Communication is the backbone of a candidate’s onboarding experience. Without clear communication, candidates will likely have a poor experience with your company and may seek a new opportunity. Poor systemic communication can also create a toxic work environment — which is the number one reason people quit their job, according to the MIT Sloan Management Review.
Some of the best ways to improve company communication are:
- Build trust for candidates
- Use your brand voice
- Carry the first two into the entire company culture
When you are sifting through hundreds of candidates, it can be challenging to maintain strong communication with each person during the interview cycle. That is why companies look to applicant tracking systems (ATS) and interview scheduling tools to help. Hiring software can provide consistent avenues for communicating with candidates.
Building Trust
The goal of the candidate experience is to establish a long-standing relationship. From the first interview to the job offer, you lay the groundwork for how a candidate's employment will go. You can start by being cognizant of how you communicate.
Stay mindful of the medium of communication, your tone, and how you set expectations. Each aspect of communication shows your candidate you care about their experience.
If you are don’t communicate, the candidate may feel like you do not care about their role in the organization.
Whereas if you actively communicate with them in different mediums, they will feel more seen.
Communicating well helps build a strong relationship with your candidate while creating a positive reputation for your organization.
Candidates notice when you actively care about them and share their experiences with the world. Meta HR Consultancy found that 80% of applicants share their interview experience. They often share their experience with friends, family, and even social media. However, Meta HR Consultancy also found that only 17% of candidates felt like companies cared for their needs. This will improve your branding, create a positive image of your company, and entice more candidates to apply for your positions.
Once the job offer is complete, it is still essential to keep building trust during onboarding. It usually takes about 12 weeks for new hires to be completely productive at work. During this time, you must be open to questions and communicate the next steps. Think of this as the early days of your relationship, so setting healthy communication habits can start you off on the right foot.
Building a Brand Voice
You are laying the foundation for future employment during the hiring process. This makes hiring the perfect time to use your brand voice. Give candidates a better idea of what your brand is like and what it may be like working for your company.
Share your brand voice through your interview questions by:
- Using consistent questions
- Showcasing your company tone
- Asking for feedback during the interview
Brand voice is quintessential for clear communication; so is your company style guide. Your style guide should show the best words to use (and words you should avoid) to set clear expectations for your candidates. Your style guide can also help you decide if your voice should be more lively and approachable or authoritative to show you are an expert in your field.
The way you communicate to your candidates will show the human aspects of your organization. You can highlight your company culture to entice candidates to work for you. You can also take the chance to open up more communication. Open up the floor to any feedback, questions, or concerns. As you respond to these comments, you can provide candidates with more clarification on your company’s tone and style.
Do phone interviews or video interviews have a better candidate experience?
Building a Better Work Environment
Does your work culture foster opportunities to improve communication? Employees appreciate a company that frequently communicates, sets clear expectations, and isn't afraid to grow. You can build and show your positive work environment by encouraging candidate participation.
Encourage candidates to become more involved in the hiring process. This can create a more collaborative and comfortable work environment candidates will want to join!
Show that you are not a company that leaves people hanging, but you respect every candidate’s time. One way to do this is by offering virtual interviews — which allow candidates to move the hiring process along 7 times faster than a traditional interview.
Always communicate your expectations. Don't just say, “we will get back to you.” Give your candidates a specific day or timeframe that they will hear from you next. You should also be clear whether or not they move forward in the hiring process.
It's best to communicate whether they received the position or not. Candidates prefer to know if they didn’t receive a job so that they can confidently search for the next opportunity. The longer they are ghosted by your company, the worse experience they will have. This diminishes the chance of them working for your company in the future and increases the likelihood of them sharing these negative experiences online.
You can also set clear expectations by explaining each step of the hiring cycle. Each company has a different ebb and flow. A candidate may not know what the next step means within your company hiring process. Always explain why you are taking them through these steps and why each step is significant. You should also share what they need to do to prepare for each step.
Strive to build a work environment that doesn’t leave anyone behind. Don’t forget about the candidate if they didn’t make the cut. If they weren’t hired for the current position, they may be a perfect candidate for a future one. Keep up communication with them, and let them know if you review their application for another role.
Improve Communication with Qualifi
Fast and candidate-driven software is the best way to improve communication in your hiring cycle. With Qualifi, recruiters can record interview questions in your brand voice to provide every candidate with a consistent experience.
Qualifi invites hundreds of candidates to a virtual interview. Candidates can conduct their interviews on their own time, saving recruiters the hassle of scheduling. This eliminates time-consuming phone interviews.
It's crucial to address a slow-time-to-hire. When recruiters don’t have to spend time creating an interview schedule, phone screening, or conducting a multitude of interviews, they can spend time building a strong relationship with candidates. They can spend more time asking questions and listening to candidate feedback.
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