Understanding Candidate Experience

Candidate experience is the total interactions a job seeker has with a potential employer during the recruitment process. The job posting, application procedure, interview, and onboarding are a few examples of these interactions. Better candidate engagement, higher job acceptance rates, and higher retention rates can all be attributed to a good candidate experience. On the other hand, a poor candidate experience can harm the business’s reputation, cut down on the pool of potential candidates, and raise the cost per hiring.

The Benefits of Candidate Experience Surveys

Candidate experience surveys can provide insightful criticism on the hiring process. They allow companies to understand how candidates perceive the hiring process, pinpoint areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. Some advantages of conducting candidate experience surveys include:

1. Improved Candidate Experience

Candidates have the chance to express their thoughts, worries, and suggestions through candidate experience surveys. Companies may improve the hiring process and make adjustments that have a positive effect on candidates’ experiences by paying attention to input from candidates.

2. Better Hiring Decisions

Candidate perceptions of the hiring process, including the degree of communication, the clarity of the job requirements, and the overall hiring experience, can be revealed by candidate experience surveys. This data can assist businesses in making data-driven decisions to enhance the recruiting and recruitment processes.

3. Increased Employer Branding

Companies can build their image and recruit top talent by giving the candidate experience high priority and performing candidate experience surveys. Positive experiences increase a candidate’s propensity to suggest the business to others, apply for subsequent job openings, and post favourable recommendations on social media and employer review websites.

Also read: Candidate Engagement Best Practices: 9 Tips to Boost Employer Branding

Conducting Candidate Experience Surveys

When conducting candidate experience surveys, companies should consider the following tips:

1. Keep Surveys Short and Simple

Candidates are busy, so it is essential to keep the survey short and simple. The most important elements of the hiring process, such as communication, job specifications, and the overall candidate experience, should be the focus of surveys.

2. Use a Variety of Survey Methods

Companies should use a variety of survey methods to reach candidates, such as email, text message, or phone call. Increase response rates and get a more complete picture of candidates’ experiences by using various survey techniques.

3. Analyse the Data and Take Action

Companies should study the data and act on the comments they obtain after conducting applicant experience surveys. This can entail modifying the application process, responding to certain concerns expressed by candidates, and informing applicants of the modifications.

Sample Candidate Engagement Survey

Dear [New Hire],

We hope that you are settling in well and enjoying your time at [Company Name]. To ensure that we are providing the best possible experience for our employees, we would appreciate your feedback on your onboarding and overall candidate experience.

Please take a few minutes to complete the following survey. Your responses will help us to improve our processes and make necessary adjustments to enhance the experience for future hires.

1. How would you rate the onboarding process at [Company Name]?

• Excellent
• Good
• Average
• Poor

2. Did you feel well-informed about your role and responsibilities prior to your start date?

• Yes, completely
• Somewhat
• No, not at all

3. How would you rate the communication you received during the onboarding process?

• Excellent
• Good
• Average
• Poor

4. Did you receive adequate training for your role?

• Yes, completely
• Somewhat
• No, not at all

5. How would you rate the level of support you received from your manager during your first few weeks?

• Excellent
• Good
• Average
• Poor

6. Have you had the opportunity to meet with members of your team and other departments?

• Yes, completely
• Somewhat
• No, not at all

7. Overall, how would you rate your candidate experience with [Company Name]?

• Excellent
• Good
• Average
• Poor

8. Would you recommend [Company Name] as a place to work to your friends and family?

• Yes
• No

Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. Your opinions are important to us, and we value your input. If you have any additional comments or suggestions, please feel free to include them in the space provided below.

Sincerely,

[Company Name]

Conclusion

Candidate experience surveys can provide valuable feedback and help companies improve the hiring process. By prioritising candidate experience and conducting surveys, companies can gain insights into how candidates perceive the recruitment process, identify areas for improvement, and make data-driven decisions. Improving candidate experience can lead to better candidate engagement, increased job acceptance rates, and higher retention rates, making it a vital aspect of the hiring process.

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The post The Power of Feedback: How Candidate Experience Survey Improve Hiring appeared first on BluElement.

How to keep candidates engaged after an offer?

If you are facing high candidate dropouts, then improving your candidate engagement strategies can help you boost your hiring success rate.

What is candidate engagement?

Candidate engagement is a process that involves multiple tasks that will help companies build and foster a positive and delightful relationship between the candidate and the employer during the hiring process. It will help you create a lasting candidate experience that is engaging, informative, and supportive throughout the entire recruitment process.

Candidate engagement starts from the moment a candidate expresses their interest in a role you are offering. It continues throughout the entire hiring process, including the application process, interview stages, offer negotiation, and onboarding.

6 Tips to Keep Candidates Engaged Post-offer

1. Automated engagement templates after accepting offer:

Engagement templates are pre-configured email, text, or voice call templates to interact with the candidate once they sent you the acceptance letter. For example: Calling the candidate to congratulate and show excitement for accepting the offer.

