Candidate experience

Why Facebook, Bozzuto Group, and AT&T Have Award-Winning Candidate Experiences

Talent Board, the non-profit dedicated to promoting real, hardy research on companies nailing quality candidate experience, recently released their list of 50 companies demonstrating candidate experience excellence. 

Winners were determined based on a blind data analysis of their candidate survey scores. Candidate responses varied between “likey to apply again” to “likely to refer a friend.” In order to qualify, parameters for a limit on candidate response were set and respondents who were not hired had to exceed a certain standard. These strict standards stand tall above any other form of candidate experience measurements.

HR leaders are all twisted in a knot trying to figure out true, winning candidate experience. The true reason you haven’t nailed it yet is there is no true #1, almighty answer for candidate experience. However, the 50 companies that made the winners list are doing something right. Below are three companies that stood out to us and what they makes their candidate experience unique. 

1. Facebook takes its time and gives candidates the chance to speak with employees at various levels at the company

HR leaders today more than ever have been talking about how we can shorten the time-to-hire, but Facebook’s interview process says otherwise. After three interviews, each lasting between 30-60 minutes, the a Facebook operations engineer candidate said,

Multiple interviews can give you a chance to interview with a mix of people who you may be working with including a recruiter, an HR person, various team members, top executives and in some cases the CEO. While it can be tiring to go through interview after interview, it’s a good opportunity for a candidate to interview the company to determine if the job opportunity is going to be a good fit.”

Candidates can scour for interview feedback, social pages, press releases and more to dig up some dirt on a company, but nothing reveals more insight than speaking with several levels of professionals. Give candidates a diverse view of your company during the interview process.

At Red Branch, we have four levels incorporated into our hiring process to keep the candidate engaged and informed of our culture, values, and processes. Layers include: 

  1. Layer one: Have candidates call into our conference line to test their basic technical skills.
  2. Layer two: At the end of the first phone interview, put the ball in their court by giving them an assignment with specific instructions and a deadline to see if they can follow simple orders and engage with you.
  3. Layer three: Have candidates visit the RBM Headquarters for an in-person interview with yours truly and the department head for the position they’re applying for.
  4. Layer four: Introduce the candidate to the team so they can put names to faces.

This “layer” system tests candidates on skills and ability to follow instructions and get engaged with me so the engagement part of the hiring process isn’t all on the recruiter. The way a candidate reacts to an assignment or deadline says a lot more than a resume.

2. Bozzuto Group makes its interview process completely transparent 

Whether you’re conducting them or on the other side of the table asking for a job, interviews are just, awkward. Why? For the candidate, it’s the anticipation. The ‘what ifs’ clouding over their head the night before. For the interviewer, it’s playing 20 questions in their head of what if they ask compensation and benefits questions, how genuine are their answers, are they secretly crazy?

To eliminate some of the pressure, Bozzuto Group is completely transparent about their interviewing process. No guessing. On their careers page, candidates are able to see a complete overview of their hiring process including interview tips, what kind of development opportunities are available, benefits and internships being offered, highlights of veteran and military employees and employee testimony videos.

Maybe you’re not ready to offer the whole enchilada, but you can start by giving some of these preparatory fields in your job descriptions or introductions if you reach out to candidates before any of the interviews start.

Do you know what happens when you’re misleading to candidates? They’re more prone to dissatisfaction and disappointment after being lied to during that entire hiring process.

Jennifer Terry-Tharp, Executive Director of Talent Acquisition at AT&T said, “Candidates are consumers. Give them a great experience that supports your business and your employer brand.”

3. AT&T made its application process short and sweet

Unlike Facebook’s lengthy, Getting to Know You, interview process, AT&T found their winning approach to be a shorter application process. With 45,000 hires per year and 50% of the applicants rating the process with less than four stars, it wasn’t the applicants this time, it was them. Their solution? Reducing the application fields by 50%....HALF.

That’s a lot of slicing, but if your application is taking more than 30 minutes to go through and less than 30% out of the 27% of candidates applying aren’t completing the application, it’s time to grab the scissors. Make it a frequent practice to go through your application to ensure it’s running properly and all the questions are relevant, up-to-date, and still apply to your company morals, duties, and responsibilities. If a candidate can even tell the look and feel of your application is outdated, their confidence that anyone will get back to them will dip.

When building your candidate experience, look up to companies that inspire you, like the CandE winners, but customize it to your own brand to make it special and unique to the way your organization works. Keep in mind the consumer angle and how you feel when a brand does you wrong. Take these insights and angles to help morph your #CX into something magnificent.

What tactics are you using in 2017 to greet your winning candidate experience with a big smile? Talk to me about it! @RedBranch & @marenhogan

*Image from Facebook

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