How to Improve the Candidate Experience of your company

The candidate experience is one of the parameters that make up the employer brand. It includes the feelings and experiences of candidates who apply to a company, at each stage of the recruitment process, whether or not the process is successful. Taking care of the candidate experience has a positive influence on the image of a brand and can make a company one of those that people absolutely want to join.  

At a time when certain profiles are difficult to recruit, improving your candidate experience can make a difference. That is why, in the next article of Talent2Win, we will give you some tips to improve your candidate experiences, specially during hard times.

1. Improve Your Process Flow

The first step is to enhance your process flow and define who in the company has contact with candidates and at which stage. As you are considering the initial forms of contact, take the time to review what you are sharing, and consider whether it aligns with how you wish your company to be perceived, and if you are sharing everything that you want to be known about your company.

2. Consider Your Ideal Candidate

While creating your process flow, remember to consider the type of person that you wish to work with, and the type of candidate that would be a good fit for your company. If your company is looking for a candidate that presents themselves in a formal manner, with authority, experience, and seriousness, you must tailor your advertisement to this type of candidate.  

On the contrary, the way to advertise for a digital candidate, who is perhaps a fresh graduate, requires a very different type of approach. 

3. Be Transparent and Communicate Often

If the candidate has already applied, do not think you already got him. Now comes the most important thing: the candidate experience. You have already made him see you, now that he likes what he has seen, you must make him feel that he was not wrong by choosing you. 

Furthermore, give him feedback on every procedure whether you have received his registration for the offer, whether you have received his CV, or any contact he makes on his part. Respond, report how the process is going and be approachable. You have no idea how the candidate’s experience changes when you prioritize communication in every step. 

This also includes contacting him if his application is unsuccessful. In that case, you should be open and honest about why he did not align with your expectations. We firmly believe that lying to the candidate or not giving a full truth is detrimental to the hiring experience, and omitting information has potential to jeopardize the client-candidate relationship. 

You might also like: What is Candidate Experience and Why is it Important?

4. Be Personal and Make Them Feel Important

Personalizing messages is key in the communication process with candidates. Take advantage of the recruiting tools that can make this process easier for you and take the time to personalize the messages to make each candidate feel unique. Putting yourself in the candidate’s shoes will help you treat him with honesty and respect.  

Think about how you would like to be treated or even how you treat your customers. If a satisfied customer repeats and recommends, a satisfied candidate will too. In other words, make each candidate feel that they are important to you and your business.  

We know that most of the time, we cannot contact every candidate who signs up for an offer. There are companies that are aware of this fact and, therefore, make it known to the candidate. On the other hand, calling to communicate the decision to the chosen candidate is very satisfactory, but you must not forget to write or, as far as possible, also call the candidates who have dedicated their time to you and who have not finally been hired.

5. Measure Their Experience

Just as you set up the process of your candidate experience journey, you must also measure it. The best way to understand and evaluate their experience is by asking them directly. Candidate experience surveys should be conducted after the candidate has finished the hiring process, either successfully or unsuccessfully. You should include questions that cover key opinion points such as: 

• Overall, how did you like the recruiting process? 
• What are the things we need to do to improve our recruiting process? 
• Would you refer others to apply for an open position at our company? 
• How likely are you to apply to an open position again? 

A good idea is to measure this on a scale from 1 to 10. It is important to set these milestones so that you can make measurable changes and improvements. You should also consider optimizing online questionnaires for mobile devices in order to increase your response rate. 

The candidate experience is therefore strongly influenced by the corporate culture and all internal and external parameters must be considered. If your employees take pleasure in evolving within your structure, you will give a good image and profiles in demand on the market will not hesitate to contact you. 

At Talent2Win, we strive to align your company’s business objectives with the best Talent Acquisition strategies available. If you want to learn more about the services we offer, do not hesitate to contact us.