Category: Candidate Experience

Removing Barriers to Employment for the Long-Term Unemployed

Posted on by epadmin

With record low unemployment rates in the U.S., the UK and other leading economies, recruiters seeking to attract talent may assume that everyone who wants a job already has one.

However, this not the case, even in the strongest job markets. In the United States, the long-term unemployed are defined as those who have been out of work for 27 weeks or more and are searching for work. In May 2018, when the jobs report numbers were so good that reporters ran out of words to describe it, nearly 1.2 million individuals had been out of work and seeking employment for more than six months. The long-term unemployed made up 19.6 percent of all unemployed Americans and May was the first month that this percentage fell below 20 percent since the Great Recession.


During an economic downturn, the primary cause of long-term unemployment is simple: there are not enough jobs to employ those who want them. With the robust job growth over the last year, the ranks of the long-term unemployed in the U.S. have fallen by one third. During times of economic growth, causes of extended joblessness can often directly be addressed and remedied by employers.

Minding the Resume Gap


Imagine being a qualified job candidate who has been unemployed for nearly a year. After months of disappointment, a job comes along that looks like a perfect match. The candidate is excited to fill out the online job application, but when they reach the job history section, they see: “Please provide the start and end dates for all of your jobs. If there is a gap of more than six months, please provide an explanation.” These types of questions related to job history can be used (or perceived to be used) as a way to disqualify candidates.


The Deloitte Handbook A Guide to Recruiting and Hiring the Long-Term Unemployed recommends removing filters and screening procedures that ask for dates of last or current employment and automatically eliminate unemployed and long-term unemployed applicants. It also recommends confirming that Applicant Tracking Systems do not screen out resumes based on employment status.

Avoid Date Limits on Valuing Experience


A candidate who has been unemployed for an extended period may possess years of valuable experience and required job skills. It is important for employers to consider whether their recruitment process gives undue weight to recent expertise over cumulative experience gained over the lifespan of a career. Recruitment processes should also be checked for any potential bias against older applicants. An OECD study found that incidence of long-term unemployment increases with age throughout many developed economies.

Addressing the Jobs Skills Gap


A lack of in-demand skills can be a cause of long-term unemployment. There are many resources for those with extended joblessness to receive training in marketable skills. Employers can build relationships with these agencies as part of their recruitment program to target the long-term unemployed. In the UK, skills training can be included as a standard benefit offered to the long-term unemployed. In Australia, the government offers programs which include training for young people and others who either have or risk having long periods of unemployment. Job training services are also provided by Canadian provinces and by state and local governments in the United States.


There are numerous local initiatives in which businesses combine with non-profit agencies to provide skills in an effort to fight all levels of unemployment. Employers can work closely with these agencies to source available talent (often at reduced sourcing costs) and even partner with them as part of their community engagement efforts.

Reaching the Hard to Reach Talent


Individuals without strong job seeking skills can have their period of unemployment unnecessarily extended. For example, the process of finding a job 15 years ago was completely different from today. Reaching candidates whose experience and skills may add tremendous value to your organization requires specialized expertise in sourcing that may not be readily available in many human resources departments. Several leading employers have turned to Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) companies to successfully attract and recruit hard to reach talent.

Worth the Effort


For many companies, the incentive to attract the long-term unemployed may be to meet a need to recruit the last pool of available talent in a tight labor market. However, hiring those with extended unemployment can potentially be a valuable tool in retaining talent, which is critical in today’s economy. The Deloitte handbook cites a White House study that found that companies that hire the long-term unemployed experience higher retention rates and greater workforce loyalty. Given the potential for talent attraction and retention, employers who remove barriers for the long-term unemployed may gain an unexpected competitive edge in an increasingly challenging market.

Changing Workforce Demographics: Aging Talent

Posted on by epadmin

An Aging Workforce in an Aging World

For the first time in history, the majority of people on earth will live to 60 years of age and beyond. This is true in high, medium and low-income nations. People are not only living longer, but they are working longer. In the U.S., 23 percent of workers are aged 55 and older. Over one-third of Canadians over the age of 55 are still working and in the UK, workers over 50 comprise 27% of the workforce. In Australia, labor force participation, (those working or actively looking for work), for those 55 and older has never been higher. The demographic shift towards an aging workforce brings both unprecedented opportunities and challenges for organizations that want to attract and retain talent.

A Talent Ticking Time Bomb?

The Deloitte 2018 Global Human Capital Trends Study notes that “population aging poses a workforce dilemma for both economies and organizations. Thirteen countries are expected to have ‘super-aged’ populations—where more than one in five people is 65 or older—by 2020, up from just three in 2014. These include major economies such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, and South Korea. China’s 65-and-older population is projected to more than triple from approximately 100 million in 2005 to over 329 million in 2050. In fact, analysts have estimated that 60 percent of the world’s population over 65 will live in Asia by 2030.”

The study notes that almost all developed economies have a birthrate below the “replacement rate,” or the rate of babies born that will ultimately replace previous generations, leading to a potentially catastrophic talent shortage. Citing the example of Japan, now the world’s oldest country in terms of population, a shortage of approximately 1 million workers in 2015 and 2016 is estimated to have cost the economy $90 billion.

To bolster its declining talent pool, Japan changed its laws so that descendants of Japanese citizens living abroad would be attracted by newly available long-stay visas and work permits. It had particular success in attracting workers from Brazil with as many as 320,000 Brazilians of Japanese descent working in Japan ten years ago, although that number has decreased in recent years. China also faces a steep plunge in its working population in the coming years and has made it easier for those of Chinese descent to live and work there.

Despite these developments in Asia, addressing a workforce shortfall through immigration appears to be an increasingly remote option for many advanced economies. A recent article in the Economist explains that the trend in many countries has been to place increased barriers to foreign talent. For organizations seeking to successfully navigate this demographic reality, success may depend on leveraging the talent of an older workforce, mentoring, succession planning and redefining the concept of retirement from work.

Older Workers as Outperformers

There is evidence that older workers have an edge on their younger colleagues regarding work performance. A study conducted by a management professor at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business concluded that older workers often out-perform their younger colleagues, stating “when it comes to actual job performance…older employees soundly thrash their younger colleagues…every aspect of job performance gets better as we age…I thought the picture might be more mixed, but it isn’t.”

Creative solutions which include accommodating the needs of older workers can help utilize their talent and positively impact a corporation overall. The Economist cites an example from BMW:

“When BMW, the German car maker, faced an outflow of workers it applied an adaptive approach for older workers with great success:…facing an imminent outflow of experienced workers, [it] set up an experimental older-workers’ assembly line. Ergonomic tweaks, such as lining floors with wood, better footwear and rotating workers between jobs, boosted productivity by 7%, equaling that of younger workers. Absenteeism fell below the factory’s average. Several of these adjustments turned out to benefit all employees and are now applied throughout the company.”

Employer Brand Ambassadors and Mentors

Older workers, especially those with significant tenure in an organization and industry, can serve a critical role in its talent lifecycle. Older employees can become employer brand ambassadors by effectively sharing their success stories with prospective candidates as part of an organization’s recruitment marketing messaging. Older employees can be mentors for new workers being onboarded that not only teach necessary skills but also help acclimate a new employee to the organization’s corporate culture. If a company’s workforce is reflective of the economy as a whole, then it should plan to see an exit of at least one-fifth of its employees due to retirement in the next ten years. These older workers form a natural base for a mentorship program which can play an essential role in succession planning.

Redefining Retirement Age

The days when turning 65 meant the end of working life appear long gone. Some workers past the traditional age of retirement have no choice but to continue working due to a lack of savings. Others choose to keep working, on a full or part-time basis, or as consultants. Companies will also have to compete with the trend towards entrepreneurship for talent 65 and over because this age group is more likely than any other to be self-employed.

Having the Competitive Advantage

What does an aging workforce mean for the overall talent strategy of your organization? Does your organization have the necessary insight into the challenges and opportunities that an aging workforce presents? If not, this expertise can be provided by recruitment experts such as a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) company. Whether your strategy is developed in-house or with a partner such as an RPO, the current tight job market drives the need to build a talent program that integrates the reality of this important workforce demographic. As the Deloitte study concludes “The demographic math is undeniable: As national populations age, challenges related to engaging and managing the older workforce will intensify. Companies that ignore or resist them may not only incur reputational damage and possible liabilities but also risk falling behind those organizations that succeed in turning longevity into a competitive advantage.”

Rural Healthcare: How to Recruit and Attract Clinical Talent in Rural Areas

Posted on by epadmin

Healthcare providers in rural areas face unique obstacles when it comes to recruiting and retaining clinical talent. The growing shortage of nurses and physicians coupled with declining rural populations makes it more challenging than ever for rural healthcare organizations to attract physicians, nurses and other specialized clinical professionals. In this post, we cover the healthcare recruitment challenges faced by rural healthcare organizations and actionable advice on how to overcome them with smart talent acquisition strategies.

Rural Healthcare Challenges

Modern Healthcare reports that 77% of rural counties in America are experiencing shortages of primary care physicians, and the number of surgeons practicing in rural counties has decreased by 21%. What’s more, the Council of State Governments reports that more than 60% of areas experiencing nursing shortages are located in rural regions. Recruiting and retaining clinical professionals in these underserved rural communities remains a significant challenge for states and county governments and healthcare organizations. Economic, educational, professional and cultural dynamics affect the clinical talent shortages in rural areas including the following factors:

  • Many universities and institutions of higher learning are located in more urban regions, limiting rural healthcare organizations recent graduate talent pool.
  • Access to professional development and education programs may be limited in rural areas which can discourage candidates looking to further their career training and education.
  • Candidates with experience working in urban areas may not be prepared for or willing to adapt to the culture and lifestyle changes inherent with living in rural communities.
  • Rural healthcare organizations may not have enough opportunities for career advancement within the organization.
  • Rural healthcare organizations often face understaffing leading to increased workloads, extended shifts and less scheduling flexibility.
  • Urban healthcare organizations may be able to offer more competitive salaries, benefits and better working conditions.
  • Rural communities may offer fewer career opportunities for spouses and children of candidates.

Recruiting Strategies for Rural Healthcare Organizations

To overcome healthcare recruiting challenges, rural healthcare organizations need to employ various strategies focused on attracting and retaining clinical talent. Below, we list four approaches rural healthcare organizations can utilize to source, hire and retain clinical talent.

Dig Deeper

How RPO Can Solve The Top Challenges In Healthcare Talent Acquisition

Download Free Ebook Or Contact an Expert Today

Recruit Foreign-Born Talent

Rural healthcare providers should not limit their talent search locally. Federal programs like Conrad State 30 allow a state’s health department to request J-1 Visa waivers for a maximum of 30 foreign-born physicians per year. For foreign-born physicians to be accepted into the program, they must agree to work in a Health Professional Shortage Area or Medically Underserved Area. Healthcare organizations located in one of these federally designated areas can reach out to their state’s health department and request J-1 Visa recipients be sent to their facility if they display sufficient need.

Non-immigrant H-1B Visas can also be used to fill clinical employment gaps for rural healthcare organizations. H-1B Visas are employer-sponsored and are reserved for “specialty occupations,” including medical doctors, nurses and physical therapists. H-1B visas are issued for three years and can be extended to six years depending on circumstance.

While exact H-1B Visa requirements vary by state and each state is given some flexibility in determining program rules, all of the following are required by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services:

  • The recipient must have a full-time contract for employment as a direct care healthcare worker in a region designated as a Health Professional Shortage Area, Medically Underserved Area or a Medically Underserved Population.
  • A firm commitment from an international medical graduate to begin employment within 90-days of receiving a visa waiver.
  • Three years of employment, specifically in H-1B temporary worker status, with the sponsoring employer.
  • A no-objection letter from the visa recipient’s home country if the talent exchange was subsidized by the home government.

Offer Recent Graduates Loan-Repayment Assistance    

According to Debt.org, more than 76% of medical school graduates exit school with average $189,000, in student loan debt. What’s more, 47% of graduates owed $200,000 loans and 13% owed more than $300,000. Rural healthcare organizations can attract these young clinical professionals by offering loan repayment programs and incentives. If a rural healthcare organization is unable to afford its a loan repayment program, there are multiple state and federal programs designated to assist rural healthcare organizations. Below, we list three long-standing federally subsidized loan repayment incentive programs:

Maintain a Steady Candidate Pipeline

The healthcare talent shortage has placed a premium on clinical healthcare workers. Rural healthcare organizations have to reconcile the fact that some of their talent may be lured away by offers from competitors in more attractive locations. To stay ahead of talent attrition, rural healthcare organizations need to build and maintain a verdant candidate pipeline. Below we share strategies on how to build and cultivate relationships with potential candidates:

  • Healthcare organizations should position themselves as rural training sites for medical students, primary care residents, nurses and other clinical roles looking to experience healthcare in a rural setting.
  • Staff members should be encouraged to network and cultivate a rapport with potential candidates at medical conferences, professional development workshops, networking events and trade shows.
  • Recruit traveling nurses, physicians and locum tenens clinical professionals who may also be on the lookout for permanent practice opportunities.
  • Recruiters for rural healthcare organizations should be provided with subscriptions to candidate sourcing services and encouraged to reach out to candidates who have experience working in rural healthcare.

Sell the Community to Candidates

Many candidates may have preconceived notions regarding rural communities — and not all of them positive. To assuage a candidate’s doubts about working and living in a rural setting, it is important for healthcare organizations to highlight the strengths and positive attributes of their community. Recruiters can point to the lower cost of living in the community and how that can make the compensation packages more attractive. Elements of a community’s culture such as recreational and leisure activities, natural beauty, festivals, fairs, the arts scene, spiritual and religious institutions and a community’s character may make the position more attractive once highlighted. Additional factors such as the community being a good place to raise children, an opportunity for more professional independence and the chance to offer more personable patient care are all positives that can be presented to interested candidates.

Conclusion

For rural healthcare organizations facing recruiting and retention challenges, employing some of the approaches and strategies outlined in this blog will help attract vital clinical talent. Improved talent acquisition, in turn, will enhance the quality of care rural healthcare organizations provide to their communities.

How to Use Pre-Employment Assessments and Testing in Healthcare Recruiting

Posted on by epadmin

From resumes to references and cover letters, healthcare organizations have multiple sources of information to learn about the skills and competencies of a potential hire. Even with this information, it can be hard to get to know candidates throughout the hiring process. Healthcare HR professionals can use pre-employment testing to more accurately ascertain the strengths, weaknesses and overall suitability of a candidate. In this post, we cover the basics of pre-employment assessments and ways healthcare recruitment teams can leverage them to make better healthcare hiring decisions.

What is Pre-employment Testing and Assessment?

A pre-employment assessment is a method used by an employer to evaluate a candidate’s skills, intellect, personality and other traits. Recruitment process outsourcing providers, healthcare hiring managers and recruiters are all relying more heavily on data-driven talent management practices. According to a survey conducted by the American Management Association (AMA), the use of pre-employment assessments is growing steadily. The AMA’s study revealed the following:

  • 70% of employers conduct job skill testing at some point during the hiring process
  • 46% of employers conduct personality or psychological assessments of job candidates
  • 41% of employers test candidates for literacy and math aptitude

Assessments can provide valuable information on a candidate’s ability to successfully execute their duties in the workplace. Below we list the three popular types of pre-employment assessments and their functions:

Dig Deeper

How RPO Can Solve The Top Challenges In Healthcare Talent Acquisition

Download Free Ebook Or Contact an Expert Today

Pre-employment aptitude tests

According to a study conducted by LinkedIn, the most important traits employers seek in candidates are problem-solving skills and the ability to learn new concepts. These traits are hard to measure based solely on a review of a candidate’s resume or during an interview. An aptitude test is used to measure a candidate’s critical thinking, problem-solving skills and ability to learn and apply new information.

Pre-employment personality tests

A personality test seeks to answer the following questions for organizations: Will the candidate be happy in this position? Does the candidate possess the behavioral traits and attributes needed for success in this role? Dissimilar from an aptitude test, there are no right or wrong answers to the questions on personality tests. Measuring behavioral traits can help healthcare organizations predict job fit by determining if a candidate’s behavioral tendencies line up well with an organization’s culture and the demands of the position.

Pre-employment skills tests

Skills tests are designed to measure job-related skills, including skills from verbal, math and communication abilities, to typing and computer literacy. Many skills tests in healthcare are designed to measure more specific medical-related skills such as medical terminology, patient safety practices or other knowledge unique to the healthcare work environment.

The Value of Pre-Employment Testing and Pre-Employment Screening in Healthcare

Pre-employment assessment tests offer wide-ranging benefits from streamlining the recruiting process to strengthening a healthcare organization’s capabilities by increasing the chance that a new hire will be effective in their role.

A study conducted by Gallup concluded that companies that selected the top 20% of applicants based on talent assessments increased productivity by 10% and decreased turnover by 10%. Below, we list five of the most significant benefits a healthcare organization may experience after implementing pre-employment testing.

1. Lowering employee turnover

Employee turnover is a major issue for many healthcare organizations. The costs of turnover can be significant. Pre-employment assessments can help healthcare recruiters increase employee retention by making sure that new employees possess the basic skills required for the job along with the appropriate personality, or character, to feel comfortable working with a particular healthcare organization or medical environment. These factors may decrease the chances of candidates being let go for poor performance or failure to successfully complete training, as well as the likelihood that employees will quit of their own volition.

2. Reducing time spent on screening candidates

According to Recruiter.com, recruiters spent 63% of their workweek on the phone screening candidates. By requiring that candidates take pre-employment testing earlier in the recruiting process, healthcare organizations can quickly filter out candidates who do not possess the minimum skills or traits desired by hiring managers, which frees up time for recruiters to speak with more qualified candidates.

Moreover, setting minimum cutoff scores for certain assessments can narrow down the number of candidates selected for a phone or in-person interviews. Reducing the time dedicated to the screening process can drastically reduce the overall time to hire candidates.

3. Identifying prospective leaders

According to a survey conducted by the American College of Healthcare Executives, more than half of respondents agreed with the statement: “In general, over the last five years, my firm’s healthcare clients have changed the requirements for skills, knowledge or credentials needed by members of their senior leadership teams.” Respondents most often named emotional intelligence, ability to influence rather than direct, strategic thinking, collaboration and critical thinking as the skills most desired in healthcare leadership.

Pre-employment screening presents an opportunity to identify candidates who possess the potential to ascend to leadership roles by testing candidates on the leadership qualities they value most. Hiring healthcare workers who possess leadership potential can help healthcare organizations source harder-to-fill leadership positions internally in the future.

4. Building successful teams

Quality patient care is at the core of successful clinical hiring. To provide quality care, a healthcare organization’s staff needs to work towards the shared mission of caring for and serving patients with dignity, empathy and respect. This sense of common purpose begins with building effective teams within a healthcare organization.

Pre-employment assessments such as personality tests can be used to measure the behavioral traits not only central to job performance, but also to a candidate’s ability to work within a team structure. On personality tests, there are no right or wrong answers; however, the answers can provide healthcare organizations with insights into whether a candidate will fit in with their team and the organization’s overall culture. Traits such as strong interpersonal skills, good communication skills and high levels of empathy can all indicate that a candidate works well with others and can provide patients with quality care.

5. Recognizing strengths and weaknesses

From soft skills such as bedside manner to hard skills like technical proficiency, a properly administered pre-employment testing can uncover a healthcare applicant’s professional strengths and weaknesses. Identifying strengths and weaknesses using assessments can help HR professionals by:

  • Identifying candidates with high levels of initiative and strong work ethic
  • Screening out candidates who may be unreliable
  • Reducing the potential of hiring the wrong candidates and wasting resources on training
  • Helping HR leaders develop training programs for current employees based on insights gleaned from the strengths and weaknesses of candidates

By utilizing pre-employment screening and assessments, healthcare organizations can better understand where a candidate will excel, which of their skills may need nurturing or training and if they are well-suited for the roles they are applying to.

Conclusion

By utilizing pre-employment assessments tests, healthcare organizations can employ a less biased and more efficient method of hiring candidates. Furthermore, the data provided by pre-employment assessments can better inform hiring managers and recruiters of the skills and traits possessed by applicants and can be used to better position job descriptions and optimize training procedures. If you would like to learn more about pre-employment screening technology, check out PeopleScout’s proprietary recruiting technology platform, Affinix and check out other great strategies for healthcare recruiting including healthcare RPO.

How to Improve Your Candidate Experience

Posted on by epadmin

Candidate experience is becoming a popular topic of discussion in the talent acquisition and recruiting community—with good reason. According to a CareerBuilder survey, 78 percent of candidates say the overall candidate experience they receive is an indicator of how a company values its staff. What’s more, the same survey found that 86 percent of job seekers believe employers should treat candidates with the same respect as current employees.

The results of CareerBuilder’s survey illustrate that the lines between the candidate and employee experience are blurring, making it critical for organizations to strengthen their candidate experience. In this post, we outline the importance of improving the experience of your candidates and how organizations can streamline the hiring process.

What is the Candidate Experience, and Why Does it Matter?

In order to build a strong candidate experience, it is important to understand what is and why it matters.

So, what is the candidate experience?

The candidate experience is the sequence of interactions a job candidate has with an organization throughout the recruiting and hiring process. These interactions can include correspondence that a candidate receives from an organization’s HR department, recruiters and its software systems.

Common candidate experience touch points include:

  • An organization’s career site
  • Job advertisements
  • The online job application process
  • Any communication from an applicant tracking system
  • An organization’s interview process
  • Any correspondence with HR professionals, team members or leadership
  • Notifications about a candidate’s application status
  • Candidate rejection letter or job offer

What is a positive candidate experience?

According to Talent Board’s CandE Research Report, candidates rated “communication” as the number one way to engage talent. So, organizations looking to craft a positive candidate experience should communicate clearly and honestly with job seekers to create the type of candidate experience they value.

A positive candidate experience meets the following standards:

  • Communicates realistic expectations for the job and work environment
  • Clearly communicates an organization’s employee value proposition
  • Outlines all of the employment details to candidates upfront
  • Provides an easy and mobile-friendly application process
  • Respects a candidate’s time at all stages of the application process
  • Provides a pleasant and smooth interview experience
  • Seamlessly transitions selected job applicants into new employees
  • Maintains a kind and respectful process for rejecting job applicants

What are the Benefits of Improving Candidate Experience?

Improving candidate experience not only benefits candidates and job seekers, but it can also have a positive impact on an organization’s workforce. Below, we outline three ways a strong candidate experience improves the overall talent acquisition process.

Improve applicant retention  

According to research conducted by Indeed, applications with 45 or more screener questions lose 88.7 percent of their potential applicants to application abandonment. Improving the candidate experience often begins with refining the application process. A short and streamlined job application process will increase the likelihood of job seekers finishing job applications, thereby increasing an organization’s applicant pool.

Create a better first impression

Research from labor economists Lawrence Katz and Alan Krueger suggests a growing interest in joining the gig economy. The number of Americans working these “gigs” has risen from 10.1 percent a decade ago to 15.8 percent in 2015. Nearly 40 percent of workers in these jobs have a bachelor’s degree or higher. This means that organizations are not only in a battle with competitors for skilled talent but also with the candidates who may want to work for themselves.

To win the war for talent, organizations need to see the experience of candidates as more than just a part of the recruiting process; it is also a sales tool that can help win over top talent. A job application is often the first interaction a candidate has with an organization. So, making a great first impression on top talent with a superior candidate experience will help organizations differentiate themselves and stand out as great places to work.

Increase brand awareness

The candidate experience affects more than just job applicants; it also plays a significant role in how consumers view an organization as a whole. If an organization offers an exceptional experience, candidates are more likely to share the experience with colleagues and write about it online. What’s more, a survey conducted by Software Advice found that 71 percent of candidates are more likely to purchase from a company they feel treated them well throughout the recruiting process.

How Technology Can Help Improve the Candidate Experience

Technology continues to shape the way job seekers search for work and how organizations find and hire qualified talent. The rise of social and professional networking sites, mobile devices, job boards and online applicant systems means that creating a meaningful candidate experience often begins with crafting a technology-first approach. Below we list three ways in which organizations can use technology to improve their candidate experience.

Offer a mobile-friendly candidate experience

Research conducted by Indeed found that 78 percent of Millennials, 73 percent of Generation Xers and 57 percent of baby boomers conduct job searches from their mobile devices. This means that organizations looking to improve their candidate experience should look to create a mobile-friendly recruiting environment for job seekers. Organizations should make sure that their career website and other resources candidates may need while applying for job openings are mobile-friendly.

Affinix™, PeopleScout’s proprietary talent technology, is designed as a mobile-first platform for both candidates and recruiters, ensuring seamless engagement from any mobile device at any time throughout the application, scheduling and screening process.

Quick questions to ask yourself to improve the mobile the experience for candidates:

  • Is career-related text and content easily readable on mobile devices?
  • Are job pages optimized for better visibility in mobile search?
  • Is navigation of the career site and job application simple on mobile devices?
  • Will candidates have to go through trial and error to complete applications on mobile devices?

Clear Communication

Establishing timely and clear communication between candidates and recruiters is essential for developing a positive candidate experience. However, many candidates are left without feedback or status updates on their application. In fact, a Talent Board report found that 47 percent of candidates were still waiting to hear back from employers more than two months after they applied.

The right technology platform can help by sending automated messages to candidates via email or chatbot technology letting them know their application status. You can even craft messages letting a candidate know if they did not get the job. While missing out on a job is never pleasant, receiving prompt feedback communicates to a candidate that their application and time were respected.

Social Recruitment Marketing

Enhancing the candidate experience also means reaching candidates where they are. According to Social Talent’s 2016 Global Recruiting Survey, 37 percent of survey respondents said that social media is the primary source of finding candidates. This shift towards a digital hiring model has seen the traditional résumé be displaced by the online footprint of candidates which showcases their skills and experiences.

PeopleScout’s Affinix platform can help organizations reach digitally native candidates with customized ads, optimized job descriptions, personalized landing pages, career portals and recruitment marketing that elevates job postings with robust content and campaign management.

Conclusion

Learning from past mistakes and successes is essential to improving the experiences of your candidates. While there is no such thing as a perfect hiring process, learning and evolving processes and procedures will improve an organization’s ability to attract great talent and retain the strongest workers.

Does your Candidate Experience Meet Candidate Expectations?

Posted on by epadmin

Candidate expectations are transforming, and in today’s tight talent landscape, organizations need to keep up or risk being left behind. To succeed, employers need to understand what these new candidate expectations are, where they come from and how to meet them.

A Transforming Workforce

Millennials have been the largest generation in the workforce since 2015, according to the Pew Research Center. They are disrupting traditional work environments. To attract the best millennial workers, companies have relaxed dress codes, redesigned offices and offered flexible work hours. However, for many employers, the application and hiring process has been left behind.

It’s not just millennials changing the way we work. As a society, we’re more connected than ever before. According to Pew, 77 percent of U.S. adults own smartphones they can use to communicate, shop and apply for jobs. Unfortunately, many organizations still have applications that haven’t adapted and require as much as an hour of sitting at a computer.

High Stakes

An outdated or poorly designed application process can have real business consequences. In late 2017, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to lows the country hadn’t seen in 17 years. Candidates have a lot more choice when it comes to applying for and taking new jobs. As employers compete for the best candidates, those organizations with poor candidate experiences will miss out on the best talent.

However, the impact goes far beyond that. In the 2016 Talent Board North American Research Report, research shows that candidate experience is a part of an organization’s employment brand, which affects the perception of their overall brand. Talent Board reports that 41 percent of candidates who have a negative candidate experience will take their alliances, product purchases and relationships somewhere else. Additionally, 64 percent of candidates who have a positive experience say they’ll increase their relationship with that brand.

In this connected world, candidates are also likely to share their negative experiences with their networks on social media. This is perhaps the worst outcome for many organizations because not only do they miss out on that candidate, other potential candidates will be discouraged from applying. Because everything can live forever on the internet, posts sharing negative experiences can remain visible even after an organization has worked to improve their candidate experience.

Candidates Expect: Mobile First

We live in a mobile world. According to Pew, 77 percent of Americans own smartphones. That’s even higher than the percentage of people who use social media, which is 69 percent. Consumers use their smartphones to get directions, shop, pay for goods and services and more. Increasingly, candidates are using smartphones as a part of their job search. In fact, a growing number of candidates expect to be able to apply from their mobile phones.

According to Pew, 28 percent of Americans have used their phone as a part of their job search. That number jumps to 53 percent for adults ages 18- to 29-years-old. Half of those have used their smartphones to fill out a job application. However, many organizations still have application processes that are difficult to navigate on a mobile device. A survey by Indeed showed that 78 percent of people would apply on their mobile devices if the process was better.

It’s up to organizations to make the process better and meet those expectations for a mobile-first application process. While it is still difficult to create and design a traditional resume on a mobile device, other job search tools, like LinkedIn, work seamlessly on smartphones. To make an application process mobile friendly, organizations need to think outside the outdated application process.

Candidates Expect: A Fast Process

Speaking of that long application form, it fails to meet another major candidate expectation. Candidates want a fast and easy application process. According to the Talent Board report, the application process is still one of the most challenging areas in the candidate’s journey, and candidates want to “understand the questions they are being asked and have the opportunity to share their skills and experience.” In fact, a quick Google search for “the worst part about applying for jobs,” turns up article after article lamenting the process of uploading a resume and then entering work history and education information into an application.

If an application process is too long or too complicated, candidates will abandon the process. According to Indeed, applications with 45 or more questions have an abandonment rate of nearly 90 percent. In this tight talent market, that leaves a huge chance that an organization will miss out on the best candidate for the job just because of the long application process.

Candidates Expect: Personalization

As a consumer, when you go online, it can feel like everything is personalized for you. The ads on social media and websites are based on your online shopping and web browsing habits. Your email is filled with promotions and deals from companies offering exactly what you’re looking for. However, the candidate experience lags behind.

Personalization is important, – in one survey, researchers found that 87 percent of people said personally relevant content improves how they feel about a brand. In a job search, that can mean a lot of different things. If a candidate opts-in to a talent community, it can mean sending them open positions that are actually a fit with their skills and goals. If a candidate has already applied for a position with an organization, it can mean prepopulating a new application with the information they’ve already provided. As the Talent Board survey points out, it can also mean providing a personalized portal where a candidate can track the status of their application.

Personalization is really just another form of communication. It’s communicating to the candidate that an organization recognizes and remembers them and that the organization sees them as an individual – not just a resume.

Tech to the Rescue

Implementing an application process that meets all of these candidate requirements doesn’t have to be difficult. There are many technology solutions available that can help build a fast, simple, personalized, mobile-first application process.

Organizations should look for tools that take advantage of artificial intelligence and machine learning to build a good candidate experience. AI and machine learning technology can streamline the process for candidates and provide personalization to reflect a strong employer brand. AI can also source active and passive candidates within seconds.

Video interviews and digital assessments are other important tools. Many positions require skills assessments, but they don’t need to be a part of the initial application process. By using a tool with video interviews and digital assessments, organizations can speed up the hiring process because candidates can accomplish these on their own time.

It’s also important to have secure tools that tie in with your organization’s applicant tracking systems and vendor management systems. That way the tool will work seamlessly for candidates and recruiters and hiring managers.

To meet these candidate expectations and help our clients stay ahead of the shifts in the talent landscape, PeopleScout developed Affinix. Affinix is a mobile-first, cloud-based platform that creates a consumer-like candidate experience and streamlines the sourcing process. Embedded within PeopleScout’s talent solutions, Affinix delivers speed and scalability while leveraging artificial intelligence, recruitment marketing, machine learning, predictive analytics and other emerging technology with one point ATS and VMS integration and single sign-on.

How well does your candidate experience measure up? Schedule a candidate experience evaluation today!