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Candidate Expectations Report

Customer stories: Agreena

Use Case: Interview Scheduling

Bamboo HR webinar October 2023

Cronofy

Adam Bird

In-depth webinar focusing on the insights from the Cronofy Candidate Expectations Report

BambooHR        

Erica Wallace

Webinar in partnership with BambooHR focusing candidate expectations

Introduction 0:00

Adam Bird 1:15
Well it looks like quite a few people have joined us now. So let's kick this off. So welcome, everyone. So my name is Adam bird, CEO Co Founder of Cronofy, we are a scheduling technology provider, the partner with bamboo. And part of what we're doing is we do an annual count expectations report and just surveying 6500 candidates around the world to really understand their experiences and their kind of wants and needs from the hiring process. Now I'm delighted that Erica is joining me today from from BambooHR, to discuss the report and to see how it kind of merged with her understanding and her experiences of the market. Welcome, Erica, would you like to introduce yourself to everyone?

Erica Wallace 2:01
Yeah absolutely. Hi, I'm Erica Wallace. And I'm a recruiting manager over at Bamboo. And I've been working with bamboo for a little over two years, and I've been in the recruiting industry for just about 12 years now. And I thought this report was so interesting, there was so much it was really fun to dig into that data and really to see, you know, I think one of the things that was most interesting to me with some of the differences between different cultures and how, you know, candidate expectations can vary by region, which I think even in America can be so widely different depending on where you are. But it was also really interesting to see, you know, some of the data that showed that was really consistent, that, you know, some people have so many similar expectations and experiences. There's a lot of universal universality that I thought was interesting.

Adam Bird 2:52
Yes, yes. And I think it's, it's fascinating, because the kind of the genesis of this report was we were Cronofy powers of scheduling for over 70 Different recruiting systems. And so as part of that process, we wanted to really understand the market. And we we could get plenty of information from vendors about recruiters experiences, but very little experience about candidates experiences. And given they are kind of important constituents. We thought we'd kind of solve that. But also deliberately look across Canada, US, UK, France and Germany to try and understand whether there are those regional differences. The report is available online, it's not gated. One member of the team is going to put that in the chat very shortly. Please use the chat. Please, guys got any questions you have asked them to everyone in the chat so everyone can see them and respond or you want to do a specific q&a. Happy to receive questions going forward. What we're gonna do over the next sort of 40 minutes now is really sort of talk through some of the kind of main findings of the report and really see how that ties with your experience, Erica, and also what you see from from Bamboo customers, so shall we, should we kick off? Let's get into it. Yeah, right. Okay. So, unsurprisingly, well, I say unsurprisingly, but responsiveness came out as the single most important thing in the hiring process for candidates. But I think what was really interesting was how this has changed over over the year. So we're kind of three years into the report. It was like, it was like 26% of people said it was like the most important thing back in 2021. We're up to 56% of US candidates said it was the most important thing. Now I say US candidates because the UK was 52%. But France and Germany were kind of quite a way down on that. And it's like Americans are impatient.

Erica Wallace 4:48
That was one of my favorite things to take away from that, that it's just it really plays into that stereotype. And I think it's so true that you know, Americans very, very much love convenience and for things to happen quite quickly, and so that that impatient American stereotype has just proven itself. And I find that too in America, which is where I'm mainly recruiting, we, we will have candidates that do want to hear and a lot of times our conversations with candidates will end with, when can I expect to hear from you? When is it appropriate for me to reach back out to you. And so a lot of times a lot of our conversations with candidates here in the States is is setting expectations about what they can expect, and trying to kind of temper them so that if a candidate is expected to hear back that same day, we can say, hey, no, you know, cool, cool off a little bit, it'll take probably, you know, maybe three or four days or giving them kind of more perspective so that we can really address that, that need for responsiveness and a need for knowing what's going to happen that so inherent with our American friends here.

Adam Bird 5:57
Well I think that's fascinating that the candidates are your experience, you're saying that candidates are almost trying to take control of the process? Yeah. And as you would almost a sales process. They're saying, well, when are you going to get back to me?

Erica Wallace 6:08
Yeah, what what can I expect next. And I think some of that, too, is that Americans, and this is just from my experience that a lot of our candidates are going to try to find, especially if they're looking for actively looking for work, they're not going to put all their eggs in one basket. So they're trying to move things through quickly. They want to find the right position as quickly as they can. And I find that a lot with this economy. And with the market right now, a lot of our candidates are actively interviewing, actively applying, and they don't want to lose one opportunity, because they're waiting on another. So there's a big sense of urgency that we're seeing, and I think it has increased, even as you were mentioning, like from three years ago to today, that doesn't surprise me at all, that it's gone up so significantly, that that's where people are really concerned.

