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Candidate experience has become a buzzword in today’s recruiting landscape, and a positive candidate hiring journey can set your company apart. Organizations seeking to improve candidate experience should recognize it as the overall impression job applicants form throughout the recruitment process. This impression is shaped by every interaction from the initial job posting to the screening process and finally onboarding.
Your every action affects how an applicant perceives their experience with your recruitment funnel. Hence, to improve candidate experience, focus on strategies that will leave a favorable and long-lasting effect on potential talent.
Benefits of Positive Candidate Experience
There are huge benefits to imparting a positive candidate experience. It not only helps attract the top talent but also helps in building your employer brand and reputation. Besides, your goal as a recruiter should be to ensure that even the candidates who were turned down speak positively about your company.
However, when this aspect is not taken seriously, it often results in frustration, disappointment, and even resentment from job seekers. This can inturn manifest in feedback that paints a completely different picture.
How to Improve Candidate Experience?
“It’s been over two weeks, I haven’t heard from the recruiter till now.”
“My interview went well. I had high hope from this job opportunity. But the company doesn’t seem to care much about losing a candidate like me.”
“I am not aware about my application status. Not yet received a rejection or confirmation call from the team.”
You must be wondering who these people are and why are they complaining so much.
Well, these are a few responses from job seekers who are not happy about the recruitment process of a company where they appeared for an interview. Thus, highlighting the need to improve candidate experience.
No matter whether you hire the job applicant or not, treating them well and giving them a positive experience is something that each recruiter and hiring manager must do.
The way you treat candidates says a lot about the company, its reputation, and the recruitment process. Therefore, the impact of candidate experience on hiring decisions is undeniable.
83% of job seekers say, a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once liked, while 87% of talent say that a positive interview experience can change their mind about a role or company they once doubted.
A company’s ability to successfully attract, hire and retain top talent entirely depends upon the thoughtful approach to managing their hiring process.
Here are a few suggestions that can be used to improve candidate experience.
1. Shorten the Hiring Cycle
60% of job seekers have quit an application process in the middle due to its length or complexity.
A lengthy and complex application process can be a turnoff for candidates. They may lose the enthusiasm to work at an organization that makes them wait long time to hear back about a job. In any case, there are countless opportunities for top individuals. Hence, they may lose interest in the opportunity or become unwilling to wait for a timely response from the recruiter.
To create a good candidate experience, make the job application process quick, smooth and painless. Furthermore, ensure that the job seekers hear from you frequently. Regular updates, even if brief, reassure candidates about the progress of their application. These also reflect positively on your organization’s professionalism and respect for the candidate’s time.
2. Make Job Description Clear and Precise
Interestingly, 64% candidates claim that job descriptions provided by companies aren’t clear while 72% of hiring managers say they provide well-defined descriptions. Isn’t this contradictory?
Both perceive job descriptions differently, and that’s the main reason for discrepancy in their thought. For instance, a candidate may want to understand the job role while a recruiter may feel important to mention the skills required to fill the vacant position.
Therefore, recruiters are suggested to create job descriptions in a manner that can easily be understood by the candidates and makes the job role clear for them.
3. Respond to Candidates Promptly
80% of applicants admit that they would be discouraged to consider other relevant job openings at a company that failed to notify them of their application status. Yet, they would be 3.5 times more likely to re-apply to a company if they were notified.
Quite often candidates are made to wait for recruiter’s response after the submission of their job application. In some cases, this wait becomes endless. Uncertainty in the hiring process leads to poor candidate experience. Even if a candidate isn’t the right person you’re looking for, don’t hesitate by giving feedback or telling them about the rejection of their profile. Respond to candidates promptly.
Keeping in touch is the key solution to this problem. Communicate with the candidates and let them know the actual status on their application, at every step.
4. Be Transparent with Your Recruitment Process
Throughout the recruitment journey, you should ensure to provide the correct information to the applicants to foster trust and confidence in your company. Moreover, being open and transparent about your processes will not only help prevent misunderstandings but also make applicants feel more confident about the positions they are applying for.
Also, share the contact details of a designated person with whom the applicants can be in constant touch. In case there is any confusion or concerns, candidates can easily reach out to that person.
Additionally, inform the candidates in advance about any virtual interview assessments, health screenings, or background checks that may be required. This transparency in the recruitment process helps further improve candidate experience.
5. Leave a Lasting Impression
The majority of job seekers read at least 6 reviews before forming an opinion of a company.
As most of the candidates go through online reviews before appearing for an interview, make sure the candidates give good ratings to your company on online job portals.
When a job seeker receives poor experience at an organization, they are more likely to share the same with their friends and family, and some of them even post reviews on online portals. Poor ratings by candidates can be damaging to a company’s reputation. Make extra effort to keep them happy, informed and leave a positive impact.
Conclusion
We all know that the hiring process is stressful for both the recruiter as well as the job seeker. But, by providing a positive experience, you can expect more respect and commitment from the candidates and far more chances that they recommend other talent to your organization.
Build an employer brand by improving the recruitment process and taking steps to improve candidate experience.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. | What is candidate experience? |
| Ans. | Candidate experience is how a candidate feels while progressing through the recruitment process in an organization. It’s about how they perceive the employer brand throughout the hiring process. |
Q2. | How to improve candidate experience in recruitment? |
| Ans. | There are different ways to improve candidate experience in the recruitment process. It can be improved by clear communication, respecting the candidate’s time, and thoughtful engagement at every stage of the hiring process. |
Q3. | Why does candidate experience matter? |
| Ans. | The candidate experience matters because of the following reasons: 1. It demonstrates whether a company treats its potential hires fairly or not. 2. To attract and hire the best candidates. 3. A positive experience leads to happier employees, whereas a negative experience can harm a company’s reputation. |
Q4. | Which hiring software platforms improve candidate experience the most? |
| Ans. | Several platforms are available in the market that help in improving candidate experience. Empxtrack is also one such reliable HR software that streamlines the entire hiring process. Its comprehensive features, such as a user-friendly interface, focus on improving candidate experience. Moreover, with Empxtrack applicant tracking system, you can improve candidate experienceand make the recruitment process simple, quick and effective. |
The article delivers clear, actionable strategies for enhancing the candidate experience, supported by relevant statistics that underscore its importance. Its structured approach—covering streamlined processes, precise job descriptions, proactive communication, and creating a lasting positive impression—makes it a valuable resource for HR and recruitment professionals. Well-written and insightful, it effectively balances practical advice with strategic perspective.
Thank you Andy. We appreciate your thoughtful feedback.
Thankyou for this amazing article. I wish I knew this before I started hiring people. People are already nervous about their interview and building the pressure doesnt help. I was searching for Staffing companies in Austin when all my troubles of finding the right fit for my company went away. Give them a try.
Very informative article as most of us needs to access such sort of transparent hiring process where good talent can get recognized by employers. Lots of people are victims of dumb hiring procedures. In this way, every company should once overview its hiring process for the opened job vacancies and if the organization finds anything doubtful then that kind of doubts should be removed for the good purpose.
Thanks admin for sharing this informative post.