To win in a war for talent, recruiters must improve their candidate experience. And great candidate experience requires a candidate-centric mindset…and a lot of strategic work.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
What\u2019s the challenge?\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
It\u2019s not that creating a positive candidate experience is hard. The real problem is that you need to go beyond the surface-level \u201cdata\u201d and need a deep understanding of candidates\u2019 expectations, behavior, and preferences. And getting this information isn\u2019t always easy. There\u2019s no shortcut to gathering this personal information<\/a> and so, the only way to know for sure is by actually putting best practices in place and leveraging recruitment tech to gather insights.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n This guide is your handy resource to improve your candidate experience: why candidate experience matters, how to improve it by making changes to your hiring pipelines, and the tech stack you need to efficiently implement these changes – so you have everything you need to start delivering an exceptional experience for your candidates.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Candidate experience is your candidates\u2019 holistic perception of their experience with your recruitment process or agency. Candidate experience is the result of every interaction they\u2019ve had with your organization throughout the recruitment process. These interactions include all the stages of the hiring pipeline – right from the first touchpoint i.e the job application to the screening process, interviewing, and onboarding<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Everything you do impacts your candidate\u2019s perception and their decision to keep engaging with your team or not – so a great candidate experience is your key to success.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Imagine you\u2019re running a brick-and-mortar store. A customer walks in and tries to figure out what they want to buy. Now, you\u2019d want to approach them and strike a conversation to help out. Or when they come up to the counter, you can ask them if they\u2019re looking for anything more, learn who they are, and gather personal information like anniversary, birthday, and more to offer discounts in the future sometime. Seems like a good customer experience<\/a> story, right?\u00a0 Put this into the perspective of your recruitment process now. When a candidate applies to your job posting, they already know what they want. Good, they\u2019re halfway there! But it\u2019s a chance for recruiters to establish a strong relationship from the get-go. First impressions are important and work both ways. So, it\u2019s time to bring a mindset shift in your team where recruiters treat candidates like your customers.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n When you communicate clearly, engage with them, and nurture positive relationships, candidates are more likely to have a great experience and trust your recruiters and hiring managers.\u00a0“Also, find what communication channel your candidates prefer and dedicate your efforts there. Some customers prefer to receive SMS over Wi-Fi<\/a> that notifies them about the interview date, while others prefer to connect via a video conferencing app.”<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Delivering a positive candidate experience is hugely important for any recruiter. The better experience candidates have, the more likely they are to engage with your job postings. This, in turn, has a big impact on the quality of your hires, the reputation of your recruitment firm, and consequently your revenue.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It always comes back to the fact that top candidates have more opportunities than ever before. Especially recruitment trends like the Great Resignation and virtual work – both empowering candidates – have raised the stakes for hiring the top talent and recruiters are often fishing in the same pool.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Not only is the market more competitive, but it\u2019s become easier than ever to conduct research and find relevant information about roles and employers, and candidates themselves are less bound by language or geography.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Recruiters need to overcome challenges like higher time to fill and being able to quickly move to secure top talent before the competition.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n \u201cPeople speak of a war on talent, and what I tell our clients is that the talent is winning,\u201d Brandon Hall Group CEO Mike Cooke said. \u201cThere are so many available solutions for improving the candidate experience; organizations really need to re-evaluate their hiring practices. But first, they must recognize the problem and want to do something about it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\r\n<\/blockquote>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n There\u2019s no single universal checklist to follow to guarantee a good candidate experience: your recruiting needs are unique and so are your candidates. However, in our experience of talking to some of the most successful recruiters and headhunters, we\u2019ve found some common principles across industries.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A quick overview of how you can build a good candidate relationship management strategy:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It\u2019s not rocket science: a good candidate experience comes from building efficient systems in place that improve hiring speed, listening to your candidates, and implementing their feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Also, check our blog on how to market the most placeable candidates.<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n A positive candidate experience is becoming increasingly important in today’s job market, especially for candidates with IT skills. With the growing demand for IT skills in almost every industry, candidates with experience in IT career fields<\/a> are highly sought after. Recruiters who are able to provide a positive experience for candidates in IT career fields will have an edge in attracting and retaining top talent. In fact, a negative candidate experience can not only deter candidates from applying for a particular job but can also damage a company’s reputation and hinder future recruiting efforts.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Before we get into how you can improve your candidate experience, let\u2019s take a look at the benefits of delivering a great candidate experience:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Here\u2019s what we found when we asked candidates to identify what they consider to be important parameters to improve the hiring process that would engage them more, increase the likelihood of them accepting job offers, and reapply with the same recruiting firm.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n There\u2019s a lot of talk about how to write job descriptions that get good engagement. There are a couple of things that factor into making a job description compelling.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 83% of candidates<\/a> say it would greatly improve their overall experience if recruiters could set expectations about the recruiting process. Being transparent is an important aspect of delivering a positive candidate experience.