When we talk about 'the candidate experience', we're talking about the overall impression that people have of an organization once they’ve applied for (or taken) a role.

From the moment the first connection is made, be it a click on a website, an email or a telephone call, the candidate experience begins. In this way, it's not so different to the customer experience, and recognizing this can provide frameworks for targeting and adding value to the process.

Regardless of whether or not a candidate is successful, the way that they are engaged and informed throughout the application, interview and assessment process is equally important. This will determine whether or not:

- An unsuccessful, yet still desirable, candidate returns to apply for future opportunities;
- How engaged the successful candidate is at the beginning of the on-boarding process; and
- How you’re perceived in the recruitment market, including what is said about you and how you’re rated in recruitment circles and online forums/networks.

To get the most out of recruitment investments, recruiters should treat the candidate experience as a deliverable that must be targeted, marketed, designed and tailor-made. Companies should focus on the specifics of their own recruitment experience as it relates to these basic elements:

The brand experience: This includes everything related to the corporate and employer brand. It is the brand awareness and quality of the corporation’s products and/or services—not just the PR and marketing.

The reputational experience: This covers facts and figures, reports and any type of data a candidate can learn about the role, company and industry. How has your company performed recently and over the long term on all measures? Is this information readily available and well presented? In terms of the role itself, what has it led to for other candidates? Has there been high turnover in the team and why did the previous person depart the role?

The technological experience: This is about how candidates connect with you before and during their recruitment. It can be the first impression of an Application Tracking System, but also the technical impression of websites, webinars, games, and other elements.

The human experience: This is not limited to recruiters or interviewers only. The human factor contains all the people that a company has ever had onsite, offsite or online. Who are your leaders? How do they resonate and what do they say about a candidate’s likely experience of working there?

The process experience: Processes tell candidates a lot about how well a company is organized, or how respectfully they treat applications and people. Trust, a sense of security, and success perceptions can be won or lost depending on how well the process is leveraged.

This blog belongs to 5 Ways to Improve Recruitment in Asia-Pacific, a new whitepaper on recruitment strategies in Asia. You can download a free version here.