the next stage of the interview will be determined. I am even more specific on those candidates who make it to the interview stage and never get to hear from the prospective employers. Candidates create time for you, travel from far or even set time and a conducive environment for an online interview then you go silent thereafter. This does not paint your company nicely and will eventually affect your talent attraction ability as a business.
Respect Candidates' time
Avoid putting candidates through a very long wait before starting the interview. Beginning an interview an hour or two later than it was scheduled without showing remorse to the candidates is a problem. Disgruntled job seekers may never apply for any job in your company or even refer their friends. It may seem simple but it is a key factor in determining how candidates interpret your values as an organization.
Hire When You Need To
Proper planning enables a company to project the number of resources it will need within a particular period of time. Human resources or manpower planning when done correctly, supports to ensure that a company recruits based on need. The reason I link this with candidate experience is because there are several incidents where candidates are interviewed and assessed to meet all requirements and then the employer goes silent. This happens in an event where the company was either not intending to fill a position immediately or realized they didn't need that resource after the process. I support the practice of having a good database of talents to help a company in filling positions very quickly whenever they fall vacant. A talent database is good for that purpose, but it is important to communicate to the candidates such an intention in a timely manner to save them the agony of being expectant of an opportunity which does not come immediately.