5 tips for a winning candidate experience

Hiring is a big deal and a candidate's experience throughout an employer's hiring process can make or break a potential candidate's career or future at a company. When a candidate is hired after having a positive candidate experience, they are empowered with the drive they need to get started working with their new team. Having a candidate experience that is geared towards the candidate's needs is nothing new, however, it is increasingly become an important part of attracting top talent over competition.

If you're looking to recruit stars, you're going to need a winning candidate experience. Talent Board recently surveyed over 130,000 candidates who applied to over 200 companies who were willing to ask and listen to what their candidates had to say about their experiences. We've read up on the data to bring you 5 tips to create your own winning candidate experience.

Step 1 - Communication is key

Communication is the most basic aspect of recruiting and therefore should not go ignored. By keeping a strong communication with candidates you are able to more accurately identify a candidate's goals and then market the right job opportunities to them. By explaining the entire hiring process to candidates so they can know what to expect and be confident and ready to work with you.

Step 2 - Make it personal

Not every candidate is the same and not every employer will be the perfect fit for every candidate. That's why you should build your candidate experience with the ability to be flexible and adjust to different candidates because you don't want to prevent top talent from qualifying for your organization's open jobs. Candidates are humans, so treat them like them to create the best experience possible for your candidates.

Step 3 - Find out what job seekers are looking for

A lot of people have been throwing around terms like big data and talent analytics so here's your chance to put your numbers to good use. See where job seekers are coming before reaching your career site like social media, Glassdoor, blogs and offer up this type of content to candidates right on your career site. Candidates surveyed for Talent Board's 2015 North American Candidate Experience Research Report overwhelmingly listed an employer's career site as the most important resource for when researching a company, so it only makes sense to give candidates what they are looking for right on your career site.

Step 4 - Think about the applicant's journey

When was the last time you applied or someone on your talent acquisition team applied to an open position at your company? Think like a candidate - we've all been a candidate before - but after taking a look at your own candidate experience, you will be able to see what parts of your hiring process feel positive to candidates and which are less encouraging. By looking at each step of the process, you can design each step of the process with the candidate front and center, which will feel like a cutting-edge experience to them.

Step 5 - Keep seeking improvement

To really create a winning candidate experience, you must always be ready to make changes and embrace new strategies to keep your candidate experience at it's best. You should also always be seeking feedback from candidates. Don't just break up with a candidate if they don't fit for a specific job opportunity. Create a relationship and actively seek feedback from candidates who are not hired so they know that their time was of value to you and they don't just feel like you kicked them to the curb. By listening and responding to candidates who have been rejected, will allow candidates to feel respected and could open the doors to any connections that candidate could recommend to a job at your company.