Blogs

– Candidate experience: your brand enhancer

The war for talent is steadily increasing in intensity. With rising job opportunities, top candidates are using their pre-hire experience to decide on where they want to work. However, a massive 46% of candidates rate their applicant experience as poor or very poor.
 
The effects of these negative experiences don’t end here. More than 40%* of job seekers who gave their candidate experience a low rating said they will also take their consumer relationships somewhere else. Further, this dissatisfaction gets reflected online as well - 64% of candidates said that they share information about their candidate experience on social media.
 
Conversely, 88% of candidates said they were more likely to buy from a company where they’ve had a positive applicant experience. Organizations must recognize that candidate experience can be a game-changer for finding top talent. Job applications must be approached with a progressive mindset of providing a great pre-hire experience, irrespective of the outcome of a selection process. Let’s examine the three elements that go into providing an exceptional candidate experience.

1. A Deep Understanding of What Makes Your Organization Unique

What personality traits beyond functional skill sets are necessary for success in your organisation? Building the answers to this question into the pre-hire evaluation process will ensure that candidates most suited to your organization will have the best experience, thereby increasing the likelihood of best fit candidates getting selected.

2. A Realistic Way to Preview the True Work Experience

To provide a candidate with a realistic work experience, a tech based, immersive simulation is the most effective method. It also gives you a sense of how the candidate would react/engage in a typical work environment in your organisation. The importance of this exercise is reflected in the finding that candidates facing unexpected work environments are 2.6 times more likely to leave the organization compared to those who received a realistic job preview.

For a detailed understanding of simulation techniques, read the white paper here.

3. A Meaningful Exchange of Information 

The pre-hire engagement process gives you a great opportunity to not only assess candidates in depth, but also engage them meaningfully. When done right and the results shared with the applicant, his/her interest gets converted to enthusiasm and excitement for the organization, irrespective of the outcome of the interaction. This helps convert/retain them as customers – and possibly spread the word through social media as well, which in turn can help attract best fit candidates.

Making your candidate experience extraordinary isn’t just an investment in your talent acquisition strategy. It’s an investment in the sustainability of your entire business. From building a positive reputation as an employer of choice amongst candidates and attracting applicants with best fit to retaining them as loyal customers, the whole process is a contributor to the success of your organization.

To know more about Candidate Experience enhancement, feel free to contact the contributors listed below:

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Tarandeep Singh
Partner & APME Head of Assessments
Aon Hewitt India Consulting
tarandeep.singh@aonhewitt.com

Ajith Nair
Director
Aon Hewitt India Consulting
ajith.nair@aonhewitt.com