positive candidate journey

What Is Candidate Experience? [+How to Build a Good One]

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Key takeaways.

• Creating a great candidate experience improves access to the best candidates for a role by leaving a positive first impression of the company and upholding it throughout recruitment.
• There are several strategies for hiring managers to incorporate and create a better candidate experience, including quick follow-ups and simplifying the application process.
• Recruiting software and other HR tools offer a powerful advantage to improve the interview experience and attract qualified candidates to the job application process.

Organizations reap many benefits by offering a positive candidate experience, from boosting the brand image and gaining a competitive advantage to increasing the applicant pool and improving global reach. 

While executing a good candidate experience is effective in theory, HR managers need help maintaining efficiency while ensuring a positive candidate journey. As a global hiring and HR expert, Deel provides the support and tools to create a positive and sustainable candidate experience—beginning with this guide.

What is candidate experience?

The candidate experience is a job seeker’s overall impression of the potential employer and prospective job. This experience is shaped throughout each hiring stage, from initial contact to the final decision. 

A candidate’s opinion of a company begins when a company attracts their attention, throughout the recruitment and interviewing process, during hiring, and even onboarding:

• Attraction: Employer branding and online presence, clarity in job postings and descriptions, and accessibility of the job application process.
• Sourcing: Responsiveness to applications, timely updates on the application status, and personalization of communication.
• Recruitment: Efficiency of the process and transparent and respectful communication.
• Interviewing: Scheduling convenience, flexibility, professionalism, and clear communication about the format and expectations.
• Hiring: Prompt and transparent feedback, precise details and benefits mentioned in the offer, and flexibility in negotiating terms.
• Onboarding: Organized onboarding materials, a welcoming and supportive onboarding team, and access to necessary tools and resources. 

The details of these stages become even more important when considering applicants from diverse backgrounds and locations. 

Organizations must ensure that each candidate has the same high-quality experience, regardless of their geographic location or cultural background. Consistency in the recruitment and hiring process sends a powerful message to applicants worldwide, presenting the organization as a fair, transparent, and globally competitive business.

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Why does candidate experience matter?

A bad candidate experience can hurt your reputation. A survey reveals that nearly 60% of candidates report having a poor candidate experience , of which 72% shared their experience online (or with someone directly).

The recruitment process costs businesses time and money, yet one in three candidates reject a job offer because of a negative experience during the hiring process, leading to wasted resources. 

A streamlined application process can bring in higher-quality candidates and lead to a 60% decrease in candidate drop-off –but that’s not the only positive side of building a great candidate experience. 

You may also:

• Gain a competitive advantage when attracting top talent by making the company more attractive to highly skilled candidates
• Achieve better alignment with the company’s mission by reflecting the company’s values and culture and attracting like-minded candidates to join the growing team
• Improve employee retention and reduce turnover by offering a positive experience from the beginning of the employee’s journey
• Make talent acquisition more efficient by offering a smooth and engaging experience that encourages candidates to accept job offers promptly
• Cut costs through an efficient and well-managed experience that reduces administrative overheads and associated costs
• Enhance employer brand by attracting high-quality applicants who share their positive experiences with others

Improve candidate referrals and improve the quality of talent on the team while reducing overall hiring costs

Magdalena Baker , Senior Talent Acquisition Specialist , Deel

How to build a positive candidate experience process

How can HR managers build a positive candidate experience on a global scale? The following tips and best practices can contribute to the long-term success of your organization's recruitment efforts.

Assess the current experience through candidate experience surveys and self-evaluation

Conduct self-assessments and candidate surveys to collect feedback and insights into the current candidate experience to understand what you’re doing well and what can be improved.

Self-evaluation offers valuable insight into the hiring process, allowing the team to analyze the system and identify any bottlenecks and opportunities for improvement—from communication delays to lengthy application processes. They also demonstrate a commitment to continuous improvement.

Gather candidate feedback from people who have gone through the recruitment process and ask for their honest and concrete feedback. Asking for a review of the experience will present valuable insight into the candidate’s perspectives and pain points, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the existing process.

After applying these insights, you’ll have an applicant-centric candidate experience.

Craft clear and compelling job descriptions

A great candidate experience begins with a well-written, clear, comprehensive job description. As the first point of contact between the organization and potential applicants, the layout and content of your careers page and individual job postings set the tone for the rest of the recruitment process.

A well-written job description will include the following key information:

• An accurate job title
• The role’s responsibilities
• Necessary qualifications
• Desired skills
• Location (the physical location, if relevant, or details if the position is remote or hybrid)
• Company overview
• Compensation details (including benefits)
• Application instructions

Deel’s job description templates offer a great starting point for drafting compelling job descriptions to share on various platforms. The templates are grouped by industry, and the list includes an impressive range of positions to adapt to your company’s needs.

Simplify the application process for better engagement

A complex and drawn-out application process may deter quality applicants or push them toward competitors. Lengthy processes often result in frustration, which paints a negative picture of the hiring company.

Enhance engagement and improve the candidate experience by streamlining the process with the following practical steps:

• Only ask for essential information upfront (such as contact details, a resume, and a cover letter)
• Reduce the number of unnecessary questions
• Allow candidates to apply using their professional profiles , such as LinkedIn, to save time
• Provide a progress indicator to help candidates track their application status
• Offer clear instructions on the application process
• Incorporate user-friendly navigation

Even small changes to the application process can reduce friction for applicants and demonstrate that the organization values their time and effort. 

Involve the applicant's potential manager in the process

The applicant’s potential manager will have specific insights regarding what is required for the role and whether the candidate will be a good fit for the team. Including the manager also provides an opportunity for the candidate to better understand the dynamic of the role. 

By involving the manager overseeing the position, the applicant receives a more personal and authentic perspective of the role and the company culture. 

There are different ways to make the introduction and bring in the manager, like scheduling manager-candidate meetings later in the interviewing process and ensuring that managers are well-prepared to evaluate the candidate based on the role’s specific needs. 

Ensure quick and precise follow-ups throughout the hiring journey

Timely and transparent communication at every stage of the hiring process is important to keep applicants engaged and reduce anxiety or uncertainty. By keeping the applicant updated with progress, you contribute to a positive candidate experience. 

Effective ways to incorporate quick and precise follow-ups include:

• Send acknowledgement emails after receiving applications
• Provide feedback after the interview stage
• Set clear expectations for the next steps
• Send regular updates, even if it is to communicate a delay
• Show respect for the candidate’s time and effort

Educate candidates about the company culture and values

Hiring candidates who align with the company’s values and culture is important to create a cohesive and high-performing workforce. It will help you create a positive working environment for all employees (including the new hire). 

Incorporate company values into job postings and interviews to increase the likelihood of attracting a candidate who resonates with the same values. Share authentic employee testimonials to reveal how the company culture will impact the potential candidate. If the values align, these testimonials motivate the position and increase the company's desirability among top-quality candidates. 

Showcasing company values also empowers candidates to make informed decisions about their fit within the company and makes them more engaged throughout the recruitment process.

Plan the interviews well

A carefully structured interview lays the foundation for a fair and consistent interview process that you can scale and apply to a global recruitment process. Create a clear agenda with standardized questions, involving relevant team members in the interview process, and allocating enough time for questions and answers. 

Offering feedback to candidates (both successful and unsuccessful) after interviews offers significant benefits. It indicates that the applicant's time wasn’t wasted while offering useful information for their future endeavors. It also helps maintain a positive reputation as an employer and improves the future talent pipeline.

Despite these benefits, it’s well-known that many companies fail to offer feedback after interviews, making the candidate feel disappointed or frustrated. By simply highlighting candidate strengths and offering constructive suggestions for development, you contribute to an enriching candidate experience.

Embrace technology for a more efficient and modern experience

The modern workplace relies heavily on technology to automate processes, improve communication, introduce efficiencies, and save time and money. These benefits extend to recruitment teams who have come to rely on AI and Human Resources Information Software (HRIS) to help them track applicants, comb through resumes, and more.

Implementing an applicant tracking system, video interviews, chatbots, and other AI-powered tools helps streamline administrative tasks, reduce waiting times, and contribute to a positive candidate experience. 

Establish a strong company brand to attract the right candidates

Establishing a solid company image directly impacts the quality (and quantity) of applicants. With a globalized business landscape, this reputation goes beyond the geographical boundaries. 

Incorporating the following tips will help attract the right candidates who align with the organization’s values:

• Showcase company culture through online platforms
• Share employee testimonials and success stories 
• Engage with current employees and encourage them to promote the company brand actively
• Ensure consistent messaging across all touchpoints, including the career site, job listings, social media, and in-person interactions

Top tip: Establishing a strong brand will help candidates want to work for the organization from the beginning of their job search. Consider creating a brand style guide, maintaining consistency with your message, aligning your company values with your actions, and seeking feedback from current employees.

Leverage technology for global talent acquisition.

Building a positive candidate experience demands clear communication, efficient processes, cultural alignment, and a commitment to respect and transparency throughout the candidate journey, from a job posting to the new hire’s first day.

Using technology when hiring internationally makes it easier to streamline the candidate experience and reap these benefits. 

Deel is designed with efficient global hiring as a cornerstone of its functionality. With the convenience of reaching talent from over 150 countries, hiring managers using Deel offer an enhanced candidate experience, assisting with compliance, automated processes, and integration with tools to improve communication. 

Discover Deel’s HR solution and how it can help improve your candidate experience.

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November 5, 2020

How to create the perfect candidate journey — the 8 stages by paltron.

Learn about the stages and experiences that active job seekers go through during their job search. Optimise these stages to attract the top talent in your industry.

"Acquiring the right talent is the most important key to growth. Hiring was—and still is—the most important thing we do." 

—Marc Benioff, Founder, Chairman and co-CEO of Salesforce (49,000 employees)

Due to the skills shortage in today’s digital age, companies have a hard time finding suitable employees. With 124,000 vacancies , the IT industry in Germany is so badly affected that fewer than ten applications come in for any given position.

This skills shortage has triggered a "War for Talent," which you can only win if your company offers a persuasive application process.

To do so, you need to optimise your candidate journey and the associated candidate experiences.

What are candidate journey and candidate experiences?

The candidate journey describes the stages your candidate goes through from the beginning of the job search to getting hired (and beyond). In the different phases of this journey (customer journey phases), your candidates have different experiences. We call these experiences candidate experiences.

You may be familiar with the customer journey. The candidate journey is the same approach but for your staff. Identifying the phases of your company's candidate journey allows you to treat your candidates with as much effort and dedication as you treat your customers.

If you want to win the "War for Talent," you need to follow the following  principle: The candidates are queens and kings.

Throughout the entire customer journey, your candidate will have many interactions with your company, taking place both online and offline.

