Four ways you can improve your candidate experience – and why you should!

The candidate experience is an essential part of attracting the right talent and a poor one can have a raft of consequences – from immediate candidate dropout to ongoing negative word of mouth. The impacts of this can be heightened in a candidate-short market where competition for top talent can be fierce.  Most of us have had negative experiences as job seekers, so it pays to reflect on these and use the old adage ‘treat people how you would want to be treated’ as a guide.

Here are four ways you can improve your candidate experience to attract the best talent.

In a competitive market, the most successful job advertisements make the job attractive to candidates, and this involves more than just a long list of the role responsibilities. If done right, your job ad can be a clarion call to the top talent in your industry, highlighting the culture and perks on offer. You have all the information at your fingertips: your current workforce is a great research pool – ask people what they like best about working for you and showcase these real perks in your postings.

Just as recruiters go to social media as a channel to get information on prospective employers, candidates visit your pages to see what you are all about. Your social channels can be a great way to highlight what you offer, not just to current candidates but to engage future employees.  With the Great Resignation tipped to commence in Australia in March 2022, taking a look at this now will allow you to build a great bank of content for when candidates come knocking.

Poor communication is one of the biggest candidate bugbears in a recruitment process. If your candidates don’t know where they stand, it can leave even the keenest applicants switching off and looking for other opportunities.

You might be working furiously in the background, screening and shortlisting, but your candidates aren’t aware of that, so keeping them informed is essential. As a basic standard, you should be letting them know when you expect to make a decision, how and when they will hear from you, and how you will let them know whether they are ultimately successful.

Often, job ads will say ‘only successful candidates will be contacted’ but, in my opinion, this discounts the time and effort all applicants have put into their application. In addition, you don’t know when an unsuccessful candidate will become a top pick for a future role, a client or some other part of your network, so it pays to treat unsuccessful candidates well.

And when it comes to progressed candidates who are unsuccessful, offering the chance to gain feedback is great – but only if you mean it and will make the time to actually provide it.

The good news is that you can automate many of these communications with the right tech, making them personalised so that even your rejections don’t feel cold.

Your ATS/CRM should enhance the internal and external experience. From automation tools to live reporting that keeps you informed, your technology should support your recruitment process – not the other way around. Talk to your tech providers about how they can enhance your process. They should also have advice for you on improving the experience for your staff and your candidates – after all, it should be their expertise.

If you are not getting what you need from your ATS/CRM provider, speak to Recruit Wizard. Our Australian-owned and operated ATS supports businesses of all sizes, and our reputation is built on our true partnership approach. We believe our role is to enhance and evolve your technology to ensure it supports your needs at every stage – not just when you sign the contract. Even better, we make it easy to switch, ensuring you will always have tech that supports your needs and delivers a winning candidate experience

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