Is Your “Candidate Experience” Hindering Your Ability to Hire Top Talent?

Well-dressed female manager sitting at a desk opposite mature man the office. She holding and reading his a job application form .

 

In our recent post titled How to Improve Your Candidate Experience, we discussed a CareerBuilder survey that asked 5,000 job seekers what they wanted out of the candidate experience. How can you tell if your candidate experience needs work in the first place? And if it does, what can you do to improve it?

Here are 5 signs your candidate experience needs work and what you can do to fix it so you can attract and hire top talent.

Sign #1: Your job postings lack detail.

There’s no salary information or benefit details, you don’t dig into what daily life is like in the position, and there’s no sense of what the hiring process is like.

Here’s what to do: You want to keep your postings concise, but also include enough detail that the top candidates are enticed. So focus on specific essential requirements you’re looking for, what a typical day would look like in the role, and what to expect during the hiring process. You may also want to include salary and benefits information since that’s a critically important factor for most candidates.

Sign #2: Your job postings aren’t mobile friendly.

According to CareerBuilder, “86 percent of active candidates use their smartphone to begin a job search.” In addition, Google now prioritizes websites that are mobile friendly – meaning those that are, come up first in a search. So if your career website or job postings aren’t mobile friendly, then you’re hurting your chances of successful recruiting on several different fronts.

Here’s what to do: Create a mobile friendly career website that not only lists your job openings, but also communicates and promotes your employer brand.

Sign #3: Cumbersome application process.

Candidates expect a short, sweet and easy application process. They don’t expect clunky forms to fill out online and an excruciatingly slow process. If applying for jobs at your company isn’t seamless and simple, then it’s going to reflect poorly on your employer brand and ability to attract great candidates.

Here’s what to do: Create an application process that candidates can complete in 10 clicks or less.

Sign #4: Bad interview experience.

A poor interview experience can mean the difference between hiring a star performer and losing them to the competition. Some examples of a bad interview experience:

  • The candidate has a hard time coordinating an interview with your staff due to lack of responsiveness.
  • The interviewer clearly wasn’t prepared and didn’t structure the process in an effective way.
  • The interviewer kept responding to emails or answering texts during the interview.

Here’s what to do: Think through how you want to structure the interview ahead of time. Ask the same questions of all candidates so you can easily compare their answers later. And treat everyone with respect by turning off your cell phone and focusing your attention on them.

Sign #5: A lack of communication.

Your hiring process is a black hole for candidates. They don’t hear back after they submit a resume, or after an interview. They follow up, but only get silence in return. Don’t expect the top candidates to stick around for very long.

Here’s what to do: Create auto responses for candidates that submit their resume. For those that interview, be sure to follow up via email or a phone call with each one individually.

Need more help attracting and hiring top talent? Call the experts at Morgan Hunter. As one of Kansas City’s leading recruitment firms, companies throughout the metro area have partnered with us since 1986 to assist them in securing their most valuable asset — quality employees.

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