For example, your candidate could:

• View your job listing on a job portal.
• Visit the jobs page of your website.
• Read a newspaper advertisement from you.
• Visit the social media profiles of your company.
• Subscribe to your newsletter.
• Come into your business.
• Join your talent network.
• Read your reviews on Kununu or Glassdoor .
• Talk to your employees.
• Meet you for a job interview.

We call those points of interaction touchpoints. With each touchpoint, your candidate experiences your company. If those experiences are positive, your candidate will stay in the race. If they aren't, you'll lose your candidate to a competitor who provided a better experience. 

Why do the candidate journey and candidate experience matter so much?

As an employer, your company has to be attractive from the very first second. It needs to present itself effectively  in all channels a candidate might come into contact with it, be it on social media, on the phone or a job portal.

Of course, all interactions that follow are just as important. Positive experiences during the whole candidate journey lead to positive word-of-mouth about your company, influencing your employer branding, building brand equity and cementing your reputation as an employer people want to work for. For an employer, brand is everything, in particular for attracting the right talent.

The trust gained during the application process forms the foundation for the new relationship between employee and company. 

On the other end, after a negative candidate journey, 89% of newly hired employees consider changing jobs again. In fact, more than half of all IT professionals will  withdraw an application if the application process takes too long.

With a great candidate journey and positive candidate experiences, you can avoid your employees becoming part of this statistic.

What makes a great candidate journey?

Top candidates not only go through your candidate journey, but also your competitors'.

To stay ahead of the competition, your candidate journey must have the following three basic characteristics.

Appreciation

From the first touchpoint, and throughout the entire process, you have to show that you appreciate your candidates.

Don't treat them as if they were replaceable. Many companies have a "They are coming to us anyway..." approach and unconsciously put off the best applicants. In the end, these companies may fill their open positions, but not with their ideal hire.

The few companies that think about the candidate journey and candidate experience are the ones winning the real talent.

Here's what your candidate expects:

• Having only one person of contact: Your candidate doesn't want to be contacted in an impersonal way by a lot of different people. Having only one person to talk to gives a feeling of familiarity and individuality.
• Staying in touch: Stay in contact with your candidate throughout the whole candidate journey. Confirm receiving the application and thank them for it, update the candidate regularly about the current state of the application and inform them about the outcome, even if you reject them.
• Constructive feedback: Whether you are rejecting or accepting, add short feedback. What did you like? What can the candidate do better next time?
• Transparency: Your candidate wants to know how the selection process works and what you focus on. Communicate your process and hiring criteria as accurately and simply as possible.
• Humanity: Nobody likes to be treated like a consumer good. Show from the very first moment that your company cares about its employees.

Your applicant's time is valuable. If they have to fill out unnecessary forms or there are other time-consuming hurdles blocking their way, they can get frustrated and abandon the whole process.

For example, it shouldn't take longer than 60 minutes to fill out an application. Practically, this means you should shy away from letting applicants type their existing CV into your own HR tool.

When the applications reach you, don't let them pile up on your desk. Two-thirds of all candidates feel that fast processing of their documents motivates them to continue with the application process. 

Key takeaway: The entire candidate journey shouldn't take longer than six weeks.

Did you know that almost 20% of people under 30 will not apply for your position if it means filling out a lengthy e-Recruiting form? Often, these are time-poor, high-profile candidates; exactly the people you want. 

We have some tips to simplify your candidate journey:

• Social media: There are various social media platforms for business purposes with Xing and LinkedIn being by far the most popular. Allow potential candidates to apply directly via those platforms.
• 1-Click application: Applying through social media is already easy. But a 1-Click application function is even more practical. With 1-Click application, potential candidates can do as little as pressing a button on your website, and your software will automatically import their Xing and LinkedIn profiles. Candidates will then only have to write their application letter after the first selection round.
• Simple titles: Even when someone feels like they are the ideal fit, they won't apply if the job title is unclear. So keep the job title simple and understandable.
• Clear job requirements: If nobody knows what the position entails, nobody will apply. Avoid "cool" wording and meaningless buzzwords.
• Everything's online: Your own website and widely known job portals are the most important channels of recruitment these days. So make sure that your online presence is appealing and up-to-date.

The 8 stages of the candidate journey, according to PALTRON

Most articles talk about six stages in a candidate journey. We have found that important opportunities for optimisation are lost if we don't include two more stages. That is why we now present the eight stages of the candidate journey, according to PALTRON.

In the first phase, your candidates will learn about the vacancy you're trying to fill. This can happen in many different ways. For example, by finding your listing on a job portal such as LinkedIn or Indeed, through your social media channels, by reading an article about your company and then visiting your jobs page, or by following someone's recommendation.

There are an infinite number of other touchpoints that you can optimise for a positive first candidate experience.

Consideration

Often, companies don't pay enough attention to this stage. Simplicity is extremely important, especially in job listings.

In the consideration phase, candidates read through your job description and expect clear, attractive conditions and challenges.

Congratulations! The touchpoint "job listing" has fulfilled the expectations of your candidate and aroused their interest. 

The candidate now goes beyond your job listing and wants to learn more about your company. What is your mission? Can they identify with your values? What do former employees say about you?

To have a positive experience in this stage of the candidate journey, you have to know and apply the principles of employer branding. 

One example is that the best employers in the world do a great job of staying consistent across all channels. Social media, website, word-of-mouth, job description, and media appearances create a uniform, positive image of a company. This, in turn, leads to proud employees and motivated applicants.

More than half of the applicants comb through the potential employer's social media profiles before applying, looking for honest opinions. Therefore, it's very worthwhile investing in a strong employer brand.

Application

As mentioned above, we recommend that you keep this stage intimate and work through it quickly.

Put yourself in the position of your applicants and test the application process yourself. You may notice details or even entire processes that could result in a bad candidate experience. When you find them, improve them right away.

Can candidates apply by using their mobile phone, for example? According to a study by Glassdoor , 58% of candidates use their mobile phone to search for a new job. Often, they would like to apply directly. If you offer this option, tell the candidates in the job description.

And most importantly, process incoming applications as quickly as possible and always keep your candidates in the loop. This way, you won't run the risk of losing top talent to your competitors while you're doing the paperwork.

Here, we aren't talking about your selection of applicants, but the applicants' selection of potential employers. There's a great chance that you aren't the only one in the race.

In this phase, transparency is key. During the first interview, most candidates can already tell if they would ever work for your company or not.

It helps to communicate with clarity what it's like to work for your company. That includes what the work culture and team spirit are like, the challenges of the position, and the possible growth opportunities and further training for the candidate.

Encourage your counterpart in the interview to ask as many questions and express as many concerns as possible. Unresolved problems clutter the mind and negatively impact the applicant's decision.

Good news, your ideal candidate has just accepted your offer!

Show them that you are looking forward to working with them and are interested in your mutual success.

The candidate journey does not end with the hire. Your new employee expects further support and good onboarding.

About a quarter of new employees quit their position within 90 days . Onboarding is a time and cost-intensive process that can be easily optimised:

• Arrange one-on-one meetings. According to a survey by LinkedIn , 72% of employees find that one-on-one meetings are the most important aspect of the onboarding experience.
• Set expectations and goals together and early on. Uncertainty about work expectations and performance goals is a new employee's worst enemy. According to the same LinkedIn survey, understanding performance goals was the second most important aspect of the onboarding experience.
• Send relevant documents to your new employee before they come in. On the first day, leave a welcome package and a card at the workplace to show your appreciation. A phone call from management to welcome them is also appreciated.
• Group the new employee with experienced employees who can teach them all the basics while on the clock. The new employee will learn from the right people and at the same time, be able to build relationships within the team.

Optimisation

Feedback your new employee is giving you is the most important source for improving your candidate journey and candidate experiences.

Take the time to interview your new employee, listen carefully, and implement the feedback you receive as soon as possible.

After this stage, the candidate journey is over... and the employee experience begins.

Five practical tips to improve your candidate journey

The right job description.

Make sure that the job title is easy to understand, that the requirements are realistic, and that the conditions are attractive.

Here's an example of one of our own live job listings.

Use a recruitment management system

With the right recruitment management software, you can create attractive job listings, post them on hundreds of channels simultaneously, and automatically sort all applications you receive.

It makes your process easier, faster, and more effective.

Find the programme that suits you here .

Proactive and personal communication

At PALTRON, we add a contact person to each job listing. The contact person takes care of the applicants for this particular position and remains in constant contact with them.

That's how we can create and maintain transparency while showing appreciation for our candidates.

Host applicant days

If you get many applications, it's beneficial to host an application day. Candidates can meet your company and get an idea of what it is like to work for it. They can ask any questions they have and introduce themselves personally.

An application day naturally reduces the number of applications you get, when people drop out upon finding out the position isn't actually a good fit for them. Additionally, you may convince the most promising candidates to apply then and there.

Acceleration of administrative processes

Keep administrative matters as short and as simple as possible. Speed is essential, and you certainly don't want to lose your top candidates to the competition just because they were able to draft a contract faster.

To win the "War for Talent," companies have to change their way of thinking drastically. They have to approach the hiring processes from the candidate's perspective and no longer from their own.

Many are optimising their customer journey constantly, and now it's time to take new ways on the personnel side as well.

Now you know what you have to pay attention to. Analyse your company's candidate journey from the perspective of your applicants. Identify all touchpoints and find ways to improve the connected candidate experiences.

You will see a lower drop-out rate, attract truly great professionals and lay a solid foundation for collaboration with each new employee.

If you need help at any point, we'll be happy to assist you .

All the best!

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Candidate Journey: How to Create, Map, and Measure Candidate Touchpoints

Job seekers interact with companies across multiple touchpoints — both in-person and virtually. How to better map out and understand the candidate journey.

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You are how you treat people. For companies, that includes rejected job applicants. 

Sometimes, employers forget how large their hiring pool actually is. This makes them overlook the countless opportunities candidates have to interact with their company. To ensure a positive experience for all, you need to understand where all these job seekers are coming from. 

So let's talk about the candidate journey: what it is, how you can map it, and tips for how to improve the candidate experience so that all applicants feel seen and heard.

What is the candidate journey?

A candidate journey is the path a prospective employee takes toward finding and getting a job. 

It's often compared to the customer journey toward purchasing a good or service. If you need a new pair of pants, you may think about whether they should be jeans, slacks, joggers, etc…, then learn about all the different brands, then read product reviews, then ask friends for advice, and finally decide if (and where) you want to buy them.

Job seekers have a similar journey. Take Zoe, our hypothetical candidate who's spent two years at her current role and is considering a change. She'll mention to friends that she's on the job hunt, consult LinkedIn and other social media feeds, research roles on message boards and company websites, interview for different jobs, and ultimately decide on one of them based on her candidate experience . 

The journey starts before the candidate applies to any jobs. Then it doesn't end until after they've accepted a role and finished onboarding.

This path is often depicted as a funnel (similar to the sales funnel ) because the hiring pool dwindles as people advance through stages of the journey — going from leads to candidates to hires. 

