Recruiters are burying their heads in the sand when it comes to measuring candidate experience. Research from member-based advisory company CEB has found that nearly three quarters (70 percent) of HR professionals agree that a positive candidate experience is important, yet 60 percent are doing nothing to monitor the impact of their hiring experience.
By failing to measure the candidate experience, recruiters are blind to how their employer brand is perceived by candidates. This missing information could go a long way to explaining why candidates turn job offers down and open positions cannot be filled.
What’s more, findings show that almost half of all candidates (49 percent) are left with a negative view of an organisation following an unsuccessful application in a traditional recruiting process. One in five of these applicants will complain to family and friends or via social media, exposing the business to significant reputational risks.
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When 64 percent of companies predict it will become increasingly challenging to hire talented individuals for key positions over the coming year, there is a distinct need to protect the employer brand and candidate experience with the same rigour as the consumer brand and experience.
Commenting on the findings, Ken Lahti, vice president of product development and innovation at CEB says: “The majority of recruiters have opened their eyes to the importance of a positive candidate experience. However, very few businesses are actually measuring candidate reactions, creating a gulf between their beliefs and actions.
“Whether employers like it or not, the hiring process is a powerful marketing tool and has the potential to influence candidates and future customers alike. Unless companies invest in actively monitoring candidate experience and improving their hiring processes, the candidates they approach today may negatively influence the people they want to attract tomorrow. A poor reputation – born of bad candidate experience – can stifle the talent pipeline for the future.”
