There has been a lot of talk about Candidate experience and joining goodies including employee & employer branding. We have also emphasised the impact of a Candidates positive or negative interview experience can have on the company branding as well. But do you realise how crucial the element is in Recruitment?

If you haven’t yet thought about it then here’s a chance for you to find out how crucial the element is thanks to the suggestion of our Mumbai Group Member Dinesh. So the discussion was on, “Candidate delight / experience, a crucial element in Recruitment” And we’ll be disclosing the conversation shortly but right after that we’ll be highlighting the key take a way pointers so be sure to go through them.

This brings an informative discussion to an end with lots of inputs to take back and add to your learning about aspects that you might not have discussed before. With the amount of information that is shared it sometimes becomes overwhelming, hence; here are the key take a ways to help you retain what you’ve learnt.

Candidate Experience a crucial element

Recruiter’s Perspective

• Candidate Experience is quite essential especially in the interview stage as they can either create positive or negative Company branding.
• Candidate delight is an important influencer to becoming an employer of choice as there are few takers to join a hostile company.
• Pay close attention to family occasions like a child’s birthday when giving a DOJ can increase the chances of retaining a new hire that will generally remain with you for at least a couple years and are usually grateful and happy with the hiring Company due to the consideration.
• The Candidate is an “External” customer when you think of a company’s “brand”
• When a Candidate is interviewed, a good experience will definitely be a positive factor, a motivator & vice versa.
• Irrespective of what your experience is with the Candidates they should be treated fairly
• Some aspects to bear in mind –
  • Briefing the candidate well about the role
  • Having a clear and simple process (Not making it Lengthy)
  • Not asking inappropriate questions
  • Providing Mandatory feedback and within a particular time
  • Once a candidate is delighted the chances of them joining is high
• If the Candidate does not join there is a possibility of the applicant showing interest in future projects and even provide references when asked.
• Most importantly such individuals will avoid spreading negative views about your brand or Company within their circle which can create damaging publicity.
• In case you are hiring a Recruiter / TA and the Candidate was rejected or does not join; a positive experience can help get a job with their company or their referrals in the future.
• To provide the right “candidate experience / delight” one should first be a good job seeker / candidate them self and analyse what one goes through while interviewing whether active or passive.
• Once you get a clear understanding of the Candidates perspective, developing the ideal candidate delight becomes easy.
• Candidate experience is important right from the initial point of contact i.e. how you speak and delight them which are followed by the interview and offer process.
• It’s not the “goodies post offer” but the “token of appreciation” at each stage of hiring.
• Candidates are sure to join the organisation if they trust the Recruiter, hence candidate experience should be positive right through the interview process, post offer and joining.
• A successful Candidate experience leads to a chain of references for your current / future mandates hence treat your candidate well or else you close doors to better Candidates and opportunities.

Possible responses to disclose Bad News

• Conveying bad news about their non – competencies is difficult unless done skilfully
• When giving the above mentioned news you need to keep in mind that it depends on case to case and Recruiter to Recruiter basis.
• For instance when evaluating a Candidate in Java you can mention as per the feedback their improvement areas can be worked upon for e.g. no exposure to spring or weak in struts
• You can inform Candidates that they were rejected for this position but that doesn’t necessarily mean they cannot apply in future.
• It is important to let them know that they should apply for the relevant opportunities if they are a good match besides we can screen them to see if they are a perfect fit for the opportunity.
• If it’s a positive outcome then there are multiple good ways to convey
• If negative; depending on the reason of rejection empathise is to be given to the set of expertise that were preferred but the position was filled within the current internal resource pool.
• Alternatively, you can gently convey a ‘no’, but communicate a similar immediate opening within your network / information.
• Using these approaches you can grow your connections which can help in numerous ways as a HR / Recruiter.
• If you are confident about the candidate being a good fit, re-interview him from another set of interviewers but as a last resort as your credibility is at stake here; for e.g. if a candidate was not a good fit for a Dev. Role based on the consent from the HM and Candidate you can add them to a Pipeline Request or a support position; if you have such a process in place else try and implement it.

Employer’s Perspective

• When we think of a brand we typically think of a specific product or service which in turn represents the collective organization.
• It’s important that your “Employment Brand” is experienced in the same positive manner as are your products and services.
• Candidates are attracted to your organization because of what you do and how you do it
• The expectations Candidates have of your organization is a direct reflection of your brand
• Good experiences travel fast, but bad experiences travel even faster
• Your corporate brand may not necessarily always match your employer brand, but in order to attract top talent, you must market your corporate employment culture.
• When these aspects are considered and implemented, human resources becomes your corporate employment brand ambassador.

Candidates Perspective

• Candidates need to realise that they need to raise their bars to reach the expected standards if they don’t meet the requirement; instead of insisting on getting selected for the desire profile at the company of choice.

Well there you have it all the information you’d require to retain the knowledge you’ve gained. If you’ve read this far than you’ve certainly found something interesting and are more likely to gain more. If yes, then you can become and active learner by following these 2 simple steps –

1. Follow us @SourcingAdda to get real time updates to our upcoming activities and more information about our Annual event i.e. #TASCON17 so visit – http://tascon.in
2. Leave your views in our comments section along with your request’s to join these WhatsApp groups for more inputs related to How to identify if a Candidate Joins or simply uses the Offer?

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3. Simply DM us @SourcingAdda with your contact No. and location and one of our representatives will get back to you.

To gain more insights to the trending techniques and strategies used on various aspects related to Talent Acquisition and alike; it is absolutely essential for you to be more of an active learner rather than

a passive one.  We leave you with a quote that sums-up the discussion well, “people will forget what you said but will never forget the way you made them feel.”