Over the last few months Mystery Applicant has sponsored a series of seminars on the importance of measuring the candidate experience. The seminar ‘What are candidates saying about you?’ provided an ideal opportunity for senior HR professionals to network in a supplier-free environment as they learnt about, discussed and debated recruitment innovations around the candidate experience. At Mystery Applicant, we are aware of the current challenges the HR sector has to face. By sponsoring these seminars we were glad to provide a space for our attendees to discuss their successes and frustrations regarding candidate experience, whilst offering some guidance for future resourcing campaigns.  This essential series has now drawn to a close but, due to its success, we will be holding future seminars on this topic and others later in the year.

Our attendees

The seminars proved very popular with delegates attending from a range of companies including Lloyds TSB,News Corporation, EMC², Coca Cola Enterprises, Telefonica Digital, KPMG and PWC, to name a few. We aimed to make each seminar a professional yet informal environment, keeping the groups to a comfortable maximum of ten to encourage an open and engaging discussion where everyone felt able to get involved.

What went on

Each seminar was hosted by Matt Alder, Resourcing Expert and Futurologist from Metashift, who opened up the discussion by considering the forces and trends that are currently driving the candidate experience. He went on to examine how the emergence of the feedback society has affected resourcing and, later, drew on initiatives such as Sage Pay and RMS, to expand upon these topics. He summarised his presentation by considering how companies couldcontrol, influence and measure the candidate   experience to deliver significant efficiencies.

Matt’s strategic outlook was balanced by Colin Minto, G4S’s Head of Global Resourcing, explaining how Mystery Applicant has helped to independently monitor, measure and track candidate feedback. He spoke about how they are using the analytics at a detail level to help inform the interventions and improvements that will form an important part of their ongoing resourcing strategy. Describing G4S’s ongoing journey, Colin explained not only the importance of measuring the candidate experience but also how to do it, and the significant impact that it can have on making informed, evidence-based HR decisions.

What was discussed

These presentations were followed by a peer group discussion that allowed our delegates to ask any specific questions they had whilst, at the same time, sharing the successes and challenges they have encountered in their own resourcing campaigns. Whilst each discussion varied in its content, key areas that were repeatedly covered included difficulty handling the volume of applicants applying – not an uncommon problem in today’s economic climate, and, with regards to interviewing and onboarding, what is within their control and what isn’t. The changing demands on recruitment teams was also a common discussion point alongside how the required skills, such as networking and brand building, could be fostered within their teams. Throughout these discussions it was clear that whilst recruiters regard candidate experience as a challenging issue, it is also seen as a crucially important one that many wish to tackle.

Mystery Applicant hoped that by providing a forum for HR professionals to learn, discuss and debate the candidate experience, the main challenges could be understood and given a solution. At the same time, delegates were able to learn from each other’s successes and have taken away ideas that they can consider or implement within their own recruitment strategies.

Their feedback

We received excellent feedback from this seminar series, with all delegates agreeing that the seminars provided ‘a great opportunity to learn, share and network in a relaxed atmosphere.’  They saw the speakers as ‘impressive and informative’, holding the ‘perfect balance between the strategic and the practical’. And of course, who could forget that each seminar was followed by a ‘fantastic lunch’ which provided the opportunity to continue each engaging discussion away from the seminar room. Thank you to Wallacespace, St. Pancras, for such a brilliant venue and delicious lunch!

Here at Mystery Applicant we believe that it is important that companies embrace the current nature of the feedback society and seek a response that they can measure. Within every recruitment process a wealth of data can be left untapped without the proper analysis. This data can significantly advance a company’s recruitment strategy, not only improving the candidates experience but also the company brand as a whole. This series helped generate discussion around this essential topic and we were really pleased with the level of interest and enthusiasm each seminar generated. Thank you to all our delegates and presenters for helping create such informative and engaging events!

Future seminars

If you like the sound of this series and would be interested in hearing about any future seminars please email:Laura.Purt@mysteryapplicant.com Alternatively, if there are any topics concerning the candidate experience that you’d like us to base a seminar on, please feel free to drop me a line. We’d love to hear from you!