Written by Sally-Ann King | 22nd November 2022
The way candidates experience your business during the recruitment process can have a lasting effect – whether or not you end up hiring them.
For those you recruit, the process sets the tone for everything that is to come when they are employed by you – it’s a case of starting how you mean to go on.
Those who don’t make it through, will have a lasting positive or negative association with your business that could affect how people perceive it in the future.
What is candidate experience and why is it important?
Candidate experience is defined as the perception a job-seeker has of an employer during and after the hiring process. This builds up during every stage of the recruitment process, from the first time they see a job advertised, to the application process, through the interview stages and right up to their experience of being accepted or rejected for the role.
Providing a good candidate experience should not be an “extra” or “nice to have” – it should be a foundation of your recruitment process and part of your overall business ethos because the candidate experience may start long before you realise. According to a survey conducted by IBM, 48% of candidates had a previous relationship or interaction with a hiring organisation before they applied for a job.
A poor candidate experience can create problems beyond recruitment – for example a former head of resourcing at Virgin Media investigated how rejected candidates viewed the brand. He found that many rejected candidates cancelled their Virgin Media subscription and withheld from recommending the business to a friend because of their experience.
The report calculated that this cost the business £4.4 million per year – a very real commercial consequence of a poorly executed recruitment process.
Conversely, according to a survey conducted by IBM, candidates who have had a positive experience – whether they got the job or not – were more likely to become a customer in the future.
5 ways you can improve candidate experience
- Create a clear and simple application process
Be clear about the application process for your advertised role. Make the careers page on your website easy to find and be clear about what candidates will need to submit before they start. Long, confusing questions will lead to a higher dropout rate – so keep them short and concise.
- Communicate early
A rejection email or an interview invitation should be sent as early as you can. Responding promptly can set you apart from other companies, help you secure the best candidates before they go elsewhere, and demonstrates that you value the candidate’s time. At this stage, you can also clarify the recruitment timeline and procedures, so they know what to expect.
- Provide feedback
When a candidate is unsuccessful, make it a priority to provide feedback. This should be structured in a positive and strategic way – and this becomes even more important the further they progress in the hiring process. This gives them a way to improve their skills going forward and identify the areas that are suited to different roles. They may even gain those skills and return to you as a candidate.
- Avoid “ghosting”
Recruitment is time-consuming and involves administration – but don’t be tempted to cut corners by not acknowledging applications. Even when they are not successful, candidates put time and effort into applying for a job and can be left disheartened if they feel an employer didn’t care enough to send a polite rejection. Word spreads, and “ghosting’ can contribute to an impression of a poor candidate experience that might affect whether or not others decide to apply.
- Ask for feedback about your recruitment process
The best way to find out what you can improve about your candidate experience is to ask. Unsuccessful candidates may have had expectations about their feedback, have questions about specific processes or not be happy with the way the recruitment process worked out. Or they may have been happy and have positive feedback which you can use to help build an even better candidate experience.
- Consider outsourcing all or part of the recruitment process
Outsourcing your recruitment process can be one of the best ways to improve candidate experience. Investing in your recruitment will help you attract top talent and uphold the reputation of your business.
At Reality HR, our team of HR professionals can support with the whole recruitment process, or just the parts where you most need support – including CV screening, interviews, assessments and psychometric testing. Get in touch with us to discuss our recruitment support.