Talent Net Live Conference part II
I am a member of the job search networking group affiliated to local SHRM chapter in my city and I get to hear the frustration that job seekers experience as part of their job search.
Most of them are frustrated of not getting a reply from the recruiters after spending long hours submitting a job application. And during or after the interview stage recruiters don’t even respond to their queries about the positions that they submitted their resume for. And the worst part is that sometimes after going through all these processes and having finished the final interview, recruiters respond back telling that the position is on hold and it would require at least 2 months for them to take a final call. Then why the hell on earth did they spend candidate’s time and made them to go through this whole drama.
Candidate Experience Award
Now if you are least bothered about Candidate Experience or never heard of this team check out here where well known companies are competing for Candidate Experience Award. Candidate Experience Award was started by a non profit organization a couple of years ago to really help create a conversation around treating candidates better though out the recruitment process. They received feedback from around 17000 candidates that were employed in 2012 in various companies and check out this link to see the winners.
Why candidate experience gets lost
Awesome presentation by Sarah White – @ImSoSarah & Jason Leonard– @Jason_DFW on candidate experience. This made the recruiters in the audience fired up when she explained the necessity to treat candidates humanly. Sarah says,
Recruiters get an average of 100 to 500 resumes per position and carry 12 to 20 requisitions on average which is low. And they try to fill these openings within 45 days. At the same time in 2012 average of unqualified candidates for a position is nearly as 75%.
It can be especially difficult when you, the candidate, submit your resume for all positions without even checking the right fit for you. Majority of the recruiters get stuck in the busy schedule of finding their next lead or waiting for the perfect resume to pop up in their Applicant Tracking System.
Which leads to no candidate experience. When recruiters are not treating the candidates like humans and do not provide transparency at the front end, they leave a bad experience to the candidates. They are not aware of the fact that they are misrepresenting their organization’s culture (or may be that is their organization’s culture). Aren’t companies aware of the the fact that a single tweet can go viral these days and can harm the brand image?
Build a better candidate experience
Here are a few tips that I learned from the presentation and the discussion afterwards
Make Applying Easy: This tells about how easy it is to apply to your organization. Is it long winded process or convenient enough to click on ‘Apply through LinkedIn’ button. This makes a huge impact. After all time is more precious!
Give Transparency: Provide your candidates with not only the information that helps them know what the process looks like but also helps them in making a decision on why would want to work in your organization. More than a sales person you should be a match maker.
Represent the Brand : This is all about how you represent your organization to the candidates. When a candidate approaches you with all the excitement, be the one who shows the same level of excitement in explaining about the position and how it relates to your organization.
Engage your candidates : Connect with candidates and build a relationship. Have conversations when ever required that can help them be informed about the process. This is better than treating them as a number in your list.
Deliver your promises: Keep your word. If you promised that you will get back to them after one week, do it! Or at least inform them what is causing the delay. For you it can be just a call but for the candidates it means you represent a company that deliver promises.
