Candidate Experience Matters

Candidate Experience Matters

Candidate Experience continues to be a hot topic in talent acquisition, and with good reason. In brief (and brevity is very much called for considering the many definitions of the term that can be encountered), the concept of Candidate Experience refers to overall impressions and perceptions of the candidate related to the recruitment and hiring pr…

Candidate Experience continues to be a hot topic in talent acquisition, and with good reason. In brief (and brevity is very much called for considering the many definitions of the term that can be encountered), the concept of Candidate Experience refers to overall impressions and perceptions of the candidate related to the recruitment and hiring process.

If positive, it can go a long way towards attracting and securing great talent – no mean feat in what is by all accounts becoming an employee’s market. It can be an important factor in building and enhancing the organization’s employer brand. It can have an impact on the company’s bottom line – after all, job seekers are also customers, either existing or potential, and they are likely and willing to spread the word within their network of contacts.

In other words, it can translate into significant business advantages, both short- and long-term.

Candidate Experience best practices typically evolve around streamlining an application process, ensuring timely, accurate and transparent communication at all stages of the candidate journey (including setting clear goals, being upfront about job challenges and providing feedback), measuring the quality of candidates’ experience (e.g. through Net Promoter Scope tool), and maintaining good relationships with them – to name a few.

In order to yield desired results, however, Candidate Experience strategies should not be limited to a number of ad-hoc HR initiatives. Rather, they should become a part of a more holistic approach to talent acquisition. This could be achieved by setting a candidate experience strategy that is aligned to the business strategy, corresponds with the corporate brand, and reflects the company culture. In the effort to transform the candidate journey, it would also be advisable to promote a candidate-focused culture in the organization and engage internal customers in building a winning Candidate Experience, e.g. through defining specific operational goals targeted at the improvement in this area.
A quick look at the Polish market will show that there is a growing awareness among the companies that Candidate Experience matters and that it has tangible impact on the business – and this is certainly a positive trend. On the flip side, only about a fourth of them have a formal recruitment strategy in place, or measure how satisfied the candidates are with their recruitment process. Meanwhile, in the increasingly competitive candidate-driven market this might prove to tip the scales in the battle for Talent.

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