The candidate experience is one of the most talked about trends at the moment. In this blog we will discuss the topic and offer ways on how to improve candidate experience Generative AI is becoming more and more advanced the experience that each candidate gets through the hiring process is becoming more and more important. The CV is still the key hiring tool again as AI starts getting smarter ways to pick the most relevant people to suit each job. I have written a more detailed blog on how to prepare your CV, click here to explore more on the topic. As a candidate your CV is critical. As an employer learning how to improve candidate experience is equilly as important.
The CV remains a pivotal part of the Recruitment process. The CV continues to provide a general overview of the candidates training, professional history, and work experience. But they offer no real insight into how well the applicant will function in a particular capacity. A little secret it’s not meant to. Look at a CV a little like a ticket to an interview. As part of that ticket to an interview. The CV will only get the candidate there if they have the right keywords, skills and experience required for the role. The candidate experience only starts when the candidate is relevant. There is little point a truck driver saying they had a bad experience because no one interviewed them for a Software Engineer job. We have to be practical.
We have seen the likes of Facebook and Google addressing this issue by employing personality tests to evaluate applicants’ soft skills, sometimes known as “human” talents. Employers can learn more about a person’s personality type by taking assessments like the Myers-Briggs test.
These exams are by no means a flawless answer, even though they may appear to help develop a more complete image of the individual. In fact, a ResearchGate study discovered that 50% of the time, the same person completing the exam twice within five weeks will receive entirely different results.
All of this demonstrates how imperfect recruiting procedures still remain. Organizations must, however, remember to pay attention to more than just how candidates present themselves. Another important aspect of the hiring process is how an organization presents itself to potential employees. It all comes down to improving the applicant experience. If organizations’ applicant experiences are poor, hiring will suffer whether they utilize personality tests, CVs, or both.
Organizations must provide a smooth, easy, and intuitive candidate experience. Businesses might, for instance, offer job seekers a single portal where they can manage their job submissions, communicate job openings, and keep abreast of new opportunities. Organizations will develop a reputation as a company that cares from the minute an application is submitted by simplifying the process for candidates. The number of candidates will rise as a result of them becoming more appealing to potential talent.
Organizations shouldn’t get complacent about their involvement in the employment process as hiring tools continue to advance. Organizations must work to promote themselves as well as candidates, who will continue to try to do so.
Here our 8 practical tips to improve your candidate experience when hiring for IT jobs?
- Have clear job descriptions – clear and accurate, remove those hard to find nice to have IT skills.
- Be clear about the interview process – provide timelines, roadmaps etc.
- Make it easy for a candidate to apply for an IT job. Have clear application instructions, have a well-designed application page.
Recruiter top tip: Less clicks to the CV the better.
- Respect the Candidates time, ensure the interview process is robust, interviewers are clear about there objectives and show up on time. Automate where possible, calendars etc.
Recruiter top tip: Measure time to fill – give an accurate timeline to candidates and always look to improve on these times.
- Communication is key. Talk to the candidate as often as possible, find out how their search is going (If they are an active job seeker) – 65% of candidates claim that they never or sporadically hear word from employers on their application decisions. 51% of those who do get notified say it takes a month or more. 85% of job searchers are sceptical that their application has even been read by a human being when they don’t hear back from employers.
- Give the candidate feedback. In the world we live in I know we have to restrict what we say, but always offer some feedback. If you have a company policy around feedback, communicate that early in the process. Candidates want to know where they can improve.
- Measure the candidate experience. It might be difficult to assess candidate experience. That’s because it’s illogical to quantify, contextualize, and is subjective. What would you do with information that is impossible to measure? You cannot possibly use it to enhance the candidate experience.
- There are a few recruiting measures and KPIs that can give recruiters insights into what’s working and where you can enhance your candidate experience strategy, even though there isn’t a single metric that will assess the effectiveness of your candidate experience.
- Several significant hiring KPIs to gauge candidate experience include:
- Application rejection
- Time to fill, or the interval between an application and an offer
- Ratio of interviews to offers
- Rate of offer acceptance
- Response times of recruiters
- candidate contentment
- Referrals
- Net Promoter Rating (NPS)
The experience of your candidate experience is influenced by a wide range of elements. Everything that happens during the hiring process, including the length of time it takes to complete a job application, schedule interviews, and receive feedback. Affects how good the candidate experience is.
As a recruiter we need to revaluate the applicant connection management tactics in today’s distant, asynchronous world where recruiting dynamics are continuously changing. The top recruiters evaluate their hiring procedure from the viewpoint of a candidate to see whether their attempts to improve the candidate experience were successful.
Combining science and psychology results in a positive applicant experience. Utilizing AI and data to examine the experience of your candidate is critical.
Elwood Roberts is an IT Recruitment Business specialising in the Dublin, Ireland and East US markets. With over 15 years Recruitment experience you can find out a little more about what we do here. If you would like to read more insights from us, please click here