Lately, I’ve been a candidate.
My diagnosis at the end of this process is that the candidate experience isn’t well. My own experiences (which to be honest, have been great blog fodder) and those of other job seekers I’ve talked to lately lead me to think that as recruiters, whether agency or in-house, we need to shape up.
So here is my prescription for candidate experience.
However there’s a key point to note; there is no revolution here. This is pretty simple stuff – no thought leadership here. So that means there shouldn’t be any reason we can’t do it.
Feel free to add to this list:
- As a candidate, you will get timely feedback. This will mean a yes, a no and a why. We will do our best to make it constructive so you can do better next time if it’s a no.
- We will give you information throughout the process. At the very least we will give you a job description, information on the company and answer all those questions that you really want to know the answer to, but feel that you can’t ask, like what the benefits are.
- We won’t automate the hell out of the process. You will be able to talk to an actual person. We will return your calls.
- If we use an agency for our recruitment, we will make sure that this agency is treating you well as a candidate, and properly representing our employer brand.
- If it’s a no at the point of application, we will tell you it’s a no. We won’t send you a cop-out email that asks you to assume we don’t want to see you if you don’t hear from us again.
- We will be mindful of the fact that you probably are already in a job, and do our best to work with that.
- We will give you regular updates. If there isn’t an update, we will tell you that too. We won’t just let you sit and wait wondering what is going on.
- We will have an ATS that isn’t a bureaucratic nightmare to navigate, and we will only ask for the information we really need to make a decision on your application.
- We will only go to the job market with a confirmed role, and when we pretty much know what we want. We won’t just put an advert out there to test the market, or waste your time with a vague role that doesn’t come to fruition.
- If we make you a job offer, we will send you all the information you need and keep in touch with you until you start. We will tell you who to call with questions.
In conclusion, we won’t mess you around and do our best to make this scary job hunting thing a positive and engaging experience.
Anyone with me?
Related: Candidate Experience: How to Get it Right
Image: Shutterstock
