How to Improve Candidate Experience

What is Candidate Experience?

You’ve probably heard a lot about the term “Candidate experience”. It’s one of the most important HR buzzwords in modern recruiting and the hottest topic in recruitment marketing.

In simple terms, candidate experience is a perception of a candidate about an employer, based on the interaction during the complete recruitment process. This may include something as simple as a phone call or an email to the user experience on the careers page of the company website.

Let’s imagine a scene! A candidate applied for a job opening through your career page and receive a confirmation email. One or two weeks pass, and there is still no response from your company. The candidate feels frustrated and they may complain to their family, friends or even colleagues.

They may even write a negative review of your company’s Glassdoor profile. Either way, their attitude towards your company is now negative.

Every interaction a candidate has with your company affects their experience. Always try to provide an amazing experience at each of the recruiting phases.

10 Techniques to Improve the Candidates Experience

How can you make the candidate experience a priority and improve your hiring process? Here are 10 proven tips.

1. Write clear job descriptions

Writing a clear job description that attracts candidates is the very first step in finding, attracting, and hiring the right candidate.

One thing that you must remember: even if candidates know the industry’s buzzwords, it’s best to keep job descriptions as clear and jargon-free as possible.

A Talent Board report said that job description is the most important job-related content that candidates look for when researching a job.

Don’t mention the endless list of requirements, only mention ‘must-have’ requirements.

Candidates also want to know about the salary range, perks, and company values.

2. Improve your application process

Your career page is the best representation of your company and a great place to showcase your current jobs, life at your company, and how you treat your employees.

An employer’s career site is important for getting key information, according to 89 percent of job seekers.

A career site can help deliver an optimal experience to curious candidates.

Also, make your application process simple and quick. According to research, 60 percent of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity.

Evaluate your application process and consider asking only what you really need from candidates at this first point of contact.

“Apply with LinkedIn” is a great option for making applications more convenient.

3. Set expectations about the process

83% of candidates say it would greatly improve their overall experience if employers could set expectations about the recruiting process.

If you want to deliver a great candidate experience, you must set expectations about your recruiting process.

Be transparent with timing. One of our attendees told that Amazon’s whole recruiting process takes just six days.

Offer resources to help candidates. Google has a complete page “How We Hire”, a detailed page that tells everything about their recruiting process.

Create a series of emails (based on different stages of the hiring process) that will keep candidates interested and engaged.

4. Send rejection email or interview invite emails ASAP

52% of job seekers stated that the No. 1 frustration during the overall job search is the lack of response from employers.

Don’t leave them out in the dark, make sure to communicate with your candidates regularly and on time.

Getting back to candidates promptly, with either good news or bad, will demonstrate that you value their time.

Send rejection emails or interviews invite emails from a human email address, not from a generic careers@company.com email address.

5. Talk to candidates before asking them to take a test

Assignments and tests are a great way to test candidates’ skills and make the right choice. But it’s best to talk to people before asking them to commit more time to your recruiting process.

It makes them more comfortable and helps you scale down the number of candidates you ask to spend extra time on assignments or tests.

Provide clear assignment instructions and make yourself available to answer any clarification questions they may have.

6. Give candidates information about what to expect at in-person interviews

Send a calendar invite with as much information as possible, like time, concern person name and position, clear agenda, etc.

Mention some extra information in the invitation email:

• How many interviewers a candidate will be meeting with.
• How long the interview will take.
• Office dress code, if any.
• Should they check-in at the reception desk?
• Parking area, if your office is located in a busy area.

7. Become an interview pro

Getting the interview right will win you top talent while getting it wrong can hurt your recruiting efforts.

According to LinkedIn research, 83% of talent say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked.

Want to become an interview pro? Here are some tips shared in our HR round-table:

• Offer candidates some water or coffee to make them feel welcomed.
• Respect their time and start the interview on time.
• Explain your interview process.
• Offer candidates a chance to learn about the role and your company culture
• Avoid multitasking during the interview.
• Ask them to take you through their career journey.
• Thank candidates for their time and tell them when you’ll get in touch with them.
• If possible, simply walk around your workspace after interviews and give candidates a glimpse into your culture.

8. Respond fast after the final round

If you have to reject a candidate, send them a clear rejection message. It’s better than giving candidates the silent treatment. Share your positive feedback and constructive criticism.

Wish candidates well, offer to keep in contact and, if you think they would be a good candidate for future roles, tell them that you will consider them in the future.

9. Be open to giving and receiving feedback

According to LinkedIn, 94 % of talent wants to receive interview feedback. 

Constructive feedbacks help candidates grow as professionals. Make sure to provide feedback for candidates that you didn’t hire. If you do this, they will be more likely to consider your company for a future opportunity.

Don’t just give feedback, ask for it too! Because recruiting is a two-way process. Ask the candidate how they felt about the process. Their inputs will help you to improve your recruiting process.

10. Maintain candidate relationship

There’s a misconception: a candidate’s experience ends when you decide not to hire them.

It’s not true!

Candidates that couldn’t make for this position may be a perfect fit for some other future openings.

Maintaining relationships with high-quality candidates can significantly reduce recruiting and hiring cycles.

Applicant Tracking Systems can help you to build your talent pool. And when a need arises, use this pool to search for perfect-match candidates.

Add them to your recruiting email campaigns. Organize talent networking meetups and invite candidates from your talent pool.