Why can't we do candidate experience?

I love talking about candidate experience and engagement - could talk about it all day. I love seeing people get excited about the possibilities, what can be achieved. Aspirational thinking when it comes to candidate experience is key but it can be hard to know where to start.

Two weeks ago, after Sam Ramsay suggested (cajoled) me into it, I spoke at the Candidate Experience conference hosted by the fabulous IHR team led by Natasha Preocanin .

For me, I need to know that if I take time out, leave my desk for a day to attend an event, that I'll leave with something valuable. As I looked through the list of attendee challenges and their hopes for the day in terms of learning I wanted to make sure that I delivered something that could be taken away and actioned regardless of company, scale, budget or experience.

It's daunting starting out on a candidate experience journey (that's how your candidates feel as well by the way) so hold on to that thought as you begin.

What if I said that even without a supercharged employer brand, a social media following that rivals the Kardashians, advanced technology and a million pound budget you could still create an exceptional candidate experience? You can.

4 steps to great Candidate Experience

The post-application process is where you can really make your mark on candidate experience as a talent professional. Think first about putting yourself in the shoes of the candidate. As you click apply, you're immediately at the mercy of the process. Will you hear back? When? What if you don't? As a Recruiter you might think - I'm also at the mercy of the process; I'm waiting on CV feedback, being ghosted by stakeholders, trying to confirm interview availability, juggling multiple roles.

The first critical step to great candidate experience solves candidate concerns and isn't reliant on anyone external to talent.

Step 1: Communicate Certainty

How you might ask? You don't know what will happen to each and every candidate at every stage, you can't predict timelines for every applicant. Yes, that's true, but your recruitment process is not an unknown.

When was the last time this happened?

Hiring Manager: "We'd like to do a first stage interview with Jen Bloggs"

Recruiter: "You what? An interview? We never saw that coming..."

You know what your process looks like from start to finish, even where it differs for specific teams. That's your certainty. When a candidate clicks apply, hopefully you send an acknowledgement - when you do, why not provide an outline of the process for that team. Not a defined timeline but an overview of the different stages of review and interview up to the point of offer and onboarding. Your applicants will thank you for it even if they don't make it to those final stages.

When an interview is requested, give your candidates a heads up on the interview format, how many interviewers, whether it's competency based or an informal discussion - any technical assessments should be outlined clearly. The spend time with them on the phone answering specific questions and getting them excited about the role.

No-one in recruitment wants to see a candidate rejected at interview. Give them the information they need to get them motivated to succeed.

When candidates get to offer and onboarding they land in limbo and often paperwork requests take over and become overwhelming. Communicate in advance what's coming. We'll need 3 references, a credit check, a background check - for candidates relocating, this list will be much longer, explain what is coming their way and give them key escalation contacts so they never feel unsure. Candidates who feel unsupported are at risk of not pulling out.

Step 2. Automate

I said to those at the event that this isn't about robotic communications, it's about creating time to have valuable conversations with candidates on things that matter like getting them excited about the job, the team and your business. Transactional conversations can and should be automated.

If you have an ATS, load templates into it that communicate the certainties at each stage. At application acknowledgement stage, why not attach a process flow - here's how we recruit. If it's an interview confirmation, attach a guide on interview preparation. Maybe include some competency examples and give your candidates an insight into what they can expect. Onboarding guides can be added to congratulations on your offer emails. Your candidate experience will be elevated by making minor changes.

You might be thinking, how do we create this content to share with candidates - I don't have a marketing or employer brand team to support? That's ok - genuinely. There are so many tools out there that can support with this - Canva (it's amazing), Adobe Spark, Biteable - each with a monthly subscription that can be toggled on and off as required and that won't break the bank - you can even load your brand palette in so the colours are exact. If you have zero budget. PowerPoint will serve you very well - create your document, save it as a PDF and off you go. It doesn't need to be a world class piece of content, what you want to deliver and what you can might be very different but in the eyes of the candidate, that doesn't matter. You took the time, you communicated those certainties and your experience just became much better as a result.

If you do have a Marketing/Employer Brand team then use this as an opportunity to collaborate with them to really make an impact - they'll feel great about being part of it!

Step 3: Review and Refresh

Reviewing results is so important and can be done in so many different ways.?

The easiest way to track progress is looking at the data. Before you implement any new strategy, look at the following:

• Why are you looking to improve/ what are you looking to change? What question(s) are you trying to answer?
• How were you doing before??For example: how many applicants did it take to make a hire? How many interviews to offers? (good old agency ratios)
• What were the stats in the 3 months leading up to implementing a change and what are you looking for in the 3 months after?
• How will you measure the impact?

Once you make the changes, it might be simple to track. Some ATS’s have analytics tracking in them, CRMs will definitely have this. Keeping a close eye on open and click rates is a very effective way of measuring success.??If your tech doesn't have this, Google Analytics allows you to build trackable links to check how many people are engaging with your content. You might need a few YouTube video tutorials if it’s not something you’ve done before but very doable.?

And really at the core of it, ask your candidates for feedback. You don’t need fancy tech - get a survey on the go and use the answers to help build out a better strategy moving forward.?

I do love a bit of A/B testing. It's a great way to see how different changes perform best. Always accept that changes may need to be made. Be open to that and refresh the content to keep it relevant to your candidates.

Step 4: Evolve

Nothing and no-one is the finished article - of this I am certain. You may well make huge strides in your candidate experience but ultimately, it will never be perfect for everyone and that's ok. Evolution is key to constant improvement and to staying ahead of the curve. You can't drive exceptional candidate experience without passion, but in from the team is critical.

How you treat your candidates may be all that differentiates you

Scenario: A candidate is in two processes, two companies competing to win over the candidate. Your organisation has done everything you can to support that candidate in the process, you've shared your process, supported them during interview, communicated the onboarding challenges. The other organisation has offered a purely transactional process. When offered, who will they choose? Even for those who don't reach offer stage, you've left them with a good feeling about the business.

C-A-R-E(ing) is key

By following the above steps, regardless of the team, budget, processes or tech you can make positive changes to your candidate experience. It's a marathon, not a sprint (yip it's overused but true).

I was asked at the event (and I'm asked often) - Who does great candidate experience? Who is leading the way? My answer....it doesn't matter. Be aspirational but don't worry about what others are doing.

Anything you do today that's more than you did yesterday is delivering a better experience for your candidates.

So if you think you can't do candidate experience for any reason, rest assured you absolutely can!

I always love to connect with people who are passionate about the candidate experience so feel free to connect with me if we're not already! :)