Why candidate experience matters a lot during and post interview process

When it comes to knowing more about company, recruiting will be the first impression for a candidate. This experience will very well play a critical role in either accepting/ rejecting an offer

We are in a closely connected world and with information being democratized across the internet, one can easily find the information they want and do some additional research. When it comes to pursuing new career opportunities, for a potential hire, besides compensation and team they are going to work for, candidate experience during the interview process will very well play a critical role in determining whether to accept or reject an offer. We are going to look at candidate and recruiter.

The process of hiring is a mutual need (for candidate and company). That being said, the very first impression a candidate gets about a company is by talking to the recruiter. Either a candidate will apply for the job or a recruiter will reach out to the candidate. After the initial conversation, the next steps will follow until a hire or a no hire. However, not all recruiters have the ability to empathize with candidates. This will not sit well from the eyes of a potential hire. Let’s look at a typical process. The ideal role of a recruiter is to make sure to bring out the best potential of the candidate by ensuring a positive experience (giving feedback/ preparing them for interview, talking about company values and of-course being available for any questions).

Once either a candidate/ recruiter identifies opportunity they deemed fit, an initial conversation will kick off understanding needs of both parties. From there on the next steps will follow. Let’s assume recruiter wants to advance to next steps. The next step would be an initial phone screen with one of the team members. In most scenarios, recruiters will say that some one is going to take a call and doesn’t provide any feedback. This stays like that for the entire interview loops. If the company feels a candidate is a great fit, they will start chasing the candidate to accept the offer because they will get incentives. If its other way round, they don’t even care to respond or get back to the candidate leaving them puzzled.

One thing recruiters don’t realize is that, at some point, they themselves will be candidates applying for jobs. And there is a saying “What goes around comes around”.

Ideally, in order to bring the best of talents to an organization recruiting plays a very critical role. As such when building a recruiting team, they have to put a clear emphasis on the culture and people they want to hire. Everyone knows recruiters on a given typical day, deal with hundreds of resumes and reaching out to so many candidates. It doesn’t mean they should ignore a candidate. I am busy would be the first red flag from a recruiter (its their job).

Recruiters should

1. Whether a candidate is a potential hire or not, develop a relation and empathize. World is small and they might very well cross their paths in the near future.
2. Empower candidate with all the information available to be successful in the interview.
3. Keep a candidate informed about the next steps etc…
4. If the candidate is not a fit, sending out a thank you note and providing over all feedback so that they can work on the feedback (I know it’s going to be controversial. I believe in morality. Just denying without letting them know why a candidate is denied doesn’t help. We learn from our mistakes and not repeat them).