Onrec Online Recruitment Magazine Feature: How to improve the candidate experience

Written by Lauren Mackelden, Features Editor, Onrec

With a little effort, most companies could improve the way candidates feel when applying for jobs. It could be during their jobhunting, application, shortlisting or interviewing process, but candidates can feel frustrated and let down by lack of communication. They may then drop out of the process altogether. However, have no fear, help is at hand! There are plenty of ways that this can be remedied and your company brand strengthened to boot. Our expert contributors pass on their advice to Onrec:

Far too many candidates still have a poor experience when applying for jobs and indeed throughout the entire recruitment process, comments Tony Brookes, Sales Director at Vacancy Filler Recruitment Software. “Common complaints from candidates are that their applications are not acknowledged, so they have no way of knowing if it has been received, or if they are to be invited for interview or rejected.” However, some companies have become better at communicating with candidates throughout the experience – particularly those using effective online recruitment systems, notes Brookes, adding that poor communications can ruin a carefully-engineered brand presence and today there is no excuse for organisations to behave this way.

How to make the experience better

Brookes suggests that as online recruitment systems are now being adopted by companies of all sizes, which normally provide an applicant tracking system (ATS) to promote the roles on offer, the candidate journey should focus on the engagement with the potential employee. For example, Brookes emphasises that all communications sent from the system, whether by email, SMS or good old fashioned letters, should be timely and engaging. The ATS should be easy for the candidate to use – many systems now do not require a candidate to pre-register to get a login and password, and they allow candidates to browse and start an application process on their mobile device and complete it later on their home PC or laptop without having to login to the system. If the ‘Candidate Journey’ is well managed, the outcome of this stage will be to pass suitable and qualified candidates to the appropriate manager.

Candidate profiling

Tony Brookes feels that there is an increasing recognition that the process of profiling candidates as they work themselves through the recruitment process will make a significant contribution to finding high quality employees – ones that will match the requirements of the job as well as the culture of the organisation. He says “Candidate profiling can be highly engaging for the candidate - while simultaneously acting as a filter for those who are less serious about joining your organisation. Using the profiling and testing process, the number of no-shows at the interview stages also drastically reduces and it’s not uncommon for all candidates who make it through the final interview stage to be hired, as opposed to norms of 1 in 8.”

Video Interviewing

Video interviewing is now being used increasingly to save time and money in the recruitment process. Tony Brookes explains how his company now incorporates Simple Online Video Interviewing (SOVI) technology or Asynchronous Video Interviewing as it’s often referred to This video interviewing is a facility which can be used as an addition to, or a replacement for, phone screening and/or first round interviewing:

“Throughout the hiring journey, the recruiter or hiring manager has the option to use workflow based e-mail to invite candidates to events, such as online testing, and to schedule their own interviews using the Vacancy Filler self-service calendar function. The email body text is fully customisable and will be relevant to the role the candidate is applying for and the specific stage of the process. SMS is also integrated into this communication channel and can be used as a reminder, for example, for an interview date or simply to keep them informed and updated of where they sit in the evaluation process. Candidates are invited to answer a number of pre-prepared questions into a PC or mobile device based webcam. This process is an off-line activity and can be scheduled at a time and location to suit the candidate.

SOVI will then let you see the candidates’ personality and presentation, not just a list of qualifications which significantly improves the efficiencies of the recruitment process. Candidates also report positive feedback for this format as it reduces stress that can adversely affect performance yet has nothing to do with competency. Role based templates can be created so that questions can be prepared in advance, making video invitations quick and easy to administer. SOVI lets you screen candidates more effectively than by CV alone – and it’s simple to use. Each candidate answers the same questions for uniformity and compliance. The candidate can use a Smart phone (iPhone or Android) as an alternative to a PC or laptop with a webcam.

Vacancy Filler is automatically updated when the candidate has completed the interview and the hiring manager is then informed of this by email. The hiring manager can then view and share the results online, create and invite comments with other managers and rate each candidate. Thereafter, a decision can then be taken on moving the candidate forward in the process or not as the case may be. Using SOVI saves significant time for both the hiring manager and the candidate. It not only helps you to widen the number of potential candidates you wish to review, but provides a realistic alternative to travelling, particularly where long distances are involved. It removes the restrictions of time and location, provides a platform for consistent comparison, allows you to process more candidates and delivers best use of resources and time.”

Brookes recommends a Talent Pool facility that allows companies to retain candidate details on file and contact them if future suitable roles arise, even if they were not suitable for the role they originally applied for. However, he points out that of course this is only effective if the candidate’s rejection was handled politely and good feedback given. As Brookes comments: “Candidates can – and do – share their experiences of good and bad recruitment through social networks. Not only is it courteous to treat candidates, even those you reject, politely, but it is also good for business.”

Ability to use mobile boosts candidate experience

The percentage of traffic from a mobile device is always rising, so at Jobsite they have optimised their site and email communications to provide a consistent experience across all devices. Nicola Simmons, B2B Manager at Jobsite says they are going further than ever to understand their users in order to deliver relevance both in vacancies and in content. Simmons believes the market has shifted and now the best candidates are in the position to be choosy, so “we need to engage them whether they are actively looking for a job or not.”

Simmons believes their new technology makes it easier for candidates to search for and apply for jobs anywhere (their commute, their home – even out at dinner) and takes away the inconvenience of job searching. By providing content that resonates, she says “We can grab candidates’ attention and deliver relevant vacancies with conviction. For the recruiter this is great because it gives access to an audience of skilled professionals who might otherwise not have had the time or the inclination to search for a job at that time.”