The 6 Stages of the candidate journey

Below is each stage, along with a glimpse into our candidate Zoe's thought process. 

Awareness. What jobs are out there? What is this company? What do they do?

Consideration . What makes me a good fit here? What value can I bring to the company?

Interest . What makes this company stand out? Is this somewhere I can see myself growing?

Application . Has anyone looked at my online job application? Did I get an interview? How can I nail it?

Selection . Are they interested in hiring me? Does it still seem like a place I'd want to work?

Hire . Thanks for the offer — I'll take it!

Why does the candidate journey matter?

Hiring is a two-way street. Your best candidates are likely weighing a slew of other job openings, and they're judging whether they fit within your company with the same rigor your company uses to judge their candidacy. 

That's why their hiring experience is so important. In fact, 67% of job seekers reported a negative candidate experience in the last year, and 58% declined a job offer because of it . 

And a lousy candidate experience is almost always due to a long, tricky, and inconvenient journey. Anytime a prospective employee wades through a disorganized interview process, discovers the role's real responsibilities don't match the job description, or feels iffy about company culture — it likely means their journey wasn't planned out properly. 

This spells dangerous consequences for your company's brand. In one study, 37% of candidates said they've left a negative review about an employer after having a bad hiring experience. But on the flip side, 61% of candidates said they left a positive review if the experience was smooth . 

Be it online or offline, you have to game out every opportunity candidates have to connect with your company. See next:

What you need to know about touchpoints

The funnel-like shape of the candidate journey is a helpful visualization. But in reality, the actual path is nonlinear. Job seekers pave their own ways toward offers, at their own speed. And they probably have multiple in-person and virtual interactions with your company — whether it's your employer brand or the people who work there — before completing the journey. 

These interactions are called touchpoints.

For instance, our candidate, Zoe, may: 

See a friend advertising your job on social media.

Visit your website and consult your careers page.

Check how employees review your company on job boards.

Grab coffee with a friend, who's a recruiter, to discuss the role.

Browse her college's alumni talent network.

Talk to a hiring manager at a job fair.

Fill out an application on your online job portal.

Interview over Zoom.

Knowing these touchpoints lets you track how candidates are interacting with your company at different stages of their journey. 

If you represent this visually, you have your map! 

Why is it important to map the candidate journey?

Mapping lets you envision the journey from the candidate's perspective. This way, you can anticipate what the candidate wants at every stage and deliver a more targeted experience, all while improving your recruitment marketing strategy.

For instance, if you find candidates get a lot of mileage out of social media during the "awareness" phase, but find in-person interactions are more fruitful when they're strongly considering the role, then you can allocate resources accordingly by only involving recruiters after a candidate shows strong interest. 

According to 80% of job seekers , this kind of breezy experience makes candidates likelier to accept a job offer, which, in turn makes it easier to hire top talent — all while lowering costs and reducing time to hire .

The 4 steps to mapping out your candidate journey

Seeing as how 91% of the workforce looks for new job prospects every year , your hiring pool is bigger than you realize. Here's how to map out the candidate journey so that you can access as many of those recruits as possible:

1. Sketch your candidate persona

When you think of your ideal candidate, what comes to mind? 

Think of the skills you'd like that person to have. What kind of work environment do they prefer? What are their career goals? 

These traits will help you dream up your candidate persona. It's rooted in real-people qualities, but it doesn't have to be a real person. 

What matters is that you're getting specific about skills and behavioral traits. Because those people will have a certain kind of candidate journey, different from other candidate personas. 

For example, if you're looking for entry-level sales representatives, you may want to focus on getting the word out in early career job fairs. If you want a more seasoned sales team lead, you probably want to take advantage of different touchpoints, like getting a senior executive to send a personal email. 

2. Identify candidate journey touchpoints

Think about what your candidate persona wants. Is it more money? Less oversight? A flexible schedule? 

What about their needs — more psychological safety? A greater sense of career purpose?

Answers to these questions help you predict a job seeker's behavior when interacting with different companies. And, as we discussed, those interactions make up the touchpoints. List all of them, trying to identify which touchpoints your candidate persona interacts with at each stage of the journey.  

Keep in mind that you're likely to have both passive candidates, who may be happily employed but occasionally browse their prospects, and more active job seekers, who want that next job ASAP. Passive candidates may employ different touchpoints than active ones. 

3. Put together a list of channels

Touchpoints are how a candidate interacts with your company (e.g., a career site). Channels are the specific tools that candidates use to make those interactions happen (e.g. Indeed or ZipRecruiter).

This to say the same touchpoint can have multiple channels — either online or offline — within it. For instance, maybe our hypothetical candidate Zoe uses Ivan, her old college friend who's a recruiter, as a touchpoint to learn more about the company. 

She could scroll through Ivan's LinkedIn profile, chat with him about the available role over coffee, look at his bio on the company website, E-mail him questions, and have Ivan put in a word-of-mouth referral to a supervisor. These are five different channels for the same touchpoint. 

It's worth noting that candidates can use tons of different channels to complain about a lackluster candidate experience. For instance, if you never updated someone about their application status, they could leave a bad Glassdoor review, fire off a frustrated Tweet, complain to their friends about it in person at brunch, etc… 

4. Draw your candidate journey map

Here's the fun part. 

With all the information you've accumulated in the previous three steps, you can make a visual representation of one job seeker's candidate journey. 

There's no prescriptive template for this. But the more candidate data you have, the merrier. This should include demographic information, along with the touchpoints and channels the candidate used at each of the six stages of the journey. 

Here's an example of a candidate journey map for Zoe:

Tips to ensure a smooth candidate journey:

Now that you know how to map the candidate journey, here are some tips on how to make it more efficient, all while maximizing the candidate experience. 

Place candidates front and center

If the hiring process is the solar system, your candidate is the sun. Companies need to focus on candidates at every stage of the journey — paying proper attention to any wants, needs, and pain points. 

This means being both communicative and transparent at every phase of the application process.

You may think this is wasted time, seeing as how you're picking one candidate out of a bountiful hiring pool. But candidates you turn down may be a great fit for the role a couple years down the line. They may also have friends or colleagues who'd be great hires in other departments. 

By keeping your journey centered around the candidate, you're bolstering your company brand while ensuring no one leaves the experience with a sour taste in their mouth. 

Think about employer branding

Your company's reputation matters. Three quarters of candidates think about it before applying for a job . And according to one study, almost 70% of all job seekers refuse to work anywhere with a bad rap . 

This is something worth considering across every touchpoint, throughout every stage of the journey. Whether you're sending emails, posting to job boards, sending recruiters to expos, or writing blog posts on your website, every interaction with a candidate has the potential to either boost or harm your reputation .  

Put yourself in the candidate's shoes

Earlier, we talked about how sketching your candidate persona makes for a breezier hiring experience. But it also helps for anyone involved in talent acquisition to swap perspectives. If you were a candidate, what does the ideal job look like? 

It's likely one where the candidate feels respected, understood, and fulfilled. Maybe it's one with a four-day workweek. Maybe it's one that encourages colleagues to spend time with each other outside of work settings. Regardless of what you come up with, thinking like the candidate helps you anticipate their needs and design your recruiting process around them. 

Show what it's like to work with you

The best candidates need an honest impression of what day-to-day work with your company actually looks like . Zoe may be excited about researching, applying, and interviewing for a role, but none of those steps speak to the job itself. You don't want a candidate to be unpleasantly surprised with the role after it's too late. 

This is where creative supplements to a job interview come into play. Think about giving finalist candidates a test assessment that mimics real work they'd be doing . You can also consider having them shadow an employee for a day, or getting them to interview with every colleague they'd be working with. This helps with retention — the more people new hires speak with before their start date, the likelier they are to stick around . 

Measuring your candidate experience

You've cobbled together your touchpoints. You've pinpointed which channels facilitate those touchpoints. You've even visualized it all onto a map for each individual candidate journey. But how exactly do you use this to evaluate candidate experience?

You need, in a word, data . For one, you can solicit feedback from candidates at each stage of the hiring process . Consider using hiring software to automatically send out surveys to accepted and rejected candidates. Asking short questions like, "how satisfied are you with your job seeking experience here?" 

If you score these responses with a rubric, you can measure them against one another and ensure they're improving over time. And if you're doing this across touchpoints, you can develop a sense of how different recruiting tactics work for different interactions. 

But the true goldmine for data lies in your interviews. You just need a way to harness it…

Unlocking your interview data with Hume

Hume is an AI-powered interview companion that records and transcribes conversations with candidates. Instead of scribbling pain staking notes, you can focus directly on the interviewee, ensuring a much more pleasurable candidate experience. 

But that's just the tip of the iceberg. Hume also lets you annotate interviews. You can tag sections of the transcript where candidates discuss the touchpoints they interacted with, and then use those tags to help map out their unique journey. This way, every job seeker leaves your hiring process feeling valued. Why? Because the platform keeps conversations fair, focused, and personalized. 

Hume takes all the guesswork out of hiring by placing your interviews into a searchable repository. This way, recruiters, hiring managers, and all other interviewers can easily prepare for their conversations and quickly discover which common traits your top talent shares.   

Hiring experiences can get torpedoed by slipshod, unstructured interviews — which are cesspools for dangerous types of bias . But with Hume, you can ensure every interview follows a consistent line of questioning and delivers the fairest possible experience. Seeing as how most interviewers lack formal training, you can even build a coaching library of best practices that all hirers can turn to for insight. 

A smooth candidate journey makes for a delightful candidate experience. This does wonders for your company's reputation and promises a worthy ROI. See how Hume can help you create, map, and measure a journey any candidate would love to travel by visiting our homepage to sign up for the waitlist or following us on LinkedIn . 

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The Candidate Experience Journey: Nurturing Talent from Awareness to Onboarding

Providing an exceptional candidate experience is crucial in the competitive talent acquisition landscape. A candidate’s journey from the initial awareness of a job opportunity to the onboarding stage significantly impacts their perception of a company and influences their decision to accept an offer. 

This article will delve into each stage of the candidate experience (CX) journey, emphasizing the importance of creating a positive, engaging, and informative experience for potential hires.

Consideration: Pre-application Stage

Application and screening process, interview phase: building connections, post-interview feedback and communication, offer stage: closing the loop, onboarding: the beginning of the employee journey, continuous engagement and feedback, continuous improvement: metrics and analytics.

The candidate experience journey begins with the awareness phase. During this stage, potential candidates become aware of a job opportunity within a company. Various channels, such as job portals, social media, company websites, or referrals from friends and professional networks, are often the starting point.

In this initial phase, candidates typically learn about the company’s brand, culture, mission, and available job positions. They may explore the company’s online presence, read about its values, and understand the kind of work environment it offers. At this stage, candidates assess if the company generally aligns with their career objectives and values.

