Making the Candidate Experience Exceptional
Previously on the PerkSpot blog we explored the upcoming trends for 2017. Among these, and quite possibly one of the largest we’ll see sprouting up next year, is an improved candidate experience. More and more companies are realizing the importance of their recruitment process – not just for potential employees, but potential customers as well.
Give the candidate a great experience, and they’ll hold your brand in high-esteem. Reject them with a standard email, and a social media rant might be in your future.
Whether you’re a company of 10 or 10,000, here are some keys to improving your candidate experience in 2017:
Step One: Respond.
Ok, so you might be recruiting for 30 different positions and your inbox is out of control. Whether it’s a standard auto-reply or a personalized email, make sure you provide some guidelines for when the candidate can expect to hear back from you, when it’s ok to follow-up, and any next steps for the interview process. While it may be acceptable to ghost someone after a bad date, it’s not ok to do it to your job candidates. Need some help with what to say? Trello does this really well.
Step Two: Show, don’t Tell.
Most interviews consist of round after round of intensive questioning. Take your interview process to the next level by giving candidates a “guide” for the day. This person will give them a tour of the office, introduce them to current employees, help them find the bathroom and something to drink, and anything else they might need to know. Ensuring the candidate feels comfortable will help them perform their best and also give you insight into how they’ll function in your office on a day-to-day basis.
Step Three: Provide Feedback
Spare your candidates the “We’ve decided to go in a different direction” email. Provide concrete reasons why they weren’t a great fit for this position. Be delicate and let them know where they fell short. If you don’t give them specific feedback, they’ll never know how to improve. In fact, 70% of employers don’t provide candidates with feedback. How you decide to let them down will arguably have the greatest effect on your brand. Let them down easy, but transparently.
Step Four: Ask for Feedback
What better way to gauge how you’re doing than from someone who has walked the walk? At this point, you’ve given the candidate your feedback, so make sure you provide them the same opportunity. How was the recruitment process? Was there anything unexpected? What did they like about the interview process? How could it be improved? Make sure you share their feedback with everyone involved in order to improve your process in the future. There are plenty of ways you can create a positive candidate experience!
How will you improve your candidate experience in 2017? Let us know in the comments!
