Why candidate experience matters

Today’s post is in continuance to our series on Candidate Experience. Our guest blogger Col Venkat Raman shares with us how a positive candidate experience leaves a lasting impression on an applicant-turned-employee’s mind.

Why candidate experience matters

The biggest challenge for Organizations (and HR) today is attracting and retaining Talent. There are several initiatives taken to retain talent today like Employee engagement, Career Planning and also, importantly engaging with potential employees right from the time they are contacted until their Induction in the first few days which leaves a lasting impression on the mind of any new joinee.

I would like to give my own experience with one of my previous employers. The recruiter showed genuine interest in my profile and then went to the extent of changing the date and venue of my interview with the Chairman. This definitely made me feel very important and nice which actually reinforced my decision to join them. Throughout the interview process and up till the date of joining, the recruiter was very prompt in follow ups and clarified all my doubts. It was done in a very polite and professional manner that created a positive impression of the company in my mind.

The first day experience of Induction was also memorable as everything was done with precision right from start to finish, moreover, the warmth was also very evident. The entire process ensured that there were positive vibes about the Organization and this ensured my decision for a long term commitment with the company. Of course, although there were much more important issues that went towards the decision of joining and staying in the Company, the warmth and “special” feeling definitely made a lot of difference.

As a recruiter it is imperative that we do our homework and find out as much as we can about the potential candidate and use it to give him / her that special feeling which will make all the difference. A simple example would be finding out the food / drink tastes of a candidate and including it in the “Welcome lunch” on the Induction day.

As HR too, we need to be sensitive to the candidate’s requirements and ensure that we provide “customer delight” from day one, meaning the day the potential candidate is contacted for recruitment, not the day he joins the Organization. This is the most sensitive period which can make or break a candidate’s decision to join. Truly, first experience is by far the lasting experience.

Col Venkat is a retired Army Engineer with 25 years of experience as an Army Officer in the Corps of Engineers after which he worked in the Industry for about six years with Companies like DLF, CBRE and a hospitality Group. He has also been a full time faculty in a B School and a Visiting Faculty in B Schools around Mumbai for several years. Currently, he is an Adjunct / Visiting Faculty and has done Corporate training as well. Here’s the link to his LinkedIn profile .