You’ve probably come across the terms “candidate experience” and “employer branding” before, but just in case, here’s a short explanation:
Candidate Experience is how job seekers react and perceive you as a prospective employer by your recruitment, sourcing, interviewing, hiring and on-boarding experience. It directly affects what kind of talent you attract and retain.
Employer Branding is how you promote your company and the reputation you have as an employer in the job market. It defines the essence of your company and has an impact on how you attract, recruit and retain the talent you want.
You can already see that the candidate experience not only affects your hiring and retention of talent, but is also closely connected to your employer brand, and how you are perceived as an employer in the market.
It becomes clear that having a strong employer brand helps you to attract, engage and retain top talent due to the reputation you hold from your current employees. But in turn, a painful candidate experience can do great harm to your employer brand.
Candidates that are treated badly most likely share their experience and opinion about your company with their network. A study shows that a rocking 72% of candidates that had a bad experience share it with others, and every second job seeker avoids certain companies after reading negative reviews online.
Do the math, the impact can be disastrous to your employer brand and hiring goals.
Treat your candidates like you would treat your customers
Many HR professionals take candidate experience seriously. However, we often see that only a few companies have a dedicated team in place who are responsible for monitoring and optimizing the experience. There are many different factors affecting the candidate experience that can be easily overlooked, even with a dedicated team in control of this.
Companies usually have initiatives where they focus on one or two aspects that affect the overall candidate experience and after that, leave it be. They think they’ve done their fair share in paying attention to their candidates.
However, this is not how it works nowadays. It will not help you stand out from competition with a shining candidate experience.
With more and more millennials entering the workforce, companies need to be aware of how to attract the right talent, and paying attention to your employer branding and candidate experience is crucial.
Candidate experience and Employer Branding: A match made in Heaven
We mentioned earlier that your candidate experience and employer branding go hand in hand. Having flaws in your candidate experience will inevitably lead to some damage to your employer brand.
Candidates who have had a bad experience will share this with their network and online communities. Negative reviews can be fatal to your employer brand. A negative employer brand, in turn, attracts fewer candidates … It’s a vicious circle.
What can you do?
1. PUT IN THE TIME
If you dedicate time and effort to your candidate experience, you’ll see the positive effects on your employer brand in the long run (and improve your overall hiring). You don’t know what other people know, so asking for the feedback and creating a positive candidate experience will strengthen your position.
2. WALK IN THEIR SHOES
Put yourself in your candidates’ shoes and understand the steps they’re taking when applying to work for you. Set clear expectations from the beginning and keep them informed throughout the whole process. This way, your candidates know exactly what lies ahead of them.
3. ACTIVATE A FEEDBACK LOOP
Incorporate a continuous learning and feedback loop. Your candidates are your best source to learn about the experience you offer them. Actively give feedback, seek feedback and utilize this to improve your presence and employer branding.
We, at Zocket, are all about improving your candidate experience and employer branding. We help your company create a powerful presence and authentic look for your employer brand.
Want to learn more? Get in touch with us or download our candidate experience assessment info pack.
