The 7 Keys To a Landmark Recruitment Experience

It is no longer enough to have a vacancy to attract good candidates. At the time of the employer brand and social media, recruiters must realize that the candidate becomes a real customer of the company. And who says customer, says experience! So, how to ensure the best possible experience? This article gives you 7 basic rules to make your recruitment process a truly remarkable experience, after which the candidate will only have one desire: to say yes!

The war of talents is declared! Attracting the best candidates has always been a challenge. But at the moment, the challenge is more complex than ever before: as the employer brand and word of mouth play an ever-increasing role in recruitment, the balance of power has changed. The applicant is no longer a mere candidate. He has become a real customer.

A customer compares several offers before deciding. The best candidates now receive solicitations from all sides and do not jump on the first job offer coming. Customers inquire before any purchase, and for that, they use more and more digital tools at their disposal. In recent years, candidates can also access in a few clicks information that will influence their decision: an overall assessment of the company, feedback from employees (LinkedIn). 

But if the candidate has become a client, what does it involve? It's simple! "The client is king. The candidate is a client. So the candidate is king ". He must now be treated as a customer. And his experience of your service must be irreproachable! Indeed, if the candidate experience is bad, what good is it to make efforts on its employer brand, its school relations or its offer of recruitment? He will always miss the point. Just as we all once gave up buying a product in a shop for lack of a salesman's attention, there is a good chance candidate prematurely end the recruitment process if the experience displeases him. So how do you make that happen again? That candidates applying to your company feel like they are treated like kings from beginning to end? How to make a recruitment process, not folic on a landmark experience?

This article offers you seven keys so that candidates never keep a bad memory of this time when they applied in your company. Whether or not they were selected for a position!

The recruitment experience, or candidate experience, is defined here as "the feeling or the impression that will be generated by the fact of applying within the company. The challenge is obviously to make the candidate want to go further, and not to disgust him by the way we have made him go. The candidate experience is, therefore, the set of impressions and subjective sensations felt by the candidate throughout the recruitment process. The notion is very far from being limited to the first contact between the candidate and the company; on the contrary, the candidate experience continues until the end of the process. And even after, whether the candidate was selected (on-boarding, collaborating experience, off-boarding) or not (Live-well, re-activation for a future process of recruitment).

To understand the experience you offer to candidates, Do not forget to take into account all the points of contact that will have with your company throughout the process, whether it is a passage on the website, a recruitment interview . Or simply a waiting period between several of these steps.

And then, at work! What are the characteristics of a landmark recruitment experience?

# 1: The prerequisite: to be functional

Yes, yes, you read well. Before even aiming for the perfect experience, we must ensure that the basics are there. A career site defective, unreadable or incomprehensible ads, an email address for unsolicited applications that is not / more regularly consulted. It is sometimes enough to detail that the experience stops even before starting.

Once the audit of your various points of contact realized, think to verify that the fundamentals are respected! For that, a good method may be to try to apply yourself via your career site, or to ask a loved one to lend themselves to exercise to benefit from their feedback.

# 2: A coherent experience

As mentioned previously, the candidate who integrates your recruitment process will have many points of contact with your company. The goal, throughout these points of contact, will be to allow it to project itself within his future post. And we must be careful not to send him contradictory signals!

For example, let's say that a bank wants to attract candidates by deploying an ultra-fun recruiting experience; if the second stage of the process is a day of assessment center morose, many candidates will have the feeling of having been deceived. And so, even if the initial action has generated a lot of resumes, how many will go to the end of the process?

# 3: A fluid experience: I say what I do, I do what I say

To quickly allow the candidate to take his bearings in your company, it is central to give him information about the recruitment process in which he is committed! We must not forget that everyone has their constraints and commitments.

How long before hoping to have the first interview? Before hoping to have an offer? How many interviews will you have to go through? With what type of people, HR? Operational? Managers? The better his future course appears precise and squared, the more you allow the candidate to visualize the path that leads to success and to obtain a job offer!

Note that this imperative is not specific: trainees and alternates, who generally still know little about the world of work, also need to be able to project before choosing to apply!

# 4: A sincere experience: lying is a bad thing

Of course, the candidate is still outside your company. Of course, do not expect him to know all of you even before his first day. On the other hand, during his recruitment process, some expectations, ideas, and expectations about his future position are modeled. These elements will be the fruit of each contact that the candidate has had with a recruiter, with a future collaborator. These meetings are all elements allowing to feel in advance the culture of the company.

However, if there is a significant gap between these expectations and the reality of the position, the candidate may be deeply disappointed with his experience. Of course, any recruitment process involves highlighting the strengths of your company, rarely your weaknesses. However, over-selling its qualities is a poor strategic choice, which is likely to result in early departures and a high rate of turn-over.

# 5: A pleasant experience: goal kick '!

What is the image of the recruitment process for the majority of candidates? To pass a suit and a badly ironed shirt, to make 1h30 of transport to meet a manager in a hurry who will dispatch the interview in 15 minutes, and to spend this time answering a salve of the question of the type "in which of our values you find in you the most? "

Whoever decided that recruitment processes would be a bad time to pass? Why not make it a good time for the candidate?

Without imagining going very far, it is at least possible to ensure the bases by ensuring that the interlocutors involved respect some fundamental principles: punctuality, politeness, respect. The candidate is above all a human being, so remember, when you were in his place: how would you like to be treated?

# 6: A rewarding experience: because we are also here to learn

This is perhaps the most often discussed point: the recruitment experience must be useful to the candidate, it must allow him to progress. And if he is not selected for a position, he can do better next time!

So yes, so far, we all agree. And yet, how many recruiters systematically answer the applications they receive? Of course, it's time-consuming. Of course, it's repetitive. But at a time when more than 60% of candidates say they do not receive answers to their applications, sometimes even after moving for an interview, it is high time to change the image of recruiters!

For this, there are tools to save a lot of time. For example, some well-written and easily customizable templates.

# 7: An original experience: the icing on the cake

Let's be clear: originality is far from necessary in all recruitment processes. If your business is already flawless on each of the above points, you are certainly already offering a better recruiting experience than the vast majority of companies on the market. But how to be sure to stay one step ahead?

Originality is an innovation in the recruitment process. It's an opportunity to make a difference, even in a competitive environment. Are humorous ads full of references? Games of laser-game recruiters VS candidates? Movie recruitment nights? Express recruitment session without even moving by organizing a job dating online?

The means are numerous, and the candidates will never say no to a little originality! So, do not hesitate to innovate!

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