Building a Great Candidate Experience Will Help Your Employer Brand
Over the last few decades the balance of power has switched from brands to consumers. Most products can be purchased from different companies online or offline. The internet has provided consumers with endless means to research a product and a company before they make a purchasing decision. This has resulted in companies dedicating huge resources to building their brand image to differentiate themselves from the competition.
Building a Great Candidate Experience Will Help Your Employer Brand
Jeremy Bourhis
Over the last few decades the balance of power has switched from brands to consumers. Most products can be purchased from different companies online or offline. The internet has provided consumers with endless means to research a product and a company before they make a purchasing decision. This has resulted in companies dedicating huge resources to building their brand image to differentiate themselves from the competition.
We are observing a similar trend in the recruiting process. Qualified candidates are highly prized prospects for companies. The ability to acquire and retain talent is often the difference between a successful business and one unable to grow.
Don’t take our word for it though – according to the 2016 MRINetwork Recruiter Sentiment Study, 86% of recruiters feel that the market is candidate-driven. To give you some perspective, only 54% of recruiters held that opinion back in 2011. And that’s because employers’ top concern is that they are unable to find enough suitable candidates to fill open positions.
This has resulted in heightened competition among companies to attract qualified candidates. Some even refer to it as the ‘war on talent’. Companies now must promote not only the position they’re hiring for, but also their culture, employee development plans, and even opportunities for career progression.
All these elements contribute to what is known as the ‘employer brand’ – a company’s reputation as an employer. The same way as the general corporate brand rests on the value proposition to customers, the employer brand is built around the value proposition to the present and future employees.
A strong employer brand can be the difference between making the hire that takes your company to the next level of its growth and missing out on a candidate.
According to Glassdoor, about 69% of job seekers said they would decline a job offer from an employer with a bad reputation – even if they were unemployed. However, the same percentage are likely to apply to a job if the employer actively manages its employer brand.
Let’s look at some more numbers on the importance of building up an employer brand from a recent Linkedin study:
- 72% of recruiting leaders worldwide agreed that employer brand has a significant impact on hiring
- 75% of job seekers consider an employer’s brand before even applying for a job
- Employers with strong employment brands see a 43% decrease in cost per hire
- 55% of recruiting leaders worldwide have a proactive employer brand strategy
According to the same study a positive employer brand also allows recruiters to reap huge benefits when it comes to filling vacancies:
- 28% reduction in the organization’s turnover
- 50% cost-per-hire reduction
- 50% more qualified applicants
- 1 to 2-time faster time to hire
Building a great employer brand starts from the first contact a business has with a prospective employee. It begins when candidates send their application. A positive first impression can help a business attract more talent than its competition.
The time hiring managers spend going through CVs and scheduling interviews often means that unsuccessful candidates will not hear back following their application. It’s not a nice feeling and will discourage any future application.
80% of applicants say they would be discouraged to consider other relevant vacancies at a company that failed to notify them of their application status. Yet, they would be 3.5 times more likely to re-apply to a company if they were notified.
The interview process can often feel like a black hole, so much so that 60% of candidates have already quit an application during that process because of the time or difficulty of arranging an interview. That’s not going to help companies fill positions quicker.
Spurned candidates might also take to social media to voice their discontent which will only further damage the brand of an employer.
So how exactly can you build up your employer brand by improving the candidate experience during the recruiting process?
Here is a hint: when it comes to communicating with candidates, scheduling interviews and hiring faster, Calendar Sync can help.
At Cronofy we provide HR Tech vendors with the tools to streamline interview scheduling, and improve the experience for both candidates and hiring managers. A good candidate experience will translate into a candidate having a positive opinion of a company as an employer even if they didn’t end up getting the position. If the hiring managers have more time to focus on other tasks they will also be able to communicate with the candidates in a timely manner.
