Making job candidates happier has become an important task of the HR Department. The way we recruit new employees has changed, with candidate experience taking center stage. It’s not only employers picking talent, but talent chooses employers too, which means that the job market is more and more candidate driven.

In that sense, making your job candidate happier is about acing candidate experience. You may choose only one person to fill a company position but must take steps to ensure that the applicants who didn’t get the job feel good about the company and the process.

1. Set expectations

If you don’t set expectations, the applicants will create their own, which may turn different from what you’re going to deliver. Therefore, the quality of candidate experience depends on the extent to which an organization provides on set expectations.

2. Listen

Train your recruiters to listen to your applicants’ questions. Provide chat rooms for Q&A communication between candidates and recruiters. Supply candidates with recruiters’ email addresses. If you listen, you’ll receive better candidate ratings.

3. Perfect your career site

The most visited recruiting tool you can have is your career site. For the best candidate experience, you must make sure that they can easily find the information they’re seeking.

4. Simple application process

Candidates may spend a few hours preparing to submit a job application. That is especially true for candidates who are interested but not sure whether they want to change jobs. Upon seeing a lengthy form, they often are convinced that it’s not worthy of their effort.

5. Communicate

Lack of response from employers is the number one frustration during a job search. Make sure you communicate with job candidates regularly because they hate to be left out in the dark. Continuously communicate job status updates to them to improve the overall candidate experience.

6. Respect their time

Candidates want timely communication and a short hiring process. They’ve already spent their time preparing their resume, researching, applying, and interviewing. Top talents stay on the market for about 10-15 days, while moving from application to hire takes up to 2-3 months.

7. Feedback

Give feedback and ask for it. The feedback you provide will help candidates improve, and talents appreciate constructive feedback. If you offer helpful comment to candidates you reject, they’ll be more likely to consider your company for any future opportunities.

8. Improve your interview skills

If you get the interview wrong, it can hurt your recruiting efforts and even your company reputation. So, ask great questions, offer them a chance to learn about your company culture, and keep the meeting short.

9. Create excellent recruitment content

Take the inbound marketing approach to recruiting to continually and proactively get the attention of candidates. Use material to provide relevant and useful information about your company and to create an outstanding candidate experience

10. Nurture candidate relationships

Rejected candidates may not be a perfect fit for the current job offering. However, they may be suitable for future openings. Therefore, you need to stay in touch with them to reduce your recruiting/hiring cycles. This way, you’ll build your talent pool for future jobs.

Creating the best possible candidate experience is the right thing to do. Otherwise, candidates may share their negative experiences with colleagues, friends, family, or acquaintances. Owing to that, it may affect your reputation and the ability to attract top talent.

As it is becoming more candidate-centric, recruiting methods have substantially changed. To adapt to new HR trends, HR professionals must change their recruitment and hiring process.

Looking for your next candidate? Find out how to optimize your recruiting with Lionstep. Connect with us.