Each new year brings about change: a new month, a new resolution and a new hire - or more! Hiring ramps up in January, but the candidates of 2018 have different expectations than the ones you encountered last year. As you go about searching for new talent, keep these two details in mind:
1. Candidates can affect the customer experience
Candidates have more influence over your customers than you might expect. A scorned candidate can influence customer opinions and affect your company's bottom line.
A bad candidate experience can negatively impact a company's finances in two ways:
- Candidates, upset by or with some part of the hiring process, stop doing business with the company.
- Candidates publicly air their grievances and incidentally convince potential customers not to do business with the organization in question.
These ideas may sound far-fetched, but websites like Glassdoor let candidates anonymously share their experiences with countless readers. Furthermore, as the LinkedIn Talent Blog explained, upset candidates are indeed canceling business with the companies that gave them a bad experience. Graeme Johnson, Virgin Media's former Head of Resourcing, did the math and found out his company's bad candidate experience cost the business $5.4 million per year. Make sure your company avoids the same fate by auditing your hiring process and identifying areas for improvement.
2. Candidates demand more transparency during the hiring process
"Job seekers want to track the status of their applications and background checks."
As Glassdoor pointed out in an article for The Motley Fool, job seekers lament the fact that they often can't track the status of their applications. After all, if they can see every step in an Amazon shipment from their phone, why can't they know if and when someone reviewed their resume?
You'll attract more qualified talent if you let candidates track the status of their traditional applications. Some companies have already started - Johnson & Johnson already unveiled such technology in 2017, according to Glassdoor - so don't let yours fall behind.
However, the application process isn't the only part of the job search that candidates want frequent updates on. They also want to know the status of their background checks - a process that regularly leaves candidates in the dark. You can alleviate this annoying tendency by partnering with a background screening service that keeps candidates engaged and informed during the process. Orange Tree's CandidateConnect not only lets candidates check the status of their applications directly from their mobile devices, but it also keeps them updated with ETAs and other messages. What's more, CandidateConnect allows applicants to send relevant information from their smartphone or tablet.
Qualified candidates have more employment options than ever. Win the race for talented employees by making sure your candidate experience is one of the best.
