Improving the candidate experience allows companies to access the most qualified profiles, which are often the most selective.
The dynamics of recruitment are evolving and now the most qualified profiles tend to change jobs more easily than before, looking for companies with added value.
For this reason, it is essential to differentiate yourself from other recruiters by turning the candidate selection process into a good experience that seduces candidates from the very first moment.
Working on your employer brand and actively promoting your company to candidates are two ways to improve the candidate experience in your recruitment process and attract talent. There are others you should know about.
What is candidate experience?
Candidate experience refers to how a candidate feels from the time they access the job description until they accept the job through all of their interactions with the company, including automated ones.
The process, centered on the perception of the person, encompasses each of the bilateral exchanges between the company and the candidate, such as:
- Recruitment strategies.
- Types of job interviews.
- Selected softwares and automated stages.
- Notifications on the status of the recruitment process and communications with Human Resources (HR) professionals.
- Onboarding process, that is, the incorporation of the new employee.
This entire process, known as pre-onboarding, builds your relationship with the employer from the very beginning.
Therefore, it must offer added value, as it is essential to attract the talent that a company needs, especially if they are people with highly demanded skills.
7 tips to improve candidate experience in recruitment
Improving the candidate experience in recruitment is in your hands and the first step is to think of the candidate as a customer to place him/her at the center of the strategy and work on his/her loyalty from minute 1.
Define your target candidate
Just as a sales or communication strategy must define its audience, it is recommended that you apply this methodology to accurately define your target candidate.
Keep in mind that a large part of the success of your selection process lies in the candidate meeting the real needs of the organization.
Thanks to this preliminary work, you will be able to accurately establish where the candidates you need are, and you will be able to design a personalized communication and recruitment strategy.
Create clear job descriptions
The job description is an effective tool that allows you to identify in detail the responsibilities of a role within a company and is a decisive means of communication for a candidate.
It is important that you create this description in the most detailed way, using clear language and a structured format. It is advisable that you agree it with the management to make sure that you are aligning the objectives of the job with those of the company.
Remember that the first assessment that any candidate will make of your company is through the job offered. Knowing the details from the beginning, including the possibilities of developing a career plan in the organization, is a determining factor.
Facilitate the whole process
Convoluted, unclear, too long and complicated processes increase the chances that the candidate will abandon the process before completing it, even if he/she is interested in the characteristics of the job.
You can, for example, provide a guide of the steps to follow, allow candidates to apply through their online profiles and include links to their projects, or you can even offer them the possibility of creating personal spaces on your corporate website to update the information.
Another aspect you should take care of is multichanneling so that your candidates can easily apply using mobile terminals.
Job ghosting is more common than you might think, and it is one of the reasons why it is essential to improve the candidate experience.
Keep a continuous feedback
One thing you should not neglect to improve the candidate experience is communication.
Recruiting experts recommend maintaining continuous feedback in which the person feels valued and that allows you to gather their impressions throughout the process. This will also help you to perfect your selection methodology.
Also, take care of the communication channels and adapt them to your candidate to cultivate a win-win relationship, even if he/she is not selected.
If you opt for online recruitment, explore all the possibilities offered by videoconferencing to humanize the exchanges.
Tailor the interview to the candidate
One of the ways to improve the recruitment process is to adapt the interview to the candidate.
To achieve this, and depending on the profile, you can combine different types of recruitment interviews.
Establish metrics to evaluate the candidate experience
No process can be improved if it is not evaluated. So if you want to improve recruitment, it is recommended that you measure the candidate experience with objective metrics.
Among the resources you can use are metrics of satisfaction or well-being throughout the process, which are common in the relationship between companies and their clients.
Work on your employer branding
Your employer branding says a lot about you. All the information you can access about your candidate through social networks and the Internet can be obtained from your project.
Take care of your communication in all your exchanges, share your corporate culture openly, talk about your missions, successes and objectives, highlight your teams, participate in forums and discussion centers where you can find profiles that may be of interest to you, and cultivate relationships over time.
Why candidate experience is important?
The benefits of a good recruitment strategy that offers candidates an experience that meets or exceeds their expectations are very important for a company. Among them are the following:
- You can attract and retain qualified talent.
- It allows you to build a lasting and committed satisfaction that creates a long-term relationship between the new employee and the company.
- You will turn your employees into ambassadors who will serve as a lure to attract new talent.
- You can reduce the costs of your recruitment processes because an optimized experience avoids hiring unsuitable profiles and improves the use of resources for recruitment, both human and technological. The result is an increased return on investment (ROI).
- It places your organization in a process of continuous improvement that increases its competitiveness and enhances its reputation in the marketplace.
An important factor in your remote assessments is respecting the privacy of your candidates. Having objective and secure remote monitoring systems will improve the candidate experience.
At Smowltech we can provide you with proctoring plans to create quality environments for your recruitment processes that also provide you with performance reports to help you evaluate your candidate.
Ask for a free demo so we can explain in detail how innovation can help you optimize the recruitment of the best profiles.
