Don’t Discount Candidate Management

ThinkstockPhotos-179212730Candidate management is a process that doesn’t generate revenue, in the short term at least, but dismissing it is very short sighted. Recruitment leaders need to start thinking long term.

I have been hearing about the candidate experience for years, and it’s same old same old. Nothing really changes and many of you pay for the privilege of being part of the echo chamber.

The fact is that the candidate experience as far as actual recruiters are concerned does not exist and for internal recruiters is positively farcical. Now that’s a statement that may get a few blood vessels bulging.

But I am speaking from personal experience here.  So before I get trolled, let me tell you what I have learned.

Last year I decided to dip my toe in the recruiting water, I engaged with three of the “main” names within the IT sales industry.

One told me I needed to take a pay cut and lower my expectations (thanks for that!).

One did a very good job of interviewing me with a promise of a call back next morning to discuss opportunities. I never heard from him again.

The recruiter who actually placed me was a nice, helpful chap who did a decent job, but former colleagues of mine who were also going for the same role with the same recruiter were texting me congratulations in accepting the job before I had even decided to accept! That’s just one example of many I could share.

Now I don’t blame the recruiters here at all, they are just doing their job chasing targets and simply don’t have the time to give feedback to everyone. And because recruiters often change jobs every few years, they have little care for the long term; it’s more of a “next fee, please” mind-set. It’s the nature of the business.

PREMIUM CONTENT: 2015 Largest Job Boards Globally

Your Company Can Improve

After this experience, I spend all my time discussing recruitment processes and finding improvements and value through the use of technology that’s not always obvious.

More often than not I hear “my company is working well, we don’t need assistance.” Sorry to be the one to tell you, business leaders, but you are wrong. Anyone who thinks their business is perfect is either naïve or in denial, but most definitely wrong.

Everything can be improved, it’s the percentages, and the devil is always in the detail.

Yes, It’s Toast

I know this because it’s my job to find problems, but recently I had a revelation. And I have toast to thank for that. Yes, toast.

I love toast, always have, breakfast, lunch, post pub snack. I must have made 30K slices in my 30 plus years of making the stuff and I was content with my efforts, until late last year.

I was listening to radio 2 (I am in my 40s) and the presenter was bestowing the virtues of leaving the bread in the toaster for an extra 20 seconds after it’s popped up, the benefit being the toast dries out, hardens and stops the bread from looking like a mini rugby pitch when spreading butter from the fridge.

I tried this at home and what a difference it made. Sad, I know; this simple step improved something I had been doing for 30 years and would have been perfectly happy to continue doing, but now with one little change, I can do it better.

Making toast or managing candidates, everything is a process, everything can be improved and the business benefits can be game changing, even from the very smallest %.

So to you recruitment leaders, the candidate experience does matter, maybe not for the next hire but for developing your brand, relationships and repeat business.

What are you doing to improve the candidate experience? Join in the conversation.

MORE: Help candidates find more meaning in their careers

Chris Hague

Chris Hague
Chris Hague is the EMEA sales director for TempWorks Software.

Chris Hague

Share This Post

Tweet

Related Articles

Powered by staffingindustry.com ·