A candidate's journey can vary greatly depending on how an organisation is geared up to handle candidates through the recruitment process. Nurturing candidates and keeping them informed throughout the recruitment process is essential.
In this insight, we look at what makes a great online candidate experience.
Candidates are more likely to share a bad experience
It's widely acknowledged that candidates are quick to share negative experiences during the job application process. All too often, this subpar experience stems from inadequate communication, protracted delays, or poorly managed expectations. When candidates, especially those who are rejected, feel that their experience has fallen short of the mark, they are more likely to become disillusioned with the company or brand. This negative sentiment can not only tarnish an organisation's reputation but also seriously undermine its overall success in attracting top
talent.
Delivering a great online candidate experience
Embracing recruitment technology is no longer optional—it's essential for elevating your hiring processes, nurturing candidate relationships, and effortlessly merging these elements with your career website. This harmonious integration boosts engagement with your employer brand and guides candidates toward their ideal career paths. Among the various tools available, Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) stand out for their ability to streamline the entire candidate journey. An effective ATS doesn't just automate; it offers a customised, compelling experience that captivates both passive and active job seekers.
But the benefits don't stop there. The true beauty of a sophisticated, customisable ATS lies in its capacity to liberate talent teams and hiring managers from the shackles of mundane administrative tasks. By automating these time-consuming activities, an ATS frees up valuable time for what really matters: those crucial, personal touchpoints that transform a good candidate experience into a great one.
Candidate journey lessons
Data culled from the comprehensive UK Candidate Attraction Survey 2023 unequivocally underscores the need for more advanced functionalities in online recruitment platforms. Alarmingly, only half of the existing career sites offer the basic feature of allowing candidates to save a partially completed application and resume it later. Additionally, a mere 50% provide the crucial option for candidates to manage their data privacy consent.
More concerning are the glaring deficiencies in advanced online recruitment technology. Our survey reveals that a scant 33% of career sites are equipped with CV parsing capabilities to assist in application form completion. Even fewer—a paltry 37%—enable candidates to apply for multiple jobs without the hassle of re-entering their information for each application. Astonishingly, a disappointing 28% of career sites give candidates the convenience of registering or applying by using their social media profiles.
In summary, these shortcomings in career site functionalities are not just alarming—they are critical gaps that urgently require addressing.
What candidates want
According to the survey, the most effective features commonly found on top-performing career sites include:
Automatic forwarding of applications to the Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
Auto-parsing of candidate CVs.
Simultaneous account creation during the application process.
The ability for candidates to apply for multiple jobs without re-entering information.
Functionality to save a partially completed application and resume it later.
Options for candidates to manage their data privacy preferences and provide consent.
These features form a coherent ecosystem on career sites, designed to deliver value and utility to candidates at every stage. These well-integrated features significantly enhance the candidate experience, from initially drawing them in to apply to the assessment and application stages.
Careers sites checklist:
Interview Hints & Tips
Employee Stories
Online Application Process
How your recruitment process works
FAQs
Career Pathways
Employee Videos
While the career site checklist elements may appear basic at first glance, their impact on the candidate experience is profound. Implementing these features is not just a courtesy; it's an investment in enhancing your hiring process and respecting a candidate's time. And the returns are quantifiable: according to the comprehensive 2022 EMEA Candidate Experience (CandE) Benchmark Research Executive Brief, companies prioritising these features consistently outperform their competitors across various metrics. Specifically, in the North American market, the top 10 CandE Award-winning companies have notably fewer instances of candidate withdrawal—attributed to disrespect of time during interviews and appointments—compared to all other companies in the survey. This compelling data is consistent across regions including EMEA, APAC, and North America, and spans a variety of company sizes, reaffirming the universal applicability and importance of an optimised candidate experience.
Not sure where to start?
Audit your candidate journey and review your recruitment data to understand where your candidate experience can be improved. Application drop-off, stage conversion rates, talent pool capability – just some ideas to get you started. This free recruitment metrics cook book can help you!
Download the Recruitment Metric Cookbook
Source: * 2022 EMEA Candidate Experience (CandE) Benchmark Research Executive Brief
