Lots of folks have opinions on what “candidate experience” means and how you define providing great candidate experience. It’s really not that complex though. And here’s a story to make it simple for you.
First, I had to step back the other week to think about the “why” behind a reaction I had. I found myself slightly put off by the way a candidate spent time at our offices for a round of interviews. As I usually do with a 2nd or final interview when I am not in the actual loop itself, I offered for him to come by a bit early so I could give him some scoop on the people he’d be meeting with. I typically say 10 to 15 minutes early is adequate for prepping someone. And I feel strongly about not sending candidates in blind so I’ll literally schedule candidate prep time in Outlook so that I’m fully available to them. And in this instance, he didn’t take me up on the offer. He showed up right at the time of the interview. Didn’t even ask for me at reception.
Lost opportunity, I thought. I was more than willing to and truly wanted to give him some insight as I also feel it’s partially a reflection of me when a candidate is so poorly prepped… but perhaps something came up preventing him from coming in early. Too bad but not the end of the world. Fast forward to 90 minutes later, before the last interview of his day, there was some down time. Not a lot but maybe 15 minutes at tops. I immediately went into hostess mode. I hate to leave a candidate unattended in a conference room. I sought him out. I offered a beverage. And then I plopped down in a chair to hang out, answer questions and give more insight – especially seeing that he didn’t arrive early to start with.
So there I was, sitting with him. Trying to entertain, have a conversation. But even after some prompting, I got nothing. No questions for me. Not even a softball question. Nothing to even share with me about the last 90 minutes of interviews he had been through and the impressions he gained. There was zero that he wanted to talk about, so I just started shooting the breeze. Which is when it started to feel personal that it was difficult to have a conversation. Maybe he was trying to free up my time – maybe he didn’t want to make me feel like I had to babysit… I thought about that and I can appreciate a candidate coming from that perspective… but I was really looking to connect. And build a relationship.
Which is when I realized… he was rejecting my overtures that I typically make when trying to create a great candidate experience. He wasn’t necessarily all that into building a relationship with me.
We talk about candidate experience all the time as being a number one priority – but what does it look like? How do you do it? Who’s doing it the best? And it’s actually quite simple, folks. Candidate experience at the end of the day is about relationship building.
Are you making connections? Is it personal? Is it authentic? That’s all you need to really worry about, friends. If you’re in it with the aim of building relationships as you recruit, job well done.
Thanks for the thought provoking post Jessica.
What if we asked the candidate what their idea of an amazing candidate experience would look like? I am thinking of asking something similar to new hires for on boarding – what does your idea of an amazing on boarding process look like? Those questions may give us some insights into the candidate while at the same time helping us understand what their expectations are. I want to understand their expectations so I can exceed them.
Can you tell I am working on my on boarding process this week?
Jessica, you are one in a million. Most applicants get the type of courtesy you offered. Shame on the applicant for not showing their interest. I agree, the recruiting process is building relationships. Unfortunately we have a mechanized system with check-the-box sourcers and recruiters. With the labor pool full of over-qualified, unemployed workers, they feel they can narrowly select what they think is a good candidate neglecting possibly good talent. For some, common courtesy is no in their code — they tell me they are too busy. Recruiters are the front-line representatives of your company. They should start building that relationship up front. Respond to application, even if automated. Respond when they are not selected. Contact them by phone or email and tell them the outcome of an interview.
I’ve been in charge of recruiting and have done my fair share of high level recruiting. I made it my business to develop that relationship and look for the hidden talent.
When the labor pool as we know it today dries up, what are the recruiters going to do then? Have they recruited talented individuals that can be managed and developed for the future of the organization? Can these cookie cutter employees take your company to the next level?
Inspect what you expect. Take a look at recruiting process and clone Jessica Lee to make it great!
My humble opinion is that there is no “one size fits all” candidate experience. I think in recruiting we bring our own biases in how we would like to be treated into the equation, and that’s not necessarilly productive.
Candidates are buyers, plain and simple. They are making a yes or no buying decision to your opportunity. (Yes, they are also sellers, I get that, but for sake of discussion on candidate experience, let’s focus on the buying aspects)
All buyers do not go through the decision making process equally. Not that one method is better than another, but each is unique, very unique.
In the most simplified models, there are relatioship based buyers, self actualized buyers, and data based buyers. Each goes through a decision making process defined by that type. Data based sellers often will fail to connect with self actualized or relationship buyers, and vice versa.
Again, the candidate experience must appeal to each type of buyer in its own unique way. That fact that most organizations fail to design their candidate experience with this is mind, gives rise to the bogus impression that it’s impossible to develop a good working candidate experience model.
Look at good advertising, particularly television commercials, they will often use their allotted 30 seconds to make appeals to each type of buyer, so it can be done.
What’s important when measuring candidate experience it to measure the quality of hires, the amount of regrettable loss in the hiring process (who withdrew), and most importantly would candidates recommend your organization to others.
I have encountered few other recruiting pro’s that measure Candidates Referred By Rejected Candidates, but I find that an excellent data point in understanding our candidate esperience.
Sorry for the lengthy comment, but I’ve been researching and speaking on the topic for 2.5 years, and beleive that candidate experience is a competitive differentiator in the recruiting world, and a way for a company to engage it’s current and potential future customers.
In college–at some training session to become a Resident Assistant–someone said “Don’t treat others as YOU want to be treated–treat others as THEY want to be treated”. It blew my mind (ok–I was 19! but still)
Anyway, this idea is a little at play at here–and yes at the end of the day it is about building relationships authentically.
Thanks for the great post.
Thanks for the post Jessica. You’re right, at the end of the day it’s about building relationships. Recruiting is about selling people to people because that’s what companies are made of. Think the role of a recruiter might be helpful here: http://bit.ly/rW4Vy5
Well its a well judge post. Candidates must remember one thing that they are going to recruited and they must remain calm and respectful to the company. If not then what they have learn from HRM courses. Shame on those candidates.