A McKinsey study has found that CEOs’ top challenge is retaining the best talent post hiring. Organisations are now understanding the importance of offering a not just positive but a unique onboarding experience. The onboarding experience candidates receive is as important to a successful hire as the sourcing process itself. In order to successfully run a business, companies must keep both new hires and current employees happy, as failing to do so can adversely affect the culture and work atmosphere within the company, and eventually the business itself. An organisation’s candidate onboarding experience reflects its values and work culture and a good candidate experience will have a positive impact on an employer brand as well. Candidates speak and use social media to speak about their experience and act as advocates on behalf of the company.
WAYS TO IMPROVE CANDIDATE ONBOARDING EXPERIENCE
A company spends a lot of time, effort, resources, and energy hiring the right candidates. An effective candidate onboarding process begins as soon as the recruiter connects with the candidate to discuss a potential role.
If the onboarding process is not handled strategically, it can become chaotic for both the company and the candidate. Therefore, we have listed 11 effective ways that can assist you in improving the candidate onboarding experience.
During the Hiring Process:
1. Understand the role and write a clear, precise job description.
When you create a clear job description, your potential hire will know what their roles and responsibilities are and what you expect of them. Outline the challenges of the position and make it appealing to the candidate from the first step.
2. Structure your interview process
Before you begin the interview process, prepare a candidate “persona” that gives an idea about the ideal characteristics you are seeking and the parameters to gauge how well a candidate matches that persona. In addition, it is important to define your interview process for each role the company is hiring for with utmost clarity.
3. Regular Communication is the key
Companies often make the mistake of leaving huge communication gaps during the interview process. Following up regularly and communicating with the candidates at regular intervals is crucial.
Even if a candidate doesn’t fit the role, communicating that to them is important to maintain a positive image of the organisation.
4. Ensure a seamless and smooth interview process
Attend your candidates in the best way possible during interviews and answer their queries and questions correctly and in a polite, clear manner. Make them comfortable and give them an idea about your company culture by telling them about your activities on special occasions or trips.
Post Hiring:
5. Engage prior to the day of joining
There are multiple offers with the top talent, why should they choose you? One way to be on top of the candidates’ minds is to engage continuously. Establish a rapport with the new hire before they start their new job. Giving out generic information such as holiday lists, cafeteria timings, etc., along with warm welcoming mail can make the candidate feel valued.
6. Get the entire team acquainted with the new hire
The success of a company depends on teamwork where each member of the team works tirelessly to achieve specific goals. One way for improving the candidate onboarding experience is to make the candidates familiar with the entire team and tell them which team they are going to work with.
7. Make them familiar with the employees’ perks and benefits
An employee is a company’s biggest asset, and candidates do look forward to utilising the perks and benefits of the company. A new hire often considers getting onboard considering the company’s reputation in the market, and what perks and facilities it provides. Thus, listing out the facilities according to employee expectations helps you to maintain the employer brand. As it’s said – A happy employee is the best advocate for your brand.
8. Go paperless
A new employee often feels overwhelmed with all the paperwork before or during joining. The entire process of filling out forms and details can become dull and a bit tedious, mainly when handled manually.
Document automation, such as nondisclosure agreements and compliance forms, can simplify the process. The onboarding process is simplified with the digital availability of customizable onboarding templates.
9. Regular check-ins & constant feedback
A candidate onboarding process includes integrating the new hire into the organisation and making them aware of the expectations from the roles with ample training and support. This process may extend across months, making it more important for the company to check in with the new employees regularly and value their feedback.
As per Harvard Business Review, an extended onboarding program can increase a new employee’s efficiency by 34%.
10. Keep them interested with compelling training materials
Help new hires with interesting training materials. Appealing resources are imperative to catch the interest of the new employees and break away from a monotonous manner.
Including videos and images can help make the entire process more engaging and effective. You may also explore a dash of humour to keep the employees hooked and feel at ease.
11. Personalise their Onboarding Experience
Personalised onboarding programs are the most effective. All new hires should receive role-specific materials.
You can also use surveys to find out what new hires need help with. Onboarding will become more personal and employee engagement will increase as a result.
Conclusion: Ways to Improve Candidate Onboarding Experience
While first-day jitters are normal, an effective onboarding program can help eliminate this stress, making the candidates feel supported and valued. An effective onboarding experience helps in hiring talent and retaining them while ensuring a smooth workflow, thus, leading the company to success.
To make the candidate onboarding experience more fruitful and smooth, BluElement has designed HireLoop – a candidate engagement and experience platform that is aimed to reduce dropout and create a better candidate experience and real-time dropout risk analysis and prediction.
Amp up your candidate onboarding process with HireLoop’s valuable features.
Know more or request for a demo.