What do candidates really want from a potential employer? What information or interactions do they want to see before they hit ‘apply’?
Jobseekers today have more power than ever before. If you’re not providing a gold-standard candidate experience from the first interaction through to the first day, they’ll quickly find an organisationorganization that is.
Why focus on the candidate experience?
We are experiencing a global talent shortage. Research indicates 69% of employers are struggling to fill roles and in the US the number is 73% – 4 percentage points above the global average.
OrganisationsOrganizations are competing for the same limited resources. Jobseekers hold the power and they have choices. Now, more than ever, an outstanding candidate experience is the key to not only attracting, but also winning talent.
You’ve worked hard to get jobseekers to come to you, so it’s critical you’re not turning them away with a sub-par experience..
A poor candidate experience has repercussions — 49% of jobseekers would reject a job offer after receiving a bad candidate experience. And for many organisationsorganizations candidates are also customers. A poor experience may also lose you customers — whereas a great experience has been shown to drive referrals even when jobseekers aren’t successful.
What do candidates really care about?
PageUp recently conducted research where we surveyed 199 job seekers to find out what makes today’s jobseeker tick. If you’ve ever wondered what motivates and inspires your next hire, now we know for sure.
The standout finding was a desire to be treated with respect. What does that look like from the perspective of the candidate?
- Access to information that allows them to make an informed decision about personal fit with the role and the organisationorganization.
- Timely, transparent communication via the jobseeker’s preferred communication method.
The great thing is, technology can automate manual processes and make it really easy to provide the right information at the right time for candidates engaging with your brand. In part 1 of this article series we’ll take a look at how to:
- provide potential candidates with an informative first impression of your employee value proposition (EVP).
- create transparency regarding flexible work arrangements, culture, career development and benefits.
- highlight your organisationorganization’s commitment to DE&I, corporate social responsibility, mission and values.
- connect jobseekers with current employees to gain a real-life, authentic view of what it’s like to work at the organisationorganization.
How can I use these insights to deliver a great candidate experience?
78% of the candidates we surveyed said that “Validating that a job is worth pursuing” was either very or extremely important to them. Jobseekers want access to crucial information at the beginning of the hiring process to make an informed decision about whether to continue their application. Where do they find it? The majority of jobseekers head to an organisationorganization‘s careers site.
PageUp’s recruitment marketing-powered careers sites provide the perfect way to showcase your unique employer brand and EVP. A well-designed career site allows you to amplify your organisationorganization’s commitment to DE&I, accessibility, corporate social responsibility, flexible working, and career development. These are all important considerations for candidates in the job search process, and PageUp’s simple careers site builder allows you to design, upload and edit blogs, videos and photo content that creates transparency, brand connection and trust.
Did you know: 76% of job seekers say evidence of a diverse workforce is an important factor when considering where they want to work. By showcasing “people like me” stories you can help candidates visualisevisualize themselves working at your organisationorganization. Our clients create separate landing pages to amplify their values, culture and DE&I philosophy. PageUp research has found 10% of candidates who view dedicated culture pages go on to be hired.
It’s not always easy for candidates to validate if the content on a careers site accurately reflects the reality of working day-to-day at an organisationorganization. The good news? There’s technology to help with that. Employee Connections is an innovative employee advocacy solution that connects candidates to current employees, making it easy for interested jobseekers to ask real questions and gain authentic insights. As well as easily connecting candidates to real employees via an AI powered discussion platform, organisationsorganizations can create and share on-brand, employee-generated content with a single click.
Delivering a great candidate experience is even easier now, with our new product Text Engage. Connect with hard-to-reach candidates instantly with unmatched 99% text message open rates. On average, it takes just 90 seconds for a candidate to respond to a text. We developed Text Engage to deliver a low-pressure, informal way for jobseekers to quickly apply for a role or make an expression of interest.
Creating respect and belonging
Actions speak louder than words. And sometimes small actions can make a big difference. By providing inclusive title, gender and pronoun options, organisationsorganizations demonstrate their commitment to creating an inclusive workplace.
Being treated with respect is central to creating an outstanding candidate experience, and this starts with the application process. For example, by enabling more inclusive options for self-identification, you can avoid candidate drop offs before application, thereby encouraging more diverse applicants.
In part 2 we’ll explore the impact of communication strategy on creating an outstanding candidate experience. The importance of frequency, timeliness, feedback and transparency.
What’s next?
PageUp continues to invest in providing a world-class hiring experience for candidates and hiring teams. If you’re a client and looking to implement any of the PageUp technology in this article, reach out to us through your Customer Success team.
If you’re considering using PageUp as your ATS or recruitment marketing solution, you can request a demo and we’ll walk you through how our technology can help you solve your recruitment challenges.
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