Personalized Candidate Experience- Need Of The Hour!

There used to be a time when candidate engagement was barely a matter of stress. However, in today’s competitive talent acquisition market, optimizing the candidate experience is crucial and businesses are increasingly focusing on effective candidate engagement in order to attract the best of the lot.

Employers these days are striving to offer the most enticing combination of compensation, benefits, and organizational culture to entice and retain the top talent. As a result, the candidate experience has gained a significant importance lately. According to a study by CareerBuilder, 80% of candidates leverage the hiring process to determine how a company treats its employees.

A candidate centric approach to recruiting

Using a single-channel approach to recruit for talent- a phone call or an email will not win us from the war for talent. These tactics are more transactional than relational when it comes to building strong candidate relationships. The candidate must be involved at each touchpoint through the entire interview and selection process and it’s the effort that both parties must make to get to know one another before an offer is made. Some of the Companies with a game-changing candidate experience are Airbnb, PwC, Sutherland, Johnson & Johnson, Digital Ocean, Booking.com, Slack, DocuSign, and many others.

So how do you win the war for talent?

By putting a great emphasis on ‘Candidate Engagement’ where instead of managing requisitions, we are delivering remarkable candidate experiences. It is well ensured that they are well engaged starting from the time when they first land on the career website to their first day onboard.

A successful hiring initiative requires regular applicant tracking and follow-ups with the interested candidates. Moreover, it’s imperative to ensure an environment that boosts their morale and enthusiasm.

How does candidate engagement determine the success of a business?

It lets your company stand apart as an innovator and a genuine nurturing pool for incoming talent. It creates the first building block of a long-term relationship with future employees by making any hiring initiative more compelling.

It’s time to start engaging candidates in real-time conversations!

To be successful, recruiters need to start engaging with candidates effectively and encourage higher response rates from them.

From job description through final offer, the candidate experience influences how your prospective employees feel about you as an employer. Employers must remember that today’s job market is hugely candidate-driven, and a young, dynamic millennial workforce will opt for an organizational culture that mirrors their level of energy and involvement!

Sudipta Mitra
Senior Consultant, Athena Executive Search & Consulting