Here's the Candidate Experience Checklist You Need in 2020
Candidates value an enriching, thoughtful experience, but research suggests that employers have a lot of ground to cover in this space. In this article, we discuss:
- Statistics that indicate the need for a refreshed candidate experience checklist
- Five elements that will transform candidate experience in 2020
- Exclusive insights from Symphony Talent’s CEO, Roopesh Nair
Your candidate experience could make or break an individual’s decision to join your company.
Talentegy’s 2019 survey (email required) of 4,000+ candidates found that 69% of candidates who had a negative experience in the recruitment process would “rarely” or “never” apply again. Further, candidates frequently share their experiences with their personal and professional networks. This means your employer brand reputation takes a hit if the candidate experience isn’t up to mark.
So, how can you deliver a superior experience to everyone who applies in 2020? To explore this further, we chatted with Roopesh Nair, CEO of Symphony Talent, a recruitment marketing and talent acquisition service provider. The discussion revealed a set of valuable insights – but before we delve deeper, let’s consider why you need to reimagine the candidate experience in 2020.
Learn More: 3 Ways to Refresh Your Talent Acquisition Strategy Heading into 2020
Why You Need a New Candidate Experience Checklist This Year
Nair pointed out that a below-average experience could impact the number of applicants as job seekers progress down the recruitment funnel.
“At least 75% of candidates drop off during the application stage of the experience, and the companies that prioritize how they brand that critical handoff from job page to an application will see that number decrease,” he said.
This statistic demands attention in 2020. Talentegy’s report revealed worrying statistics on the candidate experience as it stands today.
- 63% of candidates were dissatisfied with communication from most employers
- 75% were rarely or never asked for feedback
- 56% encountered a technical issue during the application process
Despite automation and increasing awareness around the importance of “quality of experience” (QoE), there is an apparent conflict between expectation and reality. To address this, you need a refreshed candidate experience checklist in 2020.
Learn More: Candidate Experience – 5 Innovative Approaches
5 Things That Belong on Every 2020 Candidate Experience Checklist
The candidate experience is now multilayered, lasting for several weeks or even months at a time.
The candidate becomes acquainted with your company, gains interest, and, when given the opportunity to join, is successfully converted. Your candidate experience checklist must address all these stages – not just the immediate hiring journey. Here are five elements to remember:
1. An automated response mechanism, powered by AI
Slow response is among the top deterrents to candidate satisfaction. It indicates that the company isn’t interested in communicating with candidates or has an inefficient recruitment framework that can’t keep up with application volumes.
To prevent this, companies need automated communication powered by artificial intelligence (AI) – also called conversational talent marketing.
“It gives talent quick answers on the channels they use every day while eliminating 1:1 outreach that recruiters simply don’t have time to focus on for every request,” Nair said.
This, however, does not mean to replace the human touch. Automating necessary responses is intended to ensure that recruiters can give personal time to candidates where it matters – such as when rejecting a candidate.
You could embed conversational interfaces on your career website, social media platforms, or even automate responses to emails. Candidates should receive a prompt reply to their query on any channel so that recruiters can maintain candidate engagement.
Learn More: Is Your Careers Page Accessible for People with Disabilities?
2. Programmatic ad intervention at the research stage
Did you know that candidates now spend more time than ever before on reading up on their company of choice? 43% spend at least one to two hours researching a company before looking for jobs. 11.6% spend up to 5+ hours, according to Talentegy’s survey.
By capturing a candidate’s attention at this crucial point, you can increase their interest levels. Programmatic job ads study candidate behavior and traits, matching their preferences to the ad’s placement.
“Programmatic media allows employers to utilize the most effective channels, jobs, and messages to drive results (more quality candidates that turn into actual hires). It works for you, constantly learning, monitoring, and optimizing spend and timing based on behavioral metrics,” Nair explained.
This means you can optimize your job ad investments and best use the available recruitment marketing channels.
3. A singular brand identity to shape experience components
Employer branding has always been an essential component of recruitment marketing, and it should definitely feature on your candidate experience checklist for 2020.
It is not enough to simply establish an employer brand – this brand identity must be consistent across every element of the candidate experience.
“A foundational employer brand is critical, but it’s, more importantly, the activation strategy that matters. A foundation of stories and values allows you to share the right message on the right channel throughout the experience,” Nair told us.
A simple example could be the color palette you use for job ads. The same visual aesthetic should define your career website, recruitment marketing videos, candidate-facing CRM portals, and other platforms.
Learn More: How to Create a Candidate Experience that Mirrors Your Company’s Values and Brand
4. A robust presence on social media and review sites
Talentegy found that 69% of candidates would share a negative experience on social media, impacting your employer brand reputation. But on the flip side, 82% would share a positive experience!
Of course, millennials have grown up using social media, and Gen Z has never seen a world without the internet or digital communication. So, it makes sense social media and online reviews would be part of 2020 candidate experience checklist.
You can send out surveys and feedback forms after the candidate has been hired (or rejected), soliciting their views and requesting them to publish on social media (Glassdoor, Indeed, etc.). You could even close every chatbot session with a quick “rate your experience” question with an emoji response, where the candidate selects between 1 and 5 ⭐s. This will reassure future candidates of a positive experience when interacting with your company.
5. Dramatically shorter online application forms
This one is a no-brainer. We have all come across those cumbersome online forms that seem endless and extremely prone to error. While some companies argue that this is necessary to screen candidates effectively, it actually brings down the QoE.
Research by Indeed found that applications with 20 questions lose 40% of candidates. To address this, you can switch to chatbots that collect the first level of information and directly receive the resume as an attachment. Then, optical character recognition (OCR) could extract resume data and populate the requisite fields – requiring minimal effort from candidates.
Shorter application forms are also better suited to mobile applications. Given that 68.4% of candidates on Talentegy’s survey use a combination of mobile and desktops to apply for jobs, this is an important part of your candidate experience checklist in 2020.
#Protip for a Better Candidate Experience: Go Holistic
If you’re looking for a complete overhaul of your candidate experience checklist, a holistic and end-to-end platform could be the way forward. These platforms combine bot-based communication, social media, recruitment marketing, interviews, and follow-ups on a single platform, giving you better visibility into the candidate experience.
Nair agrees, saying, “You need a platform that combines career sites, CRM, events, and internal mobility, so that your talent acquisition team has one source of truth. It centralizes the universe of potential talent, scales communication, and tracks behavior/progress through the hiring stage and beyond.”
Symphony Talent is a popular solution for holistic candidate experience management. You could also look at other options like EasyRecrue, Talemetry, or Beamery.
Armed with these five components, your candidate experience checklist is ready to take on the needs of a new generation of workers. By leveraging these tips (and a holistic talent experience platform), you can build a reliable pipeline of talent, marked by superior quality and higher engagement.
Which element is a staple for your candidate experience checklist in 2020? Tell us on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. We are eager to know about your strategy!