"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."
"Treat others the way you'd like to be treated."
Whatever way, shape or form you've heard this phrase, you're most definitely aware of the Golden Rule. It all boils down to treating other people with respect and kindness because that's how you'd expect they treat you.
In today's candidate-driven market, it's more important than ever to bring the Golden Rule into the recruiting world.
Candidates are letting their voices be heard, and they have high expectations of their potential employers. But, it seems like candidates are still the ones putting in effort to treat employers well yet receiving lackluster experiences in return.
Here are some ways to improve the candidate experience and treat your candidates the way they are treating you!
Information Sharing
During the application process, throughout the interview experience and even into onboarding, candidates become open books. They are divulging employment history, information about their education, facts about their skills and even personal details about their hobbies and interests. This is all completely fair considering recruiters and hiring managers are getting to know their potential colleague.
But, what do employers provide? Aside from a static careers page, most employers are not providing anything to their candidates. During interviews, recruiters and hiring managers may share more details about the team or company culture, but even so, information is limited. If candidates are going to such lengths to share information, why aren't employers?
Teams can easily improve by sending interview preparation documents to candidates or by creating departmental landing pages to give candidates better insight into the job and teams they'd join, for example. Simply, teams should become a content and information resource to candidates, not just a repetition of what's already online.
Speed & Frequency
Good candidates are prompt in sending thank you notes to interviewers and readily align their schedules to squeeze in last-minute interviews. In return they wait days or even weeks to get interviews confirmed, to hear back on their application status and to get feedback from recruiters.
Top candidates, especially, will not have time to wait around for recruiters. Candidates may be juggling multiple job offers. They may be employed full time and have difficulty changing their schedule on a whim. Regardless, though, it's common courtesy and common sense to communicate with candidates in a timely manner and keep that communication flowing.
Send messages to candidates during the interview process to keep them updated and aware of what's going on with their application. And, even if nothing is happening, keeping candidates warm reassures them that they are still on your mind.
Appreciation
Candidates continuously show appreciation and thank their interviewers. They recognize that recruiters and hiring managers set aside time in their busy days and invest effort into the interview process. Candidates continuously show courtesy and politeness because these individuals are helping them land a new job.
On the flip side, employers also have a lot to gain from awesome candidates. Candidates keep recruiting teams busy with a healthy candidate pipeline. Plus new hires bring fresh perspective to a company and contribute tremendously to their new teams. So, show all your candidates some gratitude!
Just as candidates send thank you notes after interviews, follow up with candidates and extend warm wishes. This is a great opportunity to share interview feedback and information regarding next steps to keep candidates informed. A little appreciation goes a long way to show you care about your candidates!
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