How do you enhance your reputation and retention with a candidate experience strategy?

Understanding who your job seekers are, what motivates them, why they choose roles, and why they leave roles can help you craft a compelling candidate experience. After all, a pizza party won't retain someone. Your culture and retention efforts start from the first point of contact in the candidate journey.

Yesss! To this a thousand times. The candidate experience is everything. People remember how they were treated through out the hiring process. Especially when they didn’t get hired. You be surprised how many people still very positive about an organization that didn’t hire them but treated them well. The candidate who wasn’t treated well will tell others and never think highly about the organization. You are setting your company up for success in your recruitment process when it’s done right.

I agree with the importance of a robust candidate experience strategy, including clear communication, personalised interactions, transparency, efficiency, and feedback. However, it's crucial to extend this focus to the offboarding process. How an organisation handles exits reflects its leadership and values, impacting reputation and morale. Leaders must be mindful that every departure shapes perceptions internally and externally. Consistent respect and professionalism throughout onboarding and offboarding enhance retention, engagement, and attract top talent. A holistic approach, addressing entry, engagement, and exit processes, is vital for maintaining employee satisfaction and loyalty as well as their brand in the broader market.

Be a good listener. Understand their needs and look what exactly their ask for. What is the exact reason for them to switch? Share them your experience about your organization

One word: empathy. Candidates become very invested in a company the second they read the job description and then even more so after they get the email requesting a recruiter screen. Candidate experience starts by remembering this EVERY SINGLE TIME we have a phone screen. To a recruiter it's one of many calls in a day, but to a job seeker it could be their only screen in weeks. I also try to set expectations and be as transparent as possible about the likelihood of them moving forward. If it's not this role, perhaps it is another one, but either way, remember that job searching is hard. They will always connect your company brand to how your one call went.

To enhance reputation & retention, prioritize candidate experience: communicate transparently, simplify the application process, personalize interactions, respond promptly, conduct fair interviews, provide feedback, maintain consistent employer branding, offer smoothly, onboard effectively. Utilize candidate surveys, gather feedback, continuously improve the process. Positive experiences lead to a strong employer brand, attracting top talent, and encouraging candidate referrals, ultimately boosting reputation & retention.

Mapping your journey will help you to reduce burden and gain focus in the process because you'll have everything you need across all touches in advance. This can significantly reduce drag for you and your team and speed up hiring. Think > Steps > Type > Content > Time > Expected Outcomes

Create a positive first impression! Ensure that your job postings accurately represent your company culture, values, and opportunities. Communicate effectively by keeping candidates informed throughout the entire hiring process. Always seek feedback from candidates about their experience with your hiring process! This feedback is super helpful to identify areas for improvement and make necessary changes to enhance the candidate experience.

Mapping the journey is key, not only for recruiters and hiring managers to optimize and scale their daily tasks, but equally important for candidates, so they can have the best experience, going through a process of learning and discovery, helping them understand the right fit between job requirements and company culture and their expectations and values.

Our company follows a well-defined process to take the candidate from the start to the end of the application process. There will be complete transparency in providing feedback, updates, and action items (to both the candidate's side and the hiring manager's side). We encourage candidates to ask questions and provide answers in a timely manner.

Communication is extremely critical factor and a large part is extremely fruitful when it's a 2 way process - not just limited to the recruiting organization but the candidate also being transparent and open about intentions and career aspirations .

100% Communication is key, But always remember to Respond to candidates' inquiries and requests promptly, be transparent, And keep candidates updated on the status of their application and the hiring process. Treat candidates with courtesy and respect, even if they are not selected for the role. Use proper grammar and spelling in your communications. Use the candidate's name: This shows that you are paying attention and that you are interested in them as a person. Avoid jargon. Be specific: Don't just say, "We'll get back to you soon." Give a specific time frame. Always be positive: Even if you are not able to offer the candidate the job, be positive and encouraging. Let them know that you appreciate their interest in the company.

