How to curate your candidate experience (and why it matters)

Approximately 78% of job seekers say that they view the candidate experience as a clear indicator of how an organisation values its people. 

As a leader, you have a responsibility to provide a positive experience even before a candidate becomes an employee. Regardless of who you hire to join your team, a great candidate experience can be powerful from brand ambassadorship and future talent attraction.

What is the candidate experience, and how can you more effectively curate the experience you provide? Here’s what you need to know. 

What is the candidate experience?

The candidate experience you provide is an essential part of your overall hiring process. 

When you curate your candidate experience, you take control of how candidates engage with your organisation at every stage of hiring. This includes everything from interacting with your employer brand as passive talent to submitting an application, attending an interview and even accepting an employment offer. 

Why a good candidate experience is important

According to LinkedIn, almost 60% of job seekers have had a poor candidate experience.

Research shows that this can turn talent away from accepting a role or applying to join your team again in the future. 

Even when someone isn’t the right person for your team, it’s important that you aim to provide a positive end-to-end recruitment journey for every candidate. Why?

When people apply for a role at your organisation, they interact directly with your employer brand. This helps them build a stronger understanding of who you are as an employer.

A poor candidate experience can discourage interest in your organisation. It may even lead to negative online reviews that turn others away from your team. 

Conversely, a positive candidate experience can turn candidates into great brand ambassadors, even if they are not successful in securing a role. 

Happy candidates will speak highly of your organisation and are more likely to reapply if another role becomes available. 

By focusing on providing an excellent candidate experience now, you can plan for talent attraction and retention success in the future. 

5 steps you can take to improve candidate experience

What can you do to improve the candidate experience your organisation delivers? Follow these 5 steps to get started. 

1. Plan ahead

First, it’s critical that you plan ahead for a positive hiring process. Effective recruitment begins long before you have a role on offer.

At Heart, we believe that you’re always recruiting, even when you’re not hiring. You need to start work on your candidate experience in the weeks and months leading up to a hiring campaign. 

Highlight a positive employer brand that attracts and engages talent both actively and passively. Create a great experience for all potential candidates, even when you’re not ready to start receiving applications. 

2. Offer transparency

Transparency is essential when it comes to building your reputation as an honest, authentic employer. It will also help you attract the right people to your team! 

When you’re ready to start advertising a role, be as transparent as possible about what the job entails. Be clear about responsibilities, challenges and salary expectations. 

Include transparency as a key feature of your hiring materials, including job ads and descriptions. Be realistic about your offer, and know how to answer candidate questions when they arise. 

3. Communicate effectively

Good communication is an important part of leading a successful team, and this starts at the hiring stage. 

By communicating effectively, you can ensure that all candidates understand their rights and your expectations. You can show that you value their time and expertise. 

Communicate as clearly as possible about the role you’re offering, and commit to providing a response for every candidate. Even an unsuccessful candidate deserves the common courtesy of an outcome notification, especially if they have completed an interview or selection task. 

4. Demonstrate reliability

As an employer, you need to show candidates your ability to follow through and deliver on the promises you make. 

Demonstrating reliability can help to enhance your credibility and professionalism while building trust for potential employees. 

Do what you say you will. Be on time for interviews. When you promise a call back or a follow-up email, be timely and reliable about following through. Your candidates will thank you and enjoy a great experience. 

5. Create good recruitment content

Last but not not least, consider the way you frame your careers page and other talent-facing materials, regardless of whether or not you currently have an active hiring campaign. 

Recruitment and employer brand content are a critical first step in candidate engagement. Three quarters of job seekers are more likely to apply for a role at an organisation that actively manages its employer brand.

Recruitment is marketing, so you need to be strategic about the way you market your employee experience. A positive candidate experience is the best way to show off what’s to come for the new hire who secures a place as part of your team. 

Get help to hire

Need support curating your candidate experience and managing an exceptional hiring process? Contact the Heart Talent team to find out how we can help.