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Provide a timeline for your hiring process. <\/strong>Set clear expectations of what each stage of the hiring process will look like and how much time each stage will take. This is important because someone who\u2019s considering joining a new company might need to give notice to their current employer or even relocate to another location.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Share a roadmap of your hiring process. <\/strong>This helps candidates know the exact stages of the recruiting process, keep track of what\u2019s coming next, and prepare for it. You should also offer valuable resources that help candidates visualize the recruiting process. A good example is Google\u2019s How We Hire<\/a>, a detailed and transparent look into their hiring process.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For candidates, it\u2019s important that the recruitment process should be fair, speedy, and respectful. Here are some important candidate experience statistics that agree with this:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As a recruiter, you\u2019re probably already using a traditional recruitment system to show you the big picture of your recruitment ecosystem.\u00a0 But as you scale your recruitment business, you\u2019ll quickly realize that while these tools work for specific use-cases, they lack important features (specifically automation capabilities) you need to keep up with today\u2019s dynamic recruitment market.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n An executive recruiting software like Recruiterflow puts you on ground level with your candidates, so you can see exactly how they\u2019re engaging and track metrics like time to fill. You can go beyond the big picture, and experience your recruiting pipeline through their eyes.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Recruiterflow\u2019s recruitment CRM<\/a> lets you build email sequences to create a candidate journey. You can add various touchpoints, use custom fields like delay time, and select specific segments to run your email sequences. This way, your candidates will stay updated throughout the process, without your team doing the heavy lifting.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Candidates expect a fast and user-friendly experience when it comes to filling job applications.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Research<\/a> shows that candidates typically spend 3-4 hours preparing and submitting one job application. And 25% of job seekers<\/a> quit an application because it was too long or complex.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Candidates might flow through your job postings every day, but somehow all of that traffic down to just a trickle of filled applications. Here are some effective tips to improve your job application process that will enhance your candidate relationship management strategy:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n You might have some recruiters in your team who absolutely ace it when it comes to sourcing the right candidates, communicating with them, and nurturing relationships. However, it\u2019s not necessarily true that all recruiters are naturally good interviewers.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The interview is a critical stage in every recruitment process that can win you top talent and ensure that candidates are fully aware of the job responsibilities and the company they might be joining.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Then, create a video interview system: prepare a list of questions<\/a> you\u2019ll use during the interview, decide the length of your interview, and how you\u2019ll notify candidates. A great way to save time is using a recruitment CRM to automate the communication process<\/a> so your candidates automatically get notified about their upcoming interviews.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Send a calendar invite to your candidates with as much information about the interview process and the interviewer ahead of time. Things like interview time, the concerned person\u2019s name and position, interview length, specific instructions like a dress code, etc will help paint a picture for the candidate and ensure they\u2019re well-prepared.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Candidates want the hiring process to be timely and brief. Just like you, your candidates also multi-task and want their hiring process to be as structured as possible. They\u2019re probably busy preparing their resume, researching the company, applying, interviewing, and even considering relocating.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For these reasons, it\u2019s a good idea to not only let your candidates know the length of your hiring process but also ensure that it\u2019s short.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n According to a LinkedIn survey<\/a>, companies usually take 2 to 3 months to move candidates from application to hire. Given that top talent stays on the market only for 10 days, a slow, lengthy hiring process creates more friction and reduces the chances of hiring quality candidates for your job postings.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As recruitment businesses fully shift into the digital space, more and more candidates demand both fast and authentic communication. As we mentioned earlier, it\u2019s no time to go radio-silent on candidates and expect them to stick around for days waiting to hear back about their recruitment process.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n 65% of candidates say they either never or rarely receive notice<\/a> of the decision made on their application from an employer. Of those that do receive notification, 51% say it takes 1 month or more. When they don\u2019t hear back from employers, 85% of job seekers doubt that a human being has even reviewed their application.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It\u2019s evident that candidates are increasingly frustrated with a lack of communication and stale automated emails. That\u2019s why recruiters need to address these frustrations as soon as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n We know that as a recruiter you probably have more than enough on your plate. So instead of taking the added stress of being in constant contact with your candidates, leave it to a reliable recruitment agency software<\/a> that takes care of your communication.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Candidates are more informed than ever before. Rather than receiving cold calls and bulk mail, candidates are actively researching and communicating multiple job postings and companies before applying to a position.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Job seekers value personalized responses above all. If you\u2019re sourcing candidates, you need to ensure that you\u2019re hiring them for the right position. And you need to show them how they\u2019re a good fit for your job posting by personalizing your emails<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Also, read our blog on recruiting skills<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n For 52% of job seekers<\/a>, lack of response from employers is the #1 frustration during the overall job search. While automation can fill in the gaps, accelerate your hiring process, and even enhance your overall candidate experience, the success of your recruitment also depends on how you manage rejection notices.