Communication is a crucial element in any organisation, that can either skyrocket a company or bring it down. Clear and concise communication within an organisation can eliminate ambiguity, reinforce transparency and empathy and eventually contribute in an effective way to the engagement of its' people as well as their wellness and productivity.

Why is there not some level of visual transparency on the job progress. The overwhelming majority of experiences are "submitted", "being reviewed", "thanks for applying but no". Candidates never know if a real human ever actually saw their resume and cover letter. Since every candidate needs to create a login to every employer, whey can they not see a visual representation of their progress. Show all the states that the specific hire will go through and then allow some level of automation and HR interaction manage the progress. If the ATS blows them out on step one and kicks them directly to rejection, let them see it. So at least they know it was the ATS that rejected them and not an actual recruiter or HR rep.

Ask your candidate which channel of communication they prefer! That way you will reach them where they already are and make the communication more convenient for them.

Consistent employer branding across all touchpoints showcases your organization's values and culture. This demonstrates professionalism and aligns with the candidate persona you've defined and reinforce the image you want to project as an employer.

Hack this and get your team posting on Linkedin. HMs can generate some really authentic employer branding pieces without thinking about it. > Celebrate a colleague > Talk about a project / milestone > Show behind the hood > Just having fun at work Watch the applications fly in.

A word of warning - even the most polished employer brand and attractive Employee Value Proposition can be ruined by poor candidate experience. The fulcrum in the balancing act is how you treat applicants today, especially if you want to hire them tomorrow.

Employer Brand is very important but it should be truthful and original. There is no reward in showcasing yourself as a great employer with promises that are broken on an employee's first day. Stick to things you are actually doing well and highlight those. It can also be a boost in authenticity to be open about challenges and areas you have identified as needing improvement.

Hiring managers should support the recruitment team in providing as much information as possible about the job role, it can be scope, potential growth, and career path for the job aspirants. Recruitment team should gear-up to do an effective presentation about the company to grab candidates attention.

At every exit point ask for feedback. Don't over complicate it.. > How would you rate your experience out of 5? >What could we have done better?

Make sure to act on the feedback as well. Often, feedback is collected but then not read or evaluated. Talk to your new hires a few months after their start. They will be able to give valuable input on how well aligned your recruitment process was with the realities of the role.

We used to share feedback with both candidates and the hiring managers about the interview performance, evaluation criteria, candidates experience etc. These types of feedback sessions will help to finetune the process and ensure all of us are on the same page.

The bar is so low with candidate experience so just put yourself in their shoes and set some simple rules. > How long post an action will you respond > Never ghost > Be clear and concise > Let them know how you'll communicate.

Solidify tangible steps and processes to ensure that candidates receive follow-ups and feel supported by you. For example, I have reminders in my calendar for multiple days in the week that prompt me to prioritize getting back to people and sending rejection emails so that no one goes uncontacted. If you have a solid method you follow, share it with the rest of your team and create a company standard that must be adhered to across the board.

Measuring and Improving candidate experience is a continuous improvement process. Begin by asking "What's lost without better candidate experience?" and then taking the following actions helps 1. Identify key metrics like drop-offs, time-to-fill, and offers accepted. 2. Analyze data trends and estimate potential losses. 3. Compare with industry benchmarks. 4. Engage stakeholders for buy-in. 5. Set specific goals and implement strategies. 6. Continuously monitor metrics. If results lag, iterate. This quantifies poor candidate experience's impact, gaining support for meaningful change, enhancing reputation, retention.

An area that is over-thought I would say. 1. Treat the candidates' time as if it was valuable (That is basic respect among humans. The candidate will notice and appreciate it, even if there is no hiring in the end) - Empower the direct manager to make the hiring call. The boss' boss' boss opinion is of little interest and is generally a box-tick and rear-cover exercise. - If you have to create a candidate persona to figure out who to hire, something is wrong in the organisation culture in the first place.

it would be very helpful to have a sign in account web where candidates can query their status at their fingertips. The web can be a portal after candidates are hired.