At The-Hire we believe the employee experience starts long before you bring in your new team member and extends well after they leave. Each step of that journey impacts how they view the organization, themselves, and what they share with others.
Leaders have an immediate opportunity to make a positive impact. From sharing viewpoints and interacting with potential candidates on social media, to working with their HR team to ensure an effective recruitment process for all. Unfortunately, this is a far away goal in most organizations. Other priorities tend to surface which reinforce the status quo - keeping the candidate experience stuck in the 90’s. Take for instance an experience from our friend “Joe,”
Joe was a candidate for a mid-level management role with a well-known consumer goods company. After several rounds of interviews with Human Resources, he came to his first live interview very excited to learn more. The Director of Human Resources arrived ten minutes late for their interview and curtly let him know she would be right with him. Thirty minutes later she gave him the same brief overview of the position he had and delivered him to their cafeteria. Before excusing herself, she gave him,
- His interview schedule
- A $5 coupon for the café
- The guest wi-fi password
She then told him to relax for a bit and get some coffee as his next interviewer would pick him up in about forty minutes. Joe waited and waited… after an hour he left. His recruiter called him with profuse apologies from the HR team, but Joe declined to return. He reviewed and rated the interview on Glassdoor – so far 50 people have indicated it is helpful. The role is still open, but he accepted a job with another company 3-weeks later.
You may think Joe was foolish. After all, they did apologize. But his feeling was that how you treat him as a candidate indicates how you will treat him as an employee. We agree, and so do many of your candidates.
It's a Job Seeker's Market
Unemployment rates are low, and they have choices, especially high-performers like Joe. If employers expect to attract and keep them, they must pay as much attention to their internal practices as they do with their customer service (maybe more.) Candidates are customers of your internal brand, so are your employees. They generate your external customer’s impression of you. Be better and do better by differentiating your practices to foster and keep your high-performers. Remember, they can afford to be discriminating.
So how can you develop an effective and agile talent strategy that attracts quality candidates and compels incumbents to stay?
- Assess the current state – what knowledge, skills, or abilities are present in your workforce?
- Do a gap analysis of who you have vs. who you need to meet the organization’s goals. Establish the metrics or outcomes that will let you know when you find them. Include measurement around hard and soft skills which will influence success in specific roles. Look at everything in the context of your company culture.
- Develop the road-map - A good recruitment firm, like The Hire, can partner with you or your HR team to build it. Begin with how you attract the interest of candidates before a job opens up. End with how you celebrate the accomplishments of those moving to new opportunities. Revisit the road-map often. Adjust it as needed.
We hope you found this article helpful, visit us next week when we talk about the first step in the employee journey, Attract Me.
Employee experience, onboarding, employee onboarding, candidate experience,