2. Create touch points based on notice period: 

Based on the roles of candidates, they may have serve notice periods between two weeks to three months. These days are crucial for engagement as it gives them a window to shop for other offers. In order to minimise drop out during this period, create touchpoints to interact with the candidate via call, text and email. Touchpoints can be anywhere from 2 – 18 touchpoints. This will keep the candidate engaged and build a good relationship with the company even before their first day.

3. Assign a candidate engagement specialist:

In large companies where hiring is a continuous process, it is good to have an engagement specialist who solely focuses on improving candidate experience. HRs and Talent acquisition teams have their plates full with daily operations and they may not be able to engage with the candidates properly. If you don’t have the budget to hire a candidate engagement specialist, then outsource it to a company that specialises in candidate engagement and experience.

“HireLoop Assigns Dedicated Engagement Specialists to Improve Candidate Engagement Scores and Reduce Dropouts. Book a Demo Now!”

4. Provide quick replies to queries:

While serving the notice, candidates may have tonnes of queries that they need answers for. For hiring managers this can get mundane and boring as everyone has the same questions. In such cases, it is better to have a chatbot that replies to their queries anytime. This will improve the candidate experience significantly.

5. Enquire about counter offers:

While making touchpoints, include talks related to counter offers and offers from other companies. Get as much information as possible to understand if the candidate is planning to consider any other offers. This will give you a chance to proactively come up with alternative strategies to try and keep the candidate from considering your company from others.

6. Provide assistance for relocation/WFH: 

Many employees may have to relocate to a new location to take up the job. For some, it can be remote work. In such cases, it is crucial to offer assistance in any way possible. It can be as simple as sending out possible rooms to rent, sending out hardwares early to set up their home office etc. This will ensure that they feel included and won’t think about dropping out.

Also read: 11 Do’s & Don’ts of Onboarding

Reasons candidates drop out after accepting your offer

1. Counter offers from their existing employer: When an employee puts down his resignation letter, most employers would make an attempt to retain them by offering a higher salary, promotion or better perks. If their offer is convincing, then chances are they will stick with their current company.
2. Personal reasons: People have several things going on in their personal lives. Family commitments, health issues, etc may prevent them from accepting your offer.
3. Better opportunities: This is the number reason why most of the candidates drop out. When someone starts their job search, they shop for the best offer. In many cases they may use your offer to negotiate a better package from a different company. If candidates are able to find better opportunities than what you can offer, they dropout.
4. Not meeting expectations: In some cases, candidates will realise that the company or the job role is not as expected by them after they accept the offer. This will lead them to drop out.
5. Relocation issues: If the role you offered requires the candidate to relocate to a new location, they may face difficulties in relocating. This can make them reconsider their decision.
6. Compensation: If the candidate is receiving a better compensation package or finds out that the offered compensation is not at par with industry standards or with peers, they may quickly change their decision and drop out.

5 Tips to Avoid Candidate Dropouts

As an employer, it is your responsibility to take control of the situation and take proactive measures to avoid them. Candidate dropouts are not good for business. Based on our experience onboarding 1000s of candidates and improving joining rate, we have compiled a list of 5 things that are most important for any company to avoid candidate dropouts. They are:

1. Streamlined and simple application process: A lengthy application process that requires candidates to fill out several data points and multiple steps are always going to be a demotivator for many. It is better to have a simple application process to make it easier for candidates to apply for the open positions.

2. Clear communication: Provide complete information about the open position, the hiring process, and what they can expect from the company. After completing each step, you can also provide a feedback or an acknowledgement to keep the candidate informed and engaged.

3. Show excitement & interest: Throughout the hiring process, show sincere interest and enthusiasm in their skills and abilities. This will create a positive impression on the candidate and a great way to show that they are valued and appreciated.

4. Set realistic expectations: Be transparent to candidates while explaining about the role. Be it about job description, challenges or difficulties. You want to make sure that you instill realistic expectations and the candidate is fully aware of what they are signing up for.

5. Provide a delightful candidate experience: What sets you apart from other companies is the overall experience that you are able to provide to the candidate. Even to those that you are not hiring. A positive candidate experience can help you prevent dropouts and encourage candidates to apply for future roles

Also read: 10 Steps to an Efficient New Employee Onboarding Process

Conclusion

To conclude, we can say that it is critical for companies to come up with strategies to keep the candidates engaged after extending your offer letter. To ensure that they do not drop out and cause losses to the company, create an efficient candidate engagement plan that includes having multiple touchpoints, engagement templates, answering queries faster, providing relocation / WFH assistance, and taking proactive measures to counter any possible outside offers. Make sure you subscribe to our newsletters to receive the latest updates in your inbox.

