Candidate experience - how to apply it to your candidates

Candidate experience is rightly often mentioned in connection with the candidate's journey. The two trends are closely intertwined:

• Candidate Journey: the candidate's journey throughout the application process - from search to onboarding.
• Candidate experience: the (positive or negative) perception and experience of candidates in the application process.

1. Optimize your job descriptions
   
   Start at the first touchpoint of the candidate journey: the job advertisement. A fabulously written job advertisement with a candidate-centric perspective, a short and crisp requirements profile and insights into the corporate culture (keyword: storytelling in recruiting) will help you to achieve the following 3 goals:
   
   - Stand out from a large number of advertisements
   - Convert interested parties into applicants
   - Leave a positive impression
   
   Use video formats to present the job: a short clip about a day in the job or an employer branding video about the corporate culture says more than 1,000 words.
   
2. Simplify the application process
   
   An application form with a large number of fields that the candidate has to fill out in addition to uploading their CV? - Look at the application form through the candidate's eyes and remove all unnecessary application hurdles. The best application form: the one-click application.
   
3. Communicate regularly with the candidates
   
   There are a variety of tools that you can use to make your counterpart feel well-received:
   
   - Confirmation of receipt after sending the application (absolute must)
   - Automated and personalized emails for acceptances and rejections
   - Honest communication regarding the decision-making process and waiting times
   
   View the relationship with your candidates as a two-way, never-ending process.
   
   Especially important: Communicate your timeline and the decision-making process behind it. And don't use officialese in your communication - speak and write from person to person.
   
4. Be approachable
   
   We often hear from candidates that potential employers don't seem approachable or even untouchable. Give potential candidates the opportunity to find out about your company and stay in touch. The more transparent you are throughout the recruitment process, the better you and the candidate will be able to see if you are a good fit.
   
   We recommend:
   
   - A bright & shiny career page with lots of insights
   - A LinkedIn group for candidate topics
   - A Slack channel with direct contact to the recruiters
   - An office tour during the job interview
   - Getting to know team members in a relaxed atmosphere
   
5. Estimate the time required
   
   The best candidates are often employed full-time and interviews during office hours are not easy to arrange.
   
   Our tip: Ask about possible appointment times during the first phone call and schedule interviews and meetings accordingly. This also includes not postponing telephone interviews at short notice or overrunning appointments. Show the candidate that you respect them and their schedule - a small but important contribution to a positive candidate experience.
   
6. Small gestures of gratitude
   
   The candidate has invested time and effort in getting to know your company as a potential employer. A small gesture of appreciation is all it takes: a friendly email after the first meeting or a small thank you card after the application.
   
7. It's the details that matter
   
   An application process can be pure stress. Try to make it a little easier for the candidate:
   
   - Detailed directions for the first interview
   - A preliminary list of the people the candidate will meet
   - An excerpt of the interview questions they can prepare for
   - Short waiting times in the lobby
   - A range of drinks including coffee and tea.
   
   The better informed you are, the more comfortable you feel. Don't forget to inform the front desk about job interviews, because nothing is more pleasant than being greeted by name.

For the majority of employees who resign after 3 months, the reason is that the actual job position is not what they expected.

To ensure that all efforts are not in vain after a positive candidate experience because the new team member does not find what they were promised, it is important to put on the employee glasses again and align the onboarding with the candidate's wishes and hopes. For example:

• I hope I can fit in well with the new team and the new corporate culture.
• I hope I get all the information I need to get involved quickly.
• I hope I will be given challenging and exciting projects.
• I hope I have the opportunity to develop and learn.
• Support new employees during this time; a few inspirations for onboarding measures:
• The new employee's weekly schedule, including all important appointments, sent by email a week before the start date
• A perfectly prepared workplace with a functioning IT infrastructure, exciting reading about the company's history, culture and values as well as an appreciative welcome gift ("We're glad you're here")
• A newcomer brunch for all new employees
• A joint team lunch on the first day of work

Original article "Candidate Experience – so bewerben Sie sich bei Ihren Kandidat:innen" by David Sonnberger/ epunkt: https://www.epunkt.com/r/blog/candidate-experience/