Adam Bird 6:58
Yeah, I think it goes, it goes a little deeper, because one of the things we pulled out from the research is that almost half of candidates have left a recruitment process, because it took too long to schedule an interview.

Erica Wallace 7:08
Yes, that is so interesting to me. I think that that is and it's such an easy thing to fix, right to fix that to make that easier to schedule an interview. But I think that that's something we see all the time with. Candidates will tell us Oh, I was I was still waiting to hear back from this other company. And I never did. So that's why I'm interviewing you know, over here. That's why I'm still looking. And that becomes part of that narrative that the candidates will share as they're going through the interview.

Adam Bird 7:39
Yeah, I think if I put my employer hat on, yeah, kind of how we operate, we it's this is a common thread amongst our candidates is that they kind of invest more in the process, because we are responsive. And we can obviously schedule an interview, but the entire process is we're putting them at the centre of it.

Speaker 1 7:59
Yes, it's such a great differentiator, because it's such a good way to make the candidate feel valued and feel like they're, like you said, like they're being centred. And if that's something that we can do, because we can control what how that's going to how we're responding and how responsive we are. It can make us such a different, you know, it really sets us apart from competitors from other companies that might be trying to hire that same candidate. And so when it's a competitive market, then you really can make a big difference by giving that candidate it's almost like a gift to say, we're going to move quickly, we're going to give you really clear expectations about when you can hear from us, and we're going to get you scheduled so you know what to prepare for. I think that's so great to be able to do for your candidate, as an employer. And then as a recruiter, too, I think it helps like a lot of times, I'm sitting, I'm sitting in the business seat, but sometimes too, it's there's, you know, the recruiter is sandwiched between the hiring manager who needs that hire and the candidate who wants the job, it's often the recruiter is kind of playing a little bit of both sides. They want the candidate to get, you know, to get hired, ideally, but we're also looking for our hiring manager to find that perfect fit. And sometimes that hiring manager is really pushing that urgency to and they're like, you know, I don't want to I don't know who to who to pick. And if we can get those interviews scheduled in quick succession very quickly, then the hiring manager has an easier choice. They know who their market they know what the availability of candidates are, they can see and compare pretty quickly without losing track of who they've already spoke to. And it can help them make a decision quicker and better. So that they have the right people on their team to move their business forward. And so a lot of times as a recruiter, we're not just worried about that responsiveness of the candidate but it helps everything it helps the entire process move along.

Adam Bird 9:54
Yeah and I think you picked up on a really important point the the other constituent in this process is the hiring manager. And the person doing the interviews, and we need to think about how we can ways of streamlining the effort for them, as well. And I think it's interesting, you said all scheduling interviews is, is an easy thing to fix. Now, it's an easy thing to fix if you have the right technology obviously Cronofy is one of those points of technology. But I think it's one of those things there's the technology exists, but it's not universally distributed. And so many people imagine that a multi person interview, so the idea of having a hiring manager, and then another interviewer on the call, or just scheduling for a hiring manager, inevitably requires back and forth because of the tooling that they're aware exists. And there are no here to tell you that there are solutions out there that can solve this. And spoilers for the end of the of the webinar we will give will give you some top tips. But I think that's huge, is looking at ways to allow the hiring manager to be responsive as well as the candidate and as well as the recruiter, streamlines that entire process. And basically, make sure the candidate feels important. Because I think, was it just this data around two thirds of candidates in the US would wait no longer than six days for an interview. Yes, honestly, and even in fairly solid chilled out relaxed, long lunch, France, it's over 50. But yeah, it's 52%, would not expect that. And so I think this is, you know, we talk a little bit about, you know, we can make a joke about kind of regional differences and stereotypes around kind of impatience to things. But, you know, as we saw the data, 50% of the people have left a recruiting process, because it took too long to do and, and people would not expect to wait more than six days. And so often it can take longer than that. And your as a as an employer, you're losing out on those candidates,

Erica Wallace 11:49
you absolutely are, you're losing so many candidates. And I am saying that from kind of a place of privilege of somebody who has the benefit of of tools that can help to automate and I can take advantage of really great, you know, software and a great team that I have. But when I've worked, you know, without those tools, and, and when I've been, you know, maybe in a solo spot, or the sole recruiter for a company, it's so hard, and I forget sometimes how how much back and forth there is and how have not having the right tools really does make everything so much harder, it makes it so much more of a burden to you know, to quickly respond to changes. I mean, we've had candidates call, you know, 10 minutes before to say that they need to change something or managers call, you know, the the day have to rearrange it. And it just, you know, just who puts your what's a pit in your stomach of like, oh, no, this, this could potentially cost us this, this candidate. If we're rescheduling and having

Adam Bird 12:51
At a very minimum, it's a load of work.

