Measuring your candidate experience is all about knowing what candidates say about you and your hiring process from start to finish. That is, from the first pageview on your ad until the applicant receives either a rejection-letter or an offer.
Getting the best possible data increases your chances of catching strengths and weaknesses throughout every step in your talent acquisition process.
Negative feedback can be hard to handle, but necessary to pick up as soon as possible to avoid more. Rather than finding a bad review with 13,000 views on Glassdoor 4 months later, it's better that feedback comes to you directly. Reversing a bad image can be a tall order.
Setting up a good measurement system takes time and can be very complex. But there are great tools out there that can help you simplify the task. Remember to enable for both quantitative feedback (net promoter score) and qualitative (open text or in-person discussions).
It's crucial to minimize the number of questions and keep them relevant to get good responses throughout the hiring process.
In terms of timing, it makes sense to ask candidates for feedback as they exit the process and not in every step. Save important overall questions for candidates that make it through to the end and not annoy them with too many feedback requests along the way. Applicants that are screened before the interview step are a better choice when asking about the applicant page.
Keep in mind that bias is directly correlated to the applicant's success in the process. Rejected applicants often paint a more negative picture whereas offered and hired candidates often dress up the process to delight.
What you should look for is actionable data. Data that says something meaningful about specific details in your hiring and interview process.
Responses in line with:
"The interview process sucked" and "The best recruitment process I've ever been in"
can generally be excluded from the results if a describing motivation is lacking.
A week or two after receiving the rejection is generally a good time to ask for feedback. The disappointment of not making it to the next step has decreased from a presumably high level.
Still, don't expect to have a high response rate since there is no real incentive for rejects to respond.
To get good response rates, it can be a good idea to inform about the evaluation during the hiring process and how much it means to you to get feedback.
A good place to start when setting up a measuring system is to frame your recruitment funnel. Most likely, your process looks something similar to this:
From there you can start planning what tools you will use to measure and what questions you want answers to in each step. As soon as you start seeing some figures roll in it's time to start optimizing every step to build a well-oiled talent acquisition machine. Keep improving even minor details in your hiring process. Many small things combined form a great overall talent experience.
For more info on measuring steps in the recruitment funnel, check out this video:
Before we go into best practices for every step, we can't stress enough the importance of providing excluded talent with a notification about their termination.
Tools Needed
A Web analytics platform
Pure metrics are very important and best measured with a traditional web analytics tool such as Google Analytics or similar.
A good feedback tool
Onsite and email. The most valuable insights can't be found in pure metrics. Try looking for an answer to 'why' in order to inform your companys' brand strategy and external communication.
Session recording software
See how talent move throughout your career pages to get insights on how to improve them. Use a tool like Hotjar here.
Social media monitor
Understanding what is being said about you on social media can make all the difference. Use HootSuite or similar.
Now, let's dive into what you should look out for in every step.
Your career page is all about selling your company and to get people to apply or share it with friends. An important piece of the puzzle that deserves close attention.
So, is it easy to navigate? Does it have a clear CTA? Are all links working? Is the form intuitive?
Key metrics:
Unique visitors
How many are finding their way to your page? A direct effect of how successful you are in marketing your job ads, promoting your company culture and employer brand.
Application Abandon-Rate
How many start filling out an application to later abandon it? If the numbers are high you might have a too complicated form.
Conversions
Applications sent.
Conversion Rate
Of all visitors to your page, how many are actually sending in their application?
Referring Domain
Where are people coming from and how are they finding your page?
Key Insights:
Visitor Persona Demographics
What kind of people are we attracting to your page and why?
It's important to understand all aspects of the application process to make the process as streamlined for the candidate as possible. On the other hand, if you have many applications, you'll need a process that supports you in the first screening.
Depending on the scale of your recruitment, you'll need to make a compromise between a fast process and not reaching candidates with limited time.
Key metrics:
Total Number
of Applications
Time to Apply
From start to send
Qualified Applications
How many received applications are actually qualified according to the requirements?
Key insights:
Applicant Persona
What kind of talent are applying and why?
Application Page Impression
What's the overall impression of the page?
Reason Behind Application
What's driving the person to send the application?
Referring Person or Company
Are people within your organization referring their contacts or not? If not, that's a bad sign.
Key metrics:
Number of
Candidates qualified for offer
Key insights:
Job description
How well-formulated are the job ads?
Recruiter professionality level
How well do the recruiters reflect the company image? Are they well prepared for the interviews? Do they ask relevant questions?
Communication
How well do we communicate where we are in the process?
Feedback
Did we provide the candidate with good feedback?
Offered candidates should have a strong urge to join the company. Information regarding perks and benefits as well as cultural aspects and direct responsibilities should be well communicated and anchored to avoid early exits.
Key insights:
Benefits
How well do we promote our company benefits?
Culture
Is the candidate familiar with the culture and how can we be sure if he or she is a fit?
Responsibilities
Is the candidate fully informed of what responsibilities the position entails?
Here's your opportunity to collect valuable feedback on the entire process up until the start of the onboarding process. Make sure you take it.
Key insights:
Overall
How is the process experienced as a whole? (promoter score)
Referrals
What is the likelihood of applying again and/or referring others to apply?
Matched Expectations
Did the job description match the actual job? (A few weeks in)
The latest advancements in artificial intelligence, machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) technology have already started to manifest into a great set of tools for boosting the candidate experience.
In a perfect world, you would call or speak in person with everyone who's been part of your hiring process. But that is extremely time-damnding and seldom feasable.
Mundane tasks as answering common questions, keeping the candidates informed, screening resumes and even conducting the initial interview are being outsourced to AI-powered solutions that not only save you time and money, but more imporantly, makes sure all applicants in your process are threated like kings.
Get your inspiration and learn more in this great post covering everything you should know about AI recruitment