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Imagine this. You had given an interview for a job and it\u2019s been over a week since you got any updates about your recruitment. It\u2019s at this moment when candidates spiral down the train of thoughts – \u201cWas I rejected in my interview stage?\u201d \u201cWhat could I have done to make it better?\u201d \u201cHave they already hired somebody else\u201d<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Think of feedback as a way to level up all your interactions with your candidates. Whether you want feedback on your job application, resume<\/a> screening, interviewing process, or give feedback to candidates, especially if they\u2019ve been rejected, give them a chance to engage with you in a constructive conversation.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Also, read our blog on candidate experience survey<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Measuring candidate experience is tricky. That\u2019s because it\u2019s subjective, difficult to quantify and contextualize. And what would you do with data that you can\u2019t measure? You certainly can\u2019t improve your candidate experience using it.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n While there isn\u2019t a single metric that will measure the effectiveness of your candidate experience, there are a few recruitment metrics and KPIs that will give recruiters insights into what\u2019s working and where you can improve your candidate experience strategy.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Some important recruitment KPIs to measure candidate experience:<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Whether you\u2019re a two-person recruiting team or a growing executive search firm, it\u2019s essential to measure your candidate experience. To gather candidate experience data, you need to have a single source of truth that\u2019s accessible to everyone in your organization.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n It\u2019s important to collect and comb data for the full-cycle recruiting process<\/a>: from which channel do you get the most job applicants, how much time do your recruiters take to make the first contact with applicants, how many emails on an average get opened, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Until now, we didn\u2019t have the right recruitment tools to easily track these various activities. Most traditional recruitment software is limited to being just an ATS and rarely ever provides recruiters with the features and tools needed to obtain and analyze candidate experience data.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n The good news is there are tons of recruitment tools out there now that give you the insight you need to enhance your candidate experience. For example, recruiters use Recruiterflow<\/a>, which provides analytics and reports for candidates and job pipelines. Moreover, you can also set up automated feedback surveys within emails to gather candidate feedback.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Your recruitment CRM is like a treasure trove of analytics data for each stage of your hiring process. Analyze this data to identify any stage at which your candidates lose interest or you need to optimize your internal recruiting strategies<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n There\u2019s an array of factors that influence your candidate’s experience. Right from the time taken to fill out a job application, and interview scheduling to getting notifications during the hiring process, everything contributes to your candidate experience.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n As a recruiter in today\u2019s remote, asynchronous environment where recruitment dynamics are constantly evolving, you need to take a fresh look at your candidate relationship management strategies. The best recruiters look at their hiring process from the perspective of a candidate to gauge the success of their candidate experience efforts.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n Providing a good candidate experience comes from a combination of science and psychology. As important as it is to leverage AI and data to analyze your candidates\u2019 experience, it\u2019s equally crucial to be kind, respectful and accommodating. By devoting some extra time and resources to enhancing your candidate experience, you can gain long-term business value (repeat business, more revenue, higher ROI) throughout your entire company.\u00a0<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n To see how Recruiterflow can help your recruiting business, book a free demo<\/a><\/strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<\/span>What Is Candidate Experience?\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
Also check, Our Journey to 100+ customers in less than 100 days<\/a><\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n<\/span>Importance Of Positive Candidate Experience<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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<\/span>12 Ways To Improve Your Candidate Experience\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
1. Write Clear Job Descriptions<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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2. Be Transparent About the Hiring Process\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
3. Use an Applicant Tracking Software<\/a> & CRM\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Also, check our blog on recruiting statistics<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n![\"how](\"https:\/\/recruiterflow.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/FEATURED-IMAGE-5-2-1-1024x321.png\")
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4. Make It Easy For Candidates To Apply For Jobs<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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5. Coach Hiring Teams Before Interviews\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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6. Share The Profiles Of The Interviewers Ahead.\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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7. Respect Candidate\u2019s Time\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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8. Communicate Often.\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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Improve candidate experience from the first click \u2014 use our AI Job Description Generator<\/a> to create clear, engaging job descriptions that set the right expectations.<\/span><\/pre>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n9. Personalize the Candidate Experience<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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10. Tell Candidates If the Job Has Been Filled Or If They are Disqualified at Any Stage<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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11. Be Open To Giving And Receiving Feedback\u00a0<\/h3>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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<\/span>How To Measure Candidate Experience?<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n
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<\/span>Key Takeaways on Candidate Experience<\/span><\/h2>\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n