Erica Wallace 12:53
Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And it's so it's so nice now to see, even just from when I started recruiting today to see how far technology has come to really, like respond to that challenge and really like help with that. Pretty, pretty clear. I mean, when you have the right tool that feels very easy and intuitive. And when you don't have the right tools, it's like nothing could be harder. It's so difficult.

Adam Bird 13:19
Yes. Is that this the the hammer? Yeah, Wrong. Wrong tool. Wrong job. Yeah. So we're talking about responsiveness. And we're talking about how, you know, being super quick and like, you know, getting counters to the process. The kind of counter to that is another aspect of the research was around human touch. And 54% of candidates in France say human touch is the most important factor to an interview process. You know, 53%, Germany, actually it drops to 18% in the US, which was, which I thought was really interesting. I don't know whether that's, I felt quite sorry, for candidates in the US where there's expectation, we're no, of course, I'm not going to deal with a human. I'm just going to be thrown or automated my way through this process. Yeah. What it feels crazy that we'd have to candidates feel they'd have to choose between a human touch and responsiveness.

Speaker 1 14:10
Yeah, I think that does make me a little sad. I think that makes me feel a little sad, too, that there's they're presented as a dichotomy when really, I think that they should go hand in hand. And I think having well automated processes allows for more human connection, because then instead of being stuck in this kind of administrative, back and forth frustration of scheduling and you know, waiting for someone to respond and waiting for the other person to confirm, instead, then you're having more meaningful conversations and you're having more of an impactful experience with that candidate. Once you can kind of eliminate a lot of that administrative. You know, how you can move into like what you really want. And I think in in, I think Americans are really used to that idea that to have automation means less people bowl. But automation is you know that there's a missed perception and maybe it's less of a misperception now that you know that there's not recruiters looking at these candidates and not real human recruiters aren't reviewing resumes, that it's just going through an AI system that's plucking out keywords, and selecting who to move forward. And we do have tools that automate, you know, eliminating resumes, but for the most part, it is a person whose real human eyeballs are looking at the resume and making the decision of if that candidate will be a good fit. And typically, we're using those tools so that we can spend that more more time on the candidates that are likely to be a good fit and will, you know, make make a big difference in that in our company that the candidates that we want to hire? And I think it's, it's a misconception, but I think it's very, very, you know, very, very popular idea that automation takes away from human interaction. And I think it's so great that you've made that point. And even in our conversation earlier that you know that having the right tool allows for more connection, not less.

Adam Bird 16:13
Yeah, and I think in my dealings with recruiters over the years is to a person, they're kind of they're people, people that they didn't get into recruitment to do admin, right. And actually, the, the idea that you have to kind of sacrifice this kind of automation is the only way to kind of move forward is feel short sighted, and freeing up the time for that human touch is so critical, but also, I think, I think there are some practicalities, you can see in kind of super high volume hiring where almost there is it is, frankly, it's a numbers game. And there isn't the kind of the luxury of that. So there's an automation piece around that. But certainly, as you get candidates later on through the process, you want to free up time to do that kind of human touch. You know, there's an age old survey, kind of case study in the back in the UK. So, internet broadband provider, they had such a poor interview process, that they that they saw that impacting their customer churn. Where people were actually cancelling their cable TV provider, because they had such a poor experience of interviewing. And so you can create such a bad experience that people will kind of reflect on it in that in that way without that kind of you just treat people as an as a number through the process. So I think there's, there's always, you always have to consider that. Another part of that data, though, I think, as it depends, is you're hiring kind of older people as well. So 81% of people agree that human touch is important, although not necessarily the most important thing. But when you get to the 55 plus bracket, that's over 90%. So actually, that's the human touch is super important. And so again, depending on who you're hiring for, you'd kind of need to optimise your approach or free up time accordingly, I think.

