5 tips for a good candidate experience

If you’re looking to really make sure that you’re creating a great candidate experience online, there are some basic things you can review.

1. Your career site has to be mobile optimised. Now some people may roll their eyes at that because it’s been around for so long, but I’ve been on so many corporate career sites that aren’t mobile responsive, which means it’s a terrible candidate and user experience and it makes me think straight away that the organisation isn’t keep with the times when it comes to business, technology and potentially how the organisation runs. Which leads me to number 2
2. Make sure someone in the recruitment team actually goes through the candidate experience on a mobile device and navigates around. Does it look good? Is it easy to use? Can I apply quickly and easily and see all current roles or do I have to jump through hoops and it takes me an hour – because you know I’m going to click away if that’s the case – ease of use is one of the most important things. Make it hard for potential candidates and they’re to looking for your competitors.
3. Number 3 – is there multi content collateral on your career site? Am I faced with a wall of text or is it interesting. Does it make me want to scroll around and find out more? Is there great copy that is engaging? Images of your people? Videos? Etc – don’t tell me your forward thinking or innovative then give me a really poor user experience. Time on page or site can be a good indication if your content is engaging or not.
4. Am I able to hear from people who work in your organisation or are the testimonials and videos 5 years old? Make sure you’re keeping your content fresh, up to date and keep it relevant.
5. Is it clear who the leaders are, what their vision is and what the opportunity for me is if I come and work in your organisation?

Candidates don’t have the patience or time to work things out, and if the experience you’re creating online isn’t easy, accessible and up to date then you’re missing out on top talent who know what good looks like.