The Student Candidate Experience

Most campus recruiters do their best to deliver a positive candidate experience. But sometimes there are obstacles to overcome. Like dealing with clumsy technology, the sheer number of applicants to review, internal processes that aren't straightforward or coercing hiring managers to act promptly in decision-making. Faced with time pressures it can leave recruiters taking short-cuts.?

Despite the best intents, that's when it can lead to a poor candidate experience. In high volume campus recruitment, it's not just one candidate affected but many.

How much is a poor candidate experience contributing to fewer job applicants or job offers being turned down?

You would expect in a candidate tight market, recruiters would be going all out to deliver a great candidate experience. Not just for the candidate they’re trying to hire. But the ten other potential employees who will develop an impression of the organization from that first candidate’s experience.

Here's a candidate example recently shared on LinkedIn by my colleague Mary Scott, a leading campus talent consultant in the US.?

“They invited me for an interview but never got back to me with the date or invite. I consistently followed up with the recruiter and she gave me false hope by reassuring me that the date is still to be confirmed.

As the proposed month of the interview round drew near, she started ignoring me and I’ve not heard from her since Jan 4th. I’m happy I dodged a bullet but I’m extremely disappointed.?

I mean, it’s clear that they filled the role but this was completely unethical and I really want my voice to be heard. “ [Candidate's emphasis]

Only last week I saw this post on a student forum with students sharing experiences about company “X”.

"I remember applying to them last year. I was told to come to the assessment center the following day and that I was to receive an email with the details. Afternoon rolls around with no email – queue the frantic calls to the HR rep. Eventually I call the main office at 4pm and was informed that the HR rep has already gone home.

I continue to call the HR rep through the week. I managed to get in touch with her about 2 weeks later, who informed me that the assessment center has already passed (Thanks?). She said there was a screw up within the "system" and she would get back to me regarding this issue. Unsurprisingly, she didn't."

The student finished by saying don't bother applying to Company X. What's worse is that forum post sticks, there to be seen for however long.

Recruitment Experience Reflects Culture

I've always held the view that the recruitment experience is a strong indicator of how much an organization genuinely values people. It doesn't matter whether you're a student or senior executive. If the organization wants to attract great people it should be going out its way to ensure a great candidate experience. If they don't, it's a reflection of their culture.

Other people have commented on this topic. "In this type of market it's these type of experiences that make or break the process. It's too competitive now and candidates are all getting amazing offers to work for amazing companies and often times it's the experience itself that makes the difference whether they join or don't!"

So how much is a poor candidate experience contributing to fewer job applicants or job offers being turned down? There is definitely a causal relationship. When there are plenty of opportunities out there students can choose to avoid the "known" bad experiences. That can translate to fewer applications. Or when they reach job offer stage don't be surprised if a superior candidate experience with another employer "I just felt they genuinely valued me", leads to higher reneges.

You want to be that other employer who delivered the great candidate experience.

Students Swamped by Job Postings

US and Australian employers are seeing fewer student applications partly driven by significantly more employer job ads. Employers of all sizes are scrambling to get talent.

To maximize their reach many employers have broadened the disciplines they will consider. That’s in addition to increasing the number of schools they target. One US employer cited nearly an eight fold increase in the number of schools they recruit from compared to pre-pandemic times.

The downside is that students feel swamped by the number of job postings. That’s led to many feeling overwhelmed and simply shutting down to defer the job search process. That makes for some very anxious recruiters waiting to see how their hiring numbers finish up.

Interestingly the opposite is true in China. The extreme Covid shutdowns there combined with a scale back in technology ventures has seen graduate job offers pulled and the number of positions shrink. According to Yaling Jiang, as reported in her article in the South China Morning Post, the number of graduates without a job will for the first time in two decades exceed those who have employment.

Visit the GradSift Exhibit at NACE 2022 Colleges and Employers Annual Conference

GradSift will be an exhibitor at the annual NACE Conference being held in Portland, Oregon June 7-9. If you're attending be sure stop by to say hello. You may be lucky enough to pick up one of our Australian koalas!

For employers who are new to GradSift, it's technology that replicates a manual college resume review and uniquely screens for candidate quality. If you review resumes manually or use boolean search to find applicants in your applicant tracking system, you must take a look at GradSift. It transforms student shortlisting. Not only for recruiter productivity but it also delivers greater hiring diversity.

For a quick overview take a look at our latest video (1:26) for employers.

GradSift Cited in Graduate Recruitment Research Publication

Pleased to have made a contribution with Dr William E Donald to the publication of "Optimization of Job Boards and the Graduate Recruitment Process: Advancing HRM Strategies for the Acquisition of Early Career Talent".

You can find it at https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/optimization-of-job-boards-and-the-graduate-recruitment-process/304229

As a guide, the abstract reads "This chapter aims to enable organizations to optimize their use of job boards and the graduate recruitment process based on feedback from university students and recent graduates of their lived experiences. A theoretical framework of signaling theory is applied. A sample of 321 university students and recent graduates in Australia completed an online survey incorporating quantitative and qualitative elements during the COVID-19 pandemic. Opportunities for job board optimization include increasing the relevance of search results, providing metrics about the company, and increasing integration between applicants and organizations to facilitate communication. Opportunities for optimization of the recruitment process include the removal of unnecessary stages to reduce time investment of applicants, increasing clarity of requirements and providing timely and constructive feedback. Implications come from informing the human resource strategy for early careers talent acquisition. Optimization of the process can offer competitive advantage, cost savings, and organizational sustainability".

Contact Me

As always you can make contact with me Peter Pychtin, CEO & Founder of GradSift on LinkedIn at https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/peterpychtin/ or via GradSift