An effective recruiting process starts with creating a positive candidate experience. From job description to final offer, ensuring the candidate views your employer brand in a favourable light at every stage in the process is key to staying competitive in today’s tight labour market.
But providing a consistent experience takes time and can be challenging to juggle alongside other HR operations. Here are five ways to quickly optimize your candidate experience today:
1. Keep your employer brand up-to-date
Each interaction candidates have with your brand - via a job description, career page, email correspondence, or in-person interview - gives them a sneak peek into what it’s like to work at your company. Making sure these experiences are consistent and positive is key to attracting high-quality candidates, maintaining engagement, and ultimately increasing employee retention.
Keep things up-to-date and consistent by auditing each touchpoint on a regular basis. On social media, for example, where many candidates follow their favourite companies, be sure to regularly share photos that convey your company culture. Extend this same tone to other areas, making sure your career page shows similar images and your emails are written in the same voice/tone.
2. Craft thoughtful job descriptions
Your job descriptions are candidates’ first interaction with your company brand. Use them to set expectations about the person you’re looking for and the impact he/she can expect to make in the role.
Be sure to also be realistic. Explain the actual areas this person will be responsible for without exaggerating or leaving out certain parts.
Include an introductory paragraph that also describes your company and what makes it an appealing place to work. Highlight any specific benefits or incentives that would be worthwhile knowing about for prospective employees. This can include non-monetary things like a casual dress code, flexible hours or free lunches.
3. Streamline your recruiting process
Job seekers want to apply to jobs in as few steps as possible and to remain aware of their standing throughout the funnel. Consider automating your recruiting process with technology like an applicant tracking system to create the smoothest candidate experience possible.
4. Conduct an audit of the candidate experience
Walkthrough your company’s candidate experience as if you were the job seeker. Review each touchpoint to ensure it’s a positive, seamless process for the candidate. Ask yourself whether you’d appreciate the experience and, if not, how you can improve.
5. Listen to candidates
Listening to candidates’ experiences with your hiring process can provide actionable insights for your recruiting strategy as a whole. Direct feedback on the application process, email correspondence, and even interviews allows you to uncover areas of improvement. You can request this type of commentary via a survey format to best capture and track responses.
