Candidate Experience and....

Yes, there is more than just candidate experience.

In the Hiring Process there are 3 levels, or stages, of experience.  It starts with Recruiting Experience, then Manager Experience and ends with Candidate Experience.  They all affect each other.

Recruiting experience is all about a Recruiter enjoying their role and being able to do their job effectively and efficiently.  The basics are just having a working computer, the proper tools such as LinkedIn, Job Boards, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) and of course a "working" phone (I say "working" because we have all spoken to someone with a poor phone connection, not fun!).  Then there is having a clear understanding of the company, role, compensation, candidate profile and any other unknown tangibles.  If the Recruiter does not have, or understand any of those, they are already at a disadvantage and it will reflect in the next stages.

The Manager Experience is often forgotten about as well.  The Recruiter must have a proper "kickoff" meeting with the hiring manager to understand the right profile as well as does the profile make sense, does it match the compensation and does this profile even exist.  There should be a plan that is agreed upon about the role the hiring manager will take, the interview team, target companies to look at and where to post.  Expectations should be set about when the hiring manager will get resumes to review, a proper feedback loop and how to give feedback.  Once the Recruiter and Hiring Manager are on the same page the recruiting starts recruiting and then comes Candidate Experience.

There have been tons of articles written about candidate experience so I will take another viewpoint.  What is often forgotten is that if the Company, Hiring Manager and Recruiter are not in line about the profile (job description, pay, location, etc.) they are hiring for, candidate experience suffers.  There have been too many instances when internal processes, changes and differences (on a person or profile) could have been identified prior, but come out late in the interview stages.  Candidate Experience shouldn't just happen.  It needs to be thought about objectively at all times, with each candidate and even if you have no intention of hiring the person.  The candidate must be told what to expect and if the Recruiter and Hiring Manager (as well as interview team) are not in line the odds are strong the process will fail and no one will have a good experience.

I hope this article helps to shed more light around the whole recruiting process and experience for all involved!