Five Easy Ways to Improve the Job Candidate Experience

Paul Wolfe, SVP, Human Resources, Indeed

Paul Wolfe, SVP, Human Resources, Indeed

Enhancing the job candidate experience has become top of mind for employers. In today’s candidate-driven hiring environment, candidates have many options. To attract talent, the importance of providing a positive interview experience cannot be understated. What’s more, a negative experience can diminish the likelihood that the candidate accepts a job offer.

At Indeed, we view the positive candidate experience as an essential tool for recruiting top talent. Not only does it impress the candidate, but it also helps build a pipeline of quality applicants through word-of-mouth. When others hear about a positive interview experience, they may apply for other jobs, making the company more competitive. We also find that providing candidates with a positive experience boosts the overall quality of the applicant pool.

How can you experience this win-win hiring process? Here are five ways employers can improve the candidate experience:

Communicate consistently throughout the process – Job seekers constantly tell us about a communication “black hole” that can develop during the recruitment/interview process. Maintain a constant stream of communication with job candidates to help ensure they are as informed as possible during each step of the interview process.

Personalize your communications – Personalize outreach to each candidate, rather than sending automated messages to all candidates.

Streamline the application process – Keep it as simple and fast as possible. Making the application process easy for job seekers also increases applicant conversion rates.

Be open to receiving (and giving) feedback – Candidates appreciate receiving specific information about their application, especially if they have advanced through the final stages of the hiring process. Indeed uses candidate surveys to ask about the candidate experience, communication, and whether they would recommend our firm to someone else based on their experience.

Inform candidates of your decision in a timely way – If you are no longer considering a candidate for an open position, tell them as soon as you can and provide specific feedback about why they were not right for this job.

The interview process serves as a candidate’s first impression of your company, and can make all the difference in their decision to accept a job offer. Employers who want to be competitive in today’s hiring market should adopt an application and interview process that is personalized, streamlined, and transparent.