Speaker 1 18:13
Yeah, I think I mean, you have to take a different approach and be flexible with your approach. I think one of the things that I think we were talking about too, is there's, there's definitely going to be like a different set of expectations depending on age range or on region. But everyone, it's it, I think it is a universal truth that everyone wants to feel valued, and everyone wants to feel heard and feel connected. And so nobody wants to feel like they're just being run through a machine. And I think like to the point of that broadband, I feel, it really does impact your brand. And it impacts how people perceive your company, and how people even interact with you in other in other ways, whether it's as a customer or, you know, even as a vendor or, you know, colleague, you, you will have this brand perception. And so I think one of the things, my company I'm so proud of and has really focused on is really creating a brand identity as someone that at all costs wants the candidate to feel valued. And so sometimes that does mean, you know, we have a lot of high volume positions, I think for one of our roles, we had 27,000 candidates apply. And we've of course, we couldn't look at every one of those applications. So we have, you know, little rules and triggers that we do set up using our tools to, to cut through some of those. But most of them, we do try to look out we try to look at as many as we can. And for those that we don't look at, we send an email immediately that is personalised to what their specific interaction was. So if the candidate can't move forward, because we've determined that they're not in the right location, we'll send a specific email that says, you know, due to your location, so it's not that we didn't look Got it or didn't consider it, it's because you, you know, this is just a simple fact of, you know, we need somebody in this space and you're in a different location. So that won't work. And that's the reason and so then the person gets an email that, yes, it's automated. Yes, it's a template. Yes, it went out without, you know, a human interaction. But it feels like you've been seen, because it's actually acknowledging the real reason why you're being declined. And it's happening quickly. So there's not that waiting game either. And so that's one of the best things I think that we've been able to do to kind of maintain that brand identity. And also make sure that as we're, you know, that we're taking care of every single candidate, because we wouldn't want the person that we hire to not get hired, because we've been spending all of our time looking at, you know, into to that, you know, 20,000 plus resumes. And I think that's, that's the kind of the, that is where they're, you know, there may have to be some sacrifices. But I think, for good reason.

Adam Bird 20:56
I think that's a, that's a wonderfully pragmatic and effective use of technology to streamline that process. And I'd say, a wonderful segue into the next point, which is around communication.

Erica Wallace 21:09
I did that on purpose, of course,

Adam Bird 21:15
Absolutely, yes. Yes. So what was really interesting about this is communication came up in our survey, and so 2021 to candidates were saying lack of communication, 25% said, that was the most frustrating part of the recruitment process. Now, that's jumped to 41%, just in those in those two years. And that kind of poor communication, absolutely creates all sorts of stress, anxiety, frustration, but also, I think you had some really interesting data about this as well.

Speaker 1 21:49
We had it as much as as high as 70%. And we were looking at red flags in the process of what's something that makes you signify, you know, kind of not want to move forward with this with this company, or consider this company to have a red flag, or deal breaker and communication came up as with 70%, as the number one reason, and then very closely behind it was, was scheduling issues was, was very, very high up there with, you know, having having poor communication, and then having poor scheduling almost going hand in hand have have a red flag of feeling like the company either doesn't value you or doesn't, you know, doesn't know what they're doing. They don't know how to, they don't know how to scheduling, they don't know how to handle this, you know, fairly fairly straightforward thing. And I think I think it makes sense like that that communication piece is so important, because that's for candidates. That's your first impression. And if your first impression is I didn't hear anything for weeks and weeks. I know we had one of my one of the people on my team, who's been with us for more than a year recently got a decline email from a company that they had applied to, before they started working for us. And so over a year later, they got their decline. And they were like, well, yeah, I had assumed by this point that I was, it wasn't between me and one other person at this point. They've been, you know, happily working somewhere else for over a year now. And I think that's

Adam Bird 23:16
You almost I wouldn't send that

Erica Wallace 23:19
London at that point. At that point. I think it was, I know. And that's what's so funny is, I think that that does happen quite a bit. I think that that's something that can tend to be, you know, you have a system that sends auto emails, and you just say, Okay, fine, everyone that we didn't pick, gets this standard lead, declined email. But when you have a really personalised or really, you know, we try to set up a different email for every different candidate. And one of our things too, is we have really, really clear expectations for how quickly we want to get back to people. So we always try to keep it at 48 hours without with a touch point. So whether it's, you know, once the person's moved, you know, to the next stage, they shouldn't be going 48 hours wondering what's happening, even if it's just as they Hey, we're still doing this, or we're still waiting on it. And so we have all of these different emails that we can send just to to at least send some sort of communication right away.

Adam Bird 24:21
Yeah, and I think that's, it's your company brand is less about what you say it's more about what you do, isn't it? Yeah. And the recruitment process is probably a candidate's first almost like peek under the covers is to actually or the best chance they've got I try to understand what it's like at the organisation and to your point, if basically, you present a it's through no fault necessarily of individual recruiters, but you present a situation where you just look disorganised, or you can't get anything done. Yeah. The only reference that candidate has about the organisation is that process

Erica Wallace 25:01
Exactly, and if you have a brand that is all about being friendly and warm and nice, and then you send a cold, you know, standardised template three months after being, you know, after interviewing, that's not going to match. And it almost makes it worse, I think when there's that big, you know, dichotomy between what people think what the brand is, and then what their experience is, it almost makes them feel like betrayed that, you know, I thought this company was a nice, you know, company that cared about me. And then now through the communication, and through this interview process, they've revealed themselves to be just like every other company, or, you know, just a very cold and heartless company. And so that's another way for a company to make a real difference to really stand out from the pack, have a really upholding whatever that brand identity that they want to have, and make sure making sure that that's consistent. And so in that way, having a good interview process is is part of branding, it's part of marketing, it's part of your overall business strategy.

Adam Bird 26:02
Yeah, and I think that's it, because one of the challenges with kind of brand and it's kind of feels like such a big thing for the kind of recruiting teams can't implement. Yeah, that was almost like, Okay, well, actually, whatever marketing do whatever is kind of said about the company or whatever exact say, on LinkedIn, or whatever it is. It's looking, I think, from a kind of practical point of view, is looking at what as what can recruiting leadership, do and talent leadership do to kind of make the brand of that process work, and B, a kind of a commitment and authentic kind of way of presenting the organisation. And that starts, I guess, with the job ad, and then to the kind of works its way, all the way through to the, to the the, I guess, rejection, email, really, because there's going to be sending, they're gonna be more rejection emails, that there are going to be acceptances. I guess.

Erica Wallace 26:55
There's so many more rejection emails than actually declining? Well, it's a, it's something we talk about a lot like how to decline well, because declining, it's, you know, if you, if you if the candidate is getting selected, that's wonderful. But that's, it's, you know, one out of, you know, 200 people is going to get that experience. And for the rest of the people, most of the people, they're walking away, and they're going to feel a sense of hurt and a sense of rejection. And if you can help to, you know, communicate, you know, why it was that they weren't selected. I think that that just it, it solves so much of that hurt, and confusion that people feel, and it's something that can really like for I think one of the things that I really care about is, you know, there's a candidate that we can decline, and then years later end up hiring, a lot of times to those candidates will, maybe we've declined them, but their neighbour or their sister or cousin someone in their life or in their network is the perfect fit for a really hard to fill position. And if we burned a bridge by ignoring that candidate, or giving that candidate a bad taste in their mouth, they've interviewed, they've gotten a, you know, a dumb template, that doesn't mean anything to them. And then they've had you know, and then their friend is like, Oh, I'm I'm actually really interested in this position. And they say, oh, no, that place that place let me down that place didn't. Yeah, yeah, don't even try. They weren't they weren't a very good experience. I mean, that's, that's one thing that we can really a recruiter and a recruiting team can really have a strong impact on preventing that situation and really maintaining a good reputation in the market so that those candidates, they say, Oh, I didn't get selected, but I'd still recommend them. And that's like, that's our gold standard. That's what we're going for.

Adam Bird 28:47
Yeah, I think absolutely, yes. And I think it's interesting, but it's almost almost another segue is we, the kind of what I think is easy to forget, is how stressful the process is for the candidate. And it's, yeah, it's not necessarily just that particular process, but the whole, changing a job is like alongside kind of getting married, moving house, having kids in terms of the most stressful things one can do as a functioning adult. And it's easy, it's like, the jeopardy for the candidate this job, can unlock can be life changing can can allow them to do things. Whereas it's for the recruiter, it's just it's another candidates for another process. And that's how do you as a recruiter, think about that, that kind of dissonance of

Erica Wallace 29:43
Oh, such a great conversation. It's such a great topic. Um, I we've actually we've had a lot of conversations on my team about how can we make you know each candidate feel valued and and not get into that pattern of okay, you know, just another thing and and really getting that generating that true excitement, but of course, yeah, it's our job. I remember we're offering people all the time and dramatically, maybe changing the course of somebody's life. And right now, I think there's so many people that are applying for a job is their full time job right now, like, if there's been, you know, layoffs or slow economy or, you know, there's there's a lot of things that have that have been impacting the world in these last few years, that for someone who's looking for work, that that might be something that they're doing, they're waking up, and they're applying, and just really, really making so much effort to try to make an impression. And you can hear it sometimes in the in the in some of the candidates that I speak to that, just there, it's been a really tough process. And sometimes even if I'm not able to make them that job just to acknowledge that I know it's hard and just to acknowledge and make that connection of like, I know that this isn't, you know, ideal. I know you're you're really trying and I'm so I'm I just have maybe too much empathy sometimes for that. But I think remembering that there is that person on the other side of it can really maintain that, that sense of having a good authentic experience. And so making myself feel a little vulnerable, to help stay connected with all of the candidates to is one of the things that we do. But we also we like I mentioned, we have a lot of a lot of systems in place. And we have a great recruiting team. So we have a lot of people who are able to, you know, to maintain those connections and to reach out and for us, we try to call people after they've reached a certain stage of the interview process so that we can have that conversation and and decline well, and and make sure that we're hearing what the person has to say.

Adam Bird 31:41
Yeah, I think that's yeah, that sounds like an amazing company to, to apply to. But, yes, guess I just thinking my get my verbs in the right order. But it was interesting, because we, we've seen a sort of change in the data. So kind of last year 38% of candidates said that kind of a whole scheduling delays, affects their anxiety levels, that's up to 46%. This year, the candidate female, two males were like, third, more females were affected by the delays than the males. So really trying to understand, like, say that Jeopardy level on that ability to and they're kind of going back to what we were saying kind of almost at the top of the webinar about the human touch and kind of tactical deployment of human touch. But that takes time. And that's freeing up the time to allow you to have those conversations.

Speaker 1 32:40
Yeah exactly. So we want to we want to use, you know, we want computers to do what computers can do, we want them to do things that can be automated, anything that can be automated, let's do it. But then those things like having a conversation with somebody who's applied to 10 different jobs, and is going to be getting to another decline, like having that call, I think can make a real impact and really be meaningful and, and that's where I'd rather be spending my time then, you know, with, with having to, you know, filter through, you know, sometimes, you know, dozens and dozens of, of resumes that are, you know, people applying blindly to things or things that they're not really, you know, truly a good fit for. But I think too, like with, with candidates and scheduling, we always also tried to default to the candidate. And, and sometimes that's not possible, but whenever, whenever we can, the candidate should be the one who's who's setting the tone and setting the standard for, you know, what, what, like, if they have to cancel, because they've lost a sitter or their childcare has fallen through whatever they've got going on, then that's much more understandable than, you know, our hiring manager, you know, being double booked, we're always going to try to put the pressure on maintaining the candidate schedule and having our side our team flip things around. However, we need to to make sure that we can accommodate that that candidate schedule. And I know that's not always possible, but that's one of the things that we've made a sincere effort to do. And so sometimes having, you know, multiple partners in the recruiting process that can sub for each other, if needed, if there needs to be a last minute cancellation. Because cancelling or rescheduling an interview for a candidate has so much more of an impact on their life than it then you know, potentially on us as a business. And that's one thing that I think really reframing that and thinking of it in that perspective, like, you know, if it's, uh, if more female than male candidates are feeling that impact I suspect a lot of that is probably due to childcare and probably due to the way that you know, the emphasis on childcare that that tends to fall on women so that the typically that that emphasis needs to be on that, okay, if you've got, we've had candidates who have said, I've booked a sitter, I've driven an hour and if I can't make this interview, like their whole day. You know, that's that's an awful experience. And we never want that to happen. So we'll, you know, we'll have people sub in and try to maintain that if we can.

