What is Candidate Experience and how can it be defined?

What is Candidate Experience?

Candidate Experience signifies how job candidates feel when they are in connection with the company they are interested in working for.

Nowadays every company determined to succeed is focusing on improving customers’ experiences. Basically, it means focusing on how customers feel when they are interacting with a company or its products.

Candidate Experience gets pretty close to that: it signifies how job candidates feel when they are in connection with the company they are interested in working for. What kind of an image do they get when they are searching for information about the company, writing their applications, and participating in job interviews. Candidate Experience happens in all different phases in the recruitment process – and it does not stop there.

One must remember that all communication between a company and a candidate affects Candidate Experience. What happens before and after sending an application or participating in an interview, is crucial. Does a candidate get a response, and if yes, what kind of a response is that? Will it have a negative or positive impact?

Now you understand the concept. So, how can you provide a great Candidate Experience and encourage candidates to speak positively about your company? I will be sharing four situations where candidate experience can be defined—showing the difference between the positive experience and negative experience.

Read more: How to improve your candidate experience: a short guide

How can you provide a great Candidate Experience?

1) Job Application

One of the biggest complaints from candidates is the application process.

How easy is it for candidates to find job openings at your company? Are you promoting the job through the right channels? How can candidates apply? Is your job application too long? These are some questions you should consider when you start a recruitment process.

One of the biggest complaints from candidates is the application process. Some simple changes to your application process can go a long way to pleasing candidates.

Here is a comparison between two companies:

• Company A has an online job application that consists of ten pages that have to be downloaded before filling them in. Candidates are required to input all their past job experiences and achievements. Candidates are also requested to write an essay on why they are interested in the job.
• Company B has an online job application that can be done via your mobile phone. Candidates are required to input their personal details and link to their LinkedIn profile.

Which application process would you prefer? I would definitely go with the second one because it is simply fuss-free and will take a much less time. Also, recruiters will be able to find out all about their candidates via the LinkedIn profiles.

2) Personalized Communication

Sending a general automated email does not exactly leave a positive impression on the candidates.

Many candidates are aware that the competition is extremely strong and it is not guaranteed that they will get the job. However, you should still let all your candidates know if they were rejected or if the job is filled. This will give the candidate closure rather than keep them hanging. Of course, you can do this by sending a bulk message via your ATS, but a good candidate experience can only be achieved if the candidates feel that they were valued and appreciated. Sending a general automated email does not exactly leave a positive impression on the candidates.

Here is a comparison between two companies:

• At Company A, the candidate’s application was submitted into a black hole and never got a reply. After a couple of weeks, an automated email informed the candidate that someone else was selected for the job.
• At Company B, the candidate was well informed by the company and was provided with status updates at every stage of the recruitment process. Even though the candidate was ultimately rejected, it was a personalized communication process where the candidate was given personalized feedback.

If you ask around, it is pretty common that candidates go through the first process. Therefore, it is definitely to your advantage to take this chance to differentiate your company and provide a great candidate experience. Candidates will also be more than willing to share this positive experience with their friends and send you referrals.

How to give feedback even when you don’t really have time?
Watch the video below to see how AI could help you. 👇

3) Relevant Information on the Website

Your career site is one of the best representations of your company.

Many candidates will research your company before applying for a job. Is your company presenting relevant and enough information on your career page? Your career site is one of the best representations of your company. You should make use of this chance to sell your unique value proposition to the candidates.

Did you state clearly the steps of the application process? Is there a template of a timeline, so candidates know what to expect and how long to wait? Is all this information found on your career site? Work on these questions, and you will be able to provide the information candidates are looking for.

Now, compare these two situations:

• A candidate is really interested in a company, but there are vague job descriptions and very minimal details about the role on the company’s career page. There is no salary or benefits information.
• A candidate is considering various companies, but one company was especially specific in providing the relevant information and provided information about the whole recruitment process as well.

I would definitely apply to the company at which I am confident about the job role. Use this opportunity to sell your brand and make candidates want to apply for your company. It is not too difficult to provide relevant information since this information should have been predetermined.

4) Give an Office Tour

An office tour allows potential candidates to have a better understanding of your company and what to expect.

Many companies tend to focus heavily on privacy and fear showing the candidates around the office. The fear of “giving too much information away” is often unnecessary. By giving an office tour, you show that your company is extremely transparent with nothing to hide. You will give a good candidate experience when candidates feel a sense of reassurance, and you will show that you are proud of your company.

Here is a comparison between two companies:

• At Company A, the candidate was ushered quickly into the interview room after arriving. After the interview, the candidate was immediately directed out to reception by an employee.
• At Company B, the candidate was told that he/she could walk around the company alone, and afterwards, an employee comes to give an office tour.

An office tour allows potential candidates to have a better understanding of your company and what to expect. As a recruiter, you can also observe through the candidate’s body language and behavior whether he/she will fit into the company’s culture. These observations can only be made through an activity that cannot take place in an interview room. Even if candidates do not get a job offer, they are far more likely to walk away with a positive image of your company. All in all, it is worth investing a little bit of time into showing candidates around the office—it could make a huge difference to the success of your recruiting process.

Read more: Candidate experience statistics you should know

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Looking to Improve your Candidate Experience in practice?

Request a demo to get to know TalentAdore’s modern recruitment system.

To find out more about how we’ve helped our customers improve their candidate experience, you can read this customer story from Tuomi Logistiikka. 

TalentAdore Hire is an easy-to-use recruitment solution that cleverly combines Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language Processing (NLP), and an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). With its consumer-grade user experience, the solution streamlines recruitment processes through workflow automation, enabling companies to treat every candidate as a sales lead.

It allows you to match your candidates to positions automatically and provide 100% personalized feedback and status updates to all candidates. Moreover, you can build your Talent Community and source candidates from there with the help of AI.