The talent marketplace is now experiencing disruptions, with many professionals now opting for better opportunities, a change of pace, or a new career path. There is no denying that professionals are now gaining better control of the work opportunities that they get to take on. Given this fact, it only means that recruiting talent is now more challenging for staffing firms. So how do you attract top candidates and gain an edge against your competitors? Three words: great candidate experience.
A Great Candidate Experience Makes a Strong Recruitment Brand
By delivering great candidate experience, you get to drive your business forward. It can also help you attract more qualified professionals, bolster the trust of both candidates and clients towards your brand, and increase your return on investment (ROI).
In fact, studies show that 81% of candidates are most likely to share their positive candidate experience to their professional networks and peers. This means by simply delighting your candidates, you can trust that your candidates will do a little bit of marketing for you for free. Given the fact that candidates are three times more likely to trust their fellow professionals’ opinion of your brand versus how you advertise your firm, then word of mouth can definitely be a better means of growing your brand’s reach.
Fundamentals of a Positive Candidate Experience
So what makes a great candidate experience? How can you make sure that, every step of the way, the candidates you work with are pleased with their interactions with your team? Here are four of the most essential elements that can help enhance the quality of the candidate experience that your staffing firm delivers.
1. Responsive recruiters
Communication plays a huge role in recruitment. In every step of the way, there is always a need for your recruiters to communicate to potential candidates. If your recruiters are expecting candidates to be responsive, candidates expect the same thing from their recruiters. Unfortunately, studies reveal that 61% of applicants have had their recruiters suddenly become unresponsive at some point in the recruitment process. This can greatly impact the candidate experience your recruitment firm is delivering.
Additionally, 51% of applicants ghost their recruiters when they don’t receive any updates for an interview within a week. The communication and responsiveness of your recruiters are huge reflections of how your company values every candidate who decides to trust your brand. It only makes sense for you to guarantee that they receive updates from your recruiters as timely and as regularly as what’s necessary.
2. Efficient recruitment process
Did you know that 60% of candidates drop out of the application process because it was too long or too complicated?
If you are looking to hire the cream of the crop, then you can’t expect them to stay put for you, regardless of how slow or inefficient your recruitment process is. They won’t stick around as other recruiters will definitely be reaching out to them, too. Nowadays, recruitment has become a battle of efficiency: which staffing firm can hire the fastest in the most efficient manner, without impacting the quality of hire?
So if you want to stay ahead of the race and make sure that you are getting the best talent in the market, you’d better shape up your recruitment process and train your team to be efficient. This way, you can also prepare your team to consistently deliver great candidate experience.
3. Long-term recruitment value
One of the most elements that some staffing companies tend to disregard is that candidate experience is not only about the recruitment process but also the end result. Recruiters should always keep in mind that to best serve the candidates, you should aim to create the right matches. This way, you are yielding the most return on investment, financially for your firm and your client, and career-wise for the talent.
4. Personalized recruiter-candidate interactions
We can all benefit from gaining another professional connection. In fact, according to a survey, 41% of candidates value long-term relationships with recruiters.
Recruitment is a relationship, and the best recruiters are those who make it a point to create meaningful connections with each applicant. While some aspects of recruitment can be automated, such as scheduling and applicant tracking, these automated processes still can’t fully replace the impact of the human touch.
To achieve both process efficiency and great candidate experience, it’s all about balance. Know what aspects are best automated and which ones will require a more personal touch. This way, you are giving your candidates the opportunity to enjoy meaningful interactions with your recruiters.
Jumpstart Your Efforts in Delivering Great Candidate Experience
Creating exceptional candidate experience will require constant work and dedication from everyone in your team, especially your recruiters. By knowing how candidates feel about their interactions with your recruitment team, and by giving value to the candidate feedback that you receive, you can streamline your recruitment process to guarantee that in every touchpoint, you are delivering great candidate experience that is worth raving about.
Gain actionable insights that will help you improve your recruitment strategies with Great Recruiters. This online reputation management software is designed to help you actively manage your reputation, keep track and improve your recruiters’ performance and boost the quality of your client and candidate experiences.
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