Have you ever spent hours on a job application only to never get a response from that company? Perhaps you prepared extensively for an interview only to be met by a disinterested hiring manager who can barely remember your name. All of these small moments add up to become the candidate experience when candidates are engaging with your recruitment process.<\/p>\n
Candidate experience can have a massive impact on an organization\u2019s success. A positive candidate experience can make sourcing for new roles significantly easier as a result of a positive Employer Brand<\/a>. A negative candidate experience will likely very quickly have candidates avoiding your open vacancies. It also can have a huge impact on company revenue with many burned candidates vowing to use a competitor\u2019s service and urging their friends to do the same. An example of this in action is Virgin Media in the UK who discovered that their negative candidate experience was costing them more than \u00a34.4 million per year.<\/a><\/p>\n Candidate experience is a tricky balancing act. There are plenty of roles that can attract 100s of applications and though many recruiters have begun their respective careers by declaring they\u2019ll<\/p>\n give every candidate that they work with a personalized response, reality soon sets in. The truth is that if you\u2019re hiring frequently you simply cannot give every candidate that applies for your<\/p>\n roles a personalized experience. You can however use a combination of clever automation and efficient internal processes to gift your candidates moments of joy throughout their recruitment<\/p>\n experience with you.<\/p>\n This is where utilizing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) can give you the edge you need to ensure that the candidates you meet remain enthusiastic about your organization and your brand.<\/a><\/p>\n One of the first and simplest things that you can do to ensure that both you and your new candidate don\u2019t start off on the wrong foot is to be clear on expectations. Using an ATS you can generate an<\/p>\n email that is triggered and sent to candidates upon submission of an application. The content of this email is important and should say much more than \u2018thank you for submitting an application to our organization\u2019. As a rule of thumb, when crafting this message to your new candidates you should include:<\/p>\n While it is preferable that you follow up with candidates and let them know if they\u2019re no longer being considered for the role, again your ATS should allow this automation, if that\u2019s not something<\/p>\n that you have the capacity to do for all applications then make it clear that due to the volume of applications you receive only candidates who are successful in their application will be contacted<\/p>\n for interview. Failing to contact all of your candidates is far from the ideal, but if it\u2019s something that you aren\u2019t capable of then you do need to set that expectation with your candidates from<\/p>\n the beginning. Though doing this is less about a positive candidate experience and is more so damage control.<\/p>\n A huge pain point for candidates is a feeling of wasted time that is generated when they are essentially ghosted by the hiring organization. As discussed, many candidates complain of submitting an<\/p>\n application only to never receive any acknowledgment from the hiring organization. In some much more damaging instances, candidates have interviewed for a role and then never heard from the hiring organization again. With the candidate management technology that exists and is readily available today, ghosting candidates who have invested time and energy with your company just isn\u2019t good enough anymore. Ignoring candidates you\u2019re no longer interested in is a bad candidate experience and will negatively impact your Employer Brand.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n Providing feedback to candidates will look different depending on how far they are into your process. If you\u2019ve not interviewed them, then a simple automated email to thank them for their time and<\/p>\n explain that you\u2019re proceeding with candidates who are a closer fit for the role and your organization is sufficient. Individuals that you\u2019ve interviewed warrant more personalized feedback. This<\/p>\n doesn\u2019t need to be overly detailed but absolutely should be honest. In an ideal world, you\u2019d call candidates but again if that\u2019s not something you have the capacity for then at least make sure you<\/p>\n email these candidates and release them from your recruitment process by giving them feedback.<\/p>\n At the end of the day, candidates really aren\u2019t asking for much. All they want and need is an acknowledgement of the effort that they\u2019ve made regardless of whether they\u2019re a fit for the role or not.<\/p>\n Work with your hiring team and train them in how to deliver an excellent interview for your candidates. Today\u2019s failed applicant could be a superstar in a different role within your company, but<\/p>\n they aren\u2019t going to want to work with you if they\u2019ve had a bad interview with a hiring manager who seems completely disinterested in them. Show your candidates the respect that they deserve for<\/p>\n taking time out of their day to meet with you and your team in order to discuss your open vacancy.<\/p>\n Improving your candidate experience overall will take a lot of work and it can seem like a daunting task. But you don\u2019t have to do it all at once, find pain points and areas of contention within<\/p>\n your recruitment process and work to improve them little by little. Small improvements within your recruitment process over time can yield massive improvements within your candidate experience. This is the best way to ensure that you don\u2019t miss out on money now and top talent in the future.<\/p>\nManaging candidate expectations<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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Providing candidate feedback<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Empathy and respect<\/strong><\/h2>\n