The Candidate Experience

I am truly amazed at how many organizations throughout the world overlook the importance of giving candidates a great “candidate experience”.  Many organizations have conditioned their human resource departments to process  candidates like items on a production line and forget that each candidate has a story, a unique experience, and value that needs to be handled with care and proper respect.

The candidate experience should be treated as a business opportunity for the organization, as well as an opportunity to showcase the positive aspects of the organization.  The candidate may be an existing customers or thinking of becoming a customer, so you want to ensure that they are treated well and have a great experience. Many organizations lose out on hiring those A player caliber candidates because of a bad candidate experience. The candidate experience is a window into what it would be like working at the organization, so make sure it is a great experience for the candidate.

Steps Organizations can take to improve the candidate experience:

1. Respond over the phone or via e-mail to every candidate that applies to a job within 48 hours of them applying.  Responding to candidates in a timely manner shows them that the company notices them and cares, which in turn creates a positive image of the company.

2. When candidates have been selected to be interviewed for a position, it is absolutely critical that the recruiter gives the candidate all the information about the job, company, and team.  Recruiters need to help prepare candidates for interviews.  Having candidates prepared and organized is not only good for the candidate, but also good for those interviewing the candidate. Creating a great candidate experience, should also spill over into creating a great interview experience for those interviewing the candidate.

3. After the interview, the candidate should receive feedback within 48 hours of them completing the interview. The feedback should be honest, balanced and give the candidate a good sense of how they did and where they stand with respect to their candidacy.  Nothing kills a great candidate experience more than candidates waiting days and weeks on end for feedback and when they do get the feedback, the feedback is incomplete and confusing.

4. If a candidate is selected and is offered the job, it is critical that there are no changes with respect to pay expectations, job duties, and reporting structure. Nothing kills the candidate experience more, when organizations make last minute changes.   When this happens, trust issues begin to emerge and the candidate may have second thoughts about wanting to join the organization.

When organizations continuously implement a candidate experience policy that is impersonal and treats candidates with a lack of respect, the organization is doing damage to its brand in the marketplace.

Contact me at paul@oneworldconsultinggroup.com or call me at 1-425-766-9778 and lets discuss your recruiting, career management and talent mobility needs. Please also visit us at One World Consulting Group http://www.oneworldconsultinggroup.com

Thank you for reading my post.

Paul

Paul is President and CEO of One World Consulting Group, LLC. Paul is a career coach, recruiter, business developer and sales strategist who serves individuals and companies from around the world.