Challenges and Solutions for a Positive Candidate Experience

Organisations usually spend a lot on candidate attraction. The more candidates apply for an open role, the more likely the company can find top talent for their job openings. A much simpler way to attract more candidates is by focusing on the candidate experience.

A positive candidate experience can automatically attract more candidates and help the organisation with the recruitment process by building a good reputation.

The candidate experience in the recruitment process plays a huge role. It can help to develop your brand recognition, get a positive response, and generate revenue for your organisation. This can highlight your organisation more positively.

No organisation can afford to sleep on improving a good candidate response. With that in mind, a few challenges can hinder you from giving your candidates a truly positive experience. Understanding these challenges can help you identify them in your organisation and plan your recruitment strategy considering these.

The following are such challenges to overcome so you can leave an everlasting experience from your recruitment process.

Lack of Transparency

During the recruitment process, the candidate may develop some expectations that might not be met by the organisation’s actual work. If the organisation does not meet the candidates’ expectations, it can leave them with nothing but disappointment.

Do not talk up your organisation to improve your reputation. Instead, talk to the candidates about your company values and goals and evaluate how well they fit into the process.

The candidate may have a lot of questions about the organisation. They may not come forth with such questions. Encourage the candidate to bring their queries to you. Be clear with your answers. The candidate will likely appreciate honesty above everything else.

In short, if the candidate were to be well-informed about the company and the roles to fulfil, they may be more confident to join your organisation. This would avoid hiring candidates who are a false fit for your organisation.

Lengthy Application Process

To make an informed decision about the candidate, recruiters may require as much data as possible from the candidate. This can make them design the application so that it collects as much information as possible.

The problem is, this inevitably increases the application filling time. An application process that takes too long to complete can make the candidate frustrated and drop the application process. This leads to a low application completion rate.

Additionally, the candidate can form a negative feeling towards the organisation for creating a lengthy application process. Improving your application process will improve your candidate experience.

To make it better: Avoid asking for any data already present in the candidate’s resume.

Do not include fields that require a detailed answer to keep things simple.

Help the candidate fill-out the application faster by giving them options to choose from.

If you require more data from the candidate, collect them as the candidate clears the various stages of recruitment. Only collect the required information about the candidate for the current phase of the recruitment process.

Ghosting the Candidate

A scenario that can contribute to a negative candidate experience is when the candidate does not hear back from the recruiter after applying for the job.

The candidate might not have made it through the initial screening, or the company might have found its ideal candidate. Regardless of the reason, the candidate who does not receive an answer back from the company may form a negative opinion.

To overcome this, it is good practice to use automated emails. Such platforms can send emails to the candidate on the progression of each stage of the recruitment process.

One important point to note is that emails should not be robotic. Instead, try to add a few variations of the templates. This can make sure that the tone of the mail sounds natural. Adding a personal touch to the emails will keep the candidate engaged throughout the recruitment process.

Handling Rejections

As mentioned above, not responding to the candidate and ghosting them can impact your candidate’s experience. Along those lines, responding to the candidate and delivering them the bad news must be handled with care.

Depending on how much progress the candidate has made through the recruitment process, a different approach is required. Inform the rejected candidate during the early part of the recruitment through emails.

For candidates who have made it through the interview stages, it is better to inform them with a phone call. Informing the candidate about their rejection through a phone call adds a personal touch. The candidate has already invested their time and energy and made it to the interview round. They deserve more than just an email.

Make sure to inform the candidate of the reason for their rejection. It is important to give the candidate an understanding of why they were rejected, even after going through the whole process. Additionally, provide feedback to the candidate about their performance in the entire recruitment process and offer insights on the areas they should focus.

A good candidate experience will help the candidate have a reasonable opinion of your company. That may encourage the candidate to keep an eye on the future roles that might open up at your company.

Conclusion

Identifying challenges in the candidate’s experience is the first step to overcoming them, using various steps. Improving the candidate’s experience can benefit the organisation in many ways. It can enhance your company branding to attract more candidates for your recruitment process. This can also make your company brand larger, thereby making it reach new heights in terms of business and brand visibility.

LogicMelon

Award-winning recruitment software that will find, attract, hire and analyse the way you want to work. At LogicMelon, we have experienced software recruitment marketing specialists to help you build effective recruitment solutions supported by the best customer service you’ll find anywhere!

Email: sales@logicmelon.com or call LogicMelon (UK) +44 (0) 203 553 3667 (USA) +1 860 269 3089