Why it’s time for employers and recruiters to build a more candidate-friendly recruitment process

In 2022, having a straightforward recruitment process that accommodates the needs of candidates is a must. Long gone are the times of making applicants leap through hoops to qualify to work for your company. Recruitment is a two-way process and employers should aim to make it as simple, accessible, and convenient as possible for a candidate to apply for a job.

On average, there are seven candidate touchpoints during the hiring process. These are seven opportunities to impress your candidates and similarly as many to disappoint them. A single unpleasant experience of your hiring process can cause a candidate to deny your offer, or worse, spread the word among friends and colleagues about their poor experience. This can directly hamper your company’s reputation even more severely than negative reviews.

So, how can you ensure your recruitment process is accommodating of candidates’ needs? Here are six measures you can take:

Create a streamlined recruitment process

The way a company handles its recruitment process can clearly give candidates an idea of how the organisation manages its business processes. If the candidate experiences an unpleasant time during the process, there’s a high chance they might turn down the offer. This is why companies need to ensure that the skillsets of the potential candidate are well defined and align with the organisational goals. Gone are the days when only job seekers would be scrutinised during the hiring process. Employers are slowly realising that candidates, too, leverage this opportunity to understand the company and determine whether it’s the place they would want to work for.

Build a mobile-optimised application process

Approximately 3.5 billion people own smartphones worldwide. This high level of smartphone ownership has a significant impact on the job search process. Candidates of today do not want to indulge in processes that demand desktops, laptops, or even printers. While desktop applications may seem more flexible or convenient on the recruiter’s part, candidates are most likely to hunt for jobs on their mobile devices. This means, employers must consider offering a mobile-optimised application process, which makes it easy and accessible for the talent to apply for a job at your company.

Involve sign language interpreters in recruitment and employment guidance

Several organisations world-over are employing specially-abled individuals and giving them equal opportunities in the workplace. In an effort to fulfil this objective seamlessly, it is also important that companies make the initial process, that is recruitment, hassle-free, by providing candidates who have hearing impairment with options of either interpreting through a live video relay or an in-person service. This not only helps facilitate communication between the recruitment managers and candidates but also presents an inclusive workplace culture.

Monitor and train your interviewers

Employers can no longer afford to be short-sighted with hiring. It’s time the business managers and recruitment team work unitedly and conduct occasional training sessions that help understand not only how to be compliant but also how to make the entire interview process a pleasant experience for the candidate. Too many times interviewers use 55 out of 60 minutes to ask their questions, without giving due consideration to the candidate. This can give the impression that the hiring process is all about the company. If candidates’ needs aren’t being heard during the interview process, it’s less likely that this would change when they are an employee.

Ghosting candidates is a big no-no!

Are your interviewers on vacation because it’s the holiday season or summer break? Did your hiring manager take an impromptu leave on a pre-scheduled day? Is your first round of interviews taking longer than you assumed? Whether or not you have an interest in hiring a candidate, recruiters shouldn’t leave them wondering of the result for more than a week. Employers need to be transparent, proactive, and reasonable and try to avoid citing their competitors as a reason for their rejection. When the hiring staff is honest, kind, and professional, the candidates will have nothing to hold against the company.

Put focus on employee benefits

In today’s job market, a generous benefits package is needed for attracting and retaining top talent. While some employers reveal details of the employee benefits program upon a successful background check, the ideal time is during the interview process itself. The companies that truly offer some unique perks must point it out, without essentially assuming that the candidate would recognise the features of the benefits program. Whether it’s a health insurance policy with 100% coverage to bi-yearly bonuses, retirement plans to paid vacations, or corporate discounts to tuition reimbursements, the onus is on recruiting managers to call those things out.

Developing a candidate-focused recruiting strategy will put your organisation in a position to attract high-quality and more qualified candidates than expected. By focusing on the needs of job seekers, you show applicants that your company values them as individuals. This, in turn, will encourage top talent to come work for you.