As leading executive placement consultants in Sacramento, CA, Pacific ExecSearch knows executive-level candidates have a certain set of expectations in terms of how they will be treated during the hiring process. If your company regularly doesn’t meet those expectations, it can harm your brand as an employer – making it harder to recruit top talent for future positions.

Therefore, tuning into the candidate experience and working to make it better, is certainly a worthwhile effort on your part. What can you do to improve the experience candidates have with your company? Here are a few tips to get you started:

Tip #1: Place a Premium on Good Communication

The touchstone of an effective recruiting and hiring process is good communication. Even if a candidate doesn’t secure the offer, if you communicate with them well during the process, they’re going to walk away from the experience feeling like they were treated fairly and with respect.

That’s why it’s so important to focus on communication – and where you can improve yours – whether it’s creating automatic emails or texts thanking candidates for their resume, or a prompt phone call letting them know they didn’t get the offer. The communication “black hole” found so often during the hiring process is one of the easiest issues to fix – and one way you can truly stand out as a best-in-class employer to top candidates.

Tip #2: Remember, the Interview is a Conversation

Too many companies approach the interview as an interrogation. It’s not; it’s a conversation and it should be balanced. You should be asking questions and getting answers from the candidate that will enable you to make a smart hiring decision. Likewise, you should offer the floor to candidates and allow them to ask you plenty of questions and garner the information they need to determine whether the role is a good fit for them.

Tip #3: Ask for Feedback

Once the search is complete, reach out to a few candidates – as well as your new hire – and ask them for feedback about the process. You can create an online survey for them and forward them the link, or call or email and simply ask:

Would you refer others to our company given your experience with us?

You may be surprised by some of the answers you receive. Some candidates might be feeling burned because they didn’t get the job and be unfairly critical as a result. But others should be able to provide you with a variety of valuable information you can use to improve your candidate experience – and gain an edge over the competition when it comes to hiring.

If you’d like more assistance improving the hiring experience candidates have with your company – and gaining access to top performers as a result, call Pacific ExecSearch. As leading executive placement consultants in Sacramento, CA, our team of recruiters has extensive experience in sourcing, evaluating and helping companies hire mission critical professionals for top positions.

To learn more about how we can help your organization, please contact us today.