Candidate experience

3 Reasons You Should Help Job Seekers Up Their Game

Today, the candidate experience is becoming one of the hottest topics in recruiting. Data is pouring in that proves not paying attention to the hiring process can cost your company thousands of dollars. This Fast Company articles shows how a lame hiring process could cost you customers too.

Part of improving the candidate experience lies in a recruiter’s ability to help talent. Even if they don’t get the job with your company, can you at least help candidates feel more confident in their abilities to find new, better positions? The answer is “yes” – and it starts with you putting on your career coaching cap.

3 benefits for coaching candidates

I know what you’re thinking, “J.T., I’m already busy enough, I don’t have time to coach candidates. Especially, the ones we aren’t hiring.” Let me share why making the time could make your job easier:

1. You may not want to hire them today, but you could need them tomorrow.

Just because they weren’t the right candidate for the role, doesn’t mean they may not fit another position that comes available down the line. Keeping a pool of talent on stand-by means nurturing those relationships so they’ll take your call when the time comes.

2. They have friends who have the skill sets you need.

Your next hire could be a candidate’s best friend, former colleague, sibling, etc. The way you treat a candidate determines how likely they are to recommend you as an employer to someone they know. Which leads to this…

3. They have access to social media…and can use it against you.

Sites like Glassdoor.com enable candidates to rate the interview experience. Additionally, unhappy candidates will vent their frustrations on sites like Facebook to friends and family, ultimately spreading a negative reputation about you as a potential employer.

For these reasons, it makes sense to consider ways you could offer some career coaching to every candidate you meet. Now, for the good news….

How you can coach candidates

Most of the time, candidates don’t do as well as they could in the interview process because of one of two reasons:

  1. They don’t know enough about your company and its culture.
  2. They didn’t perform well in the interview process.

Both of these can be improved upon by guiding a candidate to resources that can help them better prepare. Here are three things you can do to address this:

1. Encourage them to follow your company on social media.

When talent monitors your company’s conversations online, they can learn a lot about the culture, new initiatives, etc. They might even be able to strike up an online conversation with employees who could help them navigate the hiring process more effectively.

2. Point them to free resources that teach them how to market themselves better.

When you curate content from career resources you trust and share it with candidates by email or on social media, you can give them an education on how they can do a better job of attracting and impressing recruiters like you. [i.e. This new course on Lynda.com, “Making Recruiters Come To You,” is free to job seekers and maps out step-by-step how they can connect better with you.]

3. Offer guidelines on how they can stay in touch with you.

Manage your candidates’ expectations by telling them how frequently they can check in with you about future opportunities. And, don’t forget to tell them the best way to contact you too. (i.e. email vs. phone, etc.) Besides making them feel better about not being chosen, providing guidelines on how you’d like to stay in touch ensures they don’t inundate you with inquiries. It also lets you see if they take direction well.

Failing to career coach talent is a missed opportunity. It not only enhances the reputation of your company’s employer brand, it also impacts your own personal recruiter brand. The best recruiters have built a reputation for being experts in their field. They also know that giving candidates a V.I.P. experience in the form of career coaching offers an excellent ROI. Loyal candidates who like referring top talent to you will be your reward!

*Image from Remember the Titans

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