Recruiting is the single most important process your company participates in. The foundation of every good recruiting process is the candidate experience. The company is only as good as the people it hires. To attract the best, you must recruit like the best.
So many companies struggle to deliver a strong candidate experience. Focus a little effort here and you will be leaps and bounds ahead of the competition. Want to know what outstanding looks like? These are the 10 best practices to get you on your way.
 

The 10 Commandments of An Outstanding Candidate Experience

Establish a Defined Interview Process

Everyone in the company must understand the process and be held accountable to their piece of it. Clear lines of ownership and buy-in mean the process flows smoothly.

Personalize Your Process

Show off your company culture. Your employment brand will speak volumes about what it’s like to work there. Be unique. This is where you stand out from the competition and close job offers.

Build a Robust Career Website

To attract the best candidates, your website needs to wow! Include everything a candidate could possibly want (or need) to know about working for your company. Highlight strong job descriptions that double as marketing pieces. Paint a picture of your culture with real employee photos. Talk about your benefits and how you give back. Let your website sell them.

Use Technology Well 

This is where most employers first fall short. You have technology in place for a reason - to make your job easier. Why not make it work for your candidates too? Don’t ask them to upload a resume and then manually enter information into an application. Duplication is frustrating and time-consuming. Streamline your processes with a goal to be easy to work with. You could lose good people before you even get to talk to them.

Be Respectful

When you schedule an interview, work with candidates’ schedules. Make it easy for them to sneak away from their current job to meet with you. Always be on time! Your time is just as important as theirs. Make them feel like they are the most important person each time you communicate with them.

Over Communicate

Let candidates know where they stand. Be honest. Set expectations about the timeline and process. Returning phone calls and emails is good business practice (remember being respectful?).

Interview Well

Train your employees how to properly conduct an interview. Don’t let multiple people ask the same questions over and over again. Ask good behavioral questions. Make the candidate think and really dig in. Not only will you learn more about them, but they will be impressed.

Include the Right People

Your interview goal is to hire the best candidate in the shortest amount of time. Make sure you include all the key decision makers in the process. Gather everyone together following the interview to come to a decision. Is this candidate still in the mix or are they out?

Build CRM Capabilities

Every recruiting team has a goal to stay in touch with strong candidates for future openings. Create a plan to really follow through and stay in touch versus just saying you will. Implement a Candidate Relationship Management system to automate it. Don’t rely on your ATS to send automated job postings. Most aren’t of interest to your candidate and it becomes annoying!

Have a Clear End to the Process

Tell them when they don’t get the job. If you’ve taken someone through an interview process, they deserve more than a standard decline letter generated by your ATS. Also, think about your auto generated decline letters. As candidates apply repeatedly, getting the same letter makes them feel they aren’t even being considered. Think about how you can change your messaging even with those that don’t get a call.
 
 
A good candidate experience doubles as a powerful marketing machine, which in turn drives more candidates and customers. The reality is, investing in your recruiting process is a winning business decision.
 
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