Article: How to create consumer-grade candidate experience?

Talent Acquisition

How to create consumer-grade candidate experience?

Employees are customers who buy work opportunities from organizations they choose, using the currency of talent
How to create consumer-grade candidate experience?

“A talent storm is underway in the world of business,” said Shakun Khanna, Senior Director – HCM Transformation addressing a webinar on the topic “Striking the right candidate experience” as part of the SME Talent Week. Setting the context for the discussion, he quoted a recent study by Randstad, which highlights that 59 percent of Indians will seek a job change in the next 12 months. An increasing number of people will also spend less time in one company and in one job. In India alone, there is a nascent growth in the number of contract workers. According to Economic Times, there are about 4 million ‘gig economy’ professionals in India. 

While employers continue to identify ways of dealing with the projected shortage of talent, from a candidate expectations perspective, candidates are turning to their connections on professional networks and online reviews to make decisions. According to Glassdoor, 46 percent of the job seekers read reviews even before speaking to a company’s recruiting or hiring manager. A lot of this is already happening on mobile. 1 in 5 job searches starts on a mobile device. 

Employer centric to candidate centric approach

The shift from an employer-centric approach of reaching out to a candidate, that often involved a cumbersome job application processes, to a candidate-centric one has ensured that organizations have multiple touch points to reach their target audience. This includes communication across social media, job boards and professional networks.  Shakun quoted this definition to help articulate the idea of employees as customers “Employees are customers who buy work opportunities from organizations they choose, using the currency of talent”.

Organizations that are candidate- centric have an advantage since multiple studies show that candidates are highly selective about their prospective employers. According to Glassdoor, 69 percent of candidates said they would not take a job with a company that had a bad employee reputation, even if they were unemployed. And 76 percent of job seekers said that they want details on what makes the company an attractive place to work.

Hyper-personalized candidate experience

As increasing number of candidates choose where and when they will be hired, the talent acquisition process must cater to this shift. This means re-looking at sourcing via engaging career sites, providing opportunities for internal mobility, social referrals and creating talent communities.  The recruiting cycle should also include screening tools and workflows that ease the process and enable a smooth transition to onboarding.

Optimizing the top talent sources through career sites and internal mobility platform require increasing collaboration with the marketing and communications team and consistent communication. Apart from the consumer grade ‘look and feel’, technology must enable personalized experience and offer flexible workflows to ensure efficient compliance.

 “Talent is hidden, and you need to reach out to them,” said Vivek Purekar, Vice President & Global HR Head, Simeio Solutions. This means reflecting on questions such as how strong is our talent pipeline? Where are the top candidates coming from? How much is it costing to hire new people? Having a strong analytics and reporting process can help companies tap the right candidates with a 

(This article is based on the webinar on the topic “Striking the right candidate experience” held as part of the SME Talent Week)

 

 

Read full story

Topics: Talent Acquisition, Campus Recruitment, #SMETalent

Did you find this story helpful?

Author

QUICK POLL

How do you envision AI transforming your work?