Employers can enhance awareness by ensuring that their company is easily discoverable online, and provides relevant information. Having an informative and engaging careers page on the company website, active participation in social media, and maintaining a positive online reputation can significantly impact a candidate’s perception of the organization.

In this stage, candidates move from being aware of a job opportunity to actively considering whether they want to apply. This phase involves a deeper evaluation of the company and the available job positions.

Candidates at this stage conduct thorough research into the company’s values, culture, mission, and overall reputation. They explore employee reviews, company blogs, social media presence, and other resources to gather insights into the organization. They weigh this information against their career aspirations and values to determine if the company is the right fit for them.

Employers can enhance the pre-application experience by providing clear and detailed information about the company’s values, work environment, growth opportunities, and employee benefits. Offering a glimpse into the day-to-day experiences of current employees through employee testimonials or “a day in the life” narratives can be especially impactful.

Effective communication and transparency about what the company stands for and what it’s like to be part of the team can attract candidates who align with the company culture and are genuinely interested in becoming part of the organization. This sets the stage for a more meaningful and informed application process.

In the candidate experience journey, the application and screening process is a critical phase where candidates formally express their interest in a specific job role within the organization. This phase involves candidates submitting their applications through various platforms, such as the company’s career site or job portals.

To begin with, companies should streamline their application process, making it user-friendly and straightforward. Providing clear instructions on the required information and setting expectations for the screening process helps candidates feel more at ease and informed.

Upon receiving applications, the organization’s recruitment team begins the screening process. This involves reviewing each application to assess if the candidate meets the minimum qualifications and requirements for the role. Screening may include checking qualifications, relevant experience, skills, and other essential criteria for the position.

A well-structured and efficient screening process is essential to ensure that only qualified candidates move forward in the hiring process. Employers need to communicate clearly regarding the status of their applications, keeping them informed about their progress and next steps.

Additionally, offering personalized feedback, even if a candidate isn’t selected to proceed, is a practice that showcases respect and professionalism, leaving a positive impression.

The interview phase is a pivotal stage in the CX journey, where candidates engage directly with the potential employer. It’s a crucial moment for building connections and understanding each other better.

During this phase, candidates meet with representatives from the company, often hiring managers or potential team members. The primary goal is to assess the candidate’s skills, experience, and cultural fit within the organization. Simultaneously, candidates get to learn more about the company’s values, work environment, and expectations for the role.

Building connections in this stage involves effective communication, active listening, and showcasing genuine interest in each other’s perspectives. Employers aim to create a comfortable and open atmosphere, allowing candidates to express themselves and ask questions.

Candidates should prepare thoroughly for interviews, researching the company and the role, and rehearsing common interview questions. They should also prepare their own questions about  the job, team dynamics, and the company’s expectations.

Employers can enhance this phase by providing a clear agenda for the interview, ensuring candidates have a positive experience throughout. A friendly and respectful interview environment goes a long way in building a positive perception of the organization.

The post-interview feedback and communication stage is a critical part of the candidate experience journey, and it comes right after the interview phase. It involves providing timely and constructive feedback to candidates regarding their performance during the interview.

After an interview, candidates eagerly await feedback. Whether they are successful or not, providing feedback shows respect for the candidate’s efforts and time invested in the process. Constructive feedback can help candidates understand their strengths and areas for improvement, which is invaluable for their professional growth.

Employers should provide feedback promptly, addressing both positive aspects and areas for development. It’s essential to be specific and clear, highlighting what impressed the interviewers and where the candidate could enhance their skills or knowledge.

In addition to feedback, maintaining open communication with candidates is crucial. Candidates appreciate being kept informed about the hiring process and timeline. If there are delays or changes, timely updates help manage their expectations and reduce uncertainty.

Positive, open communication and constructive feedback demonstrate the company’s commitment to transparency and consideration for all candidates, leaving a lasting positive impression.

The offer stage is a significant milestone in the CX journey, marking the conclusion of the selection process. This is where the organization extends a formal job offer to the chosen candidate.

Closing the loop at this stage involves clear and timely communication. Employers must ensure that the job offer is presented professionally, outlining all the necessary details such as job title, responsibilities, compensation, benefits, starting date, and any other relevant information.

The employer must convey enthusiasm and appreciation for the candidate’s potential contribution to the organization. The offer should reflect the value the candidate brings and the confidence the organization has in their abilities.

Equally important is providing candidates ample time to review and consider the offer. This stage is an opportunity for candidates to ask questions, seek clarifications, and negotiate terms, if needed. Employers should be open to discussions and aim for a mutually beneficial agreement.

Even if a candidate doesn’t accept the offer, maintaining professionalism and leaving the door open for potential future opportunities is essential. A positive and respectful closing of the loop, irrespective of the outcome, ensures a good candidate experience.

The onboarding phase is a crucial stage that marks the initiation of the employee journey . It’s transitioning from being a successful candidate to becoming an integral part of the organization’s workforce.

During onboarding, new employees are introduced to the company’s culture, values, policies, and procedures. They get acquainted with their roles, responsibilities, and the team they will be working with. Effective onboarding sets the tone for a positive employee experience and lays the foundation for a successful and long-lasting relationship.

The key to a successful onboarding process is preparation and a warm welcome. Employers should provide comprehensive information and resources to help new hires integrate seamlessly into the organization. This includes orientation sessions, introductions to team members, facility tours, and access to necessary tools and systems.

Personalized attention and mentorship during the onboarding process are highly beneficial. Assigning a mentor or buddy to guide the new employee can ease their transition and provide a support system as they navigate their new role and environment.

A well-designed onboarding program not only ensures that new employees understand their roles and responsibilities but also helps them feel valued and engaged from the very beginning, contributing to their overall job satisfaction and productivity.

The candidate journey doesn’t end with onboarding; it’s crucial to maintain engagement and foster continuous feedback throughout an employee’s tenure.

Continuous engagement involves

• Regular communication
• Involvement in decision-making processes
• Opportunities for growth and development

Employers should ensure employees feel connected to the company’s mission and are motivated to contribute their best efforts.

Encouraging a culture of open feedback is essential. Constructive feedback allows employees to understand their strengths and areas for improvement. Regular check-ins, performance reviews, and feedback sessions help align employee goals with organizational objectives.

Moreover, organizations can provide ongoing training and development opportunities to help employees enhance their skills and stay updated with industry trends. Investing in employees’ growth benefits them and the organization, as skilled and motivated employees contribute to increased productivity and efficiency.

Listening to employees’ concerns, suggestions, and feedback is equally important. Employers should create channels where employees can voice their opinions and provide feedback on various aspects of their job and work environment.

Incorporating continuous engagement and feedback shows that the organization values its employees and is committed to their growth and well-being. It contributes to a positive work atmosphere and helps retain talent in the long run.

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The journey doesn’t end at hiring. Continuous improvement is a vital aspect of the journey, and metrics and analytics play a pivotal role.

Here is where organizations can assess the effectiveness of their recruitment processes and overall candidate experience. Metrics like time-to-hire, offer acceptance rates, candidate satisfaction scores, and applicant drop-off rates provide valuable insights into the efficiency and attractiveness of the hiring process.

Analyzing these metrics helps identify bottlenecks or areas where the candidate experience can be enhanced. For instance, if the time-to-hire is longer than desired, it may indicate inefficiencies in the selection process that must be addressed.

Another critical aspect of continuous improvement is incorporating candidate feedback obtained through surveys and interviews. Understanding candidates’ perspectives and experiences can uncover areas for enhancement and innovation in the recruitment journey .

Furthermore, organizations can harness technology to automate and streamline parts of the recruitment process, making it more efficient and seamless for both candidates and hiring teams. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) and AI-driven recruitment tools can significantly improve CX by ensuring timely communication and a smoother application process.

Continuous improvement, using metrics and analytics, demonstrates an organization’s commitment to evolving and adapting its processes to provide an exceptional candidate experience. It also allows for data-driven decision-making, leading to a more efficient and effective recruitment process.

Understanding the candidate experience journey is a critical element in modern talent acquisition strategies. It encompasses various stages, each playing a unique and vital role in attracting, engaging, and ultimately hiring the best talent for an organization.

Starting from the awareness phase, where potential candidates learn about job opportunities, to the continuous improvement phase, which focuses on enhancing recruitment processes using metrics and analytics, every step matters. Employers must strive to create a seamless and engaging experience.

Clear communication, personalized engagement, transparency, and constructive feedback are the cornerstones of a positive experience. Candidates appreciate being treated with respect and consideration throughout their interaction with an organization, regardless of the outcome of their application.

In a job market that is always changing, keeping up with these methods and trends will help you understand the CX journey in a way that will help your team grow.

This is where Joveo comes in to get your job ads in front of the right people – at the right place and time, for the right price! With our AI-driven approach and campaign automation, you can spend with precision on sources that deliver.

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What is a candidate experience score?

A CX score is the metric organizations use to measure a candidate’s overall experience during the recruitment process. It’s a quantitative or qualitative assessment that evaluates various touch points a candidate goes through, from initial awareness of a job opportunity to the final hiring decision. This score helps organizations gauge the effectiveness and efficiency of their hiring processes and understand how positively or negatively candidates perceive their interactions and engagement with the company.

Why measure candidate experience?

Measuring candidate experience is essential for several reasons:

• Improving recruitment processes: Understanding candidate perceptions provides valuable insights into the effectiveness of recruitment strategies and processes. It helps identify areas for improvement, streamline processes, and remove any obstacles that could deter potential candidates.
• Enhancing employer brand: A positive candidate experience contributes to a favorable employer brand. Satisfied candidates are more likely to share their positive experiences, attracting more top talent to apply for positions within the organization.
• Attracting top talent: When candidates have a good experience during the hiring process, they are more inclined to accept a job offer. A positive experience can be a differentiating factor that attracts high-quality candidates in a competitive job market.
• Reducing time-to-hire: As perceived by candidates, a smooth and efficient hiring process can lead to faster decision-making and acceptance of job offers. This, in turn, reduces the overall time it takes to fill a position.
• Enhancing candidate engagement: Regular feedback and communication with candidates keeps them engaged and interested, even if they are not selected for a particular role. This engagement can translate into a talent pool for future opportunities.

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Candidate journey: definition and why it matters

When you’re hiring, you’re not just evaluating job candidates. They’re also appraising you.

A poor experience for applicants can result in a mis-hire, which can lead to the expensive process of re-hiring. It can hurt morale and productivity too.

Bad candidate experiences also hurt your company's reputation. Stories about poor recruitment and hiring experiences can even go viral online.

In this article, we’ll help you create a candidate journey that will keep applicants engaged at every step of the hiring process. We’ll also cover actionable suggestions you can try immediately to attract the best talent to your organization .

Table of contents

What is a candidate journey, the power of a positive candidate journey, the 7 steps of an effective candidate journey, how to identify and assess your candidate journey, how to optimize your candidate journey, improve the candidate journey with testgorilla.

