What factors do you think influence candidate experience?

I think it’s universally acknowledged that the key frustration for candidates going through a recruitment process is a lack of communication and inability to get updates on where their application is at.

Most people will have at some point gone through the classic scenario of submitting an online application and then hearing absolutely nothing from that organisation — what a negative experience. Subsequently, the brand of that organisation is also then viewed poorly.

With candidates also being consumers, it’s critical that whether the person is successful in their application or not, that they walk away from the process feeling that they would apply again in the future and would recommend that organisation to their friends and family because they had a good experience.

At Hudson RPO, we work with our clients to get the right blend of recruitment automation and human touch in their processes, so that candidates feel they are going on a personal journey and are updated regularly on their application.

Simple things, such as allowing candidates to speak to the recruitment team via live chat, and using pre-recorded video messages to help them prepare for interviews or assessment centres, help the candidate to feel they are going through an authentic process.

Technology is a crucial part of optimising the candidate experience. We partner with vendors in the sourcing, predictive analytics, assessment, and background checking space. These all enable a fantastic process, which we would like to think ‘delights’ the candidate, but technology alone can’t be relied on. Our consultants operate with a user-experience focus and truly understand that the voice of the customer — in this case the candidate — is perhaps the most powerful measure of their performance.