Top Causes of a Poor Candidate Experience

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In 2023, candidates with an overall positive candidate experience declined sharply, while candidates with a very poor candidate experience increased. The candidate resentment rate, or the percentage of candidates who are less likely to apply again, refer others, have any brand affinity, and make purchases, is up to 13% in North America.

A poor candidate experience can have dire consequences for your brand and needs to be addressed. Let’s explore common issues that contribute to a poor candidate experience, why they matter, and how you can improve them.

Poor communication

Poor communication is one of the most common complaints from job seekers and it’s probably costing you candidates. Nearly half of job seekers (47%) said poor communication, such as not being updated on their application status or their messages not being responded to quickly, would cause them to pull out of the recruitment process.

Further, 35% of US job seekers say an employer failed to acknowledge their application and 40% said they were ghosted after a second- or third-round interview. This can breed resentment, damaging your employer brand and discouraging future candidates from applying.

How to improve poor communication?

Improving touch points throughout your hiring process can massively improve your candidate experience:

Acknowledge candidate applications, sharing an expected timeline for next steps. Send an automated email saying something like, “Thank you for your application. We’ll reach out within 5-10 business days if we plan to move forward with your application.”
Provide regular updates. Send frequent, personalized communication that keeps candidates informed about their application status and next steps. Additionally, it’s important to respond promptly when candidates reach out—even to say that you don’t have an update yet.
Help candidates adequately prepare for your interviews. Send candidates a detailed email to help them prepare for your interviews. Include information on where to go, who they’ll be meeting, and what format their interview will follow. You may even share interview questions ahead of time to ease anxiety and give candidates time to consider a meaningful response.
Follow-up with rejected candidates. While you’d ideally offer feedback to every candidate, that’s not always feasible. Prioritize offering feedback to candidates who have interviewed with your team and send automated rejection emails to the remaining candidates.
Personalize your job offer and employee pre-boarding experience. The candidate experience isn’t over until your candidate accepts your job offer and shows up for their first day of work. Your offer letter should demonstrate genuine excitement, sell your candidate on the opportunity, and provide a point of contact to address any questions. Then begin onboarding before your new hire’s first day with a warm welcome and details about what to expect as they transition into their new role.

Lack of pay transparency

Candidates don’t want to waste their time applying and interviewing for a role that ultimately won’t meet their salary expectations. It can be frustrating for candidates to get all the way to the offer stage, only to realize that your offer isn’t within their target pay range. And focusing on a candidate who won’t accept an offer within your pay range takes your time away from the candidates who would accept.

Align on compensation early, ideally in your job description. If your company isn’t ready for this level of pay transparency, sharing compensation early in the recruitment process is preferable to waiting until the offer stage.

63%

say that compensation is the most important factor in the hiring process

38%

of candidates would stop or abandon a job application if the salary range wasn’t disclosed

Overly complex application processes

49%

of job seekers agreed that most job application processes are too long and complicated

33%

of candidates said they’d abandon an application if it was too clumsy, repetitive, or difficult to fill out

A cumbersome application process doesn’t just repel qualified candidates from applying— it can make rejected applicants feel resentful about their wasted time.

How to improve your application process?

Removing friction from your application process can improve the early candidate experience:

Ask only for essential information. A name, email address, and resume can often provide most of the information you need for an initial screening. Scrutinize each additional application form field to ensure it’s necessary to qualify applicants at this stage in your recruitment process.
Enable candidates to apply using a resume or LinkedIn profile. Modern applicant tracking systems can parse contact, employment, and education information from resumes and Linkedin profiles so candidates don’t have to type it in manually.
Ensure your application process is mobile-friendly. It should be easy to apply for your jobs on any device so you don’t lose qualified applicants.

Prolonged hiring process

Two of the top three reasons for candidate ghosting (“I took another job” and “the hiring process took too long”) come down to speed.

A drawn-out hiring process can be a major turn-off for candidates, especially for in-demand talent that has other opportunities. Your candidates may lose interest or accept offers from other companies if they’re left waiting too long between stages or before getting an offer.

How to improve your hiring process?

Speeding up your recruitment process can help maintain candidate engagement and your overall candidate experience:

Simplify interview scheduling. A candidate self-scheduling tool allows candidates to choose interview times that best fit their availability. This reduces back-and-forth communication so the hiring process can keep moving forward.
Reduce interview rounds. Limiting the steps in your interview process makes the hiring journey less burdensome for your candidates—and for your team.
Make prompt decisions. Faster decision-making keeps your hiring timeline on track, reduces candidate uncertainty, and helps you extend offers before your competitors do.

Whether or not you have room to speed up your hiring process, it’s helpful to set expectations with candidates. Share your hiring process and expected timeline with candidates upfront—and stick to the plan as much as possible. Communicate if you’re experiencing any delays so you can keep candidates informed and engaged.

Inadequate interview experience

Interviews are a crucial touchpoint in the recruitment process. Poorly conducted interviews, whether due to unprepared interviewers, irrelevant questions, or lack of structure, can leave candidates with a negative impression of your company. For example, 46% of workers said an interviewer’s attitude or behavior could cause them to voluntarily pull out of the recruitment process.

How to improve your interview experience?

Level-up your interview experience to make a lasting impression on your candidates:

Train interviewers. Make sure interviewers know how to create a welcoming interview environment, treat candidates with respect, communicate your employer value proposition, and assess candidate skills. Interviewers may also be trained to recognize and mitigate unconscious biases, fostering a fairer evaluation process.
Use structured interviews. Use standardized interview questions and evaluation criteria to help ensure that every candidate is assessed on the same basis. Structured interviews can also reduce the risk of illegal, repeated, or irrelevant interview questions. Create space for candidates to ask their own questions so they can clarify doubts, understand your role and company culture better, and assess fit.
Offer accommodations. Proactively ask candidates if you can provide any accommodations, such as sign language interpreters or flexible interview formats. This helps ensure accessibility for all candidates and demonstrates your commitment to diversity and equal opportunity.

Final thoughts: Address the reasons job seekers have a poor candidate experience at your company

48%

of organizations say that improving the candidate experience is a top priority

21%

of candidates have been surveyed about their satisfaction with the hiring process

Asking candidates for feedback is the best way to identify the causes of a poor candidate experience at your company so you can address them.

If you’re among the 50% of companies that haven’t made any improvements on the candidate experience this year, start with a candidate experience survey. Tackle the most prevalent issues or the easiest fixes first—the most important thing is that you just get started.

Crafting a positive, engaging candidate experience is a continuous journey, and the payoff in attracting and retaining the best talent is well worth the effort.

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