The candidate experience stands at the forefront of talent attraction and retention in hiring. Every touchpoint potential talent has with your organisation can either tip the scales in your favour or against it. A vast majority of candidates (83%) said that they could refuse an offer for a role or company they initially favoured, based on a negative candidate experience. Meanwhile 75% of professionals currently working in their companies were influenced to accept the job offer because of the positive candidate experience they had throughout the application process. We are in a candidate led market and creating a journey that's tailored to each applicant is no longer just beneficial, but imperative. But, where to start? We’ve put together five ways that you can improve your candidate experience, to help you optimise your hiring strategy for max results.

1. Harness the Power of Data for Insightful Interactions

Utilising data is pivotal for creating personalised candidate experiences. With real-time analytics and AI-driven insights, recruiters can craft communications and opportunities that resonate with talent at each stage of the hiring journey. When it comes to understanding and meeting candidate needs, precision like this can truly transform your applicant journey and encourage more invested and responsive interactions with your brand.  It can also help you make decisions that help to improve the quality and relevance of the candidates you are reaching - something that 52% of companies have named as a recruitment priority.  

When asked about how they’ve used data to inform the recruitment strategy at Serco, Resourcing Director Rikki Fullerton said: “...Data forms the cornerstone of our entire strategy…Understanding and monitoring the numbers on a daily and weekly basis is a critical aspect of our day-to-day operations. 80% of our recruitment is volume hiring, so understanding our data is critical…Then we can use this information to dial up or dial down our advertising. Monitoring this on a daily basis has enabled us to achieve our 100% staffing levels in a really tough industry.”

2. Elevate Your Careers Page to an Engaging Hub

Companies with strong employer branding can achieve a 50% decrease in cost per hire and hire employees 1-2 times faster. Transforming your careers page into a dynamic careers hub with bespoke branding and interactive elements can significantly improve your chances of engaging prospective talent. An engaging careers platform goes far beyond a page that houses job listings; it embodies a holistic and engaging experience that is consistent with your consumer experience and branding. Optimising your user experience with features like mobile responsiveness, intuitive navigation and widgets that tailor the experience for neurodiverse individuals, like accessiBe, ensures that you provide equal access to jobs for all prospective talent. 

3. Create Dynamic Candidate Journeys with Automation

Embracing automation through technologies such as chatbots and sophisticated AI-driven workflows enhances the recruitment process and its efficiency. By implementing innovative elements like chatbot application flows, companies can elevate their careers page from a passive job board to an active career tool. The strategic deployment of automation tools not only minimises the manual burden on talent acquisition teams, but also enables a focus shift towards more human aspects of recruitment such as nurturing candidate relationships along the hiring funnel. With the help of dynamic candidate journeys you can transform your hiring process into a more streamlined, efficient, and personalised experience, redefining what candidate experience looks like for your brand.

4. Integrate Social Media into Your Recruitment Strategy

It’s time to reach candidates where they are. Leveraging the ubiquity of social media platforms in your hiring framework can help you foster a recruitment ecosystem that is both dynamic and intimately personalised. Plus, you can supercharge your recruitment efforts and help you tap into passive talent pools and forge meaningful connections with talent. In fact, over 85% of employers have voiced that social media helps them find and engage job seekers. Tailoring your presence and approach across various social media channels allows you to showcase your employer value proposition and highlight your job listings in the right place, at the right time.

5. Utilise Feedback Loops to Continuously Improve

Engaging candidates effectively demands a commitment to evolution, making feedback loops indispensable for honing the recruitment process. By actively inviting input from candidates about their experiences, companies not only uncover invaluable insights for refinement but also signal a clear respect for the candidate's perspective. This approach enables the identification of potential enhancements, whether in communication methods, application processes, or interview scheduling, ensuring that each aspect of recruitment is optimised for candidate satisfaction. 

A proactive stance on feedback like this demonstrates a dedication to excellence in candidate experience, fostering a recruitment culture that is both adaptive and candidate-centric. 

Get in touch with us to find out how we can help you create a best-in-class candidate experience.