How To Streamline Your Candidate Journey

Finding an employee that not only creates value but also fits into your company is quite a challenge. However, that’s not to say it’s impossible to do so. In fact, you can attract and select the right candidate by improving your candidate journey.

Let’s see what it consists of and how to streamline it to find the perfect candidate every time you’re hiring someone new.

Candidate Journey Explained

The best way to think about the candidate journey is to compare it to a customer buying any product or service.

For example, before making a purchase, an individual will first think about what they’re intending to buy and whether they need it. They’ll research the brand in question, read online reviews, and ultimately, make a purchasing decision.

The same applies to a typical procedure the candidate goes through when they’re on a job hunt. They’ll first look at job listings, research the company, and then decide if they want to work for that particular company based on their experience during the hiring process.

In general, the candidate journey is everything the candidate goes through when looking for a job. It starts long before they even send in their application, consisting of several touchpoints:

• Viewing job listings
• Visiting your company’s career page
• Visiting your social media pages
• Thinking of previous interactions they had if they were a customer
• Talking to company representatives
• Sending an online job application
• Reviewing pre/post-application emails
• Receiving feedback about their application

This makes it easy to visualize how the process should look in real life.

Improving Your Candidate Journey

All of the steps outlined above play a key role in the candidates’ decision to apply for a position in your company. As such, you must ensure that each touchpoint is overwhelmingly positive for them. 

Here’s what you should try:

1. Make the process candidate-centric

To avoid alienating quality hires, you need to shift to a candidate-centric approach. In other words, all of the touchpoints need to address the needs of your candidates and improve the overall experience.

Yet, this doesn’t only make it easier to pick the right applicant but also allows you to build long-term relationships with individuals you don’t end up hiring. 

To do this, you’ll have to redesign your current recruiting approach by making them all about the needs of your applicants. This includes the application process, information provided to potential hires, as well as seemingly minute aspects like interview scheduling.

Take a bird’s eye view of your application process, for example. It should be engaging, short, and provide candidates with a realistic insight into the nature of their new job.

2. Work on your branding

Building and maintaining a strong employer brand is an integral part of a streamlined candidate journey. The reason why is quite simple - it starts long before they apply for a job. 

In a sense, the way applicants perceive your company has a huge impact on if they’re willing to apply. Making a positive first impression is the biggest step in attracting the right kind of candidates. 

As such, you should take a closer look at each touchpoint that a potential prospect may come across. This could be anything from your website or your social media pages to online reviews. Make sure that what they see has enough potential to turn them into someone willing to work at your company.

3. Identify the needs of your applicants

Have you considered what your clients are looking for? Well, this is one of the more direct ways you can enhance your candidate journey. 

You need to ask yourself what information could help potential candidates engage with your organization.

In a basic sense, most employees are looking for security, healthcare, flexibility, and a sense that their work matters. If you find a way to answer these needs at the very beginning of the candidate journey, the entirety of it will be easier for all parties involved.

4. Create a visual representation of your ideal candidate journey

What makes simplifying this process a lot easier is plotting out the exact steps applicants will take when interacting with your company. 

For instance, you could use charts to visualize the touchpoints a potential candidate may be hitting at every step of the way. More importantly, it will help you see clearly which factors may have a significant impact on the behavior of the applicant. 

5. Test out your application process

You’ll never know if your application process is effective unless you test it out. Go through it and note down any bottlenecks.

For example, candidates may not be able to apply on mobile or maybe you accept only one document format. This can all turn away candidates and significantly sour their experience with your company.

One thing you could try first is minimizing the time required to apply. Try removing any unnecessary fields in your application form. Once you have that down, you can go from there and optimize your application process until it’s completely efficient.

6. Give candidates a taste of the working experience

Candidates need to gain an opportunity to imagine what it’s like to work in your company. 

Even though a job description goes a long way in describing the position, it’s not great at presenting the true reality of day-to-day work experience. 

For instance, you can try realistic job previews which present honest information about the little details of the role. Another option is virtual job tryouts which help paint the picture  of what it’s really like to fill a particular position.

7. Be truthful

You can cause a world of trouble if you break any promises. This could be anything from making a decision, disrespecting the timeline of the candidate's journey, or even not returning an email. 

When you consider the power of online information, this is not just a one-time thing. Every scorned candidate will most likely air their frustration online, which could potentially reflect negatively on your future hiring endeavors.

So if you can, keep every promise you make for every candidate.

The greatest candidate journey starts with a single step

Hiring is complicated - there’s no way around it. Nonetheless, it’s still something you can directly influence by shifting the entire process toward fulfilling the needs of your candidates. 

This is especially important today when most employees require more to be satisfied. In a lot of ways, your clients are interviewing you too. So, it’s your job to see to it that your company lives up to their expectations and encourages them to join it.