You have a new vacancy at your organisation and you’re excited by the prospect of the perfect candidate walking through the doors and providing that missing piece you’ve been looking for.

As much as you want that perfect candidate, if they’re out there then you need them to want you too. A huge mistake made by many organisations is believing that all they need to do is have a vacancy and the right candidates will flock to them. As the job market continues to improve, candidates have a much wider choice of vacancies and therefore a greater selection of organisations to join.

Creating a positive candidate experience can not only help you secure the highest quality candidates for that position but will encourage unsuccessful candidates to apply for future vacancies and recommend your organisation to others. A poor candidate experience may not only lead to you losing the candidates you want but may also give you a bad reputation through word of mouth.

In order to attract the candidates you want then it is essential that serious thought is given to the candidate experience, all the way from the job advert through to the final offer.

Advert

Often your job advert will be the first contact that a candidate will have with your organisation. This is your first opportunity to make the candidate excited by the prospect of working for you but unfortunately it is also where a number of organisations fall short.

Ensure that your advert gives a clear picture of the role and your organisation, this will have a continuing impact on a candidate’s experience throughout the recruitment process. If a candidate reaches interview stage only to discover that they have been misled by an inaccurate advert there will be problems.

Don’t allow a badly written advert to create a bad first impression as this will be difficult to come back from.

For more information on writing an engaging job advert, read our blog.

Application Process

Have you considered the impression that your application process gives of your organisation?

A frustrating application process could quickly undo any initial positive impressions. Whether this is an online application form that doesn’t work properly, candidates not being able to find the information they need or a needless multi-step process.

This all reflects on your organisation and contributes to the impression that candidates will have of you.

Ensuring that candidates can easily apply for your vacancies by providing the proper information and a smooth application process can go a long way to ensuring that candidates maintain a positive opinion of your organisation.

First Contact

The first time you get in touch with a candidate sets the tone for all future contact and is therefore worth taking some time to think about.

Whether it is a phone call or an email, think about the tone of voice you use and the way that it represents you and your organisation. If you are inviting the candidate for an interview then consider what expectations you may be setting, the environment they will be expecting to enter and the people they will be expecting to meet.

With every interaction candidates will continue to form an opinion of the organisation, it is therefore essential that you take as much control over these opinions as possible.

When inviting candidates in for interview, give them as much information as you have available, let them know what will be expected of them, what they need to bring and who they will be meeting. If a candidate feels that they have all the information they need then they will feel more comfortable moving forward which will have a significant impact on their overall experience.

It is important to remember the importance of each interaction you have with a candidate, one slip up can undo any good work up to that point and as stated before, negative feelings are difficult to come back from. Place yourself in the candidate’s shoes and consider how you would want to be spoken to, the information you would want and the courtesies that you would appreciate. The benefits along the line could be significant when securing the candidate you want.

Part 2 of this blog will be published on 23rd September.