Many of you responded to our recent article entitled How Can We Improve Millennials’ Candidate and Employee Experiences? A key point in particular struck a nerve with several HR managers who agreed with us about the importance of talent experiences, particularly the candidate experience.

“In HR, we often think of driving employee engagement before creating employee experiences. In this article, we’d like you to reconsider the cause and effect relationship between the two. It is actually better employee experiences that drive engagement. Our focus, therefore, must be on redefining the experiences our candidates and employees have…”

Many of the employers we work with conduct employee surveys, in part to determine which talent experiences need modernizing, and which changes are likely to have the greatest impact on talent engagement and retention. Time after time, they tell us the candidate experience needs to be aligned with the changing and rightful expectations of applicants. It’s not just for the candidates’ sake either; a good experience has positive implications for your reputation as an employer and a brand. From the online application through the interviews, and through the communications that follow the “You’re hired” call, the experience must be improved. The time has come for most companies who have put off this project to re-envision and improve the candidate experience.

Here are nine ideas to contemplate as you consider revamping your process:

1. Hire only to fill real positions: The subject of pipelining is worth discussing internally and we have heard valid arguments for it. One goes something like this: “As long as we’re transparent, pipelining is a way to ensure that the timing for both employee and employer ultimately works out. To do that properly, we need to continuously engage with prospective candidates.” It’s the execution of the transparent part that often fails. True upfront transparency would result in an instant loss of interest for most candidates, so many companies use small print in the job postings and application that many applicants never see. The time has come to abandon this practice, which just contributes to the widespread belief that online job applications are a black hole.

2. Use a skills gap analysis to plan ahead: Many companies use pipelining in lieu of a more conscientious skills gap analysis that would enable hiring in advance of urgent needs. This process, which also aids training and succession planning, should be undertaken whenever there are spikes in poor employee performance reviews, needs for new skills, changes in positional duties, corporate strategy shifts, new technologies being deployed, and organizational problems with meeting business objectives. We have provided a quick guide to performing a skills gap analysis to get you started.

3. Set clear hiring needs and process expectations in the job posting or application: If your position requires a certain level of education, prerequisite skills, or certifications, these should all be clearly indicated in the job description. Non-qualified applicants need the opportunity to remove themselves from a process that would waste their time and result in a poor impression of the candidate experience. Pipelining often occurs in tandem with streamlining position requirements, as companies do it to build a reserve of resumes, so this is another reason to abandon that practice. In addition, we recommend using the job posting or the beginning of the application process to inform candidates about your hiring process, projected timeline, expected decision and communication dates, assessments, and rounds of interviews, as well as interview formats that will be involved. 

4. Streamline the hiring process: If there are avoidable time and communication lags in your hiring process, these should be removed. The fastest possible time from initial job posting to hire date usually results in the highest quality pool of applicants. You may get more applicants by posting a position and collecting resumes for two months, but the candidate experience will be poor for those who applied early. If some of your best candidates have to wait longer than four or five days for a response, the attrition, loss of interest, and frustration are not worth the benefit of increasing the number of resumes. 

5. Automate communications: If you receive high volumes of applicants and you do not have an automated process for communicating where each candidate is in the process, you risk alienating applicants who may be potential future employees, or even customers. Software is available to automate the process, and this is changing candidate expectations of employers. Three years ago, you could get away with not communicating expectations, steps, decisions, and next steps with every candidate. Today, a lack of communication has a profoundly negative impact on the candidate experience. Start with an automated confirmation email that gets sent immediately following the completion of an application and a rejection email (within two days) to candidates that don’t make it through your keyword filters. Note: One exception to this rule is candidate thank you and follow-up notes. If humanly possible, acknowledge these correspondences with personalized responses. 

6. Provide the name of the hiring manager: Your best candidates want to do thorough research before their interviews, so withholding the hiring manager’s name prevents them from doing so. It also suggests to candidates that they are not on the top of your list, which reduces their interest and engagement in the process. Providing the hiring manager’s name allows candidates to research them on LinkedIn and learn more about the organizational structure and other leaders, as well as growth opportunities that may be available. Candidates who can take a name and use it as a catalyst for thorough research are worth your consideration, so we recommend affording them the opportunity to demonstrate their worth. 

7. Make your application short and mobile-friendly: Just a few years ago, the strategy behind creating longer applications was to weed out candidates who weren’t truly interested. Today, long applications also weed out selective and talented candidates who are interested in employers who show due respect for their abilities. Keep in mind, many of these candidates (especially Millennials) use tablets and smartphones to apply. Shorter applications are easier to fill out on these devices. 

8. Avoid asking for unnecessary information: The longer the application, the more attrition results, including a disproportionate amount of your best candidates who are already gainfully employed. Salary history is a great example of this. Today’s best candidates have read enough about the employment process, including What NOT to Say About Your Salary History, that they know it would hurt them in negotiations to provide this information. Requesting salary histories also tends to perpetuate the gender pay gap. 

9. Keep communicating after the hire: One of the most common poor candidate experiences is also one of the most preventable. Once a candidate is hired, communications between the hire and start dates are essential to that person’s feelings about his or her new employer. Yet many companies still send a letter making the job offer official and providing the start date and instructions for reporting to HR. Today’s candidates expect a phone call from the hiring manager and friendly written communications from the company about what to expect in the first few days, and in the onboarding and training processes. 

The candidate experience is fast becoming a top priority for many of DFW’s largest and best employers. Improvements in this area can improve the quality of your talent as well as your employer reputation and corporate brand.