BY: Parker Pell
Parker Pell is co-founder and Chief Growth Officer at AbodeLet’s call a spade a spade: recruiters are busy. With responsibilities ranging from managing applicants, scheduling interviews, coordinating offer letters, onboarding, program management, and more, at times, managing candidates can feel overwhelmingly impossible. Yet, expectations from candidates continue to rise.
With time of the essence, how can recruiting teams provide a candidate-first experience…at scale? At Scholars, we’ve put together some thought starters for teams looking to impact their candidate experience, along each part of the recruiting funnel:
1 – Engage your talent community
A candidate’s journey starts well before an individual submits an application. Keep in mind that the first engagement with your employer brand could occur months (or years!) before this trigger point so keeping individuals engaged from first impression is key. Within your talent community, offer career tips, video testimonials from current employees, recommended reading lists, company culture insights, and more.
2 – Reimagine your interview process
Creating a smooth interview process requires consistent and timely communication. According to Job Seeker, nearly half of all candidates expect outstanding communication, feedback, and follow-ups throughout the interview process. Keep this top-of-mind and think about implementing interview checklists, tips and tricks, automated follow ups or reminders, and surveys for your pipeline candidates.
3 – Enhance your post-offer experience
We’re all familiar with the increase of post-offer reneges: a shocking 76% of recruiters have reported being ghosted by a candidate. To predict and prevent reneges before they happen, consider leveraging surveys asking candidates what they’re most excited about, videos from a candidate’s future manager, links to your ERGs, or invites to meet-and-greets.
4 – Rethink your onboarding timeline
Effective onboarding can help new hires feel more acclimated, reduce anxiety, and increase retention. To help new hires feel more comfortable, consider providing documentation around day 1, week 1, month 1 expectations, introduce them to their department leads, and connect them to their peers. Use tools like welcome swag, onboarding checklists, coffee chats, and surveys to ensure your onboarding experience extends beyond just the first week.
Today’s candidates expect clear, consistent communication from potential employers. To ensure your employer brand provides a candidate-first experience, keep the above framework in mind as you map out your candidate journey. Dive deeper into more insights on creating a great candidate first experience via Abode’s blog post here.
About the Author
Parker Pell is a Co-Founder at Abode, an early-career communication and engagement platform. As an undergraduate, Parker and his two co-founders experienced the inefficiencies that plagued entry-level job recruitment. Recognizing the need for change, Abode has evolved into helping companies such as eBay, Lyft, and Elevance Health provide more engaging, candidate-first experiences. Parker earned a BS in Economics from Rhodes College.
