A Recruiter’s Guide to Improve Candidate Experience Score

Things were going good, or so they seemed when all of a sudden that perfect candidate ghosted you.

 

Unfortunately, this nightmare is an everyday reality for many recruiters. Around 49% of the candidates turned down an offer due to a bad hiring experience.

 

 

You can’t afford to take the applicants for granted in today's competitive landscape. It can cost you potential talent along with your company's reputation.

 

And that’s why building a positive candidate experience should be your top priority to stay relevant in a candidate-driven market.

 

What is a Positive Candidate Experience?

 

Candidate experience is how you made a potential hire feel about your organization. And it’s not just limited to the interview rounds but is an ongoing process from candidate sourcing to onboarding. Even how you handle the unselected candidates is also an important event that can leave a strong impression on job-seekers.

 

A positive candidate experience contributes directly to your business growth and attracts passive and active candidates to apply.

 

What is the Importance of a Positive Candidate Experience?

 

1) Optimal Time to Hire

When you manage applicants appropriately, it will help you retain the top talent and encourage strong candidates to reapply in the future. Consider how significantly you can reduce hiring time and expenses with a strong sourcing pool.

2) Better Company Reputation

 
Job-seekers don’t want to invest their time and energy with a company that’s popular for the wrong reasons. In times when candidates can access information on public domains or seek their network for honest feedback, there isn’t much room for chances and carelessness. It becomes a recruiter’s responsibility to ensure that talent isn’t turning down job offers due to poor candidate experience.

 

 

3) Attract Passionate Talent 

Word of mouth is still the most powerful form of promotion. When job-seekers appreciate your people management skills, it boosts your image as an ideal recruiter and brings in more applicants.

 

Step-by-step Approach to Improve the Candidate Experience

 

1) Nail Down the Perfect Job Description

Starting with an effective job description takes away half the hassle. Since it’s probably the first contact of candidates with your company and the opportunity, many will decide whether they wish to apply or not. So, you can’t compromise the quality here.

 

Here are some key things to have in your job description.

 

1) Introduce the candidates to your company with a short mission, vision, and values.

2) Describe the role in detail, along with the responsibilities. Mention the must-have and good-to-have skills so that suitable candidates can take a call.

3) Attract the applicants with perks and benefits. Also, add a salary range you can offer to narrow down your pool further.

4) It may sound counter-intuitive but add the potential deal-breakers too. For example, if the job comes with strict deadlines and shifting priorities, mention it clearly for the candidates to decide.

5) Use the right platform to share the opportunity with candidates. Apart from your career site page, leverage social channels like LinkedIn too.

 

Draft the job description keeping the candidate in mind. An honest and inclusive job description will reduce the last-moment surprises. It will also save their and your time by bringing the right people on board.

 

2) Remove the Wrinkles From the Application Process

 

People might pass down even the best opportunities if it comes as a tedious and never-ending task.

 

That’s why you should revisit your application portal and eliminate the steps that make the candidate sigh.

 

1) Use a mobile-friendly application portal for quick and easy access.

2) Ask the candidates to import their resumes. It will shorten the application form by removing redundant questions.

3) Keep only necessary questions mandatory. You can gather the other details in the screening call.

4) Implement an action button with the job description, making the application process more seamless.

 

A thorough application form might seem like a good idea to get only interested candidates to apply. But, it can force even the best to move to a less complicated option. The key is to find balance by re-evaluating the questions and their purpose.

 

3) Craft a Smooth & Succinct Interview Process

 

This is where most recruiters become selfish by scheduling rigorous and multiple rounds of interviews to find that star candidate. But they miss that the candidates also have limited time that needs to be respected.

 

You can use the following pointers to ensure mutual understanding and trust.

 

1) Plan the interview rounds with the right stakeholders. Keep them to a maximum of four, followed by a final call with HR.

2) Brief the candidate beforehand about the timeline and what they can expect in each round. Send them a brief about who will interview them and their role in the organization.

3) Cap the interview duration to 30-45 minutes and request the interviewee prepare the questionnaire in advance for a focused discussion.

4) Send the meeting links and keep the candidate informed of the next steps.

 

A fast and well-thought candidate assessment strategy ensures they are evaluated on fair parameters. It prevents candidates from feeling resentful of spending their time with you even if they aren’t selected.

 

4) Train Hiring Team For Unbiased Selection Process

 

Unknowingly and unintentionally, hirers might let their presumptions and biases run the show.

 

But it can cost you talent and lead to a poor reputation. Here is what you can do to avoid this.

 

1) Conduct quarterly or bi-annual training sessions for managers and recruiters. Such training will help them identify their biases and how they can make independent decisions.

2) Create interview panels with two or more members so that different perspectives are part of decision-making.

3) Have a diverse team in your organization to boost cultural inclusiveness.

4) You can even hire a third party to review your hiring policies.

 

The selection process is the crux of the whole hiring journey, so don’t be afraid of taking an extra step. Make the candidate feel more welcome by inviting them for an office tour or an open chat with the team members to better understand the company culture.

 

5) Keep Feedback a Two-way Street

 

And lastly, end the interview with honest feedback. But don’t limit it to just the candidates who got selected. Also, focus on the ones who couldn’t make it through the selection process because they will have an unfiltered opinion about your hiring method.

 

1) Send a feedback form to the candidates as soon as their interview journey ends with you. You can give the option to keep the feedback anonymous.

2) Ensure that you are only rejecting a candidate by giving them a proper reason for it. Share your feedback and what they can work on to improve selection chances the next time.

3) Act on that feedback and inform the candidate of the changes you will bring through their suggestion.

 

These candidate experience surveys will help you evaluate where you stand in the hiring marketplace and how you can stand apart from your competitors.

 

How to Fill the Gap Between Talent & Opportunity?

 

Hiring the right talent is a challenging feat.

 

And while mastering it may take some time, you can always take small steps to improve your chances.

 

You can’t afford to take candidate experience lightly, especially in today’s fierce competition. And you will need all the help you get to beat it.

 

Leveraging the apt technology will put you ahead of the rest and streamline your internal operations.

 

Invest in a reliable talent acquisition system to manage the talent pool efficiently. You can try RippleHire to make data-driven decisions and use workflows to automate everyday tasks. It will boost your team’s productivity and let you be on top of each candidate’s recruitment journey.