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5 Things You Are Doing to Kill Your Candidate Experience

Posted on in Recruiting Strategy

The candidate experience might be dubbed the next “big thing” you’ll hear the talent community talking about. While there are some organizations that are ahead of the curve on this topic, the way candidates are treated throughout the recruitment phase of the talent continuum is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.

Focusing on creating or enhancing your candidate experience has a much wider impact than it may appear on the surface. Any negative experience a candidate has with your company will likely have a ripple effect and impact your bottom line. Not sure you agree with that? In research performed by the Talent Board, data shows that on average 41% of candidates who feel they have had a negative experience will take their alliance, product purchases, and relationship elsewhere. That’s a staggering number.

Here are the 5 leading indicators of a bad candidate experience:

  1. Your application process is cumbersome. Candidates have multiple options when seeking their next opportunity. They aren’t interested in spending half a day filling out one application in the hopes of getting a phone call. Make it as easy as possible.

  2. You aren’t communicating with candidates frequently enough during the process. This is all about expectation setting. Frequency is relative and changes based on where someone is in the process. Tell people when they’ll hear from you next and meet that expectation.

  3. There isn’t a mechanism to collect candidate feedback during the process. People like to be asked for their feedback and this is one of the best real-time resources for you to gather a lot of information. Don’t miss this opportunity.

  4. Your interviews don’t run on time. We are all busy and your interviewers are not more important than the candidate sitting in the lobby. Respect their time. Have contingencies in place for when one of your interviewers is stuck on a call or wrapping up a meeting and make adjustments to make the interview day look seamless.

  5. You don’t effectively close the loop with candidates when they are not selected. Creating a favorable impression of your company when turning someone down is an art. It’s difficult for both parties, but do the right thing. The candidate has invested time in learning about your company, so have the courtesy to let them know when someone else is selected. Doing this effectively makes or breaks having that person (and quite possible many in their network) in your future talent pool.

There are many more indicators, however these are the most highly rated areas that candidates feel are most painful. The good news is that to make a positive change in any one of these areas, additional financial investment is not required. Most of the areas point to simple behavior changes.

Want to see how you compare to organizations that are top of their game as it relates to the candidate experience? Take our quiz here.

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