en

Services

Leading employers across the US trust us to deliver fast, efficient hiring solutions that are tailored to their exact requirements. Browse our range of bespoke services and resources.

Read more
Jobs

Our industry specialists will listen to your aspirations and share your story with the most prestigious organisations in the US. Together, let’s write the next chapter of your career.

See all jobs
Candidates

Together, we’ll map out career-defining, life-changing pathways to achieve your career ambitions. Browse our range of services, advice, and resources.

Learn more
Services

Leading employers across the US trust us to deliver fast, efficient hiring solutions that are tailored to their exact requirements. Browse our range of bespoke services and resources.

Read more
About Robert Walters United States

For us, recruitment is more than just a job. We understand that behind every opportunity is the chance to make a difference in people's lives.

Learn more

Work for us

Our people are the difference. Hear stories from our people to learn more about a career at Robert Walters United States.

Learn more

3 ways to level up your candidate experience in 2023

Candidate experience is fast becoming the key to gaining the competitive edge in the talent marketplace. In recent years, customer experience has become a key focus among businesses, with almost half of business leaders viewing it as a top priority for the next 5 years. There is no doubt that consumer expectations of a seamless, personalized experience are bleeding into everything that we do – and finding your next role is no exception. 

However, the crucial difference between consumers and candidates is that where most consumers will at least walk away with what they paid for, it is inevitable that some candidates will come away disappointed. This means candidate experience needs to go further than customer experience to avoid disenchanting candidates who otherwise would refer peers, act as brand advocates, or even re-apply down the line. It is also important to remember here that ultimately, whether applicants are successful or not, they are still potential customers or brand ambassadors. Research shows that 50% of candidates will not purchase goods or services from a company after a bad job application experience.

Optimizing candidate experience does not simply equate to automating processes, it spans across the full candidate journey with the company – from application to on-boarding to rejections and feedback. 

With this in mind, here are our three top tips on how to level up your candidate experience.

          1. Speed

Review your current end-to-end application time and aim to reduce it to under 5 minutes (ideally under 3).

Efficiency is key. It has been widely established that we are an instant society - both as consumers and candidates, we want speed and seamless experiences. While the digitization of processes was well underway prior, the pandemic accelerated this shift. With 42% of job seekers stating that lengthy applications are the most frustrating part of applying for jobs, applications that take longer than 5 minutes can be detrimental to hiring efforts.

Recruitment technology facilitates this, boosting the experience for the candidate, while also expediting the process for HR teams. As an example from our own extensive research, a candidate could apply for 4 roles within the Fintech sector in the same time that it takes to apply for a single role within other sectors such as Financial Services and Consulting. 

However, speed does not necessarily lead to a positive candidate experience. There is a sweet spot to hit with a blend of seamless automation and human engagement. 

          2. Transparency

Be transparent when advertising your roles. 

While listing benefits such as free food, beautiful office spaces and office dogs can add shine to a job advertisement, being frank about exactly what you are offering is vastly more important. 

As consumers, we want to know what we are buying. The same is true for candidates when applying or a role, so it is best to avoid being too broad or vague. An example of this is with companies such as Netflix offering a staggering salary range on a role of $90,000 to $900,000. A range this broad ultimately defeats the object of including a salary range within the ad, as it gives no indication of what salary band the candidate can expect to join at. A recent study even found that 78% of people looking for a job would be put off applying if the salary was not displayed.

This is not only true for salary. Ideally, job descriptions will give a full impression of what the job entails. Giving clear details about aspects such as the working pattern (onsite, remote or hybrid) or any generous employee benefits, unique to your organization, will bolster advertising. 

          3. Perception

Review your candidate journey from careers pages through to onboarding. Is it clear to candidates what your organization’s values are? 

Whilst currently representing 35%, by 2025, 75% of the global workforce will be Millennials. This will inevitably shift recruitment trends as Millennials typically prioritize the morals of a company over other elements such as salary. And nearly 4 in 5 candidates (78%) say the overall candidate experience they receive is an indicator of how a company values its people.

Ultimately, the next generation of candidates will value companies that strive to positively impact society. And the way to encourage applicants, or reduce application drop offs, is to illustrate the ways in which your organization fulfils this. So, the question to ask here is: before starting, would a candidate know what it is like to work at your organization?  Are your company’s values, mission, and ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) ambitions clear? One way to bring this to life is by employees share their own authentic stories and experiences. 

These tips are merely scratching the surface of ways in which you can optimize your candidate experience, with near constant developments in workforce research. With this mind, we have created a Candidate Experience Audit that holds up a mirror to your current recruitment process in a candidate-centric way. The methodology audits 9 different lenses that reference over 160 data points analyzing how well you, as an employer, attract, engage and more importantly convert candidates throughout the candidate journey.

Share this article

Useful links

RPO
Contingent Workforce Solutions
Hiring Advice
Get in touch

Find out more by contacting one of our specialist recruitment consultants

Related content

View All
Mastering the middle

Are you looking to unleash your full potential as a manager? Look no further – we have created the ultimate checklist to help you ensure you have the skills and insights in place to unlock your full potential. Our checklist is designed to give you actionable insights that will help you elevate your

Read More
Three Influencers Driving Engineers to Change Careers

Businesses today are facing two primary challenges: hiring and retaining talent. The fact is, we’re living in a candidates’ market, and they want more. People want higher salaries and positions, and they want to feel happy with how they work and the work they do as well, which could mean wanting the

Read More
Four strategies for developing a return to the office plan

As lockdowns begin to lift at different paces across the globe, it’s anything but business as usual. For an effective return to the office, companies need to balance the external environment (such as government regulations) with internal capabilities that put employees at the centre of the return pl

Read More

I'm Robert Walters Are you?

Come join our global team of creative thinkers, problem solvers and game changers. We offer accelerated career progression, a dynamic culture and expert training.