As Recruiters, a critical part of our varied role is to truly understand our client’s brief and go forth to find the best candidate for the job. Simple, right? Whilst we may think we have found a true gem, the process involves a comprehensive assessment to ensure the candidate possesses the required skillset, experience, and of course cultural fit. We must be thorough; some might say at times we must be tough to ensure we accurately assess and recommend a candidate we can sincerely endorse.
However, we must NEVER FORGET the candidate is indeed assessing us too.
All recruiters, in-house and agency, sometimes lapse into complacency. We’re busy, time-poor and juggling client deadlines. However, the candidate experience should be at the forefront of our minds. Candidate experiences, some may say, have been a disaster for some time. Ironically made in some ways exponentially worse by all the latest adopted technology to ‘enhance the process’. The market at present is bursting with wonderful job opportunities and equally wonderful companies wishing to secure great candidates for 2023. We just need wonderful candidates. All recruiters can agree the current candidate short (and at times fickle) market isn’t making our jobs easy. However, we must always remember how important the candidate experience really is.
I have heard many appalling candidate experience situations. Lack of response. Poor or no communication. Lowballing on salaries. You know what I’m talking about. I think we need to continue to educate our clients on the role they play in the candidate experience, whilst also ensuring we provide the absolute best service to those we aim to help.
The talent shortages we all grappled with pre-COVID remain today, and not likely to disappear anytime soon. COVID did not miraculously create more Electrical Engineers, UX designers, Sales Managers or Cost Controllers. Looking after your candidates via simple behaviours, like responding, providing open, honest, and informative feedback, and coaching, is the right thing to do as a professional recruiter. Especially now. You can be a professional recruiter but equally a kind and empathetic human. It’s also commercially a smart thing to do as candidates will remember the companies and agencies who treated them poorly. Also, the ones that treated them with respect.
As Maya Angelou famously quoted; “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” I love this poignant quote, but I also believe in the recruitment sector people will in fact remember everything you did and everything you said so remember, please, the candidate is assessing you too.
