Sharing the love through a great candidate experience! #winning

Those outside of HR, Talent or Recruitment (or even those inside) can often forget that the candidate experience is as vital as the next sales pitch.

You know that everyone you interview is going to talk about you, right?

Candidates who interview with your organisation do talk. Not paying attention to the candidate experience can significantly impact your organisation, as those candidates could be the decision makers, business leaders and customers of the future.

In the modern world, candidates are interested in employers that are an extension of themselves, their lives, their ambitions and their values, and the candidate experience is a representation of your organisation’s principles. Their interview experience is their first real encounter with your brand and do you want it to be a good one or a bad one?

If you're lucky, they'll only share a bad experience with a few peers or friends - however in our social-driven world it is possible to share the message more widely and faster than ever before. Although it’s impossible to please everyone, there is a risk that a few mishaps that can negatively impact your reputation and once that opinion's out there, it's very difficult to reverse.

So here are my top 10 cheats for a better candidate experience:

1. Be human. Welcome candidates into your process as if they were entering your home for the first time. Would you ignore them? Would you not introduce yourself and explain who you are? Would you not make them feel comfortable?

2. Communicate often. Manage expectations by being consistent and timely with your discussions. Although it is difficult to be detailed with every candidate, ensure you have the technology in place to recognise their effort and wish them the best of luck if they are unsuccessful. If they have taken the time to come and see you, you should take the time to call and discuss. As long as it’s timely; it is effective.


3. Surprise and delight your candidates. Coach them through the process and share the expected structure of their interview. Advise them on how to get there, what to expected upon arrival, how to research the company and who will be interviewing them. Expecting them to guess does not set them up for success. You could also go the extra mile; for example, send a driver to bring candidates to their interviews, have an assigned person to act as a “candidate ambassador” to get them a drink, and personally make sure the candidate is completely taken care of.

4. Structure your interview process. Create a process that is considerate of your overall organisational goals, values and is consistent ensuring each interview has a specific purpose and each candidate goes through the same process. This helps you make decisions quickly, avoids repetition, challenges the candidate, gives clear accountability in the organisation and creates opportunity to further monitor and streamline the process.

5. Challenge candidates but be fair. Top candidates appreciate being challenged, but make sure the questions are relevant to the role or the organisational values. No trick questions... imagine the confusion of ‘If you were a biscuit, which would you be and why?’. A tough interview process drives home the point that your company sets a high bar and that you're serious about hiring great talent. #winning

6. Train your team. Interviewers are brand ambassadors for your business and the way your interviewers conduct themselves will either sell candidates on the position or scare them away. Have a minimum standard for all interviewers with training on best practice to help enhance their interview skills and conduct. Make it an honour, not a chore, to be able to interview and represent your organisation.

7. Be constructive following interviews. No candidate is ‘Good’ vs ‘Bad’ OR ‘Right’ vs ‘Wrong’ ... it is mostly a matter of the timing of their capabilities compared to what you currently need. You did decide to interview them after all. All candidates, whether they continue with your process or not, are looking to learn from their experience. Ensure you share their developments so they can reflect and enhance their skills, to be considered for the organisation at a later stage. This also gives you a head start to their development plans if they are successful.

8. Treat everyone equally. The main goal of any hire is to find the best person for the role, therefore avoid unconscious bias and select the best candidate based on their performance through your process. It is natural to make assumptions and comparisons but be proactive and make conscious decisions to focus on their technical fit for the role and their behavioural fit to the organisation. The decision should be based on their performance in the process, and nothing else.

9. Drive diversity. The more diverse your candidate pool, the better the range of candidates you will have for the job. A diverse recruitment practice strengthens an employer’s brand in the market. Also ensure a diverse hiring panel, to show your candidates that you are serious about diversity, in the hiring process and beyond.

10. Get their feedback. Shortly after a candidate exits your process, you should send them a survey which will give you valuable insight into your hiring process. A candidate in the running for a position won't give you honest feedback so aim to survey once they have exited your process (both hired and unsuccessful) to give you feedback without bias. How was their experience overall? What was helpful and what could be improved? Did your team do a good job interviewing them? Did they learn about the organisation and their goals? Did your team really find out who they are and what their strengths and weaknesses are? Would they recommend the company to a friend? Would they apply again if another appropriate job came up? Embrace the problems but commit to reacting quickly. Correct mistakes and reduce any discomfort caused during any recruitment process.

Don’t forget- every interaction with your organistion is an opportunity to either delight or disappoint a candidate. The hiring process itself is a major factor in how candidates form their impressions of most companies. Therefore, humanising the process is vital to ensure they leave with a positive outlook. Most people don't know what it's like to work for you, so if your hiring process is unprofessional, that's how the candidate will perceive your brand.

On the other hand, if a candidate has a winning experience during your hiring process, you’ll have...

• More engaged employees as they will be ‘bought in’ to the organisation.
• An enhanced employer brand, making it easier to attract the best candidates and generate a healthy talent pipeline
• Reduced cost per hire
• Reduced time to hire
• A memorable candidate experience can help you boost sales and profitability
• The brand that you want. The people you hire today will determine the kind of culture and brand you build tomorrow
• More successful on-boarding – candidates will be more likely to accept the job and be excited about working for you  

The benefits really do outweigh the additional effort needed to curate unique candidate experiences. One last thought…

"Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives"

-William A. Foster.