Let’s take a close look at the recruitment process. As more and more candidates are passively looking for the right opportunities, they are evaluating every move an employer makes.  They are evaluating the company, the recruiters, and the leadership within an organization.   They are researching the organizations and they are talking to their peers and co-workers.  Quite simply, their voice and opinion matters! In the Internet driven world, things go viral quicker than ever before, and a bad experience can potentially damage your brand and future hires for your company.

Employers need to think about every step in the process when working with candidates.  Recruiters are the first people that candidates talk to when they interface with a company.  As we all know all too well as Human Resource professionals, first impressions go a long way.  If you are going to attract the right candidates, you better have the best recruiters to represent your company and your brand.  A run -of -the -mill paper pusher will not help you get the key hires you are looking to make in 2015.

Recruiters will need to be articulate.  They will need to be good communicators and understand the mission, vision and goals of the organization.  They need to be excellent listeners.  Recruiters that can match the goals of the candidate with the duties of the job will ultimately lead to the success of the organization.  All too often recruiters are interested in filling the role and the candidate experience is lost.  When the candidates needs and wants are not met and they feel pressured into a role, then they will be disgruntled with their experience.

Managers have to be cognizant of the candidate experience also.  Timeliness and good interviewing skills are imperative.  The candidate’s time is valuable and they will be frustrated and share their poor experiences with others if they are good or bad.  The last thing you want is someone from senior leadership representing your organization poorly.

When I think about candidate experience, I always think about the on boarding experience.  Organizations always think about the hiring, but how they bring them on board is often forgotten.  Not having the 30, 60, 90 day plan for your employee looks poor.  Training individuals and making sure they understand your product is so important.  More times than we would like to admit we rush employees into positions without having a desk space or a laptop.  If that were you, what would your impression be?

Taking this all into consideration, this is why candidate experience is so important to employers.  You should want to hire the best and retain the best.  It is May and my 2015 prediction is dead on accurate. Retaining employees has proven to be a challenge.  Consumer confidence has continued to soar and people who haven’t looked for jobs in years are listening to opportunities.

So, what is it going to be?  Are you going to take a close look at your candidate experience this year?  What are you going to do differentiate yourself from other companies that are trying to attract the same talent?  The strong will win and the mediocre will lose.  I’ll put on the gloves to win the fight if you won’t.