The candidate journey is the process job applicants go through when interacting with your company. It encompasses every interaction in person and online, from the moment a candidate first becomes aware of your company to the final hiring decision – and even beyond.

Most candidate journeys are defined by six steps: awareness, consideration, interest, application, selection, and hiring. We recommend adding a seventh step to gather data about the candidate experience, so you can keep updating your process. 

Read on to find out more about each step a candidate takes – and how you can start creating the best experience for applicants.   

Active vs passive candidate journeys

Candidates can be divided into two broad categories: active and passive. In an active candidate journey, individuals are actively seeking opportunities and job postings. Passive candidates are currently employed but may still be open to a new role.

The journey for each will be different. Active candidates may visit job fairs and see your job board posts because they’re actively looking. Passive candidates may require more effort and even direct contact to apply at your organization.

Tailoring your candidate journey to account for the behaviors of both types of applicants ensures you reach more talent and can address the job-seeking needs of each.

When you think carefully about all applicants’ experiences and work to create a system for hiring, you can:

Save time. A streamlined process can expedite hiring because you always know the next step to take. This also ensures nothing gets missed in the process.

Save money and resources. A great candidate experience helps you attract more applicants – who are also more likely to stay around for the whole hiring process. This gives you more quality choices and can save you the money and resources you’d lose on a mis-hire. 

Make better hires. Candidate care paves the way for a stronger hiring process . With a consistent roadmap, hiring managers can gather more information about candidates, leading to more informed hiring decisions.

Keep it consistent. Instead of an ad hoc system where you post a job ad and hope for the best, creating a specific strategy ensures all candidates enjoy the same, positive experience.

Attract great talent. Top candidates have lots of opportunities. Making sure every interaction with your organization is positive gives these top applicants a reason to choose to work with you.

Enhance your brand. With a great experience, you can generate positive word-of-mouth and online reviews from candidates, which can impact how your company is perceived by both job seekers and potential customers.

Build strong relationships. A good experience is the beginning of a great working relationship . It starts you off on the right foot, whether you end up hiring the candidate or not. A positive candidate experience means that an unsuccessful applicant may go on to apply again or recommend you as an employer to someone they know.

Most companies define the candidate journey as having six steps – from awareness to hiring. Our experience finds that a seventh step enhances the process.

1. Awareness

First, you need to make your candidates aware of your organization as a great employer. Here are some examples of how you can create a positive impression.

Create a website that showcases your company's culture, values, and benefits.

Craft compelling job descriptions that accurately represent your organization and all the benefits of working with you.

Use methods to attract both passive and active candidates. For example, by announcing open roles on job boards and social media, and by asking for employee referrals.

Take part in trade shows and visit college campus events to build your brand by networking with people who may one day want to work for you.

2. Consideration

During this stage, candidates take a closer look at your company to see whether you’re an employer they’re interested in. Here’s how to keep applicants engaged:

Post on social media channels and engage with people who send positive comments and questions.

Keep your website updated with upcoming events and company news.

Assign one person to answer general email queries from potential candidates to make sure applicants get a prompt reply.

3. Interest

At this point, a candidate has decided to apply and they’re doing more in-depth research. They may be looking for vacancies at your company and talking to employees to understand you as an employer. There are a few ways to create a good impression.

Maintain good relationships with former employees, to ensure they paint a positive, accurate picture of what working at your company is like

Consider sharing “behind the scenes” video sneak peeks of your workplace on your website or social media

Include photos and short bios of your team on your website, if appropriate, so candidates can picture themselves at your workplace

Regularly check for and engage with reviews or comments made about your company online

4. Application

Candidates at this stage are sending in their resumes and cover letters. This can be nerve-wracking for applicants, so here are some tips you can use to help them feel valued.

Simplify the application process with pre-employment assessments that allow candidates to show their skills

Create a schedule to ensure you can review applications and get back to job-seekers in a reasonable timeframe

Provide timely, warm updates to candidates about the status of their applications

5. Selection

As you go through the process of choosing candidates, here’s how to keep this part fair and pleasant.

Conduct structured interviews to ensure consistency in candidate evaluation

Use assessments that include skills tests, behavioral assessments , and personality tests , to get a full picture of every candidate

Encourage candidates to ask questions throughout the applicant journey so they can learn more about your company culture and job expectations

At this stage, you’ll hire your chosen candidate for the open position. Here’s how to make applicants feel confident they’ve made the right choice:

Present job offers clearly, outlining the compensation and benefits

Be open to negotiation when making a job offer

Explain your onboarding process for those who are hired, so candidates can see they’ll get the support they need

7. Review and action

Keep your applicant process up-to-date by reviewing it at least once a year. You may want to consider how many people are currently applying and what positions you’re hiring for. 

As you find yourself hiring more – or fewer – people, or seeking to fill different roles than before, it’s useful to reevaluate your applicant journey. This helps ensure it still provides the best experience. 

You already have steps you take when hiring someone new. Understanding your existing candidate journey helps you pinpoint areas for improvement. It also lets you create a hiring process based on what’s currently working. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

Map out your current applicant journey

Start by listing each step you tend to take in your current recruitment process, from the initial job posting to onboarding. Next, write down every interaction candidates have with your organization throughout the process.

Beside each step and interaction, write down the timeline of the average hire and the communication channels you use.

Gather data

Once you understand the shape of the current process, find out what is and isn’t working. Current employees are a great source of feedback. Ask them what they enjoyed about the hiring process and what would have elevated the experience.

You might want to use anonymous surveys to ask about specific pain points in the experience. This will free your employees to be honest, without worrying about hurting anyone’s feelings.

Talk to your hiring team too. Include any recruiters or external professionals you work with. What are their challenges and what have they noticed about candidate satisfaction? This can help you identify areas you can work on.

Next, take a look at the hard data, such as the time-to-fill, offer acceptance rate, and the number of applicants who failed to complete the application process. Note when candidate disengagement and drop-offs happened. This can help you pinpoint areas of your hiring process that need revision.

Research what others are doing

Talk to other companies in your field and read industry and recruiter publications. What tools are other companies and recruiters using right now? These can help you uncover any exciting options that can help improve your candidate journey.

Now that you have a sense of the steps of the candidate experience and have evaluated your process, here are some ideas for how to make applicants more engaged when applying for a job.

Create an application persona

Write out the needs, preferences, and expectations your target candidates may have. Think about what career goals, values, and preferred communication channels someone applying for your organization might have.

Look at the persona you’ve created. Try to imagine what type of communication fits your ideal talent. Would they prefer efficient emails or phone calls? Think about what steps your ideal candidate might appreciate. For example, would they thrive in interviews or prefer online assessments?

By thinking about what your applicants need, you can start shaping the experience to create a welcoming journey to “hired!”

Use technology

Tech can help you close communication gaps and streamline the application process. The following types of technology can also have accessibility features that enhance the candidate experience for everyone:

Applicant tracking systems automate parts of your hiring process and prompt you when you need to reply to candidates

Chatbots can provide mobile-friendly, real-time responses to candidates

Pre-employment assessments evaluate job-specific skills, personality , cognitive abilities , and more while eliminating human bias 

One-way video interviews let candidates reply to interview questions without needing to attend in-person 

TestGorilla is a powerful resource for companies. With a library of more than 300 scientifically validated tests, it’s easy to put together a complete pre-employment assessment in minutes.

One-way interviews make it simple to ask your own custom question and see an applicant’s communication style.

Tech support is available for candidates and assessments can be completed in minutes on any mobile device, creating a pleasant assessment experience.

With TestGorilla you get a full report about each candidate too, so you can easily track your top talent and share your hiring insights with your team.

TestGorilla also has a free guide with more ideas about how to create a positive experience for every candidate. 

Close communication gaps

Candidates put a lot of effort into their applications and you can honor this by providing updates at multiple stages of the process. Applicants should never wonder if they’re still in the running or when they can expect to hear back from you.

Provide feedback too. Successful candidates may appreciate hearing what they got right.

Those who didn’t get hired can benefit from kind, constructive feedback as they continue their job search. They will also appreciate hearing what impressed your hiring team.

In either case, demonstrate appreciation for the time and effort candidates invest. Use a warm tone and always reply with personalized notes rather than generic email templates. It only takes a few seconds to add a personal note, but it shows you value each applicant.

The roadmap to hiring is not just about filling a job opening. It's about creating meaningful connections with potential employees and setting the stage for long-term success within the organization.

Creating a seamless candidate experience can build a strong employer brand , attract the right candidates, and ultimately help you make better hiring decisions.

You can start building a better candidate journey today with TestGorilla while honoring your company’s need for better candidate data. TestGorilla gives applicants a way to demonstrate their fitness for your role through short online assessments they can complete on their mobile devices.

Take a product tour of TestGorilla now to see how this tech can transform your candidates’ experience.

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How to Ensure a Positive Candidate Experience

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Ensuring a good candidate experience is crucial for attracting top talent and maintaining a positive employer brand reputation. Here are some key practices to ensure a positive candidate experience throughout the recruitment process:

• Clear and Transparent Communication : Provide clear and transparent communication at every stage of the recruitment process. Keep candidates informed about the status of their application, next steps, and timelines.
• Responsive and Timely Feedback : Respond to candidates promptly, whether it’s acknowledging receipt of their application, scheduling interviews, or providing feedback after assessments. Timely feedback shows respect for candidates’ time and effort.
• Personalization : Personalize communication and interactions with candidates whenever possible. Address them by name, reference specific aspects of their experience or skills, and tailor your messaging to their interests and concerns.
• Streamlined Application Process: Simplify the application process to make it easy and intuitive for candidates to apply for positions. Minimize the number of steps, eliminate unnecessary requirements, and optimize the application form for mobile devices.
• Engaging Job Descriptions: Craft job descriptions that accurately reflect the role and company culture while also highlighting the value proposition for candidates. Use inclusive language and avoid jargon or overly technical terms that might discourage certain candidates from applying.
• Interview Preparation: Provide candidates with all the information they need to prepare for interviews, including details about the format, topics to be covered, and who they will be meeting with. Consider offering interview preparation resources or mock interviews to help candidates feel more confident.
• Respectful Interview Process: Conduct interviews in a respectful and professional manner. Be punctual, attentive, and respectful of candidates’ time. Avoid asking discriminatory or irrelevant questions and ensure that all interviewers are trained on best practices for conducting fair and unbiased interviews.
• Candidate Feedback Loop: Encourage candidates to provide feedback about their experience, both positive and constructive. Use this feedback to identify areas for improvement in your recruitment process and make adjustments accordingly.
• Post-Interview Follow-Up: Follow up with candidates after interviews to thank them for their time and provide any necessary updates on the hiring process. Even if a candidate is not selected, maintaining a positive relationship can leave a lasting impression.
• Onboarding Experience: Once a candidate has accepted an offer, ensure a smooth transition into the onboarding process. Provide clear instructions, introduce them to key team members, and make them feel welcomed and supported from day one.

By prioritizing candidate experience and implementing these best practices, organizations can create a positive impression on candidates, enhance their employer brand, and attract top talent to their teams.

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What are the candidate journey touchpoints and how to map it

Before consumers decide to buy, they go through a lengthy thought process. It takes time for them to learn about a company and the product or service it offers before they eventually decide whether they want to make a purchase. This customer journey does not differ too much from the candidate journey, showing that recruitment and sales are very much alike.

Candidates go through multiple steps in the candidate journey before they decide to apply to your company. As a matter of fact, when they make their final decision to apply, the second phase of their journey begins.

Understanding the candidate journey is crucial to improving the overall candidate experience and acquiring the best talent. As the market has become very candidate-centric, it is becoming increasingly harder to get candidates further down your application funnel. Understanding what candidates go through can improve your entire hiring process to ensure that candidates don’t churn or drop out in the process.

What is the candidate journey?

The candidate journey can be defined as the experiences that job seekers go through during the job-hunting process. It starts before candidates apply for a job, and it continues even after you have hired the candidate.

Understanding the candidate journey can improve the candidate experience, lower the cost and time to hire , and build a stronger employer brand .

The candidate journey definition shouldn't vary too much from company to company, though the candidate journey touchpoints may, depending on their unique hiring process.

What are the candidate journey touchpoints?

The candidate journey is a multi-step process that candidates go through in their job hunt. Generally, there are seven candidate journey touchpoints:

• Consideration
• Application

The first three touchpoints can be described as the pre-application phase. In this phase, your job as a recruiter is mainly to engage in recruitment marketing to reach passive job seekers . This means grabbing the attention of your potential candidates, getting them excited to work for your company, and eventually get them to apply.

The pre-application phase of the candidate journey involves all the touchpoints candidates have with your company before applying. These can be both online and offline.

Examples include:

• Viewing your job ads
• Talk to a company representative at a career fair
• Visit your career site
• Visit your company social media pages
• Talk to someone they know at the company
• Any interaction they might have had as a customer

Every touchpoint with your company plays a role in whether potential candidates will turn (or “convert”, as you might say in sales terminology) into actual candidates. That’s why it is crucial to make sure that each touchpoint gives the potential candidates a positive experience.

The pre-application phase consists of three steps:

1. Awareness

These are the first of the candidate journey touchpoints with your company. They make potential candidates aware of who you are, what your organization does and what it’s like to work there. In this stage, candidates are just getting to know you. This could be through jobs or speaking to a current employee.

2. Consideration

When candidates have experienced a few of your touchpoints, they enter the consideration phase, where they determine if they’re interested in working for your company.

During this stage, they may have additional points of contact with your company (like meeting representatives at job fairs or visiting your careers page) that will lead them to the next stage or filter them out of the candidate journey.

It’s essential to keep in mind that potential candidates can move back to the awareness phase from the consideration phase. The candidate journey is not a linear process for everyone, especially in the pre-application stage.

3. Interest

In this step, potential candidates are genuinely interested in working for your company. This is the final step in the thought process before applying.

When potential candidates have reached this step, they are likely to apply unless something happens (like getting a job offer from another company they applied to). There are still several touchpoints at this stage. Common examples include retargeted job ads or candidates emailing to ask questions about the job.

The application phase: application, selection, and hiring

As soon as a candidate starts filling in the application form on your website, they enter the application candidate journey touchpoint. From this moment, you have much more control over how they perceive you and their experiences with you. The application phase involves everything that happens from the moment that candidates fill out the application form to the moment that you hire or reject them.

This phase of the candidate journey has three main steps:

4. Application

The application step naturally starts when the applicants fill out the application form and end when they are rejected or after the job interview(s).

‍ The way you communicate with your candidates during this step is a crucial factor in determining their perception of your company. Also, the way you reject candidates is important to think about. It involves face-to-face communication as its main touchpoint.

At this point, you have an excellent opportunity to show your candidates what your company is all about and why they should work there.

5. Selection

The selection step starts immediately after the interview(s).

During this step, you evaluate your candidates based on their interviews. For the candidate, it means a lot of waiting. While most companies don’t communicate too much with candidates during this stage, you can still generate touchpoints to improve the candidate experience.

For example, you could send an email to thank the candidates for their time and let them know how long it will take before making your decision. You could also send them study materials if they would like to know more about your company. Remember, though, it’s poor practice to fail to supply candidates with updates if this step is taking some time.

The last step in the application phase is when candidates get either hired or rejected after interviews conclude. Many recruiters consider this step to be the final step of the candidate journey.

Nothing could be further from the truth for those seeking to create a great candidate experience. The touchpoint for this stage is the call or email that informs the candidate of the decision. If you reject a candidate, make sure that you let them know why they didn’t make it . Transparency in your recruitment processes significantly improves the candidate experience.

The post-application phase: onboarding

Recruiters often forget the onboarding process. They get so caught up in the hiring process that they often have little time to think about the successful hires they have made. This practice, however, can be damaging to the company.

7. Onboarding

Onboarding your candidates is an essential part of the candidate journey. It has a significant impact on whether your candidate stays at your company after the probation period. This directly correlates with your new starter retention rates.

As a recruiter, you should already be thinking about onboarding before you hire. After all, you don’t want to lose an employee just a month after spending so much time, effort, and resources on the recruitment process.

Onboarding involves different people from different departments. The best practice involves at least one person from the new hire's team and one from HR or hiring. The HR member can take care of company onboarding while the team member carries out the team onboarding.

Mapping out your candidate journey touchpoints

Mapping out the candidate journey is crucial to understanding what your candidates go through and what you can do to improve candidate experience. It can help you improve the journey to ensure that you attract the best candidates, shorten the time to hire and decrease your hiring costs.

Mapping out your candidate journey can be done in three steps:

Step 1: Define your candidate persona

Understanding your ideal candidates is the first step in mapping out your candidate journey. You need to understand whose journey it is that you are mapping, after all. Creating a candidate persona is one way to do this.

Creating candidate personas is similar to creating customer personas . It’s consideration into what your ideal candidate would be and describing them. It’s absolutely fine to have multiple personas for each job.

Candidate personas help you to clarify whose journey you are mapping for what job. This is important because different candidates can have very different journeys. A senior developer, for example, will not have the same journey as a junior legal counsel.

Step 2: Set up the candidate journey framework and identify the needs of the candidate

The different phases and seven steps described above should form the basis of your candidate journey map. This framework is universally applicable as all candidates go through every step of the process, regardless of where they apply.

The basis of every step in the candidate journey is made up of the candidates’ needs. To map out the journey properly, you will need to think about what those needs are and what thoughts and feelings drive the candidates' behavior.

These thoughts might be:

• Awareness: What does this company do? Who are they?
• Consideration: What can this company offer me?
• Interest: What makes this company different from others? Could I see myself working here?
• Application: Has my application been received? Will I get invited for an interview?
• Selection: Do they like me? Did I get a good impression of the company?
• Hire: I got the job!
• Onboarding: What should I be doing? What are my tasks? How do I do this and that?

Contemplating your (potential) candidates' thoughts helps you understand the candidate journey a lot better. Having a hard time knowing what it is that your candidates are thinking during their journey? Try sending out questionnaires after each step in the application phase (application, selection, and hire).

Step 3: Map out candidate journey touchpoints

To map out the journey, you need to know what the touchpoints are between your company and the (potential) candidates.

Touchpoints refer to all the interactions candidates have with your company. Your task is to discover all possible touchpoints that a specific persona can have in every part of the candidate journey.

The number of possible touchpoints that candidates could have is endless, especially in the pre-application phase. This can make it hard to map out every single touchpoint and where your candidate persona will be most beneficial. Think about their behaviors: how do they spend their time? What websites do they often visit? What social media channels are they active on? Try to identify between three and five touchpoints for every step of the journey.

When mapping out the touchpoints, don’t forget to create a list of channels where these interactions take place. Having an overview of the channels makes it easier for you to know where you can reach each persona, at what stage of the journey and for what job.

Using the candidate journey map

You’ve mapped out your candidate journey; now what?

Your map can help you with many things. First of all, you can use it to improve the candidate experience. Candidate experience has become one of the most critical factors in acquiring the best talent. A poor candidate experience can do a lot of damage to both your business and employer brand. The journey map shows you every touchpoint and stage that candidates go through. This helps you get a good overview of what your recruitment process looks like and where you can improve on the candidate experience.

The candidate journey map is also a great tool to help make your recruitment processes more efficient and effective. It allows you to identify bottlenecks within the process and get a good idea of which parts of the process aren’t going well. This way, you can improve both your hiring decisions and shorten your time to hire.

In conclusion: your new talent are people, not products

Candidate journeys and candidate experience are about people and relationships. Heading right back to the beginning of this piece, we talked about how similar the customer journey was to acquiring new talent and the candidate journey.

The crucial difference between products and people is people are living, breathing entities with feelings and emotions. We act on how we feel, so we must consider every interaction we make with those around us.

When it comes to candidate journeys, it’s more crucial than ever. Not only do you want to impress, you need your candidates to feel safe, valued, and informed at every step—even if you decide you don’t have a place for them at the time.

Use the journey and candidate map to look after your people, and you won’t go too far wrong. Use them to make your possible hires feel truly important and cared for, and you’ll succeed in boosting a far more substantial range of candidates through your acquisition funnel.

Adrie is a content strategist at Foleon, and the former Head of Content & Branding at Recruitee!

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Importance of A Positive Candidate Experience Journey

Akhilesh Verma, Strategic Talent Acquisition Team Lead, UST India

Competition for top talent is fierce. Forward-thinking companies are stepping up their game to create an excellent candidate experience.

What makes a positive candidate experience? How do you stand out and convince candidates that your company is the ideal choice? The candidate experience journey has significantly changed for both employers and candidates. Instead of shuffling candidates from one stage to the next, employers must be mindful of each candidate's experience, making every interaction with them count.

Imagine this scenario - the one no candidate wants:

It's a new day, and Andrew is ready for his final in-person meeting with the Senior Director of a large multinational IT company. He had successfully cleared all interviews and made it to the final one.

Andrew's profile is impressive. He is a Practice Head for a major executive search firm and has successfully placed top leaders across major global organizations and various geographies. The new job would be the perfect stepping-stone for the next stage in his career. He is ready to switch to the corporate side as a Leadership Hiring Group Leader.

Andrew was excited about joining the new company. It was exactly the kind of organization he wanted to be in and grow with. He was already dreaming of being the star performer in his new role, bagging the talent acquisition awards, and making an impact.

He reached his potential future office, ready to rock his interview. At the reception, he was asked to wait for his interviewer Mr. Melvin, to call for him. After waiting 30 minutes, Andrew requested a glass of water. The receptionist nodded and assured him that water was on the way. Another half an hour passed, and there was no sign of water or Mr. Melvin.

Like other hopeful candidates, Andrew thought Mr. Melvin was genuinely busy and would call him soon. A part of his mind also thought this could be a secret psychological test to observe how he reacts in these situations. He maintained his poise and waited patiently for Mr. Melvin. Another hour passed, and there was still no sign of water or any update on Mr. Melvin.

Eventually Andrew received a text from a co-worker asking him when he would be back at work. He had important meetings lined up and did not take the day off. He just took an hour to interview and had planned to return to the office. But he did not anticipate this long wait and his whole day to be derailed.

A visibly angry Andrew asked the receptionist how much longer he was expected to wait. She told him that Mr. Melvin's meeting had unexpectedly been extended, and he had to wait for some more time.

The enthusiasm and excitement that kickstarted Andrew's day deflated. He wondered what kind of an organization treated potential candidates this way and, more importantly, did he really want to be part of a culture like this. He felt mentally and physically drained. There was no information or update about the status of the interview timeline, let alone a glass of water. The receptionist finally informed Andrew that the interview needed to be rescheduled as Mr. Melvin had to attend to other pressing matters and was told someone would contact him with the next interview date.

This situation goes against the very fiber of a candidate-centric hiring process. These interview horror stories have no place in the candidate experience journey, and potential candidates no longer accept them quietly. They share their positive and negative experiences on social media and with friends, spreading the word that could negatively impact an organization's image and brand.

Candidate experience has never been so critical to organizations. From the job description itself to the interview process to follow-up communications, all candidate journey touchpoints determine how a brand is perceived and accepted. Each step provides an opportunity to show candidates that you care about them and their needs.

Competition for top talent is fierce. Forward-thinking companies are stepping up their game to create an excellent candidate experience. Andrew finally accepted a job with a company that continuously communicated with him during every step of the hiring process. The candidate-centric company understood that hiring is a two-way street and that the candidates evaluate them as much as they evaluate the candidates during the hiring process. The company valued Andrew’s feedback and experience as an applicant even before he got the job offer.

Organizations that treat candidates like VIPs and offer a personalized candidate experience have a competitive advantage in recruiting. Word gets out. Even if a person is not selected, they may still refer others to your organization. A positive experience and respectful treatment during the interview process could certainly lead a person to continue to be interested in working for you and apply for future job opportunities.

The UST Way - No Candidate Left Behind

UST is built on three core values – Humility, Humanity, and Integrity . It is ingrained in everything we do, including our hiring process. Here's how we focus on improving the candidate journey:

• Humility - We will listen, learn, be empathetic and help selflessly in our interactions with everyone
• Humanity - Through business, we will better the lives of those less fortunate than ourselves
• Integrity - We honour our commitments and act with responsibility in all our relationships

One of the biggest complaints of potential candidates going through a hiring process is that they are never fully informed about the next steps or get proper feedback. The Talent Acquisition Team tells them they will get back to the candidate, which often never happens. Keeping the candidate informed and updated throughout the process is a basic rule that improves the candidate's journey. It is disrespectful to do otherwise and ghost candidates, not to mention detrimental to brand reputation.

We believe in the 'No Candidate Left Behind' philosophy.

Advances in AI technology, recruitment chatbots, highly advanced Applicant Tracking Systems, and other tech-inspired automation have changed the recruitment marketing strategy. But no amount of technology can beat the personalized candidate experience. There still is a need to personalize and create candidate experiences that feel genuine, humane, and authentic.

The Strategic Talent Acquisition Team (STAT) at UST goes by our motto and guides candidates through the hiring process. From responding to our job posts, applying via our website, scheduling their meetings, and receiving feedback, candidates experience a recruitment process like no other. Even the rejected candidates get a timely update with feedback and reasons for rejection. We handhold them throughout the entire hiring process. After a candidate joins, we check in, addressing any potential queries they might have.

We are intentional in offering a personalized candidate experience rather than a transactional process. We value the suggestions and feedback from every candidate and implement them in our candidate journey map.

Candidate journey touchpoints range from application to onboarding. Each interaction and engagement that a candidate goes through makes an impact. A positive candidate experience journey makes a big difference, as we see in Andrew's case. He is very happy at his current organization. He has even used his negative experience to successfully restructure and implement a new candidate experience process in his new organization.

Learn more about UST unique approach .

5 Essential Elements of a Positive Candidate Experience

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By David Macfarlane, Head of Employer Brand and Insight

Candidates have never had higher expectations. They are more well informed than ever, and today’s candidate-led market means they’re less tolerant of poor experiences. With 83% of candidates sharing their poor experiences with friends and family , and 54% taking to social media to voice their discontent, organizations who create a positive candidate experience will achieve better recruitment outcomes.

Yet, in our recent research report, Inside the Candidate Experience , we found that the gap between what candidates want and what they get still remains wide—but it can be made smaller. While there is no such thing as a perfect recruitment process, improving the candidate experience will improve your organization’s ability to attract and hire great talent.

Through our work with some of the world’s largest brands, we’ve distilled the candidate experience into these five essential elements.

Research Report

Inside the candidate experience, a best-in-class candidate experience:, 1. is differentiated from competitors.

Your candidate experience should set you apart from other employers at every stage of the candidate journey. In addition to being a crucial component of the hiring process, the candidate experience serves as a sales tool that persuades top talent to join your organization.

Your candidate experience should be unique to your brand and help you stand apart from other employers hiring for similar roles or skills. For example, does your situational judgement test put the candidate in the work environment they’re applying to join? For candidates, the pre-employment experience is a test drive for what it’s like to work at your organization, so make sure you’re bringing what makes your culture exceptional to your candidate experience.

2. Elevates the Employer Brand

Your candidate experience should be distinct from your consumer experience by reflecting your employer brand—the perception and lived experience of what it’s like to work for your organization. That means all of your candidate communications should be branded—not just with your logo and brand colours, but it should be written in a way that reflects your culture.

Your tone of voice, your career site, your photography and design should all reflect what it’s like to work at your organization. For example, for our client, The AA, we created AAbot , a chatbot with expressive animations and cheeky banter that brings The AA’s playful personality to life. By seeing your employer brand reflected consistently across each interaction with your organization, candidates gain confidence in your employer value proposition.

3. Is Informative, Clear and Direct

Candidates want to know upfront what to expect during the application and recruitment process before they apply. Yet, our research found that only a third of organizations (34%) had career sites that featured frequently asked questions (FAQs) or advice to support candidates throughout the candidate journey (31%). Less than a third (28%) gave an overview of the key stages of the recruiting process.

This is about delivering the right message at the right time in the right way to help them understand where they stand and what happens next. Plus, you should express this information in plain language. Make sure you’re using verbiage that your candidate would use rather than your internal terminology. A candidate looking for a hotel job is more likely to search for “housekeeper” than “environmental services engineer.”

4. Embraces Technology

Increasingly, employers are taking a page from the consumer experiences created by e-commerce brands. Many organizations are embracing social media tools (like the one-click apply option on LinkedIn) to increase the simplicity and convenience of applications.

At the very minimum your application should be mobile optimised. But really, with over 90% of candidates using a mobile device in their job search, your candidate experience should be designed for mobile first .

A mobile-first application means the candidate doesn’t have to fill in information contained in their résumé or CV. This may seem basic, but we found that nearly 40% of organizations ask candidates to duplicate information that was already contained in their résumé or CV.

In our modern world, a great candidate experience means a candidate can submit an application while standing in a queue—with one hand, via their mobile phone—before they’ve reached the front. Can your current tech stack do this?

5. Puts Candidates in the Driver’s Seat

Something that many talent acquisition teams don’t appreciate is that candidates don’t perceive the recruitment process as a funnel. They’re the main character in their own story, and they want to be treated that way.

Candidates want to engage in their job search on their own terms. So, anytime they encounter a roadblock to getting the information they want, especially if they don’t know what to expect in the next stage, means they’re more likely to drop out of your process. By creating transparency within your recruitment stages, you empower candidates to opt in or out from recruitment process—ultimately improving your hiring outcomes.  

For more insights into create a positive candidate experience, download the Inside the Candidate Experience 2023 Report .

Latest insights, press releases, peoplescout recognized for culture excellence in 2024 top workplaces usa awards , the ai-enhanced candidate: adapting recruitment strategies for the digital age, talking talent webinars, [webinar] the ai-enhanced candidate: adapting recruitment strategies for the digital age.

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Live webinar, master al-driven recruitment with recruit crm, table of contents, what is the candidate journey here are its top 11 touchpoints and ways to map them.

From the moment a job seeker comes across a job post to the day of their successful placement, they go through a prolonged journey with recruiters. 

This ‘journey’ consists of a series of interactions that can make or break your recruitment process. 

In this article, we’re diving into its various touchpoints and top strategies to map them so you can create an experience for candidates to remember. Read on.

What is the candidate journey?

The candidate journey refers to the entire experience a job seeker goes through, from discovering a job opportunity to potentially accepting an offer in line with your hiring drive. 

It includes all the candidate-recruiter interactions, be it the application process, the interviews , the means of communication, or the onboarding procedure .

The importance of this journey lies in the impact on how a candidate perceives the recruitment process, the employer brand of the company, and the quality of candidates who are willing to sign up for the open position.

What are the touchpoints of the candidate journey?

The pre-application phase, stage 1: awareness.

In this stage, the candidate becomes aware of the job opportunity. This can occur through various channels, such as job boards, social media, referrals, or company websites. 

Remember, a company’s employer brand is critical in creating awareness and attracting potential candidates.

Stage 2: Interest

Now, the applicant tends to develop an interest in learning more about the position and the company. This also includes whether a job-seeker finds your job opening relevant to their work profile.

Further, they may dig into the business, study the respective job descriptions , and seek information about its culture, values, and benefits.

Stage 3: Consideration

At this stage, the candidate starts to weigh the pros and cons of applying for the position. 

They may compare the opportunity with other available positions, assess the alignment with their career goals, and evaluate the potential for growth within the company. 

Engaging content about the company’s culture, values, and employee testimonials can be influential at this stage.

Stage 4: Preparation

This is the final stage of the application process, where the candidate prepares their application materials. 

They may tailor their resume and cover letter to match the job description, gather the necessary documents, and seek advice or feedback from mentors or peers. 

Providing clear guidelines and tips on what the company looks for in an application can be helpful at this stage.

The application phase

Stage 5: application.

This part of the process is majorly about filling out application forms, submitting a resume and/or cover letter, and providing the required documentation. 

To ensure optimum convenience for candidates, you must adopt a user-friendly application process with clear instructions and minimal formalities to improve the candidate experience . 

Stage 6: Assessment

In this stage, recruiters make their grand entry into the candidate journey.  

This is an extensive step wherein you thoroughly review the application received and evaluate if the applicant’s profile aligns with the desired candidate persona. 

It involves multiple rounds of interviews , skills tests, and other assessments to hand-pick the most suitable candidate for the role. 

While assessing, recruiters are expected to communicate expectations head-on, followed up by a fair, transparent, and efficient screening process.

Stage 7: Selection

After a detailed examination has been conducted on all the candidates in the pipeline, the best one is picked for the role.

Recruiters finalize this decision based on factors like skills, experience, cultural fit, and potential for growth within the organization.

Stage 8: Offer

This is where the candidate journey finally comes to an end, now handing over the baton to the term “employee.”

This stage is marked with the extension of a job offer . 

It may also include a negotiation process where the candidate and company discuss salary, benefits, and other terms of employment.

The post-application phase

Stage 9: onboarding.

Onboarding belongs to the post-application phase of the recruitment process. 

Once the candidate accepts the offer, they transition into a new employee. This stage involves orientation, training , and integration into the company culture and team. 

A smooth and supportive onboarding process can help new employees feel welcomed and set them up for long-term organizational success.

Stage 10: Evaluation

After the onboarding process, there’s a period of evaluation where both the new employee and the company assess how well the integration is going. 

This includes regular check-ins, feedback sessions, and performance reviews. 

Open communication and clear expectations are key at this stage to ensure that the new employee is on the right track and feels supported.

Stage 11: Retention

The final stage is about retaining employees within the organization. 

This involves continuous engagement, professional development opportunities, recognition, and maintaining a positive work environment. 

The goal is to keep employees satisfied and motivated, contributing to their long-term success and growth within the company.

How to map the candidate journey? 4 quick steps for success

Step 1: Identify touchpoints and interactions

Touchpoints, the specific points of contact between a candidate and the company or recruiter, are integral to the recruitment process. 

In the pre-application phase, touchpoints range from initial interactions like job ads and social media posts to engaging content about the company’s culture and guidelines for application preparation. 

During the post-application phase, touchpoints extend to orientation materials, regular check-ins, and continuous engagement opportunities. 

Creating a comprehensive list of all potential candidate touchpoints and strategically aligning them with each stage helps in crafting a seamless experience, reflecting positively on the company’s employer brand.

Step 2: Gather data, identify areas for improvement

Collect data from candidate surveys , metrics, and feedback after interactions with candidates. 

Analyze this information to spot common problems and areas for immediate improvement. This isn’t just a one-time check; it’s an ongoing process that helps refine your recruitment strategy.

Find the gaps, address the issues, and continually evolve your approach. It’s about more than hiring; it’s about connecting with future employees and creating a streamlined, engaging experience that sets your organization apart. 

In a nutshell, the goal is to make the candidate’s journey as seamless as possible, building a positive connection that benefits everyone involved.

Step 3: Develop and make changes

Based on your analysis, develop a roadmap to address the identified areas for improvement. 

For example, this could involve updating your job descriptions , enhancing your career site, streamlining the application process, or improving communication with candidates. 

Implement the necessary changes and closely monitor their impact on the candidate experience.

Step 4: Continuously update and refine the candidate journey map

As your recruitment process evolves, stay on track with your candidate journey map and work on any deficiencies or outdated procedures that may need some tweaking.

Regularly review and refine the map to ensure it reflects the current scenario and the latest methods of your hiring cycle.

How to improve the candidate journey?

1. Invest in recruitment technology

Investing in recruitment technology like an applicant tracking system (ATS) can significantly improve the candidate journey in several ways, besides making it time and cost-efficient.

Automatic notifications, personalized emails, and consistent follow-ups help maintain engagement and ensure candidates are informed at each step.

A recruitment software also enables organizations to create user-friendly job portals and application forms, making it easier for candidates to apply for positions. 

2. Strengthen your employer brand

A strong employer brand helps attract and retain top talent, making it an essential consideration for long-term success. 

Build on your existing image by showcasing the company culture, values, and employee experiences on your website and social media, especially on professional platforms like LinkedIn. 

Use storytelling to highlight your mission, vision, and unique selling points as an employer of choice.

3. Optimize job postings

Ensure your job postings are clear, concise, engaging, and easy to understand. Highlight the key responsibilities, qualifications, and benefits of the position. 

Take note of inclusive language and avoid jargon or acronyms that may exclude candidates who belong to a certain community.

Use AI writing tools like ChatGPT to craft an attractive job post that caters to all the realms of your target audience.

4. Leverage social media and other channels

Expand your reach by promoting job opportunities and company culture through social media , job boards, and other relevant channels. 

Encourage employee advocacy by inviting your team to share job postings and company updates on their networks.

5. Train hiring managers and interviewers

Ensure that your hiring team understands the importance of candidate experience and how different gestures and initiatives can leave a lasting impact on a candidate’s mind.

Initiate mentorship programs and provide training on interviewing techniques, blind hiring, and effective communication to create a positive and consistent experience across all the steps of the recruitment drive.

Providing a positive experience to an applicant throughout their candidate journey is one of the major goals of every candidate-oriented recruiter. 

You can buy some handy tips from our mini-guide to enhance your candidate journey map and build a stellar employer brand for yourself (and definitely your clients as well!).

Happy recruiting! 

Frequently asked questions

1. what are the first and last stages of the candidate journey.

The first stage in a candidate’s journey is the awareness stage. It’s a crucial stage where candidates first become cognizant of a job opening or an organization that piques their interest. 

The last stage is onboarding. After the selection process, the candidate accepts the job offer and officially integrates into the organization, beginning their new role.

2. Why is the candidate journey important?

Emphasizing on candidate journey can have substantial benefits for a business. For one, a well-structured candidate journey can bolster an organization’s reputation and branding. This not only attracts potential employees but also paints a positive image of the company. 

Additionally, focusing on the candidate journey can enhance the quality of hires. It ensures the organization is engaging with the right talent, thus fostering a higher likelihood of success and meaningful contributions to the company’s objectives.

3. What role does #RecTech play in the candidate journey? 

Recruitment technology, or #RecTech, refines the candidate journey by automating routine tasks such as resume screening and interview scheduling. It uses tools like ATS for efficient candidate tracking and quick feedback. 

Automated email systems and chatbots enable real-time communication, enhancing candidate experience. Further, it offers personalization, providing tailored job recommendations and application updates.

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Your staffing company’s ability to find, attract, and retain talent is directly impacted by the candidate’s experience throughout their employment journey. A candidate’s journey starts with the job search and extends throughout their employment.

When you support candidates in every step of their journey, your staffing agency can gain an edge in today’s hiring landscape.

A positive candidate journey will:

• increase your company’s reputation;
• boost retention;
• reduce hiring time; and
• guard against ghosting .

The candidate journey impacts your brand’s reputation, hiring pool, hiring rates, and retention. With the job market favoring candidates, the candidate experience has become even more important. How do you attract quality candidates, build their trust, and continue to support them once they’re hired?

Learn about seven ways you can create a positive candidate journey.

Help candidates find job postings via job board integrations

• The first time a candidate interacts with you is likely via a posting on a job board. Make sure candidates can find your job postings using job board and distribution tools such as Data Frenzy. These tools can boost your recruitment efforts and ensure the right job seekers know about opportunities with your staffing agency.
• Integrated in TempWorks, Data Frenzy allows you to increase your search content through job optimization. With Data Frenzy, you can post jobs to multiple job boards, track applicants, and communicate with applicants via personalized texting.
• Your candidates can easily apply, interview, and be hired—even before your competitors make first contact.

Streamline the interview process

• Recruiters are often faced with candidates failing to show up to their scheduled interview. You can make the interview process easier and more efficient for candidates using messaging tools , which allow you to schedule interviews and send out reminders.
• This process can also be automated, allowing your recruiters to keep in touch with candidates while maximizing efficiency.

Keep in touch with your candidates via messaging tools

• One of the most important ways you can improve your candidate journey is to keep in touch within Beyond .
• That’s why text messaging is one of the most powerful tools your staffing agency can use—both during and after the recruiting process. TempWorks partners with automated voice and text integrations such as text-em-all , TextUs , and Sense . These tools improve the overall candidate experience through mass texting and 1:1 communication, automating touchpoints and saving your recruiters valuable time.

Speed up the background check process

• Your candidate has completed their interview process and you’re ready to hire them, but you’re waiting for a background check to clear. The sooner it’s completed, the sooner your candidate can start work.
• Integrated within your TempWorks software, background check integrations offer an accurate, efficient screening process . These tools give you a fast turnaround time, resulting in an increased speed-to-hire. When candidates are screened and hired quickly, they build more trust in your brand. A fast time-to-hire can also reduce the chances of ghosting.
• Background checks make sure you have the criminal, verification and drug testing results you need, preparing you to make wise hiring decisions and protect your staffing agency’s reputation.
• Our background check partners include First Advantage , PeopleG2 , Clear Investigative Advantage , Asurint , Crimcheck , and Universal Background Screening .

Make it easier for employees to submit paperwork

• Keeping paperwork quick and painless can save your company money—especially when it comes to tax credits. In today’s market, every applicant counts. TempWorks partners with tax credit integration partners such as ADP , Clarus Solutions , CTI , Equifax , MJA & Associates , and TCC to help staffing companies maximize their Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) benefit.
• The WOTC program rewards employers who hire individuals from targeted groups that often face barriers to employment. But if the employees don’t complete the WOTC survey—because it takes too long, directs them to an outside website, or involves too many clicks—your staffing company can miss out on valuable tax credits.
• Integrations such as TCC make it easy for candidates. Directly within HRCenter, TCC allows employees to complete their WOTC survey in fewer clicks —all without leaving TempWorks. This next-gen integration reduces abandonment, speeds up time-to-hire, and leads to higher tax credit savings.

Make information readily available via mobile tools

• The candidate journey doesn’t stop at hiring. Part of creating a positive candidate journey involves keeping in touch with employees after they’re hired and making information readily accessible to them. Doing so increases retention, which improves your staffing company’s bottom line.
• TempWorks Buzz helps your agency share announcements and job offers with existing employees. Employees can also use Buzz to search for job postings as they near the end of their assignments. On Buzz, employees can check assignment information (such as dress code information, work site addresses, and shift hours). They can also clock in easily via Buzz’s geofencing and facial recognition system.

Ensure employees get paid promptly using pay cards

• One way to boost your company’s retention is to provide flexible payment options .
• TempWorks partners with ADP and rapid! to offer pay card integrations directly within TempWorks. Our pay card partners deliver the solutions you need to distribute funds to your employees—even those who don’t have a bank account. Funds can be made in real time through instant funding, and employees can check their balance via their mobile device.

These tips and tools can help you cultivate a positive candidate journey, increasing your hiring and retention rates. When candidates feel supported, they’re likely to recommend your staffing agency to others.

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