Episode 98: The Recruiting Process - Employee Experience Series, Part 1

We had an exciting new idea -- with today's episode, we kick off a series of episodes looking at the employee experience from many different angles. Today’s episode is number 1 in the series. We start by talking about the very beginning of the employee experience: the recruiting process. Future episodes will include onboarding, being an employee, career development, and leaving a company.

This episode is for EVERYONE AND ANYONE who is involved with the recruiting process -- managers, leaders, candidates, and interviewers. We've talked a lot about the recruiting process from the applicants perspective many times, but we also think looking through the eyes of folks inside the company is super informative, so in this episode, we look at that perspective as well.

**What is employee experience? **Employee experience is just that - the experience of working somewhere. We believe this experience starts even before you’ve interacted with a company, with your thoughts on their brand as an employer, but it starts being solidified in the recruiting process with your experience as a candidate.

The candidate experience starts with the application. Recruiters/hiring managers, have you checked out your application process lately? Is it up to date? Does it ask for a "Twitter" handle? If so, time to update. We recommend you apply to your jobs at least quarterly to make sure that it’s a smooth, easy, and pain-free process.

Our list of advice for people that are hiring:

1. GET BACK TO EVERY CANDIDATE. The least you can do is loop back with candidates who show interest, and especially who have participated in your interview process.

2. Update candidates on the status of the job. Even if it’s a message that your process is taking more time than anticipated, some update is better than no update. Update when the job is closed or if it goes on hold too.

3. If you ask for something in the process (a test, questions, a cover letter), make sure you actually look at it. Don't waste people's time. Feedback can be hard to get, so if you can give non-subjective feedback that can help the candidate, do it.

4. Build an experience where every conversation is different. Don't waste the time of the applicant or the interviewers. Know your candidates and make sure every conversation is a different one that adds value and adds to how you both see each other.

5. (It’s so nice we said it twice) Have a no ghosting policy. When you disappear and never get back to a candiate, you potentially lose business based on the way you treat people.

6. Tell people where you are in the process and let them know what’s coming. It’s great as a candidate to know what’s coming next and how far you are along the journey. And, when you bring in someone later in your overall hiring process, let them know that others are farther along.

7. Keep questions relevant to the job. Do do otherwise is potentially illegal, and non-relevant questions easily cross into topics that could make someone feel uncomfortable.

8. Make sure you leave time for the candidate to ask questions to you, and answer honestly.

9. Don’t blow smoke. Don’t tell someone they’re "perfect for a role," that you "want to work with them," or that can "see them on the team" if you’re not going to give an offer. You can say you like someone, but giving false hope or, even worse, asking a candidate to clear their calendar for onboarding and then turning them down is a bad candidate experience.

10. Respond to thank yous! A “great to meet you too” goes a LONG way. It improves your employer brand and it helps prevent the candidate feel like they sent a useless note off into the void.

11. Be decisive. There is no bench where you keep a candidate on hold. If you like someone, hire them. If you don’t, let them go.

12. Make sure your whole team interviewing candidates is clear all the aspects of what you're doing: their role and part in the process, job description, ideal candidate profile, required skills, etc. Everyone should be aligned on expectations -- the hiring manager, hiring team, executive sponsor, and the recruiting team.

13. In the offer process, make the candidate feel special. Tell them why you wanted THEM on your team, how you see them contributing, and how excited the team is about them and offer time and resources for them to get their questions asked.

14. Let someone have time to think about the offer, but have members of the team (execs and peers) reach out. Show them the welcome wagon even before they sign.