One of my earliest jobs was to manage the customer service desk at the now-shuttered Drug Emporium in Broomall, PA in the early 90s. It was a massive store, with a varied clientele, many of whom were in the senior set. They'd move slowly to my desk, but speak at a rapid, out-of-breath pace when they couldn't find a vitamin or salve that they'd relied on for years. It's funny to think back now, but at the time, their emotion was palpable. These were important items, sought after on their most important trip of the day. Their experience in my store, was simply, emotional.
Fast forward to my first job as a recruiter. Every day, hearing the cheers of someone beyond excited to receive an offer, or the sigh of disappointment when I relayed different news. Talk about an emotional experience. But in the day-to-day and repetition, it's easy to forget.
HR has long been a function of process (hiring process, benefits process, onboarding process). It's no wonder we become numb to the emotion of experience. But we shouldn't. As a function, HR exists to drive the talent strategy of the organization. Given the role employees play in business success, HR leaders need to understand how candidates and employees feel and what they experience along their journey from awareness to employment through departure. And spending hours heads down on small changes to our applicant tracking systems (ATS) isn't the way to do it.
According to Gerry Crispin, the Founder of the Talent Board and the Candidate Experience Awards:
"The difference maker in candidate experience isn’t technology—although that has raised expectations and disappoints millions. The real difference is recruiters understanding and accepting the responsibility to each stakeholder in the [journey]."
Forget hiring for a moment. An employer’s candidate experience has a direct business impact. Talent Board’s 2018 data shows that 46 percent of candidates will decrease their relationship with an organization that delivers a poor candidate experience. It is essential organizations see candidate experience as a business imperative.
And that begins with strategy. With that in mind, and in partnership with industry leaders at the Talent Board, CareerXRoads, and several Fortune 500 and high-growth companies, exaqueo has stewarded the development of a candidate experience model for the future.
It includes a full employment lifecycle (see left) and detailed strategy map for candidate experience along with a measurement methodology anyone at any organization large or small can use.
Read about the model in-depth in our executive white paper or present it to your colleagues and executive leaders for buy-in. Access a full library of candidate experience resources or contact me for a walk through or conversation on how the model can best work for you.
