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Career sites are often the first image candidates get of an employer. This is why the experience you provide from the moment one enters your website can be determining for the type of talent you attract and applies to your offers.
In this context, we chose to measure the candidate experience performance of the websites of the 120 largest European companies (Fortune 500) to have a feel of where Europe is standing on the candidate experience scope. How intuitive are the websites? How easy it is to find a job offer on those sites? How long does it take to apply?
To answer these questions, we worked in collaboration with HEC Junior Conseil, the junior enterprise of the French business school, that provided us with detailed numbers and feedback. We presented key results with tips to improve, in a webinar available for replay.
Why is a research report on candidate experience relevant and important?
Perhaps you’ve seen this number already: 72% of candidates who’ve had a bad experience during a recruitment process have shared the story with their peers or online. This has far-reaching consequences for companies who can no longer rely on a “post and pray” strategy. Displaying an attractive employer brand has become a key element of successful recruiting. However, one must not forget that the recruitment process starts long before an application is submitted.
Candidates on your career site are first and foremost visitors. They don’t solely come with the purpose of applying, but also to find out more about your company and internal culture and this is where a quality experience is important: a messy website or unclear job ads for example, could be assimilated to complex internal processes or ineffective working methods.
We think this report is the opportunity to analyze your processes and challenge your recruiting practices to see how you could implement more candidate-centric solutions. In this report, you will find key indicators to help you measure your website performance and actions.
A few words on methodology
We’ve asked students of HEC Business School’s junior enterprise to apply to sales positions using the same CV, in each of the 120 largest European companies (according to Fortune 500). For each website, the students examined 15 different criteria ranging from design of the interface to the application process and follow-ups provided by the companies.
They were able to evaluate the UX and UI of the site, as well as how simple it is to find relevant job offers and how many clicks it takes to apply. They were able to calculate the average time to apply and noted who was using recruiting chatbots and custom HR videos.
Our complete Candidate Experience Report complies all those results and more, and gives key tips to improve the overall experience of your website.
Or watch the full replay of our Candidate Experience webinar, presented on February 13th:
