Think about your talent strategy. Are candidates raving about their experience? In the not-too-distant past, it would have been unheard of even to ask that question. But now, employers — and their talent teams — are held to much higher standards. According to Talent Board, the number of candidates who report a great candidate experience is on the decline. So how do you wow modern candidates? We’ve put together 5 top strategies. Let’s take a look.

Take a Page from Marketing’s Playbook

Candidates used to spend hours scrolling through job sites in search of their next career move, while talent teams responded to the ones who actually applied. But more and more, employees are building a relationship with an employer brand for weeks, months, or in some cases even years before deciding to apply. This is how marketing works, too. Rather than responding to prospects who show interest, marketing teams create content, events, and other strategies that generate interest. Talent teams can use the same principles to attract candidates who want to find out more about a potential employer in a low-pressure way. With functions like text-to-apply, conversational AI answers candidates’ FAQs, helps them find a job that matches their skills, and guides them through a seamless process — on their timetable. What if the candidate isn’t ready to move forward? The same software makes it easy to keep in touch in the long-term. So when that perfect role opens up at just the right time, it’s a match made in heaven.

Give Candidates the Gift of Structure

Nearly half of candidates turn down a job offer due to a poor candidate experience. What makes the other half stay? According to the North American Candidate Experience Research Report, structure and consistency across hiring stages is a top driver. Sure, candidates want to interact with a kind face and a human voice at some point in the journey. But a hassle-free experience and quick responses to questions are just as important. So how can you ensure candidates feel valued and respected for spending their time with your company? Structured interviews provide interview automation tools with job-related competencies, interview questions, templates, and evaluation guides for any job role at any level. With tools like HireVue Builder, interviewers:

are better prepared for interviewers
make better first impressions on candidates
make higher quality hiring decisions
rely less on personal bias, and more on interview data

What’s more, candidates can rest assured they’re being asked questions relevant to their skills, not just the school they went to.

Give Interview Options

Flexibility has topped the list of job requirements for most candidates over the last few years, and it’s not changing anytime soon. And with 43% of workers saying they’re more productive in flexible jobs, many employers are trying to figure out how to accommodate them. How do you integrate flexibility into your hiring process? One word — options. On-demand video interviews allow candidates to show off their skills when it’s most convenient for them, whether that’s at noon or at midnight. These recorded interviews cut out travel time and expenses, ease scheduling burdens for working parents, and make managing time zones a piece of cake. Plus, by extending the same interview format to each candidate, implicit biases often found in in-person interviews gets drastically reduced. What’s more, flexibility in interviews signals something very important to candidates — that they’ll enjoy the same flexibility as an employee, too.

Empower Candidates to Self-Schedule

There’s nothing that bogs down a hiring funnel more than days of back-and-forth emails and calendar tetris — just to get an interview on the calendar. And with the average time to fill a position hovering around 42 days, it should be no surprise that candidates get frustrated and leave the process altogether. How can you give candidates a faster, more streamlined experience? Let them control how and when they schedule their interviews. No more slow, back and forth emails. No more calendar changes, just to try to find the right time. Now candidates can schedule — or reschedule — all within a matter of minutes. Automated interview scheduling removes scheduling delays and gives recruiters more time to focus on candidates, not calendars. Most importantly, it reduces the number of candidates who drop out of the hiring process, giving you a better chance at hiring the right people.

Use Skills Tests for Better Screening

In a recent study, 75% of hiring managers agreed that workers are lacking important skills to get the job done. Why? 1) The skills organizations need are changing, and 2) traditional data used in hiring decisions (i.e. education and work experience) do not always signal skill level. To address the gap, modern talent leaders have started analyzing open roles based on the specific skills needed to get the job done. Assessments like HireVue’s skills testing software identifies critical competencies that align with the role, regardless of the candidate’s degree or the name of their last employer. Not only does this help teams make better hiring decisions, it also gives candidates the opportunity to demonstrate the skills listed on their resume and ultimately succeed within the organization.

Make Your Hiring Strategy People-Focused

Yes, it’s the people that matter. And in today’s tech-driven world, candidates expect more from you. Better communication, faster hiring, flexible options, and easy processes. Meet your candidates where they are with full-service hiring technology that makes your job easier and gives candidates the experience they are looking for. At HireVue, we offer a hiring platform that will get your candidates from A to Z quickly and seamlessly. Automate every step of your process on one platform so you can move the needle on your biggest hiring challenges. Ready to see HireVue in action? Schedule a demo today.

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