4 Reasons to Care About Your Candidate's Experience

Updated on April 12, 2019

The importance of the candidate experience is a trending focus among businesses today. Yet, nearly 60% of candidates have had a poor candidate experience when applying for jobs. There is a clear disconnect between the belief of its importance and the dedication of resources to improve it. Courting candidates is not easy, but it certainly becomes even more challenging if candidates are having poor experiences.

Measuring the candidate experience goes beyond analyzing the interviews. It’s a time for hiring managers and all of those involved to step back and look at how current and previous candidates are treated during the hiring process. Take a look at these three reasons why every company should care about candidate experience.

Waiting Is The Worst

The hiring process can be lengthy and there are multiple variables at play, but staying in contact with applicants is key. 82% of candidates expect potential employers to provide a clear timeline of the hiring process and to keep them updated throughout that process. 55% of candidates are willing to wait less than two weeks to hear back from an employer before moving on.

Forgetting candidates can start a downward spiral when it comes to your business and its success. Candidates no longer look at your company as a place they want to engage with when they have a bad experience, whether it’s applying for a job or purchasing your product. 80% of job seekers say they would be discouraged to consider other relevant job openings at a company that failed to notify them about their application status. However, they would be 3.5 times more likely to re-apply if they were notified.

By implementing simple changes to your communication, such as setting up application status progress bars, automated follow-up, and next step emails, you can greatly improve the candidate experience, get ahead of your competitors, and increase re-application rates.

Ensure you're creating excellent candidate experience every time with this checklist

People Are Going To Talk

News travels faster than ever now that everyone is on social media, which often leaves us picking up the pieces. Social media gives candidates an outlet to express themselves and they aren’t always holding back. 72% of job seekers report sharing their negative candidate experiences online.

Third-party reviews are also playing an increasingly bigger role in a would-be candidate's decision to apply. Applicants are reluctant to trust a company’s marketing efforts and feel that the reviews of other applicants and employees are a more accurate representation of what it is like to work at the company. In fact, 55% of job seekers report avoiding certain companies after reading negative online reviews.

Companies who care about their employer brand understand that a mistake during the hiring process can cause potential issues as word travels across the web.

Grow Your Talent Pool With Better Experiences

If you’re lucky enough to have candidates consistently applying for jobs, you are already ahead of the game, but for some locating qualified talent is difficult, especially when their candidates aren’t enjoying their hiring experience. A good candidate experience helps organizations find better candidates that will stay around longer versus candidates that were hired from job boards. Referral hires have greater job satisfaction and stay longer at companies – 46% stay over one year, 45% over two years, and 47% over three years. And if the candidate isn’t the right fit for a job opening but they were happy with how they were treated during the hiring process, they are more likely to seek employment with the company again, growing your talent pool for future requisitions.

Building a strong candidate experience not only leads to making better hires, but it can also allow employees to build a better organizational culture through collaborative recruiting.

Build a Strong Foundation

The American workforce is disengaged and has been for some time. According to Gallup’s most recent report on the State of the Global Workplace, only one-third of U.S. employees are engaged in their work and workplace. Not enough people care about their workforce and that’s where we are failing. While improving the candidate experience doesn’t fix everything, it’s where healing can start. Showing candidates you care from the moment they contact you will start your relationship off the right way. Candidates that are applying deserve to have a fun and engaging experience. It will resonate better with candidates, and the results should show it. After all, if they become your next employee that will only benefit your company in the long run.

You should have a system in place to measure the kind of experience candidates are having, even if the candidate is not hired. Every step taken during the candidate experience should be a step forward. Each step should be focused on building a better candidate experience, which can lead to a better and more viable working experience that embraces employee happiness and fosters productivity.

A great candidate experience isn't a “nice to have.” In a competitive job market, it’s a necessity. ClearCompany’s talent management tools are tailored to your business and utilize your company’s mission and vision to find, hire, and engage more A Players. Schedule your free demo with a product specialist today.