5 critical gaps in the candidate journey.

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June 26, 2021

How do you usually hire for a role? The chances are that you’ll spend a lot of time mapping out the specific skillset and job title you’re looking for, and negotiating with the wider business to decide on an appropriate package. You probably spend less time thinking about what happens in between.

That’s an issue. The candidate journey through your hiring process is just as important as the customer journey through your product. The product itself might be brilliant – but it’ll fail without thoughtful, well-designed and user-focused CX. The same is true for your recruitment. Engaging candidates correctly and consistently from their very first interaction with your business – and throughout the hiring process – can significantly improve your stickiness.

Here are the five most common mistakes you might be making.

Selling the package instead of the vision

Most people move jobs for emotional reasons; they want career development, or to work for a company that shares their values. Very few care about money and benefits most.

But it’s still how a lot of businesses sell their jobs – if they sell at all. Neglecting to share the vision is a huge mistake especially in tech roles. Developers, architects and project managers are in high demand. They can do their job anywhere. Why should they do it for you? A couple of extra days’ holiday and a pool table won’t cut it.

Using unqualified interviewers

Poor interviewers forget that their job is not to find fault with potential hires. They ask pointless questions or worse, slip into Simon Cowell-style bully mode. It puts candidates off.

There’s no one right way to run interviews, but there are a lot of wrong ways. Does your hiring team have any skills in interviewing? Do they know how to conduct one properly, and are they thinking about the candidate perspective at all? If the answer to any of these is no, you can wave goodbye to your hiring plan. 

Failing to prepare for interviews

Be honest – how much time do you spend prepping for interviews? Do you have a clear idea of what questions are most important to ask, what a good answer to them is, and how to tease the best out of candidates?

Do you spend time reading their profile and CV, and tailoring the interview around them? Or do you scan it on the way to the meeting and wing the rest? Sending interviewers in without a solid, strategic approach to the process is the best way to disengage a candidate. It wastes your time and theirs.

Not engaging well with talent partners

If you’re using a staffing agency to find candidates, you need to equip them to do the job well. Engage them properly and communicate regularly. Giving them a one-page overview of the job description and leaving them to it won’t work.

A lot of people are sceptical of external recruiters, and it’s not hard to understand why. But if that’s the case, don’t work with them. A good talent partner will be able to work autonomously, and to deliver great results – but it needs to be a two-way street. By managing them badly, you’re setting them (and yourself) up to fail.

Delaying feedback

Nobody’s ever felt more engaged and excited about a position after a company’s taken weeks to get back to them. The markets are busy: treating talent mean will not keep them keen.

There’s no good reason for stalling, or being overcautious about giving feedback. Make candidates wait, and they’ll just move on to your competitors. It’s not a risk you can afford to take.

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