As companies seek to improve their access to top candidates, the focus on creating a positive candidate experience has become more and more significant.

This mindset is great news for the millions of applicants each year, as businesses seek to support and engage the candidates who undergo sometimes extensive and challenging application and onboarding processes.

But how do you create a positive candidate experience at scale? And how can you maintain the level of screening you need, while ensuring your candidate experience is strong? From consistent messaging to meeting new starters on their first day, let’s discuss six simple ways to improve your candidate experience.

The current landscape for job applicants

Our research suggests that 46% of candidates rate their application experience as ‘poor’ to ‘very poor’. Even more concerning, 64% of candidates share their experiences on social media and may influence others’ perceptions of the company.

Poor candidate experiences can occur for multiple reasons. Many candidates are simply ‘ghosted’ by prospective employers. This lack of communication is most prevalent where organisations cannot cope with large volumes of job applications.

Too often, candidates feel they experience an impersonal and 'vanilla’ hiring process. Candidates believe the organisation is too focused on what they want to achieve. Despite increased prominence of employer branding, many organisations forget to prioritise their candidates. Companies have lost sight of the fact that they are dealing with people, each of whom has their own unique needs and preferences.

A strong foundation: Creating a consistent, engaging candidate experience

Identifying and retaining top candidates relies on a consistent candidate experience. Organisations increasingly strive to be highly engaging throughout every interaction. Importantly, this should be the case regardless of the application outcome. Former candidates might apply for future positions, or could even become brand advocates on your behalf.

It should go without saying that the ideal candidate experience is professional yet personal, with processes underpinned by your core values. Prioritising a personalised approach can make a significant difference in the success of talent acquisition.

How to improve the candidate experience

We’ve conducted research with our RPO clients to identify opportunities to improve applicant experience. We have identified five key areas that define the core of a best-practice candidate experience.

1. Provide detailed, persuasive information about job opportunities

Recruitment marketing efforts often drive contact with candidates in the pre-application stages. During this stage of the applicant journey, you will keep the candidate informed and educate them about:

• Your organisation.
• The culture.
• The working environment.
• Any corporate social responsibility initiatives.
• Available roles and what they involve.
• The teams they will be working with.
• The projects they could be working on.

Creating a positive candidate experience means delivering a uniform message across careers pages, job applications, and any supporting materials. Demonstrate a strong employer brand and avoid playing favourites between roles.

Remember: many prospective candidates aren't actively searching for a new role. So, it’s important to provide enough information to make someone consider changing employers. This information should clarify both the role itself and what the organisation offers as a whole.

2. Tailor your messaging for your target audiences

Consistency is key, but it comes with its challenges. Often the message required for one audience may not resonate with another. We have found that tailored messaging creates a significant point of difference for employers.

Employers should collate a detailed understanding of their target audience. Define a persona for each role type. Then align your recruitment communications to your candidate’s needs.

Creating tailored content for different segments may seem time-consuming or hard to maintain. However, the effort will pay off. A tailored approach creates stronger engagement with applicants. Your job opportunities will stand apart from competitors’ if you offer personalised benefits instead of a generic list. When the hiring process genuinely addresses candidates’ needs, applicants feel more engaged from the outset.

3. Maintain consistent, personalised communication

Once you engage a candidate, it’s your responsibility to understand their individual needs and wants. Use each subsequent interaction to provide more detailed information. Share realistic job previews or details specific to the role and business area. Get to know your candidate and explain benefits and rewards that reflect their circumstances.

Building a positive candidate experience also means catering for diverse communication preferences. Modern candidates have a wide range of communication styles and preferences. Spread your communications across a range of platforms:

• Careers pages.
• Community-based forums.
• One-to-one phone calls.
• Video calling.
• Email - both personalised and automated newsletters.

These follow-up engagements support a candidate's decision to remain in an application process. We must empower candidates to make informed decisions. This will leave a positive impression of the organisation.

4. Offer genuine support and guidance 

Pre- and post-application support is critically important to a positive candidate experience. This support helps candidates to gain insight into the organisation. They’ll start to build a picture of what it might be like to accept your job offer.

You must practise what you preach throughout the application process. For example, the organisation promotes investment in learning and development. Therefore, you must support candidates through the hiring process as well, helping them to develop. Failing to prove your claims will create a negative candidate experience that undermines trust.

Support can take different forms. At a minimum, you should provide proactive support and guidance via frequent communications (email, phone) to educate candidates on the interview process. Address specific questions or queries in a timely manner to maintain a positive impression of your organisation.

5. Ensure assessment is a two-way process

The assessment stage in any recruitment process has the potential to be emotionally challenging for applicants. Providing clarity and guidance is key to improving the candidate experience. Inform candidates about each part of the assessment process, to enable them to prepare and perform confidently. Additionally, ensure hiring managers are fully briefed to sell the organisation and address any questions during interviews.

Following the interview, make sure the candidates receive feedback swiftly. If this feedback is negative, reframe your guidance with a constructive angle. Remember: rejecting a candidate without a detailed reason could damage your employer brand. Allocate time to provide personal feedback to every interviewee; and resist the temptation to “ghost” any applicants.

You should also invite candidates to give their feedback and to ask questions. By treating assessment as a two-way process, you’ll help candidates to understand if the role is right for them. This all contributes to driving a positive candidate experience.

6. Sustain your efforts throughout a candidate's notice period

Having invested significant time and effort in finding top candidates, the final crucial stage is the onboarding process. Onboarding should begin as soon as your applicant accepts a job offer. You must then support candidates through the pre-employment stage and their first few weeks and months in the role.

Provide clear information in advance, such as:

• Confirmation of start date, 
• where to report on day one and to whom, 
• assignment of assets/hardware,
• and induction and training programmes to expect.

Onboarding can involve multiple departments, which may be overwhelming for new hires. Simple changes to communication channels, such as assigning a single contact, can make this process much smoother. Avoid pitfalls associated with questions and queries getting lost between teams.

As we have seen, there are several ways to improve candidates' experiences. One common and ever-present theme is remembering that new employees have the same concerns and aspirations that we do. Let’s not expect them to be happy with anything that we wouldn’t accept ourselves. 

Improving your candidate experience with our support

We know that building a great candidate experience can take an army. If you are struggling to maintain a personalised approach at scale, we can help. Outsourcing certain aspects of your recruitment process can free up time for interviews and feedback. It can also ensure that no applications go unanswered.

Rather than juggling multiple candidates across different vacancies, consider streamlining your recruitment communications. A central recruitment programme can ensure consistency for all applicants.

Alternatively, a full RPO service could allocate a team for regular candidate communications. A great candidate experience needn’t take over your day-to-day workload. Our free, interactive tool can help to improve your candidate experience. Take the assessment to get your candidate experience score. And receive tailored recommendations to enhance your recruitment process.

Or, contact the team to explore how we can elevate your candidate experience.

Learn more about best practice candidate experience: 

• How to optimise your candidate experience for Gen Z 
• How many interviews is too many for candidates? 
• How to develop a two-way assessment process to improve hiring