If not, they better start doing so…

A study of more than 3,900 U.S. workers was conducted online by Harris Interactive from November 1 to November 30, 2012 to find out what is the impact of bad candidate experiences on enterprises. Here some interesting results:  75% of candidates never heard back from employers after applying; 60% of the surveyed job seekers admitted they never even heard back after taking time out of their schedules to meet for an interview.

But why is this happening? Companies are overwhelmed with tons of resume coming in every day. To manage this traffic, companies use ATSs (applicant tracking systems) that process and “score” resumes based on selected keywords. The results of this keywords process are harmful for companies, as they are missing out talent and wasting time and money to interview bad candidates based on “qualified resumes” (according to machine’s judgment), as well as facing the cost replacing bad hires afterwards. Also, when companies don’t invest in providing positive experiences to candidates, they risk to lose future candidates, customers and new hires too (turnover now is at its highest).

• 42% of candidates will never seek employment at the company again
• 22% will tell others not to work there
• 9% will tell others not to purchase products or services from the company

Candidate experience matters, at least for 4 main reasons:

• Engagement is a good investment: Engaging candidates not only helps when building a company culture of excellence, but it also helps candidates fit in better before the on-boarding process.

• Keeping candidates interested helps future talent sourcing: Candidates with a good experience will more likely keep their profile updated, look for new positions in the future and grow your company’s database of talented and motivated people.

• Brand reputation: Reputation is important in the marketplace and providing a good product or service in such a competitive environment is not enough. Touching thousands of lives – applicant’s lives – leaves a footprint on the society. Bad experience, means bad reputation.

• Good experience enables you to motivate and select the best: investing resources in engaging candidates brings another competitive advantage: it helps selecting the most talented ones.

Candidate experience is also an award for companies that care about this fundamental aspect of their recruiting process and brand image. Talent.org will be awarding the best companies in this field at the HR Tech Conference in Mandala Bay – Las Vegas (October 7^th – 9^th)