The Candidate journey is changing...

In today’s recruitment market – for both employers and recruiters – the candidate journey is a hot topic. With so much technology available to candidates, who, after all, are used to the ‘buying’ process from retailers, their expectations of the recruitment process have changed dramatically. 

Ghosting
Just like buying a product if the recruitment process doesn’t meet their expectations they will drop out and not complete the transaction…

The Process
The typical recruitment process comprises four parts:

  • finding and attracting candidates
  • engaging with the candidates
  • qualifying the candidates
  • interviewing and selecting the candidates. 

All of these components have changed for the candidate in recent years but, sadly, not all recruiters and hiring managers have realised this!

Information Overload
As a candidate we have busy and hectic lives, being bombarded all day and every day with information across our chosen media and devices.

Consequently, we demand that all the services and technologies we use are as smooth and simple as possible to navigate. If not, we switch off. We also expect companies, who are selling to us, to communicate with us on our preferred media and in the way we want to be communicated to. 

This can be very challenging for the recruiter and hiring manager since finding and attracting candidates can take place across very complex and wide ranging channels.

Checking you out
Perhaps the biggest change in the candidate journey is the point at which we now engage with them ie: have a discussion by email, phone or face to face about the role. 

Instead of that contact being made shortly after the process starts, candidates will now ‘check out’ you, your company, the client, the job and the industry before wishing to have any engagement with you. 

If their expectations are not met at any of these points then for them, it is over.

Your Brand
So, this means that your website, LinkedIn profile, Twitter feed, Facebook page, blogs and any other media that you use (for both you, your company and the client) need to be active, up to date and reflect the expectations of the candidate otherwise they will not respond and its game over.

Challenging? Certainly, but really no different to how we buy goods and services in todays’ connected world. We just need to realise that and align ourselves to the candidate…