The Candidate Experience Matters Regardless Of the Labor Market

Estimated reading time: 5 minutes

(Editor’s Note: Today’s article is brought to you by our friends at Criteria, a company dedicated to helping organizations make objective, evidence-based talent decisions that reduce bias and drive better outcomes. Check out this article from Criteria CEO Josh Millet on “Evolving Recruiting Investments in the Age of Hybrid Work”. And enjoy the read!)

Some organizations might be looking at the business headlines saying, “Oh, the layoffs are coming!” or “Sadly, we’re doing a hiring freeze.” and decide that they don’t need to spend any focused energy on the candidate experience. That would be wrong. Regardless of what’s happening in the labor market, the candidate experience matters. 

Just as a quick reminder, the candidate experience reflects how a person feels about the company’s hiring process. It includes all the touchpoints in the process, not just the interview. This means the candidate’s experience includes an individual’s interaction with the company’s applicant tracking system (ATS). It also includes the conversations with HR, the hiring manager, and possibly co-workers. And it refers to the candidate’s experience with partner companies that provide hiring related services, like drug screening and assessments. 

The candidate experience will always be important. Because whether you’re hiring one person or a hundred people, it matters. Now is the perfect time to be evaluating and improving the candidate experience. Because a poor candidate experience translates into fewer hires and can negatively impact the bottom-line.

I’ve mentioned before a well-known case study from Virgin Media that talks about how a bad candidate experience cost the company $5M annually. While the case study is a few years old, it shows the connection between the candidate experience, customers, and profits. 

Our friends at Criteria recently released a Candidate Experience Report that’s worth a download. Over time, candidates have become much savvier about evaluating employers and they have elevated expectations. I don’t want to give the entire report away, but here are a few takeaways that caught my attention about what candidates want (and don’t want) in their hiring experience.  

4 Signs of a Sub-Par Candidate Experience

Negative reviews. Job seekers do not want to waste their time and will do their homework about the company before applying. Too many negative reviews will cause a person to pause before filling out that application. In the Criteria report, 36% of respondents said they’ve abandoned a hiring process after hearing negative reviews. 

Lack of transparency about pay and benefits. Another thing that candidates don’t want to waste time with is an employer that doesn’t have a competitive pay and benefits package. Frankly, organizations also don’t want to waste time with candidates they can’t afford. 82% of candidates prefer job postings that include salary information. The expectation is that organizations will discuss pay ranges and benefits – like workplace flexibility – early in the hiring process.

Poor communication. Speaking of discussions, candidates expect to receive regular communication about their status in the hiring process. 53% of survey respondents have abandoned a hiring process due to poor communication. And, if a candidate is no longer being considered, that’s fine, but let them know. Companies don’t want to get ghosted, so don’t ghost a candidate.

Hiring processes that takes too long. Companies don’t have to hire people on the spot, but organizations need to have a reasonable time frame for hiring. And the process should be efficient. 32% of respondents have abandoned a hiring process because it was taking too long. Candidates expect any delays in the process – and they do happen – should be communicated. 

3 Strategies for Improving the Candidate Experience

There are lots of activities that organizations can do to improve the candidate experience. Let’s start with three that every company should be doing anyway as part of their recruiting strategy. 

1. Have a clearly defined employee value proposition (EVP). I can’t stress this enough! The EVP is what organizations offer employees for the work they do. Organizations should create an EVP that aligns with the company culture. Make it internally fair and externally competitive. Communicate it well…and often. 

2. Audit your recruiting process. Streamline where necessary. Keep steps that bring value to the process. For example, 94% of survey respondents said that they felt assessment scores demonstrate their ability to succeed in a job. 

3. Get buy-in from the recruiting team. I’m a big advocate for treating the group of people who handle hiring as a team. Give them the proper training to collaborate, problem-solve, make decisions, etc. – like a team. That includes letting them have a say in how the process is going to work. Create buy-in for their role in the candidate experience. 

The Talent Market Will Remain Competitive

It might be very tempting to slow down recruiting right now, which is exactly why you shouldn’t. Organizations have an opportunity to examine their processes and make sure they’re delivering what candidates expect. Because that’s how the organization can recruit the best employees. 

Speaking of candidate expectations, one thing we didn’t discuss in today’s article was what candidates want in a job. Join me and the Criteria team for a webinar on “What Job Candidates Want, and How to Give it to Them”. It’s scheduled for Wednesday, July 20, 2022, at 10a Pacific / 1p Eastern. And if you’re already booked that day, sign up to get the recording. We hope to see you then. 

Oh, and P.S. don’t forget to check out Criteria’s new Candidate Experience Report I mentioned earlier. 

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