Attracting the Best Part 2: The Candidate Experience
How do you attract the very best candidates for every position?
This is the second in a two-part series focused on the question of how to attract the very best candidates for every position. In the first, we looked at the employee experience, because attracting the best begins with retaining the best. Here, we’ll focus on the candidate experience.
The ‘candidate experience’ is the sum total of every point of contact between your organisation and a prospective employee. This is an important principle, because every single element of that start-to-finish lifecycle contributes to the candidate’s experience, and therefore their perception of your organisation. Handled well, this works in your favour. If it’s not, it can result in candidates dropping out of the process, or declining offers. The candidate experience is comprised of four primary elements: the initial impression through employment marketing, the application stage, interviews and communication between them, and the hiring and onboarding process.
Employment Marketing
Smart companies understand that a job posting and a job description are two different things. A job description is an internal HR document. A job posting is a marketing piece; it’s your opportunity to sell your company, and your opportunity, to the candidates you’re trying to recruit. Great candidates are attracted by postings that speak to them about what it’s like to work for your company, and about some of the more positive – even exciting – elements of the work they’ll get to do there. If there are clear paths for progression, even better; top employees want to see that they can learn, grow, and develop further in their career. Your company website is also a recruitment tool – the best candidates thoroughly research companies they’re considering, so every part of your website (not just the ‘Employment Opportunities’ page) should be viewed through that lens. Good recruiters seek to understand the unique value of working for your company, so we can sell the opportunity in a compelling way when we’re speaking with prospective candidates.
Application Process
Have you ever tried to apply to work for your own company? It can be an interesting experiment that helps you see firsthand how easy or difficult it is, and the kind of first impression it leaves with applicants. If you invite candidates to email resumes and cover letters, do they receive a confirmation letting them know their application was received, and perhaps even what to expect next? If you ask candidates to fill in a form with their experience, is the form clean and visually appealing, and does it work properly? When a submission is made, does the applicant get confirmation that it was successful? Some companies – particularly those that have recently begun using applicant tracking systems – ask candidates to do both: submit a resume and cover letter, and also to enter the same information in a form. Redundancies like this are frustrating to applicants, and can cost you the candidate you really want. Ideally, it should be just as easy for a person to apply to work for you, as it is for a new customer to work with you.
Interviews and Communication
Before starting a recruitment process for any position, it pays to think about who needs to be involved in the interview process, and when. High performing candidates often have to take time away from a current job to interview, and this can become difficult and frustrating when an interview process has too many separate steps. Group interviews, or having shortlisted candidates move through several back-to-back interviews in one day, can be helpful ways of streamlining the process for everyone. It’s also helpful to determine what you’re looking for at each stage of the interview process. This way, the questions each interviewer asks will be more strategic and intentional, making the interviews more focused and productive.
Throughout the process, one person – an employee, or a recruiter if you’re using a firm – should be the main point of contact with candidates, keeping lines of communication open. If someone is no longer being considered, delivering the news promptly (and compassionately) leaves as positive an impression as possible. If you want a candidate to move ahead, it’s even more important to stay closely in touch, being clear about timelines and next steps.
Hiring and Onboarding
The final step in a successful hiring process is, of course, the hire. Smart companies plan beyond day one, though. The experience that a brand new employee has in their first few weeks with your company sets the tone for their time with you, and in fact can cement their decision to stay or to keep their eyes open. Onboarding differs vastly from one company to the next; there’s no single formula for success, but a new hire should feel welcomed, and should have a clear sense of structure and organisation: that the role and the company were ready for them to start. Take advantage of the opportunity you and your new hire have to make a great mutual first impression that turns into a lasting relationship.
Paying attention to these four stages of the candidate experience pays dividends. You’ll attract and successfully hire more of your first-choice candidates, winning the race for the high-performing employees you need on your team
