The Candidate Experience and Earning the Right
My 15 years of recruiting experience has helped me focus on something critical to a recruiter’s long-term career success – candidate experience.
There are many ways to define “candidate experience,” but I'd like to explore a few that are cornerstones in my approach to recruiting.
Since I’m always looking for ways to show that I care about candidates as unique individuals, I try to use written and verbal communication to let candidates know I'm interested in building a relationship with trust.
Navigating the path to a more fulfilling opportunity is difficult for even the most experienced candidate, so spotting a beacon in a friendly, trustworthy, and knowledgeable recruiter can definitely mark the beginning of an exceptional candidate experience.
Earn the Right
I like to treat candidates the same way I would treat a company where I might like to work.
I do my homework, and show them I am taking an active interest in them.
“I’ve never heard a person complain that they were treated with too much consideration and respect.”
I learned the phrase “earn the right” from my first recruiting job at a contract recruiting firm. Then, I was trying to get a meeting with a hiring manager to sell our recruiting service. I researched the manager and the company, so when I did get that meeting, I could show them that I’d earned the right to be there.
Treat your candidates with the same respect and appreciation. Go beyond their LinkedIn profile and see if you can learn some things that go beyond easily accessible information.
Make a Connection
Hopefully, your research turned up some things you can share with the candidate.
If it did, and you can relate to them as a result, let them know! Obviously, we need to be professional, but don’t fear creating a personal connection within that professionalism. Even if you go into a conversation somewhat blind, make sure it’s a conversation about their passions and preferences.
Recently, I had a candidate reveal that he played guitar in a band. Since I’ve played guitar in a band for 20 years, of course we talked about it! Those 5 minutes of connection set you apart from the many other recruiters who take a purely transactional approach to conversations.
Be Open and Honest
More accurately, be as open and honest as you can. Some companies and positions require a certain level of discretion, and that’s fine.
Share whatever you can, and when the candidate asks direct questions, give direct answers. If their salary requirements exceed what you know you could offer, say so. If their company culture preferences aren’t in line with your company, let them know that.
“I want my brand... to be a beacon for candidates, not a stop sign.”
A candidate doesn’t want to hear “no,” but they don’t want to hear a false “yes” either.
If you’re a good recruiter, chances are you already are open and honest, and likely are empathetic, with the emotional intelligence to treat people the way you’d appreciate being treated. The candidate experience is the exact time to be your best you.
For example, I recently closed a candidate for a role that was looking for much more than I could offer.
Rather than dismiss him, or chase a revised offer that wasn’t going to be approved (or even give that illusion to the candidate), I simply let him know he wasn’t going to get what he proposed, but he could get X or Y (X was approved, Y was reasonable but compensated differently).
We walked through what he had shared with me previously about his future goals and why he was looking to make a change (it wasn’t for more money). I wasn’t “selling” him, I was just being straightforward.
We agreed that X, the original offer, best met his goals, and he signed the offer letter the next morning.
Become Good At Rejecting People
Most recruiters point to hires as wins. You closed the candidate, so you mark it as a W. But remember that more often than the wins, we’re letting people know they haven’t been offered the position.
If you truly care about the candidate experience, the ones that DON’T get the job need attention nearly as much, if not more than the one that does.
One of the biggest compliments of my career came from a person that I rejected.
On the call, I spent 30 minutes providing her feedback, both positive and constructive. Her positives were her strong technical acumen, her good understanding of the marketplace and competition, her strong personality that could push back on hiring managers when needed.
That said, the team picked up on her trepidation about the commute, her tendency to interrupt a question and begin to answer, and determined she was perhaps too aggressive to fit into the team’s culture.
I walked with her through the feedback, with sensitivity but directness. She closed the conversation saying, “this was the best experience I’ve had with a recruiter.”
AND SHE DIDN’T GET THE JOB!
Obviously, there are many more ways to enhance the candidate experience, but these are a few of my favorites. Good recruiters care about people, not just the people that get hired.
I’ve never heard a person complain that they were treated with too much consideration and respect.
As recruiters, we have personal brands that follow us our whole career. I want my brand, at least in part, to be a beacon for candidates, not a stop sign.