In this article, we’ll share our hiring manager cheatsheet – which is full of tips on how to improve candidate experience when making a hire:
- The position you’re employing for is necessary.
- Make it simple for applicants to submit job applications.
- Create clear and detailed job descriptions.
- The hiring procedure is transparent in the job application.
- Maintain communication with candidates at all stages of the hiring process.
- Inform candidates about what to expect during interviews.
- Keep track of potential prospects for future job openings.
What is candidate experience?
Candidate experience refers to how candidates perceive and interact with your business’s hiring process. The job application, screening procedures used to filter prospects, and the interview process are all essential components of the candidate experience.
A positive candidate experience provides clear, honest, and consistent communication. Candidates are much more likely to have a good candidate experience with your organization if you properly communicate with them throughout the entire recruiting process. Let’s check some tips that you should consider adding on your hiring manager cheatsheet.
What is a hiring manager? What does a hiring manager do?
A hiring manager is responsible for selecting the best-qualified candidate for a post.
Human resources and recruiters collaborate with a hiring-manager to employ new personnel. While the HR staff and the recruiter are in control of the recruiting process, the hiring-manager is responsible for interviewing applicants and making the ultimate hiring decision.
Here’s some examples of the tasks of a hiring-manager:
- Determining the staffing needs for a new role.
- Obtaining department executive approval to open a job requisition for that necessity.
- Organizing the hiring.
- Setting expectations for the interview process and defining roles and tasks for the hiring team.
Posting the position and reviewing applicants. - Determining role information and extending a job offer.
So, now that you know what does a hiring-manager, let’s detail about how can a hiring manager increase candidate experience. Here are 7 tips every hiring manager should take into consideration:
The position you’re employing for is necessary.
How will you find what you’re looking for if you don’t know what you’re looking for? The most important thing on the hiring manager cheatsheet is knowing that your position is 100% necessary.
Analyze your team based on your business objectives. Do you really need a new person in your company? If yes, ensure you know precisely what skills and abilities they should possess.
A good job description begins with a thorough understanding of the position. Before you consider posting an ad or reviewing a resume, you should know the job’s qualifications, obligations, and hard and soft talents.
Make it simple for applicants to submit job applications.
Every recruiter should make it as simple as possible for individuals to identify and apply for your open positions. When filling out job applications, candidates expect a quick and user-friendly experience.
According to this study, candidates typically spend a few hours preparing and completing a single job application.
People are busy, and nobody likes their time wasted by spending a lot of time finding how to apply for a job hidden behind a complicated application process.
Here are some tips on how to make it easy for people to apply to your job:
- Your website career page must be easy to find.
- Offering LinkedIn applications, if possible, is always considered a plus.
- Send confirmation emails or texts once the application has been received.
- Try to give complete and exact information about how long will be the entire process.
Create clear and detailed job descriptions.
The job description is the first thing people see when they are looking for a job at your company. The first step in discovering, attracting, and recruiting the appropriate individual is to write a job description that interests candidates.
Job descriptions should be concise and precise descriptions of the tasks and responsibilities. Nobody likes a massive list of your prerequisites.
The income range, bonuses, other benefits, and your business values are also things that you should consider adding to your job description.
The hiring procedure is transparent in the job application.
Knowing what they’re getting into might help applicants overcome self-doubt, nervousness, and perplexity. They will feel less pressured and more appreciated by your organization.
Setting expectations regarding the hiring process is critical to providing a great candidate experience. The majority candidates believe that setting expectations regarding the recruiting process will considerably improve their overall experience.
It would be best if you spelled out how your hiring process will work. Did you spell out the operations of the application procedure? How much time will each step take? Is there somebody they can talk to about it? Provide resources and advice to candidates.
Maintain communication with candidates at all stages of the hiring process.
The hiring process can be highly stressful. It’s easy to believe that once a candidate accepts your offer, it’s signed, sealed, and delivered.
Candidates expect both quick and authentic contact. Not reaching out to candidates and expecting them to wait for days to hear back about their recruitment process is never a good idea.
Candidates are dissatisfied with a lack of communication and stale automated emails. As a result, recruiters must address these concerns as soon as possible.
More than half of candidates say that employers never give notice of the decision made on their application. The ones that receive notifications say that it takes one month or more.
Not communicating with the company after approval can be alarming and cause second thoughts. Ensure that the candidate has a positive experience until they start their first day at your organization.
Inform candidates about what to expect during interviews.
The most common source of candidate worry is a lack of knowledge about your organization.
A quick and straightforward answer will help calm at least some nerves: describe the essentials of your hiring procedure in the job description.
It’s natural to be afraid to discuss the facts with your applicants if they arrive over-rehearsed. This can be prevented if you only offer the most basic information. Share only the essential stages, so they know what to expect if they succeed in each phase. Provide information about the number of interviews, how they should prepare, and so on.
By managing expectations, you will naturally provide a better applicant experience.
Keep track of potential prospects for future job openings.
It’s essential to keep a database of suitable candidates that might fit within your company in the future. One of the top tips of our hiring manager cheatsheet is to keep records of past candidates that strike interest.
Remember to notify rejected candidates that they will be contacted when a position matching their skills is open. Keeping track of potential prospects will also save you some time in the initial screening of new people.
Bonus: be approachable to the candidate for feedback.
Consider feedback as a means to improve all of your contacts with your candidates.
Give prospects a chance to interact with you in a productive conversation, whether you want input on your job application, resume screening, interviewing process, or give feedback to candidates, especially if they’ve been rejected. The problem is that hundreds of consumers will link rejection with your brand each year.
In any case, please give them a cause to appreciate your organization. Provide open, sensitive criticism on why the candidate was unsuitable for the post and how they could improve.
