For most job hunters, the New Year marks a new start, the opportunity for a ‘better’ life and potentially even a new job – you’d be silly not to take advantage of this. Whether your 2018 recruitment strategy is cemented, or you’re only just beginning to review the last year’s progress, take a look at these pointers to ensure your candidate experience is at the top of its game for January and beyond.
Know your audience
One way to boost your candidate experience this year is by walking in their shoes. We’ve all been job hunters at some point, so when you’re considering your hiring process for 2018, make sure that applicant experience is at the forefront of your agenda.
Did you know that 22.9% of UK job hunters rate dealing with recruiters as a reason for feeling stressed when looking for work? Part of this comes down to too much focus on fulfilling the company’s needs and not enough attention towards the process from the applicant’s point of view.
It’s worth role-playing the hiring process with a team member to ensure every stage is tailored appropriately. You’re more likely to keep a candidate engaged throughout if you know where the hiccups lie.
Write clear job descriptions
Writing a killer job description is the first step to enticing the right candidates and filling your vacancies. With unemployment at a record low, you’ll need to pull out all the stops and attract the calibre of candidates that you require.
When writing your descriptions, make sure you cover the basics. You should introduce the company, outline the responsibilities, talk about the benefits and round off with specifying the skill and level you’re looking for. Also, don’t forget to make the location and salary prominent to ensure the applicants are suitable. Otherwise, you may be wasting your time further down the application process.
Embrace a mobile world
Around a third of job hunters use a job search app to look for a job. Are you doing enough to ensure candidates can browse and apply to your latest vacancies whilst on the go?
When devising your 2018 recruitment strategy, take some time to consider the platforms you’re using to post your vacancies on and ensure that they are fully mobile responsive. CV-Library’s research revealed that 73.4% of candidates would abandon a job application if the site or app was too slow or tricky to use.
Don’t risk missing out on the talent you need because your website is behind the times.
Ensure your communication is on point
It’s vital that you keep your candidates in the loop throughout the recruitment process. Much like you wouldn’t appreciate being ghosted by a candidate, candidates also rely on consistent and clear communications. Not only does this improve brand loyalty, but it will also optimise candidate engagement levels.
Check in with your candidate regularly and be as honest as you can at all times to ensure a smoother journey for both parties.
Get ready for AI
As AI continues to develop within the recruitment-sphere, there’s plenty of discussion as to whether the bots will enhance candidate experience.
Most experts agree that AI will be a game-changer for the better. For one, it may finally kill the CV black hole as chatbots provide real-time application status updates. It may also be able to help you with your initial screening efforts as candidates interact with bots to ask questions and schedule interviews.
Even if you’re not ready to use AI yet, ensure you address this component in your 2018 recruitment strategy, or you may fail to catch up when it really matters.
Laura Slingo is Digital Copywriter for the UK’s leading independent job board, CV-Library. For more expert advice on making a great hire, job market insights and workplace trends, visit their Recruiter Blog.
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