Kristina FinsethMarch 08, 2016
Topics: Candidate Experience

How to set up your candidate experience audit

The hiring process can be daunting for everyone. Job seekers face numerous challenges throughout their job search and recruiters face extreme amounts of pressure when finding and hiring talent, which creates a negative candidate experience.

Having a negative candidate experience is obviously bad, however, what are the implications of having a great candidate experience? Want to know how your candidate experience stacks up to your competition? Here's how to set up your candidate experience audit.

Compare these two experiences:

Scenario 1 - setting up candidate experience audit

Experience 1: Pictured above are people waiting in line outside of the Apple Store to get an iPhone on release day. As you can see, getting an iPhone on release day isn't an easy process, but these people are willing to wait in line because of the quality of experience they will gain if they wait.

Counter that experience with a very different experience we all know well - waiting in line for airport security.

TSA candidate experience

Experience 2: This experience is often dreaded and involves a lot of changing elements that are confusing to travelers. The lines are disorganized and overly complicated which creates a hostile experience that is very frustrating for travelers. Creating a better experience for job seekers does not mean dumbing down the process to make it easy, but it involves being cognizant of how you are treating candidates as they interact with your hiring process.

The goal of conducting an audit of your candidate experience is to identify your current state and to measure how close your current candidate experience resembles the TSA screening experience described above. You can then set goals to actively move your candidate experience towards the high-quality Apple experience.

What is a candidate experience audit?

An assessment of talent acquisition tools, software, process and technology to determine their effectiveness in creating a quality candidate experience. The impact of a high-quality candidate experience will move the candidate journey from "Do I want to work here?" to "I want to work here!"

Watch our webinar to learn what to look out for and best practices, strategies and tips for improving your candidate experience.

A candidate experience is made up of various elements that job seekers can expect to interact with throughout the hiring process. To begin your audit you will look at several elements of your candidate experience and assess their effectiveness in creating a better experience for candidates.

Where do candidates find your jobs?

Job seekers want to learn about a company before they apply. They look to many different resources to aid them in their job search from a simple Google search to job boards to social media and finally to your career site. Every candidate journey is different, which is why auditing the experience candidates have before applying to your jobs is critical in order to create a positive candidate experience.

Help steer the candidate journey by making it easy for job seekers to search and learn about jobs at your company. During this stage of the journey, candidates will make quick searches to find what they are looking for. Make sure your candidate experience at this stage offers answers to candidates quickly or helps them discover new jobs to fit their needs.

Your career site navigation should be clear and job seekers should be able to understand how to interact with your career site, just by looking at it. Branding should be consistent across the career site and should steer the job seeker towards the next probable activity you want them to interact with in order to drive candidates from searching, to finding and finally applying for a job quickly.

On the candidate experience, usability is a necessity for survival. If the career site is difficult to use, people leave. Find out what candidates are looking for and make sure they can find this information right on your career site.

foundation audit

How do candidates learn about your company and jobs?

After candidates initially search for jobs, they need to narrow down their job search. A positive candidate experience helps candidates find the right jobs.

Candidates want a clear understanding of the company culture, employee experience and the job itself. Use the content on your career site to give candidates something to get excited about. Introduce job seekers to employees through photos, videos and other content on your career site to give them an idea of what it's like to work there. By creating content that gives job seekers a behind-the-scenes look, they feel secure in their understanding of what it's actually like to work for you and can confidently decide to work for you over a competitor.

content audit - content

Auditing your ability to connect with job seekers is critical in order to convert job seekers into applicants. Find out what your ideal candidates want and need in an employer and create content that helps answer these questions. Winning top talent is becoming increasingly competitive and connecting with candidates will help recruiters continually drive candidates to the next stage - submitting an application.

connection audit

How do you find a good match?

Once you have convinced your ideal candidates that they want to work for you, the last thing you want to do is to discourage them from completing an application. Losing your ideal candidates during the application process is easy to do, but also easy to fix.

Streamline your application process and eliminate any unnecessary steps in the process that can be covered later. Don't overcomplicate the process with confusing forms and questions. Use design and language that is easy to understand to help drive the applicant to complete the application.

transaction audit

An application process that is easy to complete is critical for moving candidates through the job application and onto the next stage. Simplifying your application process doesn't mean dumbing it down, but rather making it easier for candidates to understand the necessary steps to complete the application, which makes submitting an application more manageable and enjoyable for applicants. Getting job seekers to the next step is necessary in order to find a perfect match for the job.

How do you turn an applicant into an employee?

Stay engaged. Your hiring team should be a constant resource for candidates. Answer their questions, remember to always follow-up and to establish your value as a potential employer. Always ask for feedback from candidates and use their feedback to constructively improve your candidate experience. Treat candidates with respect and even if they are not a good fit for the position, make sure your candidate experience gives them a good impression of your brand.

The candidate experience is something that should always be changing and improving so keep your hiring team educated on the best ways to improve whether through attending webinars, reading articles and even applying for candidate experience awards.



To learn how Talent Relationship Marketing shapes the candidate experience, download our ebook below.

audit - CTA

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