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The post How to Keep Candidates Engaged After Offer: 6 Tips to Avoid Dropouts appeared first on BluElement.

What is Candidate Experience?

Candidate experience refers to the overall impression and perception that a job seeker has of an employer’s recruitment process, from the initial job search to the final hiring decision. It includes all aspects of the recruitment process, such as the job posting, application process, communication with recruiters, interview experience, and feedback after the interview.

If you are able to provide a positive candidate experience, then it becomes easy to attract talented people to your organisation. When candidates get delighted, then take it to social media to share their experience, becoming a brand ambassador for your organisation. But if your company does not have a streamlined hiring process and applicants are having a negative experience, then chances are that your brand reputation is damaged in the market and it can deter great talent from applying to your company.

So, it is safe to say that if you are providing a positive experience to applicants chances of improving your hiring efficiency is higher. Saving you a lot of time and money.

Here is a video to expand your perspective on candidate experience: 

Why does candidate experience matter?

According to Michael Page report, only 38% of the employees stay in the same company for more than 2 years in India, which is the least when compared to other countries around the world. And more than 68% of the people interviewed responded that they are looking for a job change in the next six months. Employees around the world are re-evaluating their job roles and are prioritising their happiness, work-life balance and overall well-being. Besides all this, competition for good talent is higher than ever. Companies are planning various types of promotional activities in order to attract talent from other companies.

Remember when Ashneer Grover, founder and CEO of BharatPe made the announcement that they are giving BMW bikes to IT professionals as a joining bonus?

This is the reality now. And I cannot emphasise enough about the importance of a good candidate experience. Remember that all good applicants have multiple offers in their hand and they will only go with that company which made them feel welcomed and gave them the best overall experience.

How to improve & provide good candidate experience?

Now that we have understood the importance of creating candidate experiences that attract talent, let’s look at ways to improve your candidate experience. I have listed down 5 effective ways to improve candidate experience, if you have anything to add, feel free to comment below.

5 Effective ways to improve candidate experience

1. Effective communication: You might have experienced it yourself or you might have seen people sharing their frustrations on social media on how HR’s ghost candidates post an interview. This talks a lot about their organisation. Having clear communication means that you let the candidate know exactly what to expect throughout their recruitment process. This includes details on the timeline of responses, the stages of the interview process, and any assessments or interviews that the candidate needs to complete. Just by providing this information, you will be able to stand out and make a lasting impression on the candidate.

2. Streamlined application process: In our previous article about attracting talent using non-monetary methods, we discussed how companies like Tesla have the simple application process for their job openings at their organisation. Companies tend to complicate this by having an application with too many processes and long application procedures. This is clearly a demotivator and can disappoint the candidates. Make sure that your application process is streamlined by minimising the number of steps required and by making it user friendly to complete it. It is also important to optimise the application page mobile friendly as most of the applicants are on their mobile phones.

3. Open feedback loops: It is important to keep the candidate updated once they start their application process and let them know where they stand in their recruitment process. The benefit of doing this is that it keeps them engaged and motivated. To make your job easier, there are multiple tools now available that send automated updates to candidates at each step of the process.

4. Personalised onboarding experience: As the saying goes, “First impression is the last impression”, companies only get one chance to make a good impression. Which is why you need to take advantage of the onboarding process. If you are able to provide a delightful onboarding experience to a new hire, it will have a positive impact on their perspective, reasons to stay for long term, and boosts their productivity. If you want to learn more about improving your onboarding process, check out our recent article about the 11 ways to improve candidate onboarding experience.

5. Being empathetic: Always think from the job applicants perspective. Everyone wants to feel valued and respected. So it is important to show these values throughout the recruitment process. Regardless of the candidate being hired or not, these qualities should be followed. You can do this by providing timely responses and by ensuring that the interview process is fair and respectful.

Here is a video of The Head of J&J (Formerly PepsiCo) explaining how to improve candidate experience using technology:

Who is a candidate experience manager?

Candidate experience manager is someone who is responsible for managing the entire operations throughout the hiring process, to prioritise a great candidate experience. Companies do not hire a candidate experience manager as they do not want to hire a full time employee to manage this. One of the major is that hiring numbers are volatile and depend on macroeconomic factors and business outlook. What you can do is hire third parties to manage the candidate experience for you. It will help you save the cost of hiring, improve candidate experience score and overall build a better reputation in the marketplace.

Conclusion

Providing a great candidate experience is beneficial to your business in many ways. You can attract great talent, improve employer brand and even increase customer satisfaction. By following the tips outlined in this article, you can improve your overall candidate experience at your organisation and create a positive brand reputation for your company.

If you need help improving your onboarding process or candidate experience, book a demo to see how our solutions can help.

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The post What is Candidate Experience, How to Improve it, and Why it Matters for Your Business? appeared first on BluElement.