Adam Bird 35:10
Yeah. And we said, I'm sorry. We just kind of worked with kind of, ultimately 10s of 1000s of companies. And we're starting to see a trend now where kind of SLA's around, certainly tracking of KPI around hiring manager reschedules interviewer reschedules Yes, one of those key things that once you have a sort of scheduling tool that can actually track what happens in people's calendars and kind of provide that kind of link end to end between the interviewer and the hiring manager and the candidate, you can start to really see the difference between who's actually doing the rescheduling what what those changes are, because the hiring manager is a partner in this process. And again, almost there another step, potentially another step removed from that candidates anxiety, because, again, they're not going to their jobs, fine. Their jobs not in jeopardy if then if they don't hire someone this week, rather than next week, but those candidates life is if they don't get a job this week, that that could be significant for them, or they get through the interview process. And I think what's really interesting from the data we saw was actually candidates want automation. So they they kind of almost three quarters of candidate the smoothness of interview process with it for effect their final decision as to whether or not to take the job. So if you can provide them that smooth experience, it's actually funnily enough in finance, it was almost 80%. So whether there's, there's something there and and if there were if any delays in it, over two thirds of kind of media and marketing candidates wouldn't recommend the company in the future, just if there was delays or messing around on the scheduling side of things. So there's, there's there's a lot of kind of expectation, well, of course, you almost I think people likening it a bit to the idea of I can get a pizza to my house in 15 minutes. Why on earth can't I schedule an interview? Yeah. Literally how hard can it be?

Speaker 1 37:10
Oh yeah that's such a great point. I will not so sorry to interrupt, but I was just thinking of that, like, I just had an experience recently where I needed to schedule a dentist appointment. And we had that and I've made me feel so frustrated of going back and forth. And they you know, they just listed different days, and I'm looking through my calendar and looking through what I have available. And that didn't work. And that didn't work. It was you know, 15 minutes of going back and forth. And I thought this is just awful, why can't you just give me a screen and I can pick the time I want and then just go to that dentist appointment, I don't want to go to the dentist. And that is never something that I'm trying to make happen. But I have to and so that process was so painful, you know, almost as painful as going to the dentist. And I think automation is not a dirty word. It's so helpful. And it can be so impactful. And it allows for such better experiences for people.

Adam Bird 38:03
Yeah, and I think what back to our data of 62% would prefer an automated system candidates don't want email back and forth yet it's still email and telephone is still the most common place to schedule an interview, which is crazy, we're in 2023. But I do think to kind of give the recruiter the recruiters a bit here is that there's an expert that one on ones kind of easy to do, you can kind of link those together and conceive. But as soon as it gets to multiperson, it gets hard. And it's about I guess there is tooling available to solve these problems. It's just not necessarily always available. And until now, spoilers, but it but it is looking for those kinds of application of technology to kind of solve those problems. But this is becoming a more and more important problem is the data is the same that you actually we need to be more responsive, we need to communicate more effectively. And I love this idea around the SLA is around communication that 40 hours you're talking about. And again, that's something else we're starting to see that people are setting SLAs and SLA is around hiring managers as well, responding on candidates and scorecards and all those kinds of things. Because it is it is a contract it is an agreement and you can't get back to the candidate until the hiring managers has scored them. Exactly. So we could talk for a long time, but I'm conscious now we've been talked for a reasonable time. What I'm I'm keen is I think we've described a lot of the expectations, the challenges. What are some things that people should take away from know what what actionable things can our viewers take away from this? This webinar?

