Candidate Experience

Candidate Experience refers to the overall feeling a candidate has about an organization during the hiring process. This process includes the application, interview, hiring and even onboarding processes. All these contribute to how the candidate feels about the organization at the end of the recruiting process. 

A positive candidate experience is one that is made easy and seamless for both the candidate and the organization. It makes the candidate feel good about the organization and in turn increases the chances of a candidate accepting the job offer. It also improves the employer branding of an organization. On the other hand, a negative candidate experience reduces the chances of a candidate accepting the job offer. It would eventually involve a waste of resources and time, making it rough for both parties. 

To develop a great candidate experience, here are some of the strategies that organizations can employ.

• Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS): Using an ATS for the hiring process of an organization can help improve the candidate experience. It makes it easy for applicants to apply for jobs through job boards and social media. In addition, candidates can easily apply for jobs even using their mobile phones. 

• Candidate Relationship Management Systems: These tools can help you automate conversations with candidates. You can also send personalized messages to candidates using these tools. 

• Onboarding Stratagies: In addition to a seamless application and interview process, onboarding strategies can also be implemented to create a great candidate experience. The ease of background checks and promptness of response also contributes to the candidate’s view of the organization. 

Some of the best practices to implement while creating a candidate experience are:

• Job posting should be easy to read. Also, the required documents should be clear and candidates should be apble to apply from their mobile phones.

• Automated “Thank you” responses should be sent to candidates when they apply.

• During the pre-screening, candidates should be aware of how many screening stages there are and if there are tests that come with the screening process. 

• Follow up with unsuccessful candidates not invited to interview or who don’t make it to the next round.

• Offer constructive feedback and ask to keep the candidate’s information to let them know of future opportunities leaves candidates with a good impression.

Some of the benefits that come with having a great candidate experience are:

• It increases the employer branding of an organization and gives them a competitive advantage in the industry.

• It increases employee retention within and organization.

• It enables organizations attract top talents in the industry. 

• It reduces the cost of having to run negative candidate experiences that do not lead to hiring.

A candidate's experience shapes the candidate's perception of an organization throughout the hiring process, impacting acceptance rates and employer branding. A positive experience streamlines application, interview, and onboarding stages, contributing to successful hires and improved reputation.