Ideas to improve the Pre-Recruitment Employee Experience – Perception is not always the Reality!
Combining the Employer and Employee experience to get the best results, defining what the #Employee Experience really is and how this can improve the recruitment and hiring process as well as potentially drive overall performance once onboard!
In these unprecedented times of Covid-19 it is even more vital, now more than ever, for this process to be a positive and memorable one. As one of our client’s employees “Amy P” recently told us:
“I strongly believe that future job candidates will ask companies how they dealt with Covid-19, as it certainly says a lot about an employer!”
Another one of Finders’ recent example of the “Pre-Recruitment Employee Experience” is for one of our placed candidates “Oliver E”, whose start date was pushed back twice by the employer due to the pandemic. The employer and Finders maintaining the candidate’s trust, enthusiasm and commitment to join during that unsettling period – this was done by combining good and regular communication, an honest but realistic approach as well as the Recruiter at Finders being very available as the intermediary to keep the situation on track.
“Companies often forget about their most important asset – their employees”. As Sir Richard Branson rightly said. Even in times of today where companies are struggling to retain all their current work force, let alone onboard new ones, this statement is very telling and will continue to be so.
Getting this right from the get go as part of the searching, screening and evaluation phase is key in our view – read on to see how and why!
First things first …..
Once a real hiring need has been determined and a clear and enticing job description been compiled, clients can offer sourced candidates an initial, virtual assessment and a shortened screening time, thereby making efficient use of time and resources, helping to manage expectations. Responding to candidates and creating that good first impression as well as having mobile-friendly application tools is obvious, as well as strong employer brand. Whilst we must not forget the benefits of an in-person interview, virtual meetings are an efficient way of doing the first round. Some companies still insist on a final physical meeting, whilst others are now actually doing the entire interview process on-line (saving on significant travel costs and during this time of ban on most travel).
What will come next will be how to continue this into the interviewing and hiring process….
With a short list of screened and assessed candidates ready for “meeting”, a clear line of communication and a regular one is key. We see time and again how clients who do this, going that extra mile, really send a memorable and lasting impression to candidates, whether or not they end up getting the job.
Looking deeper at this, whilst it is important and goes without saying that the candidates should themselves be the ones to leave a positive and lasting impression, some ideas for busy employers to do the same can be quite simple! Some examples of this are to prepare properly for the interview, have the up to date CV of the candidate to hand, be on time for the meeting and not stressed, to show interest in the candidate and to give an informative overview of the company in question, its services and culture, answering questions as honestly as possible. Other ideas after the series of interviews (and at each interview stage) can be to keep candidates motivated by some sort of communication, giving as much notice as possible for the next interview round, to let them down gently and give constructive feedback if they are not finally selected for the next interview round or eventual hiring.
Expanding further on this topic, the #LinkedIn article link below gives valuable insights that go deeper and interestingly 65% of candidates say a bad interview experience makes them lose interest in the job. At final stage interview, it is surprising in a way to see that a small majority of candidates put “an office visit” ahead of “meeting the hiring manager” in order to learn more about company culture.
In Summary
Recruitment Consultant
Whilst the #Employee Experience is not “new”, an “improved” experience that is a strategic initiative “treating potential employees as customers” aims to go beyond making the interviewing and hiring process more enjoyable and memorable. By designing and delivering an experience that is aligned to your desired culture, will inevitably lead to having engaged the best talent and we will look later in our Blog series about how to engage and retain them!