27/11/2013
For companies who are truly focused on mastering talent acquisition, don’t forget the importance of your organisation’s candidates. Not only those candidates who accept your job offer, but those who interview unsuccessfully, those who don’t pass your initial telephone screening, those who send in their resume. These candidates may not be suited to your requirements and they may never be a part of your future workforce plan, but they are more important now than many organisations realise.
The number of under-employed candidates in the market is rising and our research has concluded that some of these candidates are feeling far more helpless and frustrated than ever before. Our recent blog explored the impact of the current labour market and recruitment strategies on candidates – there are many disgruntled candidates, employed, underemployed and unemployed, looking for a new role.
Less than ten years ago, candidates would embark on a relationship with a small handful of recruitment consultants who had access to a very large range of recruitment opportunities – they were the brokers of job opportunities and the onus of the job search was shared between them and the candidate.
Today, recruitment consultants no longer have the same access to the market and are no longer ‘brokers’ of the industry. Candidates need to work a number of channels, including applying to multiple roles directly themselves. The onus, actions and accountability of finding a new role resides most substantially with the candidate. The implications for both candidates and organisations are immense, with possibly dire consequences for organisations who fail to recognise this.
the cost of candidate acquisition and an organisation’s ability to deliver their recruitment strategy may be compromised
A potential impact may be that candidates disengage, either from expressing an interest in working with a specific business (the micro-issue), or potentially disengaging entirely from the active candidate market (the macro). Either way, the supply of candidates to an organisation will be diminished and the cost of candidate acquisition and an organisation’s ability to deliver their recruitment strategy may be compromised, not to mention the potential damage to their consumer brand.
Candidates today must be experts at writing resumes, applying for (multiple) roles, developing their LinkedIn profile, networking, selling themselves, understanding their alignment to potential employers and many other functions that recruitment consultants previously undertook on behalf of candidates. Not every great candidate is great at ‘selling’ themselves. As such, recruitment processes must recognise and allow for this. True candidate care will recognise the micro issues affecting the recruitment industry and enable each candidate to navigate the new realm of the job search process, represent themselves in the best manner and ensure that organisations gain meaningful insight into their competence.
Our candidate research constantly identifies examples of organisations that espouse their values and pride themselves on their candidate care. However, reality doesn’t match. To address this, organisations should ensure that they get the basics right. deliberatepractice’s recruitment practice is underpinned by our Commitment to Candidates – they guide our processes and how we interact with candidates. They focus on doing the basics well and treating all candidates with respect. We suggest to organisations that they equally underpin their processes with sound candidate care – this may include constantly monitor metrics, feedback and candidate experiences to ensure a minimum candidate experience benchmark is defined and adhered to. Getting the basics right is not hard and at a minimum should include delivery of the following within a defined time frame:
- Acknowledging candidate applications
- Returning phone calls
- Providing candidates with timely feedback after interviews
- Advising unsuccessful candidates of their status
- Do what you say you are going to do
- Don’t be afraid to provide constructive feedback – ensure the candidate can get as much out of the process as possible
Recruitment processes today have a profound impact on candidate attitudes – organisations must ensure they recognise and respond to this, or risk damaging their reputation and facing rising recruitment costs.