Better candidate experiences through technology @recruitingsoc recruitingsocial.com #CandidateExperience / #CandX

Nice to meet you! Let me introduce myself and our company.

My name is Christian. I’m a communicator. I care about: Delivering deliberate, personable, and effective messages to create better, more meaningful experiences. @christiandepape

We connect big thinking businesses with big thinkers. @recruitingsoc recruitingsocial.com

Important to know: I’m not a recruiter. I’m not an HR professional. I bring a different perspective.

What are we looking at today? The candidate experience, and super-simple, technology-driven tactics to help you create a better one. A starting point.

Sound good? Let’s get started.

So, what is it?

Candidate experience is the feelings, attitudes, and behaviors your hiring process brings out in job candidates.

Okay, but why care? 2 Reasons:

First, it makes your job easier Increases referrals. Increases repeat applicants. Helps candidates to self-select. Speeds up hire times. Better prepares hires. Decreases bad hires.

Second, the data If candidates had a bad candidate experience –

42% Never seek employment with the company again.

Harris Interactive / CareerBuilder

22% Tell others not to work there.

Harris Interactive / CareerBuilder

9% Tell others not to purchase from the company.

Harris Interactive / CareerBuilder

On the flip-side If candidates had a great candidate experience –

51% Share positive experience on Glassdoor, Twitter or Facebook

The Talent Board 2013

“Job hunting would be awesome if employers would treat people like

people, not another piece of paper” — Recruiting Social survey 2014

That human element is key to a great candidate experience.

How does technology fit in? Technology can help you do more, more easily: To communicate better. To personalize the experience. To show them you care. To keep getting better.

How to choose tech tools If it makes you and your organization more human in the candidate’s eyes? Go right ahead.

Now, let’s get to those tactics Super-simple, super-doable.

Turn on your ATS’s auto-reply to applications

Could it be any easier? Here’s the thing:

75% Of employers don’t

CareerBuilder

That leaves applicants wondering: “Did they get my application?” “Am I being considered?” “Have I been rejected?” Not very considerate, is it?

Besides, what a wasted opportunity! A strategically-written auto-reply can:

Save you time & effort Eliminate unnecessary calls and emails – Answer FAQs Showcase your employer brand – Link to culture videos Show you’re human – Embed a ‘thanks for applying’ video

Don’t forget to use merge tags Merge tag: a placeholder that’ll be swapped out for candidate-specific data in each message that goes out. We all love to see and hear our own names.

What about rejected applicants?

39% Aren’t notified when not selected

The Talent Board 2013

It’s hard to turn people down

Make it as easy as you need to: Bulk email? Okay. Generic template? Okay. Anonymous template? Okay. Something is better than nothing. Just do it.

Plan a welcoming guest experience

Interviews are stressful –

So help candidates feel at ease You’ll gain a more accurate impression of who they’ll be as an employee.

SMS handy info right before Make it easy to find you – Include your office address Help them arrive on time – Give a traffic update Save them a headache – Provide parking instructions Give a little reminder – Reconfirm who they’ll be meeting

Something like this: “John, looking forward to meeting you this morning! We’re at 555 Richards St. Heads up: traffic on Hwy 1 is backed up.”

Tip: Save a template in your ‘Notes’ app to copy/paste as a message, nice and easy.

Design the wait Hand them a device with tabs open for: An itinerary. LinkedIn profiles of people they’re meeting. Video welcome from CEO. Culture videos. Relevant company blog posts.

Help hiring managers charm Prepare your managers with the info they need – Share context in their calendar invites.

Like this: “Joe’s a passive candidate. He’ll need to be convinced to make the jump. You’ll notice on his Facebook profile that like you, he’s a Seahawks fan: http://facebook.com/joe… Pre-screen questions and answers are attached – please review beforehand so we don’t ask the same things twice”

Thank the candidate before they thank you How about a tweet: @johndoe great to have you stop by @acmecorp offices earlier today! Or what about a thank you card?

Okay, after the interview –

You shared the outcome with all candidates, right? When they’re this far in, it needs to be by phone. And once that’s done, you can –

Send a candidate feedback survey Know how you’re doing. Learn your pain points. Trade assumptions for data.

Survey web apps make it easy SurveyMonkey Google Forms FluidSurvey ß my favorite

Different approaches Broad measures (Net Promoter Score-style):

“How likely are you to refer someone to apply for work with us?”

Specific measures (Comment card-style): “Did the receptionist smile when you arrived?”

How to get them to do it Keep it very short (and make sure they know it):

“Our 3-question feedback survey” “Our 20-second feedback survey”

Tip: Add an incentive

“You’ll be entered into our monthly draw for a $10 iTunes giftcard”

We’ve built a sample for you to try:

bit.ly/sample-candsurvey Get the survey & invite email template:

bit.ly/candsurvey

What it could look like

Oh, and – That feedback has no value if you don’t listen to it and apply it. Use it to get better.

See? Getting started isn’t hard Just focus on: Communicating more. Personalizing the experience. Showing them you care. Continuously getting better.

Fancy new apps? Emerging platforms? Not necessary. Just use the tools at your disposal better.

Thinking big You’ve taken your first few steps. Now how about designing the full experience?

Discover more To dig deeper, you can: Mystery shop (yourself, competitors) Shadow candidates Interview recent hires

Map the ideal experience Create a candidate journey map. Take a page from the customer experience management (#cx) notebook and plan out every interaction, every step.

What an impression (and great new hires) you’re going to make.

“At the end of the day people won’t remember what you said or did, they will remember how

you made them feel.” — Maya Angelou

Want to talk #CandX? Don’t be shy. Say hello: christian@recruitingsocial.com @christiandepape @recruitingsoc recruitingsocial.com