4 Ways to Provide the Best Candidate Experience Ever

Aida Fazylova
Nov 12, 2019 7:17:02 AM

Making a good first impression at a job interview is time-tested advice for every applicant. Yet with unemployment at a 50-year low, a tight job market means employers too must now stand out from the crowd. It’s not enough to just offer a good candidate experience, or even a great one — candidates now expect the best.

Luckily, new tools and processes can make the recruitment process more appealing to your applicants. If you’re looking for ways to widen your candidate pool, increase hiring, and reduce costs, consider these four innovative methods for your next recruitment drive.

Implement Video Interviews

Video maintains an obvious appeal for recruiters. It’s faster than meeting in-person, more holistic than speaking over the phone, and can be done via any laptop or smartphone.

These advantages for employers cross over to candidates as well. In fact, 57% of applicants admit they prefer a video interview over any other type; the ease and accuracy of communication over video just makes sense for both parties.

There are a number of ways to utilize video in your hiring. We recommend implementing video interviews directly with your chatbot, as well as offering a multi-channel approach for engagement: email, text chat, and video can all be part of the process. By the time you reach your in-person interview, you’ll know the candidate well enough to make the right hiring decision.

Automate Candidate Screening

One of the most repetitive processes for a recruiter is screening candidates. While it takes just six seconds for a recruiter to review a resume, sorting through an average of 250 applications can grind the process to a near-halt.

Automation provides a key asset in the recruiter’s arsenal for handling this. AI can sort for key phrases, such as certifications and experience, to reduce the number of applicants down to the very best. Furthermore, FAQ chat support ensures candidates are well-informed and know their prospective job duties.

Once you’ve narrowed your candidate pool, try automatically scheduling interviews to speed the hiring process based on the data you’ve collected. It’s a simple way to collect data and utilize it effectively to make hiring easier for both parties.

Make Diversity a Priority

We’ve previously written about the importance of diversity in hiring, and the point still bears repeating. More diverse companies reap greater profits by as much as 33%. That’s not to mention the ethical good created by a diversity-based hiring mindset — or the fact that most millennials want to work for diverse companies.

What does this mean for recruitment? One way to start is by widening the applicant search. While recruiters may be reticent to implement broader hiring strategies — after all, more applicants means more work — the AI prescreening mentioned in the previous point can be coupled with 24/7 customer service to cross time zones, as well as the 103 languages our chatbots support for easy translation.

Having a diverse workforce means hiring from a variety of backgrounds. By setting up your hiring process to target a wide range of candidates, you’ll not only put your company on a path toward higher profits, but create an atmosphere of inclusion as well.

Opt For Transparency

You may know every single detail about your company, from when and where it was founded to its most recent partnerships. But do your candidates truly have all the information they need to consider applying?

81% of employees greatly appreciate being kept in the loop regarding a hiring decision. One of these awaiting candidates will become your next employee; by keeping them updated, you’re proving your company has direct and open communication. If the candidate feels heard and appreciated before hiring, imagine how much they’ll value being an employee!

Candidates want to have their questions answered promptly and know their applications are being kept active. With a properly implemented chatbot, companies can provide all of this information and more without sacrificing oversight from HR. It’s all meant to provide an A-list candidate experience at a lower cost than ever before. 

If you want to learn more about how XOR’s chatbot helps provide a great candidate experience, contact us today!

Ready to learn more? Get the Complete How-To Guide on Recruitment Chatbots Here

Tags: recruiting trends, recruiting automation, recruiting help