Recruit stand-out employees with a seamless candidate experience

The exciting time has come for you to hire a new team member. Whether you’ve done this before or it’s your first time, you want to encourage talented, skilled people to join your company, and it all starts with the candidate experience…

To get the best employees, you need to be the best employer. So, it’s worthwhile reviewing your recruitment experience from a candidate’s perspective before you begin the process, making sure your business appeals to the top talent. 

At Virtually Priceless, we regularly oversee the recruitment process and handle the candidate experience for our clients. We know we do it to a high standard because we’ve had some fantastic feedback from both our clients and the candidates themselves. Read on to see some easy ways to improve your client experience.

Why your candidate experience matters for hiring great employees

It’s easy to think about your goals of hiring a great employee but you need to also remember that every candidate’s goal is to find the best-fit company and job opportunity for them. 

Imagine what it’s like to be on the other side of your hiring process. Is what you currently do an experience you’d find easy and reassuring as a candidate? Or would you be left with unmet expectations?

Your candidate experience covers every recruitment touchpoint from start to finish. Every time you interact with a potential candidate, from the job advert itself through to the onboarding process, has an impact on their impression of your company and the culture. 

A 2024 survey shows 52% of candidates say they declined a successful job offer due to a bad candidate experience. In another survey, 85% of applicants doubted anyone even reviewed their application as they never heard back from the hiring company. 

Having a poor recruitment process can also be damaging to your overall brand, as a huge 72% of job seekers are likely to share their bad candidate experiences online or with someone directly. 

So, it’s vital to create a seamless, enjoyable experience for your potential hires to avoid any negative impact. Even if you know within a few minutes that they’re not the right fit, giving them a great candidate experience will ensure they talk about you in a positive light (or even potentially recommend you to others) for months or years to come. 

The good news is, that it’s easy to follow some essential recruitment best practices so you can hire great, stand-out employees. 

6 easy steps to improve your recruitment and candidate experience

Here are 6 simple steps any business can implement when hiring a new team member (or you can let one of our skilled team of executive assistants take the whole process off your hands). 

1. Have a dedicated point of contact during the recruitment process

One of the main issues candidates face is a lack of communication throughout the recruitment process. When you’re hiring, a key factor for success is to ensure there is just one point of contact throughout, so you can build a personal rapport with candidates. 

We’ve had feedback from so many candidates saying how much they appreciate knowing where to turn to if they have questions and seeing a familiar name popping up in their inbox. 

2. Have great communication and set clear expectations

To improve your candidate experience, you need to be clear about the process every step of the way. Before you begin recruiting, take some time internally to outline the process you will follow. 

Clear communication at every early stage will showcase how you work, and the respect you have for your team on a day-to-day basis. These things take a minimal amount of time to set up but have a huge impact on creating a positive candidate experience, even for those unsuccessful. 

A great tip is to use automated email systems and technology to help you send replies from submitted applications with an overview of the candidate’s next steps. You can write a message on the automated reply that says something like, “If you’ve not heard from us by X date then please assume we won’t be progressing your application.”

When candidates are invited to interview, you can have another automated message that tells them what to expect; where to go, what to prepare, and anything else you require of them. Be transparent around the timings – if you have more candidates lined up for an interview over the next few days or weeks, let the person you’re interviewing know. They may also have other applications underway, so do the right thing and be upfront about your hiring situation so they can make a well-informed decision. You don’t want to lose amazing candidates due to crossed wires.

3. Make the application process easy for candidates

Too many employers ask for an excessive amount of information, which creates friction with the candidates from the get-go and can put some people off applying in the first place. 

Instead, please don’t overcomplicate this – create a simple form that’s only asking for need-to-know information. Be clear about the format in which you want any additional information submitted so that applying is simple and stress-free.

We would suggest a separate mailbox for receiving applications or perhaps using a platform such as Applied to help you manage the process. This also makes sending automated email communication much easier.

4. Have two company interviewees present

Ideally, you want to have at least two people from your company at the interview. This gives the candidate great insight into how you and your colleagues interact with one another, and therefore a glimpse of the culture in your organisation. 

As 90% of employers will agree, candidates need to be a great fit for your culture. When you have someone else to discuss interview results with, it’s easier to make an informed decision about this. Having another person from your team present also gives someone a great development opportunity to work on their interview skills.

5. Let candidates ask questions during the interview

There’s nothing worse during an interview than not being allowed to ask questions. At the start of the meeting, put them at ease by clarifying the next steps and letting them know if they have any questions throughout, they should ask. Otherwise, candidates could feel pressured into storing up a long list of questions they might forget at the end, making them more nervous.

6. Outline your company culture and strategy to candidates

Finally, make sure you weave a discussion about your strategy and culture into the recruitment process. This is your chance to inspire your candidates and get them excited about the prospect of working with you.

You can showcase your company culture throughout the candidate experience by outlining your values in the job advert, the way you conduct the interviews, and through all other communication we’ve already mentioned. Remember, if you want great employees, your company needs to be an attractive place to work. 

Improve your candidate experience with Virtually Priceless

So, now you know how to improve your candidate experience to hire the best employees possible. If you need help implementing these tips into your recruitment process, Virtually Priceless can help.

Our dynamic team has a proven track record of supporting our clients in recruiting amazing team members. Get in touch to start the process.