4 Things I Learnt About Providing Better Candidate Experience

After working with an organization for nearly 10 years, I felt, it was time for me to move on and explore opportunities outside. I’ve been interviewing candidates in my current organization and been part of over 150 interviews as an interviewer. Now, it was my turn to be on the other side of the table. Over a couple of months, I interviewed with 6 different organizations and went through around 35 interviews. Surprisingly, I learnt more about better candidate experience in these 2 months. 

You may wonder why candidate experience matters so much or does it matter at all. Here is the 2015 CandE Research Report that tells: 

33% of candidates with a negative experience intended to share the news publicly via social media

41% of candidates who had a poor overall experience intended to take their loyalty elsewhere

On the other side if you provide positive candidate experience:

62% will increase their relationship with a brands products and networks

78% would refer someone in the future

62% would apply again 

So, candidate experience is one of the most important factors for hiring great talent. 

Before I share the learning, it is important that I give the background. I've around 15 years of technology experience in the IT industry. The roles I was being interviewed were mostly mid level technology leadership roles. These roles typically require technical acumen, problem solving and people management skills.

This list is by no way comprehensive. I’ve only listed the areas which positively impacted my experience. There are other good practices you must be aware. 

1. Plan the interviews well and be transparent: Some of the best organizations I interviewed with were very well organized and extremely transparent about the complete interview process. Not only I knew the schedule, number of interviewers and topics I’ll be interviewed on. Couple of organizations even went to the extent that, I knew ahead of time, who is going to be the interviewer in each of those rounds with their Linked in profile.
2. Provide timely feedback: After completing interviews, I used to be anxious and curious to hear feedback. For some strange reason, if the feedback is positive, I would hear back soon, otherwise there would be dead silence. I liked one organization which sent closure email within a couple of days letting me know that I’m not fit for the role. I liked the fact that it was a personal email and not a system generated one. After spending the amount of time and energy, I felt I deserved a courtesy note.
3. Be pleasant: Interview process was a stressful affair with anywhere between 4-8 rounds gruelling discussions, mostly in a single day. The conversations got so much better with interviewers who were courteous and pleasant. I also felt more positive towards the organization as these would be the people I will end up working with.
4. Be Supportive: I was pleasantly surprised with one of the organizations I interviewed with. The recruiter wished me “all the best” before my interview and all the interviewers also wished me the same at the end of each discussion. The interviews themselves had very high bar in terms of expectations and I did not do well in a couple of those interviews. However, I still came out of the overall process feeling quite positive and inclined towards joining the organization if I clear the interviews. In another instance after I decided to withdraw my candidature, I was touched to receive a note from the recruiter that said

"While I will not be part of your interview journey, I will be cheering for your success from the sideline"