It’s that time of year when new trends begin to emerge for the upcoming year. We recently discussed an emerging trend in our last article 2018 HR TRENDS – CANDIDATE EXPERIENCE – WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

Minimal job descriptions, no confirmation email and no notice when the job position is filled, all contributed to what job seekers hate about the candidate experience and is something that can contribute to an overall bad experience when candidates apply for roles with your company.

Good Experience Vs Bad Experience

Regardless of the size of your company, that your ability to successfully attract and recruit top talent depends on the ability to manage the hiring process and the candidate experience through the hiring process. It’s about how the candidate is treated, and how they perceive they’re being treated throughout the hiring cycle.

Below you can see the impact of a positive candidate experience vs a negative candidate experience and why getting it right is important.

Source: Software Advice

If you don’t deliver this will mean you could leave a lasting negative experience with candidates and they are less likely to apply for a position with your company again.

So what can you do to help improve the online experience for your candidates?

Accelerate Your Recruitment Process

Recruitment software can take the pain out of your process. Accelerate your candidates experience with technology. The software allows you to easily shortlist candidates, add them to your talent pools and really cut out the paperwork or complicated spreadsheets.

Use Instant Replies

Communication is key to give a candidate a great experience when applying for your companies roles. Your recruitment software should have a button that allows you to send automatic acknowledgement emails. You can easily personalise the automatic emails that go out, letting your candidates know what to expect from your hiring process and what next steps will be taken.

Thank you for sending your resume in response to the [role]  job posting. The deadline for applications is April 29. At that time, we will review all applications and invite the five most qualified to interview. We will notify all applicants of our decision no later than May 5. We appreciate your interest in  [company name].

Forgotten Candidates

“We’ll keep your resume on file and if another role comes up that you’re qualified for, we’ll contact you.” is something unsuccessful candidates often here.

Even though a hiring manager may have every intention to do so, the ability to quickly and accurately find resumes of past applicants in an ATS has been unavailable until recently. Your recruitment software should allow you to easily create talent pools, allowing you to hire a candidate without even having to post up a new job. In the process, this can save your hiring department time and money.

Allow candidates to reach out to you

Don’t put yourself behind a locked gate. If there are questions candidates have, give them a resource where they can reach out to you on. Whether it be by email, text or messaging app, allow candidates a window to communicate with somebody for your company. It may be a simple question that they could have, but by not providing them with a way to reach out it could mean the loss of a potentially great candidate.

Source: Software Advice