Nowadays, candidate experience is paramount, and it’s more than a passing trend. The way recruitment gets done has changed. The current job market is candidate-driven. It is not about you picking the candidate now the candidate chooses a company based on candidate experience. That’s why it’s necessary for your company to ace the candidate experience. 

Now, the candidates are far more selective and looking to find a match that’s beneficial for them. What does it mean for the employer? When you are competing to land the best talent out there, there’s no room for delays & lacklustre hiring process. The candidate experience matters a lot whether they get hired or not because it contributes to the reputation of the company. 

According to a statistic, nearly four out of five jobs applicants believe that the candidate experience serves as the valid indicator of how a company values its people. Another statistic states, 83% of talent says that a negative interview experience can destroy their impression about the company. So, in short, a candidate experience means candidates perception of the company’s recruiting process. So, what sort of things you can do to improve your candidate experience: 

Optimize your website for mobile use

Nowadays, candidates don’t use a computer screen to apply for a job or read about company information. Often they do it on their phone. Optimizing your website and also the application process for the mobile use helps the company to reach out to a broad audience. It also includes improving your career site. Here are some ideas: 

• Add an automated chatbot to the website as they can provide accurate information and think intuitively in response to the questions asked by the candidates. 

• Create a multi-step process if you need additional information from the candidates. Simplify the process. So you can do it on the smartphone.  

• Send automated notifications to interested candidates, whenever a position opens up.

Consider the importance of the candidate’s time

Place yourself in the mindset of the candidate, and they want the hiring process to be brief and get timely updates from the employer’s side. When a candidate applies for a job, they spend a lot of time researching, preparing their resume, applying, interviewing or maybe travelling. 

According to a survey done by LinkedIn, it takes 2-3 months for the candidates to get hired. It gets problematic because talent candidates only stay in the market for 10-20 days. So, candidates have ample of opportunities present, especially those having skills. The more time you will take, the more average candidate you will find. As the candidate has job offers from plenty of organizations. Your timely response could be a difference between hiring a great candidate or losing one. Try to reply within 3-5 days that acts as an acceptable time frame. 

Make candidates comfortable during interviews

Helping candidates to feel relaxed during the interviews helps them become more open and provide relevant answers. We all know an interview process can create unnecessary anxiety. There is no point in hindering their quality answering questions. And don’t contribute by doing something that makes candidates nervous like keep them waiting in the lobby for a while & there are multiple interview rounds. 

Instead of you can use these tips to make the candidates feel comfortable: 

• Tell the candidate the type of questions you will be asking in advance
• Don’t ask the questions that force the candidates to lie like what’s your greatest weakness? 
• Ask the candidates about their opinions on the company and if they have any doubts regarding the job role, etc. 

Introduce the candidate to your team

It is another way ease of any nerves for the candidates, introduce them to your existing team. Candidates do not only want to know what they are doing but also with whom they will work on the project. More and more companies have understood the importance of letting the candidates understand the existing employees. It gets done with video interviews with different team members shown on the careers page. Create a section on the career page and improve the candidate experience to the next level. It paints a clear picture in the mind of the candidates. 

The candidate feedback survey is a must

Take a look at how your existing candidate experience is measured? It can be tough to know what you want to change if you don’t know where are you succeeding or falling short. The best way to measure is by implementing a candidate feedback survey for both final-stage and new-hire candidates. 

Taking feedback from candidates work both ways. It helps the candidates to improve as professionals. According to Linkedin hiring statistics, 94% of the candidates wants to receive interview feedback. Make sure to provide feedback to the candidates that you did not select. If the response offered by you is constructive, they will likely to consider your company for future opportunity. Don’t just give the feedback and ask for it too. 

Maintaining candidate relationship 

A candidate’s experience does not end when you decide not to hire them. Keeping in touch with a talented candidate can reduce recruiting and hiring cycles. Therefore, candidate relationship management has become one of the vital HR metrics. The advantage is to have high-quality candidates ready at your disposal. You will build the talent pool. And once there is a need for you to hire a candidate, you can use your recruitment strategy to perfect-match the candidates. Let these candidates know they are a great candidate & that you want to keep in touch. Maintain a professional relationship & connect with them on Linkedin. 

Allot a designated contact person 

It is a common sense that there are lots of people associated during the hiring process. There is a hiring manager, department head, several colleagues - the list goes on and on. You do not have to do all of this to confuse the candidate. Make clear your candidate in advance about their point of contact. Whenever a question or any issue occurs, they know whom to contact rather than feeling isolated and asking everyone that they have met during the interview. 

Conclusion 

In today’s competitive hiring process, having an actual candidate experience is a must. It’s not negotiable. It’s something you need to work day in day out to land the best candidate for the organization. Yes, when you are dealing with a high volume of candidates, it seems like a difficult task to create a personalized experience for everyone. Focus on having clear lines of communication and keeping candidates up to date at every step.