An organization’s hiring process is important, to say the very least. However, its importance may be more widespread and far-reaching than you can imagine.
That’s because the hiring process is not about just finding (and hiring) the best candidate in the marketplace. It’s also about employer branding.
You might be thinking, “That doesn’t make sense. Employer branding only applies to people who are employees of the company. These people are only candidates. They haven’t become employees yet.”
That’s most certainly true. However, what’s also true is that these people, even though they’re not employees, can still form opinions of your organization and they can still share those opinions with their friends and colleagues.
At the end of 2015, LinkedIn conducted a survey of job seekers to find out what they want most during the hiring process. The results of that survey contained some fascinating insights into the link between the candidate experience and employer branding.
There are three statistics compiled from the survey that pertain most directly to this post blog (although all of them merit consideration). Perhaps the most important statistics is this one: “Eighty-three percent of professionals say a negative interview experience can change their mind about a role.”
But it’s not just the role that the candidate can change their mind about. They can also change their mind about the way they view your organization. At one time, they viewed it in a positive light. Heck, they wanted to work for it.
However, a negative interview experience can completely reverse that. And that’s before they even find out if they’ve got the job or not. If they change their mind about your organization and you extend an offer, then there’s a good chance that offer will now be declined.
The second and third statistics from the survey go hand-in-hand. First, “Ninety-four percent of professionals want interview feedback if they are rejected.” Second, “Only 41% of professionals have received interview feedback after a rejection.”
That is a huge disparity between numbers. A whopping 53% of the candidates surveyed are finding employers’ hiring process to be lacking. That constitutes a negative experience, one that will have an impact on the way people view the organization in the future and how they talk about the organization to other people.
Remember: you never know what other people a person will know. One of the candidates to whom you did not extend an offer and who did not enjoy a positive experience might know somebody who would be a perfect fit for your company . . . but now they could hear less than positive things about you. (And not because you rejected a candidate, but because you provided a negative experience.)
What kind of experience do you provide to candidates during the hiring process? Is it a great experience for everybody—including those people who do NOT get hired?
If it’s not, then you’re branding your organization in a negative fashion in the marketplace, and you probably don’t even know you’re doing so. Your organization’s hiring process is important in more ways than one, especially the candidate’s experience.
That’s because the candidate experience IS your employer brand.
We help support careers in one of two ways: 1. By helping to find the right opportunity when the time is right, and 2. By helping to recruit top talent for the critical needs of organizations. If this is something you would like to explore further, please send an email to stacy@thevetrecruiter.com.