Yes, that’s a new one you can add to the slew of recruiting acronyms you already use. It stands for Fast, Engaging, Easy and Personal. The way we recruit and hire has totally changed in a pretty short time period. There has been a power shift, and candidates are demanding much more from the recruiting process. Furthermore, the company culture, brand and employer image are all more important than ever in driving success and attracting great talent.
With all that we know about how the candidate experience can affect the brand, it’s a shame that 46% of candidates rate their experience poor or very poor. Those recruiting processes are probably missing the following four ingredients that comprise a great candidate experience.
Fast
The longer the process takes, the more frustrated your candidates will become. Job seekers are usually looking to be placed yesterday, so they need a speedy process.
A long, drawn out process can make a company seem inefficient or unable to make timely decisions. The hiring process probably has more of an impact on your brand and reputation than you would think. Did you know that 57% of Millennials and 72% of Boomers would compromise salary to work for a company that provides a great hiring experience? That says a lot!
Engaging
With heavy workloads and increasing numbers of applicants, recruiters can sometimes forget that there is a person behind each of those resumes. Engagement doesn’t have to mean a hand-written note to each candidate at each stage of the process. Recruiting technology has made it so easy to automate communications through every step, with every candidate. Recruitment experts at InTouch Recruiting said:
“Candidates will judge your company on how you communicate with them. No or slow communication will create concerns –Will it be this bad as an employee? It is critical that you communicate what the recruitment process will involve, what time-scales you are working to and keep them informed every step of the way.”
Easy
The bar has been set, and candidates are looking for an easy process. Candidates have come to expect a process that takes five minutes or less. Recruiters are now taking note of their application abandonment rates to discover when and why candidates are opting out of the process.
When candidates have to jump through hoops just to send in a resume, they will find a company with an easier process and start there. That’s why many employers are offering LinkedIn’s “Click to Apply” button. Candidates can apply with their LI profile with just a click. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
Personal
As candidates visit the career page, wind their way through the ATS and then get automated emails, they are really in need of an actual human presence in this process. Candidates are going to have a far better experience if they are treated like individuals and not just an email address. Senior Manager with Deloitte Consulting, Peter MacLean said:
“Forward-thinking companies are applying some of the same technologies they use to lure customers, like analytics, social media, and video technologies, to design recruiting experiences around candidates, that benefit them from start to finish—regardless of whether they’re ultimately offered a job,” says MacLean. “By treating candidates like valuable customers, these companies aim to strengthen their talent brands as employers of choice.”
Acronyms are such a great development tool because they can act as a quick and easy reminder of the things that we often let slip through the cracks. As you refine your own recruiting process, remember to ensure that each step is FEEP approved. The war for talent is on, and FEEP is how you can win it.
Visit Raj Sheth’s web site →
(About the Author: Raj Sheth is the CEO and co-founder of Recruiterbox, an online recruitment software and applicant tracking system designed especially for growing companies. Prior to Recruiterbox, Sheth founded two other web start-ups — a classifieds portal and an ecommerce site. He graduated from Babson College and spent the first three years of his career as a financial analyst with EMC Corporation in Boston.)
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