Seriously, according to Software Advice, 63% of job seekers will likely reject a job offer because of a bad candidate experience. 72% of job seekers who had a bad experience told others about it online or in person. 25% of candidates say the overall hiring process is too long.
Candidates and employees are not robots, and if you want them to work for you, be productive, and help the business soar, then you might want to take a look at how you’re treating them during recruitment.
What is the “candidate experience”?
Besides being a popular buzzword, the candidate experience is extremely important to attracting talent, securing new hires, and ultimately increasing employee productivity.
The candidate experience literally means “how job seekers feel about an organisation’s application process”. The definition is simple, but the concept is something a lot of companies find hard to understand.
78% of candidates believe the candidate experience shows them just how a company values its people and how they will be treated as an employee.
Top reasons candidates are ditching you
Candidates keep a mental note of your recruitment process; after all, first impressions really do count.
Other than a bad candidate experience, the top reasons candidates will reject your job offer or leave you hanging halfway through the process are:
Negative online reviews
83% of job seekers are likely to research company reviews and ratings. Have you taken a look at your Glassdoor reviews? Do they reflect your company?
If there are any disgruntled ex-employee reviews, chances are, you’ve got some points to work on.
Prove to candidates that you take your reviews seriously and show them how you’re improving.
Toxic workplace culture
There’s always that one company that makes you think “never again…”, right?
Are you sharing your company’s mission statement and values? Describe to the candidate your ideal teammate, send them blogs or social posts where your company demonstrates its values, discuss how you are actively making inclusive decisions; let them decide if the culture is right for them.
46% of job seekers say company culture is very important when choosing to apply to a company.
So, what do candidates really want?
According to the 2020 Candidate Experience Research report by Talent Board, the companies that practise these five elements are the ones that nail the candidate experience:
- Keep in touch– from pre-application right through to onboarding, communication is the primary differentiator between a downright awful and excellent candidate experience. Whether the communication is automated or through human interaction, candidates don’t want to be forgotten about.
- Set expectations– Candidates should always hear back whether they’ve got the job or not. So, let them know when and never keep them hanging around. Set expectations and meet them. A whopping 82% of candidates expect employers to provide a clear timeline of when they’ll hear back about their application.
- Ask for feedback– if you want to improve your hiring process, ask the people in the know: your candidates. What did they like and dislike? Could anything be smoother? Use feedback to improve the candidate experience.
- Be transparent– candidates want you to be open and honest. If you’re not hiring right now, let them know. Don’t fall silent. It’ll leave a sour taste and could harm your brand.
- Make it fair– whether the candidate is successful or not, they shouldn’t be left feeling like they’ve been mistreated in your decision-making process. Clear feedback means everybody knows where they stand.
Okay, now how do you improve your hiring process?
Invest in an Applicant Tracking System (ATS for short).
Already got one? It’s time to upgrade because if you’re still reading, something’s not working!
You know what candidates want now, and with a good, robust ATS, you’ll be able to streamline your recruitment process, send automated emails to keep communication on top form, have full visibility over candidate progress and the hiring portal, report on every little detail plus, a really good ATS will schedule interviews for you… *wink wink nudge nudge*
Our applicant tracking system, Recruit, gives you all the tools to hire better people, faster and our loyal customers have reviewed what they love most:
- Self-scheduling interviews
- Mobile-friendly interface
- Fantastic and clear reporting
- End-to-end recruitment support
- Streamlined automation
- Incredible scalability functionality (the bigger, the better!)
Want to upgrade your hiring process and nail the candidate experience? Let’s talk.
Written by Mara Swann Mara has a passion for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion across global workplaces and hopes to inspire learners to focus on their own careers with self-directed learning content.
