I’ve attended 2 excellent recruiting conferences recently: TheLadders’ JobMobile Summit and LinkedIn’s TalentConnect.
At both, I heard smart, passionate, caring recruiters and executives talk about how important it is for companies to get recruiting right – to identify, cultivate, attract, develop, and retain the talent they need to reach their goals.
I was inspired! I wanted to go work at all of those companies because I felt like they really cared about me and all of their other potential candidates – who we are, how to engage us, and how to connect our strengths and passions to the business needs.
Why is it, then, that for the vast majority of jobseekers, the candidate experience is demoralizing, frustrating, confidence-sapping, and unpleasant?
There’s a big disconnect between what companies think they are doing and what most candidates are experiencing.
I suggest that companies start with simple courtesy – acknowledge an application, return a phone call, follow up when you say you’re going to. You might not be a rock-star company recruiting rock-star candidates, but you can do a lot of little things that will make the process better for candidates and great for your brand image.