Don’t Become a Candidate Experience Horror Story

I recently read a LinkedIn Pulse post on candidate experience that began with the following sentence: “I just spent the last 22 weeks living through the most obnoxious, frustrating, and drawn out, in depth, accusatory, mistrusting interview process of my life.”

How would you like that to be your company’s reputation with candidates?

Candidate experience is a hot topic in many HR-related circles today. And it’s no wonder considering the impact it can have on a company. Here are a few reasons why you should pay attention to yours:

New hires who had a poor hiring experience are 38% more likely to leave (Corporate Executive Board)
Damage to your employer brand often means damage to your product brand
1 in 5 candidates who have a bad experience will stop buying from the company (Corporate Executive Board)
42% of candidates who have a bad experience will not consider applying to your company again (CareerBuilder)

Perhaps more importantly, though, treating people with respect is just the right thing to do. Here are a few tips for improving your candidate experience taken from our Ultimate Guide to Employee Onboarding (because, yes, it is part of onboarding):

Keep applications short: According to Potentialpark’s Online Talent Communication Study, the top two frustrations with online applications are the time it takes to complete and a multiple-session process. A short application will eliminate these worries and leave candidates with a positive impression.

Follow Up: Let applicants know where they are in your screening process. A simple automatic status update will show that you value your potential employees. No one likes to be left wondering.

Be clear about what you’re looking for to avoid on-the-job disappointment. Consider the values of your organization and make them prominent in any job descriptions or publications. Draw from your ideal candidate profile to clearly communicate what it’s like to work at your company.

In the interview: Here’s your first chance for a face-to-face interaction with your new potential hire. Do what you can to signal to her what it will be like to work at your company. Painting a clear picture during the interview can help your candidate make an informed choice about joining and give them a head start for when they do.

Evaluate candidate experience: What better way to figure out if you’ve nailed the application process than to ask candidates? For a diverse pool of feedback try to ask both hired candidates and those who you didn’t hire.

If you’re interested in reading the entire LinkedIn Pulse post I quoted at the beginning, you can find it here.

What are your tips for improving the candidate experience?