Erica Wallace 39:47
Yeah, I think one of the things that really helped us so much was having a lot of different templates to choose from that could be uniquely applied to the different reasons why someone might be declined, whether it's You know, salary expectations or physical location or, you know, they're you know, so so many different things that you know, this position had already been filled by the time you applied, we're so sorry for that. There's, there's so many different things that can happen. And then just taking just taking a little bit of time at the very beginning to create templates, makes it so much easier to just click through and give that more personal touch. So then you're not, sometimes you get that analysis paralysis, you don't know the right thing to say you don't know the right way to say it. So you don't say it. And then you don't say it. And then a year goes by. And it's so much better to send an email, even if it is a quote template quickly. And if it doesn't have to be a coal template, that can be a little bit more of a nuanced template. And so for, for myself, a lot of the times, I'll have a template that says, you know, we had a great conversation. Now we'd like to schedule you for an interview, here's the interview, you know, link, you know, click here to select a time that will work. But we'll also all include a little quick line that says, you know, it was so much fun talking to you, I hope that you know, your your dog stopped barking soon after whatever the small situation happened that that was, so that it's still me, I'm still doing that personal touch. But that email takes two seconds to send out. And I think that that helps with responsiveness. And it's using a tool, but it's, it's still it's still human. And I think it allows the candidate to feel like, Oh, of course, you know, they're not going to write a personal email for every single person. But you know, there's a little bit of that personal touch and a template. And so just having as much, you know, setup at the beginning, it can be really helpful. I'm so sorry, I look at my notes, oh, and then having benchmarks having having those SLAs. And having that be something that you discuss with your team, with your recruiters with your hiring managers. And even sometimes, if you want to share that with your candidate of what those expectations can be. And so if you're in France, and maybe you want it to take longer, you can say maybe you know, you know, it's two weeks until we will have a decision and we can get back to you. If you don't hear back from us within two weeks, you know, then feel comfortable to reach out. Or in America, you can say we'll get back to you in 15 minutes or your you know, pizza is free. And we'll we'll get back to you as soon as we can. But setting that setting those expectations and having them all be agreed upon by the managers, by the recruiters and by the candidate. So everyone feels like they're on the same page. And I think it gives that obligation to the to the hiring manager and the recruiter that we've we've made a commitment, we need to make sure that we're you know, even if it's saying we don't know what we're going to do yet, at least having some kind of communication. And then finally, for me, I think just building an interview process, it's very thoughtful about how and when you want to have those connection points. So if you can automate a lot of it and have things be very consistent, how, you know, automatic emails go out as much as possible, and then making sure that you're building into that process a time that can have that real human connection. So that might be you know, between the second and final interview, you have, you know, a debrief with a recruiter, that's that's longer to, to talk about where the candidates feeling that day, or maybe you have a lunch at that point, or you do a tour of the office, there's different things that you can do to really build in more of a human connection, while also having everything else be automated. And that can allow you both the tools and the you know, the the better experience for the candidate.

Adam Bird 43:24
Right, excellent. Well, I'm gonna add one more. Yeah, the tricky one. But essentially, the whole purpose of the the whole point of the kind of the Cronofy Bamboo partnership is Cronofy is now to Cronofy scheduling is now embedded within Bamboo. So if you go to the apps, any of your Bamboo users out there, if you go to the app section of your admin area, you can enable the Cronofy plugin, and that will add a schedule interview button to any of the hiring screens within bamboo. That's going to be so big. So you can give personalized scheduling that supports multiple people, not just you, other people as well, you don't have to be part of the link. It does all sorts of amazing things. So I will talk for ages about it. But try it out, because it's completely free until the end of the year. Because really, this is the kind of first time we're kind of actually putting direct interview scheduling within Bamboo. And we'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

Erica Wallace 44:14
I didn't realise it was free for the end of the year. That's amazing. That's going to be so great for so many people. I love that.

Adam Bird 44:19
Excellent. Right. So with that, that bombshell dropped any final thoughts for our our viewers, Erica?

Speaker 1 44:27
Well, I I mean, it's written behind me but you know, so much of Bamboo is about setting people free to do great work. And so, you know, if software can automate and make things easier, and then it allows you to do more meaningful work, then do that it's so important that they the right tools and the right automation aren't a hindrance. They're they're a helper and they can really help to make sure that you're, you know, you're doing more meaningful work and making more meaningful connections. So, you know, I think both of our tools are really great examples of that of how using technology is enabling more human connection not taking away

Adam Bird 45:09
I can't follow that. How to say thank you everyone. It's been a joy. Lovely talking to you Erica really enjoyed our conversation. Thank you for taking the time. You can follow up with the links in the chat where you can follow up and download the report. But otherwise had a fantastic time and good luck with your with your hiring.

Speaker 1 45:27
Oh, thank you. I really so much enjoyed this conversation and it was so lovely to talk with you and learn more about Cronofy and I'm so excited about all of the cool things that it can do.

Since 2021, Cronofy has surveyed 6,500 candidates each year ato understand their preferences and frustrations with the hiring journey. Our aim is to help recruiters improve their processes so they’re more efficient and provide a great candidate experience.


An in-depth look at the frustrations, expectations and preferences. Adam and guests will focus on the data in the UK and US. 

BambooHR Candidate Expectations Report Webinar October 2023

Since 2021, Cronofy has surveyed 6,500 candidates each year to understand their preferences and frustrations with the hiring journey. Our aim is to help recruiters improve their processes so they’re more efficient and provide a great candidate experience.

An in-depth look at the frustrations, expectations and preferences. Adam and Erica will talk about what the candidates want and how talent leaders can deliver a better experience in the future.

BambooHR Candidate Expectations Report Webinar November 2023

Webinar in partnership with BambooHR focusing candidate expectations

Candidate Expectations Report

Customer stories: Agreena

Use Case: Interview Scheduling