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The Importance of the Candidate Experience
In this day and age with so many tech companies battling for the same candidates, it’s imperative that the ‘candidate experience’ is dialed in regardless of if you make the hire or not. This starts at the first step of putting together a job description and posting it online. Organizations are reviewing their recruitment processes to ensure candidates can easily find and apply for open positions. Failing to keep in touch with candidates after making initial contact, a lengthy and tedious application process, and lack of engagement from recruiters during the hiring process leave the candidate feeling unappreciated and disrespected. More employers are measuring candidate experience as a form of recruiter and business performance.
Every single candidate touch point—the online application experience, each interaction with the scheduler, the preparedness of the interviewers, the turnaround time in communicating with candidates, the way an offer is delivered—reflects on the employer. If you’re missing the mark, the world soon knows about it due to sites like Glassdoor, and highly skilled people juggling competing offers will certainly factor their experience as a candidate into their final decision, so it impacts offer acceptance rates.
In 2017, candidates will drive the frequency and medium of communication more and more. They will expect text messages and regular status updates. If you can’t do that, or worse, won’t do it, you’ve already shown yourself as someone who’s slow to the game. They will also want actionable feedback. If a candidate doesn’t get a job, offer four ways he or she can improve and potentially land this job the next time. How you choose to let somebody down says a lot about you as a company. Treating rejected candidates fairly creates the opportunity for those candidates to provide referrals for other candidates, easing the burden for recruiters. Send tailored, relevant communications about new job opportunities and other news about the organization. This will help sourcers build a pipeline of engaged candidates for future openings.
2017 will see more personalized candidate concierge services. We think recruiters will be expected to deliver the white-glove treatment for candidates. Giving special tours of other departments within the company, developing presentations on the company culture and providing lunch between interviews will be de rigueur. Anything you can do to differentiate your company from others will help you make your hiring goals, and probably help you compete better in the marketplace.
Urgenci
