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In this tight labor market, companies cannot afford to lose qualified people during the hiring process, but that is what happens often when companies deliver a poor candidate experience.

A bad candidate experience not only affects the company’s ability to find and retain good people, it affects the bottom line as well. Almost two-thirds of job seekers will turn down a job offer because of a bad candidate experience, and the same fraction said they would probably not buy any products or services offered by the company as well, according to research. Almost three-fourths of those surveyed said they shared the details of their bad experience with others.

There are three primary causes for a bad candidate experience.

1. Lack of communication
For example, three-fourths of job candidates never get a response from employers after submitting application materials. This is a simple thing that can be easily corrected. There are email templates available for companies to use, as well as applicant tracking systems to make the process more efficient. But most importantly, companies need to communicate with job applicants at every stage of the hiring process.

2. An inefficient hiring process
For example, research has shown that 60 percent of all job applicants never finish filling out applications because they are too long or too complex.

Companies need to look at their application process to make sure that it is user friendly and that job candidates have different options for applying, such as sending a resume and cover letter electronically or through social media profiles.

3. Poor interviewing practices
Another survey has found that more than 80 percent of job candidates change their mind about a company because of a bad interview experience.

This often happens when the hiring manager is unprepared or lacks experience in interviewing. He or she may be unsure about how to conduct the interview or what questions to ask or not even have looked at the candidate’s resume beforehand. Other problems arise when no one is there to greet the candidate when he or she arrives, or the candidate is kept waiting for a long time before the interview, or preparations for the interview were made in a slapdash manner.

Preparation is key. The interviewer needs to have questions prepared and a clear knowledge of what skills, knowledge and experience he is looking for.

If your company is looking or qualified people, Winston Resources can help you. We will work with your company to understand your needs and deliver candidates who can meet those needs. Give us a call today.


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