A laborious candidate experience can damage your employer brand and seriously affect your company’s ability to attract and engage with qualified candidates.
If that sounds familiar, here are the reasons why:-
A 'clunky' careers site : Your careers site is often the first direct encounter a candidate has with your employer brand and should accurately reflect what it’s like to work with your business. A ‘clunky’, difficult to navigate site will result in candidate drop-offs. Include content in the form of videos, company updates and insight into why candidates should apply to your jobs. Support your candidate experience with recruitment software which offers a branded careers site and full functionality for both candidates and hiring managers on all mobile and tablet devices.
Tedious applications : It’s something we often suggest on our blog but if your application process takes a candidate longer than 15 minutes to complete, they’ll look elsewhere. Don't ask applicants to repeatedly submit the same information. Keep the process simple, with the option of a registration of interest to capture the contact details of passing talent. In a survey carried out by Indeed, Netflix offered a total application time of just one minute consisting of five screening questions at all levels of recruitment. Investing in recruitment software will help your business to take the first step to a faster application process.
No contact : Today’s candidates have choices. They aren’t sitting around waiting for you to get your hiring process moving. Top talent is only on the market for 10 days. Set expectations on what to expect from the outset, outlining when candidates can expect to hear from you, likely interview dates and your proposed start date – then deliver on them. Offer the facility to self schedule interviews through your recruitment software and provide regular automated updates and explanations for any delays. Do not ‘ghost’ your candidates, it will damage your employer brand and increase your drop off rates.
'Death by interview’ : Endless interviews asking the same questions carried out by untrained hiring managers who haven’t reviewed either the job description or the candidate’s CV are not conducive to a positive experience (or job offer acceptance). Only one third of hiring managers are engaged in the hiring process resulting in a lacklustre event for many candidates and making ‘death by interview’ a real problem for HR. Find out how candidates really feel about your interview process (and candidate experience). Incorporate a request for feedback as standard in your process and be prepared to act on it. Your recruitment data, particularly your job offer to acceptance ratio, will give you an idea of what to expect.
Job offer rejections : As bad hiring decisions and early departures of new hires rise, HR must take a closer look at its approach to onboarding. A recent report into the candidate experience from CareerBuilder found that three quarters of employees viewed onboarding as the first part of their employee experience. Automate administrative aspects of onboarding to enable HR to engage with your new hire and prevent a last minute turndown of your job offers. 40% of candidates have experienced a lack of communication in between the period after acceptance of a new job and their first day at work. 60% of candidates also continue to explore open jobs and attend interviews with other employers while they wait for your reference checks and screening to be completed. As job hoarding is now more common, frequent contact during the ‘waiting’ period is a must.
The wrong (or no) ATS : CareerBuilder revealed that employers who use applicant tracking software focus more on the candidate experience and are at least 25% more likely to have a standardised hiring process. Support your talent acquisition strategy and improve your candidate experience with effective recruitment software. Our previous blog provides a comprehensive checklist to consider before investing in HR technology.
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